Fisher F70 settings.

[dbax]

azsh07 thanks for the tips. But my F70 ignores iron, like nails and such. I laid my pocket knife out and it refused to read it until i was nearly touching it and even then it was easy blips. But when this thing gets near a bottle cap it sounds off like a silver quarter. I have notice this reading is only if the bottle cap is within 3" of the coil. A real quarter if at 3" will sound, and I can raise the coil to 4 or 6'" and a real quarter will continue to sound off -- problem solve? Nope, because who is going to leave a silver quarter reading in the ground? I think the guy that said his quarter reading are in the low 60 range was not using and F70. I have had some success following mudpuppy's advice in getting this machine to settle down but the bottle caps are still and issue. I have a friend with a White's DFX and he consistently finds more than I do and has found 4 silver coins since I got my F70 -- he is 4 I am 0. Gripes me to no end. When he was beating me earlier and I was using a cheap little old F2 it was not big deal and on the rare occasion my little F2 bested his $1000 DFX I was proud, so I figure, I like Fisher, don't want to copy him, after all I am my own man, so I upgrade to the F70, now he is in trouble, right? Wrong. I beat him first time out then after that I am doing no better than with my F2. I know, I need to learn this machine, then when I find the combination at which it will run the best I can leave the settings there for ever -- what? I buy this machine with all the bells and whistles, search for its sweet spot ( no noise and chattering) and leave it there? I have a $100 bounty hunter I can do that with. Okay, okay, its just me, I know. The machine is finding thing, i found a really nice silver ring last time out, about 2" down, and I found 6 quarter, 14 dimes and 8 pennies in a 2 hour hunt. I found nothing below 4". This is a park that is 100 years old. My partner found a silver quarter and a silver dime and several clads, but my ring was really nice.

 

[azsh07]

Yah I know how that feels....been there....still go there many times. Sometimes it is more the man than the machine that makes the difference.

One thing...the DFX is not very hot on silver so don't feel like it is the end all for silver. Actually it was well known that it was a bit weak on silver dimes. I know...I owned one and used it hard core for several years and loved it but...it was not deep on silver. So you don't have to feel he has an edge simply by the machine.

Back to the Fishers. O.K......even the manual tells you to lift the coil on shallow targets...bottlecaps willt end to go fluky and quarters will tend to stay more consistent. So saying you hit bottlecaps like a silver quarter when they are at 3" is exactly WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN....that is what the machine will do on shallow bottlecaps...raise the coil!!. When you have a shallow target it kind of saturates the signal...so weaken the signal a bit by raising the coil.

Also don't worry about using the F2 in a park. Look...I know several relic hunters who keep an F2 as a backup....because it has decent depth and is stable!!! So....I would have no problem running the F2 in a park...probably would prefer it over the F-70 many times. Actually...I would prefer the F5 which I think you should have gotten instead of the F-70. The F-5 in between the F-70 and F2.....but too late. Well maybe not...you can always trade the F-70 for an F-5 and you would be well served.

But that was not my point. The F2 has good depth and can easily hit silver dimes to atleast 6" in most soil....so maybe you need to look at your settings on the F2 also. Or maybe you are just digging louder signals.

Well..here is tip I would say all long time users know. We listen for the deep fainter signals in a park.....not saying I won't dig a shallow quarter signal...but many times I won't. If I want silver it usually is not in the top 3-4 inches in a park or grass situation. It will almost always be 5-8 inches down or more. Now..we are talking about old parks where the ground has not been plowed or turned over. So...goin after anything 3" or less is going to be clad.

So while you waste your time digging those strong quarter signals...I am off digging only deeper faint signals that are more likely to be silver.

You see in a park it is an odds game. Too much cr@p to dig every stinking signal...so you have to focus on the deeper stuff or you will be doing nothing more than clearing out the shallow junk for ME when I come behind you and dig the deep silver.

There is a method to park hunting. I don't do it much these days but when I did I would sweep my coil and ignore any strong signals no matter what the meter said...meters lie...they are like politicians...they just show you what you want to see. The key is in the ear...always and forever....the meters are for newbies and sometimes for a backup source of possible ID. AUDIO AUDIO AUDIO...oh and AUDIO. Deep soft high tones....leave that shallow cr@p for chumps.

You may pass up a ring or two but so what...silver rings are not worth a ton but coins can be...again play the odds...stop playing the slots and go to the blackjack table.

Tell yourself that just one time you will do what we say...and see what happens. Take whatever machine you like...does not matter....really. Go slow...be patient...most coins have long been dug...the ones left are deeper and softer tones. Trust me...there is no park that hasn't been hunted. So take a deep breath and try and relax as you hunt. if you get in a hurry you will waste time. Only go for targets below 4"...screw the meter accept for depth...is it below 4"...and preferably 5" or more...than dig it...NO MATTER WHAT THE METER SAYS IT IS....as long as it is not iron than dig.

This is for old coins only though...if you are looking for jewelry then that is another game and Homie don't play the jewelry game. that is another strategy.

You dig anything less than 5" deep I am gonna break your fingers and take your detecting rights away!!!! Kidding of course but .....maybe not....if I hear you trying to find silver at 3"

Come back and tell me what happens.

 

[dbax]

Were is everyone getting those great depth reading? I finally have my F70 under control, sort of, and cannot read anything reliably deeper than 5" real air inches. I took a white box, 10" in depth and marked off the inches on the side with felt tip pen. Placing the box on the ground in the middle of several targets I set and reset, change, sens, changed tones, changed thresh, and could not get any reliable, trusted readings above 5", really good readings at 4". At one point i changed the tone from 3H to 2F and increased the sens and got a one time reading of 9". I tried to repeat this with not luck, but the one item I could get a 10" (top of the box) reading was in the crushed aluminum can. Yes, I tried the SL mode too and the difference was not that discernible -- I could fool myself into saying it was reading deeper but in reality never more than an 1/2-1". These reading are air readings, coins laying on top of the bare ground and the measure according to where the bottom of the coil would run even with the markings on the box. Without the box there and looking down it look like I was getting incredible depth, man, like my wife thinking 6" is 10. What a disappointment when I put the box down. So, how are you guys getting those great 9-10" depths? Are we telling fish stories? I do appreciate all of the advice it has helped a lot, thanks. Dan

 

[mudpuppy]

You can see an F70 in action...it should help you, it did me...it goes through a F70 set up from ground balancing clear on up to where the chatter starts.
I fear I may be misleading you with my settings...I am a shallow target jewelry clad stabbing Chump! If you are after deep old silver coins, better listen to Scott! I rarely ground balance, and am only interested in lots of targets, quick as possible and in the top 5" of dirt. Maybe Scott can come up with a silver coin only setup like you first requested...you know, either by notching or discing out everything from 70 on down...and getting those deep signals?
Mud

 

[azsh07]

You should get alot better air test results than that.
Post what ALL of your setting are....everyone one and we can take a look. I assume you are using the stock 11"DD coil so you should get great air tests. Could be swing speed maybe..or a setting is worng...but really can't think of what...the 70 is an easy machine.

You do have to make sure you keep the target in the sweet spot of the coil which may be the center or slightly off of that...I said slightly..like 1/2" and inch.

Also I suppose it depends also on what you are expecting the meter to respond like on something at 10"....it will jump around a bit and won't lock on just one VDI number but it should stay close.
Scott

 

[azsh07]

O.K...this will take a while before Youtube has this video processed so if the link is not active it will be by 1:00 PM EST.

Now there are a couple ways to run your F-70 and to each person his own.....I will use different methods trying to squeak out deep coins and buttons. Now in this video I am in my test garden and I have alot of EMI so I have to fiddle with Freq, sens and threshold to find a happy medium and you will see me changing them to show how it affects deep coins. Either method works...I just prefer one over the other but neither is better than the other.

Now if you do not have any interference then I like to tun my sens at 90...my threshold around 3 or so ( too much and it makes it noisy to me) and disc anywhere from 1-6 depending on how noisy the ground can make it....but generally around 3 I would say.

Tones are your preference as is search speed...I use DE most of the time unless I am searching a field slow and deep.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ENEgwxKUM&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[mudpuppy]

n/t

 

[dbax]

Hi, me again. I went out and field tested my new settings and went with the F2 Tone setting for a couple of hours but found nothing deeper than 2-3", that is from surface of the ground to the actual depth. I was able to slide the coil really close to the ground surface most of the time. But I had the feeling I was not getting the depth I had in the past. Disc=17 Sens = 54 Tone = F2, SL part of the time then back to de. The park I am searching is huge, and is very old, it has been around for around 200 years and be for that the Indian population sat on the banks of the small river that runs through it. this park is right in the middle of town and people are all over it constantly. Growing tired of what felt like shallow searching, I change the Tone setting to 3H, a tone I am more familiar with, and that is more like the tone on my old F2, this could be the reason I am not so in love with the F2 tone. Right after I change the Tone to 3H I immediately found a dime at 4-5", and then several other targets at some depth, all in all I sound a pocket full of metal object, 8 clad dimes, 4 clad quarters, and 18 pennies, yes, I still dig pennies. After returning home I did some more testing and found I could move the Sens level up to the 90 range and depth seemed to increase a bit, under the 3H tone setting -- the F2 tone set just seems a bit off for me, but a plus is it reads most bottle caps in the lower 60 range while in the 3H tone set the bottle caps read as quarter. Some of the depth readings some are reporting could never be proven by me. 8-10"?? really? When swinging my machine on targets at 5" from the prospective above, looking down it looks like it is much deeper but when measured it is not. The only thing I can pick up at 10" is an aluminum can, clad coins? Nope, not with my machine. My setting now are Thres = -5, Sens = 98, Tone 3H and I am picking quarters at 5" solid, with some variable reading at 6" and dimes at 4" solid 5" variable. The Thres set a -5 I am playing around with to keep the machine from a constant chatter. Most of my chatter was from my Disc setting too high. I move the Disc level down below 20 and it seems to quiet it down a lot. Oh and i found a couple of nickles. Found no silver and nothing really old. Thanks to you guys on this site I am finding a more balanced view and sharing, thanks, Dan

 

[azsh07]

I would never personally say you will find dimes and penny sized targets at 10" with most machines. Not saying you can't ....rather not saying it is easy or to expect it.

Run whatever tones you like....there is no right or wrong way. Try different ones..try DP...alot like this also...this is all a personal choice. In a park I run 4 or DP but not 2.....I run 2 tones maybe relic hunting but not in a park.....I like to have a seperate tone for silver in a park....so anything more than 2 tones for me is fine.

The least amount of discrimination used will also increase depth a tad.

Sens at 54 is a bit low..unless the area is nosiy. 70-80 should be more of a norm and 90 if it does not get too chatty.

Now why is your Threshold at -5......not because I showed it in the video I hope......that was an example. The lower the threshold the less sensivity to small deep targets. If you can...try to run it no less than 0 if possible. Now sometimes you have to lower it below 0 but best not to. If you can run it at 2 or 3 and not get a lot of chatter that is perfect. If it is noisy try never to go below -1.

 

[mudpuppy]

thanks for the vid Scott! Yeah Dan, give those DP tones a go...I know I cant live without them.
Mud

 

[dbax]

Gosh, I am a newbe I did not realize there was a page to to this part of the forum -- I wish I had read what you had to say before I went out the other day. Still, however, I have yet to air test a quarter at 10" . I do go slow, well, slower than my partner, he races around like on jog, he has looped what ever park we are at by the time i have circled the first picnic table. I am more like mudpuppy, just one of those dolts that is happy to find anything of value. I am going to try the flipping the Thes and Sens to your side azsh, see what happens. I have to be disappointed with the depth, if you are getting quarters at 10", I just cannot get this machine at that depth. It is odd that setting the Tone can effect depth or am I imagining that? It certainly does effect the chattering. For me the big thing was dropping the DISC level and the chatter nearly disappeared. First I heard of dropping the Disc to 0 and the bottle caps will be easier to id, I will try that. I already knew about the raising and lowering the coil to id bottle caps on my own by trial and error, glad to hear someone else can confirm this -- I am a coward, however and when I do this test I still cannot bring myself to ignore it -- Thanks for all the detail and the examples and analogies. The DD coil is stock Fisher and it is great at pin pointing my target, I hardly need my hand held pin pointer at all. My plugs are half the size they used to be. It still bothers me I am not getting the great depths some are reporting. Still seems like a Fisher Story, those 10" trout continue to grow with the telling? I'm just saying. Thanks mudpuppy and azsh07 you guys are helping me more than tech at Fisher -- they were helpful but without solutions? Maybe I did not need a new coil, so why did they replace it? If everyone is getting air tests of quarters at 10" and all I can get is 6" max then maybe they should have replaced the machine too? Thanks guys, you are both swell -- Dan I am going to put to test your advice -- I don't care if my partner gets on a bicycle and fill his pockets with coin and silver, I will go slow and listen hard -- But, like mudpuppy I want to everything and the silver too.

 

[mudpuppy]

Man! Thank you Dbax and Scott for the compliments! You are nearly there, one of these days you'll be flying around the park like your buddy, just killing old silver or whatever else gets under your coil! You should see me fly through a park someday...I whip this thing like a weed whacker, it whistles through the air like those deer warning things and has bugs splattered all over the sides of the control box. Maybe thats it, you are swinging too slow, this F70 is a race horse! It hits deeper targets with a faster swing than a slow one...truthfully! Drop a dime on the ground and see how fast you can swing and how high you can pick up the signal.
Mud

 

[azsh07]

...is all.

 

[dbax]

azsh07, thanks for the video too, the Thresh -5 was a back yard setting that seemed to work when I set the SENS up to 90. I went again today for about 3 hours and moved the SENS down to 80, which is higher than I had been able to set it before, and then I set the THRESH to -3, when I tried to go to 0 the machine began to chatter and bling and ding all kinds of false reading, whether in the air or on the ground. With the new settings, putting Disc at 17, Thresh -3, Sens 80, tone 3H I was able to get the chattering under control. The Disc just does not seem to be working, except on eliminating iron, I still get hits on tabs and foil, but when I talked to the Tech at Fisher he said that was good I wouldn't miss any rings ???? Okay, I get it, rings, and open ringed tabs, but if I have it set to disc out tabs and it doesn't ?? I want it to be my choice. What seems to have been the most effective was to turn the Disc mode way down. When Disc mode was set upward to the 50-60 range the chatter was nearly unbearable. I don't remember which one of you guys put me onto moving the Disc level down but thanks. You guys have been more help then I can say. I am determined to figure this out. This is really a good site with a couple of patient, even tempered guys willing to share and help thunder heads like me.

 

[dbax]

mudpuppy, thanks for the good laugh, i need that. I'm going back to look at azsh07 video again -- you know, it could be that there is no silver where I am hunting? Weed wacker, love it.

 

[azsh07]

...an area is too noisy to raise the Threshold....so that may just be it for this park. Just remember at other locations to not forget and leave it there but ry and raise it a bit it if you can.

 

[mudpuppy]

Jimtn just posted his settings he uses for deep silver with an F75...he keeps his disc down from 1-4...the tech at Fisher is trying to help you find gold...I know you want silver, but do not disregard those foil signals or pulltabs...I dont know if I mentioned this, but when I was new, I met an old guy out detecting and he told me to "dig 1000 zinc pennys, and dig 1000 pulltabs" If I really wanted to learn the machine...got me gold I did, and got very fast on retrieval too..and you could be right about there not being any old siver where you are hunting, so you just gotta hunt for whats there, if theres a lot of clad, nobodys been there in a while, so think gold at those spots and listen for the foil, nickles and tabs.!
Mud

 

[knarfj]

Hi all,
At the risk of sticking my nose in were it isn

 

[azsh07]

I would agree on mineralization. This will affect depth results greatly....go to Manassas Va and in the red clay there I could not ID a coin beyond a few inches. Now...go down to the coast areas where it is light colored loam and you can easily get 8" on the same target coin. Some detectors lose more percentage of their depth than others in bad soil.

I would disagree on the Halo theory...this has been debunked before by engineers. Since a metal detector relys on detecting the small eddy currents induced into a metal target in order to detect it...it is not possible to induce any current into an oxide halo in the soil that would be significant enough to detect it.

Usually the difference between detecting copper and silver targets has more to do with detector operating frequency and also size and thickness...it all comes into play. One operating frequency is better for large silver...like 3Khz...while higher frequency can be better for gold etc...and in the middle ranges like 12Khz or so you get decent response to small silver and most copper coins...good on ncikles and gold but...crapola on large silver. It is a comprimise on what frequency to design a detector in order to try and find a middle ground on most targets.

 

[knarfj]

I would disagree on the Halo theory...this has been debunked before by engineers. Since a metal detector relys on detecting the small eddy currents induced into a metal target in order to detect it...it is not possible to induce any current into an oxide halo in the soil that would be significant enough to detect it.

Bummer!

Sorry to hear that particular urban legend has been debunked. The halo affect has served me well over the years to help explain in my mind as to why, among other reasons, deep silver especially dimes are more difficult to locate then our early small bronze and copper penny