GT users. Where do you set your sensitivity most of the time?

[jbow]

I realize it depend's on the ground but where you are, how do you usually set it? I tend to go either with the "auto" or between 2 and 3 O'Clock. Around here it seem's to get a little unstable if I get any higher than that.
The reason I am asking is that I don't seem to get the depth that some talk about getting and I wonder if I should raise the sens and deal with the falsing and chatter. I have to deal with it when I use my T2 so why not with the GT? Do you set yours so that it runs quiet, except for the threshold tone or do you let it chatter a bit?

Thanks,

Julien

 

[DonNWF]

Hi Julien. I think I saw on another forum that you were detecting near by in Panama City this summer. If so, did you detect the beaches? Your results there would establish a common ground for a discussion. I've never detected Panama City Beach but I assume it consists of what I call basic NW Florida beach sand. Our sand is clean sharp and with little to no minerals. I usually set my SENS at 11 o'clock on the beach. No chatter and maintains a stable threshold. Except when I move or sweep too fast when I get in a hurry to cover more beach. If the sand is really hot and dry (like mid-summer, no rain) it will squeal in the dry sand at anything over a turtle crawl at this setting. What was your setting and what was the result in that sand? Don

 

[Rick(ND)]

I have been recommending auto to learn the Sovereign, then when you know it set the sensitivity between 10-12 depending on how stable it is. Set it and hold the coil in the air and see how stable it is, if good lower it to the ground and hold it still and see how stable it is, if good then it should be OK, but if it seems not too stable you can lower it just a little.
Depth has a lot to do with how well you know your Sovereign and going real slow at time to get the depth. I had one place where going at a normal slow swing of the coil i was getting maybe 8 inches, but when I just barely moved the coil I could get 12 inches and had to listen close, my sensitivity was at the 11 o'clock position and the signals an meter were trying to climb, but just couldn't make it being so deep. If I speed up the coil at all the signal was gone, so speed has a lot to do with depth you will get.
I will say my T-2 was more unstable than the Sovereign and had to turn the sensitivity lower and more disc to make it work for me.

 

[jbow]

I was there for a week or so but didn't use the GT a lot there. I mostly used the T2 because it is lighter and there was a lot of seaweed in the water. The T2 did not work in the saltwater but since I pretty much stayed on the beach I used the T2...

I don't remember how I set the GT on the beach. I am in NW GA in an area with a lot LOT of iron and hot rocks. I'm just wondering if I am losing stuff by trying to keep the thing running quietly and wondering where others generally set the Sensitivity.

Thanks!

Julien

 

[jbow]

then when you know it set the sensitivity between 10-12 depending on how stable it is

What do you consider "stable" to be? No chatter at all or some? I have been running it where it's really pretty quiet but, like I was saying, the T2 does not run quiet and I still am able to make it work.

Maybe I am moving the coil too fast. Fast and slow are also kind of nebulous... When you say slow what do you mean. Say in seconds per ft. or per four ft. ? Seconds per oneway swing considering a swing to be a total of what? 5' or 6' ?
I really don't think I am swinging it too fast but I amy be. I try to keep it in mind to stay slow with it but I still never seem to find much of anything deeper than 5 or 6 inches.
I did get a 1956 quarter in change today though...laff.

J

 

[Rick(ND)]

Stable is when holding the coil in the air it is not erratic, then holding the coil on the ground without moving it and the threshold will not chatter. Now when you swing it the tones will be changing but that should be OK as long as it is not a solid null. I find when running the sensitivity high you have to go slower with swinging the coil as it will null more. How fast to swing the coil will vary on where you are, now if you know there is deep coins you may want to go slower and listen closer to those faint signals that will be small.If you go too fast you will never hear them. How slow is slow, well you want to hear all the signals, so if it nulls a lot you have to go slower so the Sovereign can process the signals. I have seen where in most cases a foot a second will work in some areas while in the next looking for the deep ones a foot in 4-6 seconds will work the best, just remember it has to see the target and process in order for you to get a signal on it. These signals may be small and weak sounding too, but if you know your Sovereign you will know it is one you do the wiggle on and check them out.

Rick

 

[adam in cal]

I know you will get a zillion answers , most real similar to each other in some way ........ so

 

[Art (NWOH)]

I set it where I want to when I can.
I set it where I have to when I can't.

This is a perfectly good answer if you think about it.

HH

 

[DonNWF]

If we both used a GT on ANY NW Florida beach and you got a lot of noise and instability at your SENS settings (10-11-12-1-2-auto?) and I hardly ever have that problem running at 11 o'clock and sometimes even 10 o'clock , what does that tell you? I think it tells me your swinging too fast. HH Don

 

[jbow]

it help's me to know exactly what you mean when you say slow. I think I have been in the second per ft range and have slowed it down when I hear something. I think one reason I am not getting deep stuff is because I am not hunting places where there are deep coins etc. Most of the ground here is very hard clay and I think it keep's stuff more shallow in a lot of places. I need to try and find some places where there is more deep stuff. One place i hunt very regularly dates to the 1830s but the 19th century stuff I find there is usually no more than 3 or 4 inches deep, it is a large low hill with lot's of small rock, iron, and hard dirt.

As you know, i am trying to learn the T2 as best I can for GNRS but i'll tell you... it's hard to stay with it sometimes. Today I wasa hunting around an old red brick store or laundry that is across from a closed Goodyear plant. One of the Goodyear plants with a Goodyear village from the 30s or 40s and using the T2 i was not getting anything. After about 30 minutes I put it up and got out the GT and immediately began hitting good signals all over. Mostly pennies but still they were recognizable coins. I don't understand why the T2 give's me so much trouble defining a shallow coin but it does. I guess it's because it see's so much that the good hits get lost in the crowd. With the GT there is no crowd... just a threshold tone and then a good tone. I'll keep at it and thanks again for the clarification on "slow" and "stable" as they mean to you... that helps me.

J

 

[jbow]

the only problem is that I didn't use it on the beach enough to even remember how I set it. I used it once. Ozzie got a call to help find a wedding band and both his machines were down, he called me and i took the GT because it is the one I am most comfortable with. In the dry sand I had no problem with it but I don't remember if I was in auto or manual sens but it was quiet and I found the ring with no problem. I just haven't used it on the beach enough for it to mean anything to me. I've been using the GT almost exclusively and several times a week for a little over a year and my only concern is sometimes I start to think that i'm not getting the depth that some others are but I really think it's that the targets are shallow where I am hunting because I don't swing it nearly as fast as I do the T2 or the Tejon. I swing no faster than a foot a second... probably slightly slower but I was wondering if that was still too fast. After the post by Rick... I know now that i'm not swinging too fast. Either my sens is too low, the targets are all shallow, or something is wrong and I think it's one of the first two or a combination of both. I have a place that is a yard that dates to the 1890s that I can hunt. I think I am going to go there this week because the ground is not as hard there as most places and there should be deeper targets. Then again, the oldest coin I have found there is a 1903 IH penny and it was about 3" deep...

Thanks for the input, it all helps... at least yours helps. Some answers seem a little useless but I appreciate it anyway.

Julien

 

[Tony from Tidewater]

This is going to sound like some long text book instruction, but it will work.
1) set you disc and notch controls to your desired setting
2) switch to all metal
3) set the threshold to a slight hum.
4) "SLOWLY" sweep the search coil on the ground, back and forth, side to side, you are looking for a patch of ground the has no metal at all.
5) Now place the coil on the ground, and hold it still....
6) switch your GT back to disc.
7) Turn the sensitivity all the way "Clockwise"
Now "SLOWLY" sweeping the coil over the ground that you checked for no metal, turn the sensitivity control counter-clockwise, until falsing occurs, once the falsing occurs, turn it back clockwise. Just enough to stop the falsing. Do not go into Auto.

You might still get some falsing, just turn down the sens. a little more or if it's not bothering to much let it stay were you tuned it.

I hope this helps you out. Tony from Tidewater

 

[jbow]

That sound's like a plan and I will try it.

Julien