Hi Glen...(Captain Kirk).......EX 2...>>....T2.......MattR.UK.

[MattR]

I was very interested in the comments regarding your lack of success with the T2 relative to your Exp 2. (From reply to previous long thread)

Could it be that you are swinging the T2 like an EX2 ? i.e. Tooo slowly...??? That would be a big mistake with this unit.

Try the T2 at one metre per second sweep rate (1 mps left, then 1 mps right).

If your particular T2 is up to standard (and not a 'Friday' one, as they say in the car trade), and the targets are there to be found then you should be left in no doubt about the T2's abilities.

One other important factor, if you can recall some values, is what were typical Ground Phase readings encountered...AND...was there any Fe readings being indicated at any time?

It is crucial that you 'fast grab' a ground sample regularly, and not to rely on one manually set, to carry you through a prolonged session.

Did you purchase it new, or second hand? The reason I ask that is because there are one or two of suspected 'less than' normal performance quality floating about. As with any product, sometimes odd ones turn out bad.
I purchased one with an intermittently defective search-head plug, and I also felt it was not up to standard sensitivity-wise.
It was returned to sender, pronto.

Maybe some of the lads on the forum will post an in air test result for you to compare with if you will tell them what set-up and coin you prefer them to use.

It would be an interesting experiment, to gather a few results using some pre-defined 'in-air' standard.

Just one common coin, and maybe, Disc at 40. Sens. at 60. 2+ tone. GB balance at default. SWEEP SPEED 1 metre per second at some maximum distance for a repeatable audio. Then log that MAX distance in inches or centimetres.

Or any settings chosen by the consensus of the forum (for in-air).

So Glen, let's hope we can keep you on board the T2 train, and benefit from your experiences with it, and your acknowledged technical know-how....All the best. Matt.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Matt,

I appreciate your response because I have great respect for you opinion.

Today I am a bit short on time. I would like to carefully consider all the points that you brought up and then thoughtfully respond to them (perhaps tomorrow). I anticipate that we may end up with several exchanges while I am in the process of "picking your brain" and moving up the theoretical learning curve. This process may tend to be aggravating to other members of the forum. Therefore, I propose that we carry with the discussion via either the Personal Message or email route if you are willing to do that.

By the way, we do not have a lot of "virgin" territory to hunt around here as there are quite a few hunters (mostly Explorer XS and II users). The weather has not be conducive to hunting since I got the T2 about two months ago. Most of my hunting has been in areas that have been rather thoroughly hunted with Explorers (including mine). I probably have about 20 hours on the T2 hunting in those places. This may be the reason why I am not finding anything very deep or exciting.

Thanks again,
Glenn

 

[JM]

removed post

 

[MattR]

n/t

 

[MattR]

Hi Glen...

Happy to communicate by e-mail Glen if you so wish.

************************************​

Today (Sunday 31 Dec 2006) I was out with STU and JM, detecting..
Later in the day the rain storm hit, so we had to pack in, but we had a great time together and us usual we laughed, joked, shared finds small-talk.
Plenty of coffee, chicken legs from John, lip from Stu and sorting the world

 

[Captain Kirk]

Matt

I have tried to send you PM, but have not figured out how to do that. I had assumed that I could just click on the PM button, prepare the message and send. But, it asks for the recipient and does not give a clue as to how to identify the recipient. Therefore, I hope that the members of the forum will forgive my long post and not delete it.

I have copied sections of your post below and have given my reply to each section in bold


Date: December 30, 2006 03:53PM

I will first provide you some information about how I have the T2 setup:

Sensitivity set between about 80 and 90: The unit generally runs very quite at 80 and sometimes up to 90. I have often even been able to run it up to 99 in the field with very tolerable noise. Even when testing inside the house I can run to about 85 with only an occasional burst of noise.

Discrimination set to 10: I like to operate with minimal discrimination and let my ears do the discrimination. My objective is to minimize masking effects.

Tones set to 3: Since I am in the US I want to separate out the nickels, copper pennies, dimes and above from the zink pennies. I understand that this may cause me to miss the Indian head pennies.

Ground Balance: After balancing the ground phase is usually in the low 60's and remains quite constant. I do check the ground balance frequently.


------------------------------------
Could it be that you are swinging the T2 like an EX2 ? i.e. Tooo slowly...??? That would be a big mistake with this unit.

I typically sweep the Explorer II between 30cps and 60cps. I find that the Explorer is not terribly sensitive to sweep speed on a single target, but there is an optimal sweep speed for this case. The problem with the Explorer is that the recovery time is rather slow (probably because of all the processing going on). In heavy trash, then one must slow down to get respectable target separation.

In air tests (of a dime at about 23cm" with Sensitivity set to 80) I find that the T2 will not detect the coin when swept at less than about 45cps to 60cps. When the T2 does begin to generate a response the tone ID is erroneous until the sweep speed is increased to something greater than about 60cps. Once the tone ID become accurate, then it is physically impossible for me to move the coin past the search coil at a speed where the coin is not identified correctly.

I am probably guilty of not sweeping the coil as rapidly as I should. This will improve with constant reminders and experience.

I might mention that I freshly planted a dime at about 15cm and had a difficult time detecting it with the T2. But, I also had a similar experience with the Explorer. I understand the consequences of disturbing the ground matrix.
------------------------------------
Try the T2 at one metre per second sweep rate (1 mps left, then 1 mps right).

I may be making a mistake in not sweeping the coil over the same ground in both directions. I have gotten into the habit of sweep left, moving the coil about a coil length and then sweeping right.
------------------------------------

If your particular T2 is up to standard (and not a 'Friday' one, as they say in the car trade), and the targets are there to be found then you should be left in no doubt about the T2's abilities.

I understand your point. Since most all of the local sites have been heavily hunted by Explorer users, then it is safe to suppose that most of the easy/shallow (up to 20cm) stuff has been removed. I was just hoping that I would find more targets being masked by trash that was not separated by the Explorer. I am talking about local parks from which hundreds of silver coins have been removed.
-------------------------------------

One other important factor, if you can recall some values, is what were typical Ground Phase readings encountered...AND...was there any Fe readings being indicated at any time?

Ground Phase readings in the 60's
FE3O4 readings typically 0.03 or less.
-------------------------------------

It is crucial that you 'fast grab' a ground sample regularly, and not to rely on one manually set, to carry you through a prolonged session.

I use the Fast Grab frequently and rarely use the Manual Balance.
-------------------------------------

Did you purchase it new, or second hand? The reason I ask that is because there are one or two of suspected 'less than' normal performance quality floating about. As with any product, sometimes odd ones turn out bad.
I purchased one with an intermittently defective search-head plug, and I also felt it was not up to standard sensitivity-wise.
It was returned to sender, pronto.

The unit was purchased new
------------------------------------

Maybe some of the lads on the forum will post an in air test result for you to compare with if you will tell them what set-up and coin you prefer them to use.

It would be an interesting experiment, to gather a few results using some pre-defined 'in-air' standard.

Just one common coin, and maybe, Disc at 40. Sens. at 60. 2+ tone. GB balance at default. SWEEP SPEED 1 metre per second at some maximum distance for a repeatable audio. Then log that MAX distance in inches or centimetres.

Or any settings chosen by the consensus of the forum (for in-air).

I have described above my experience with air testing. I can confidently state that I am not displeased with the results of the air testing.
-------------------------------------

So Glen, let's hope we can keep you on board the T2 train, and benefit from your experiences with it, and your acknowledged technical know-how....All the best. Matt.

Thanks Matt. I have invested $800+ on the T2 and do not plan to forsake it. My objective is to learn how to use it properly. I need to find an experienced T2 user to "show me the ropes". I have not been to England for about 18 years. I would greatly enjoy walking by your side in the field and watching you operate.

Glenn