A friend brought me an 18k gold pendant, and 18k necklace, and a platinum/gold pendant to check how these indicate with the CTX 3030.
-18k Pendant: The pendant was 18k gold, approximately 3/4" diameter and 1/8" thick. We put that on the ground. I had the detector on Andy's "Beach Mode" and tested with and without discrimination. (Response= Normal, Recovery Deep=On, Recovery Fast=Off, Target Separation= Low Trash, Pinpoint=Normal). What I found is the expected indication, a constant 12-07. But unexpected was with my normal swing, which I thought was slow as compared to others (~1.5-2 seconds each direction), there was no indication or sound, or a chirp with no indication on screen. It was only when I swung the detector very slowly (~3 seconds each direction) that I picked up a good signal (or even that something was there at all). So apparently I was swinging too fast for this pendant. Now a heavier 14k ring sounds off even with 1 second each direction. So it appears it's possible I've been missing pendants or items this size 3/4" and 18k gold for 5 years now. I'll try slowing my swing (even though this limits coverage) to see what happens. Any comments about this or detecting high karat gold items welcome. I've read this machine isn't the best for high karat gold, but the indication was solid with a slow swing.
-18k Necklace: This was a fairly thick necklace, guessing the length to be 18". We tested on the ground as a pile and also spread out. The indication under both conditions was not as expected. There was no gold indication at any time, pinpointing or not, discrimination or not. The screen indication was in the lower right of the screen (near the "Iron" range, spread out, not a solid indication and no circle). >30 FE, and between 25-50 CO. The audio was erratic. This was the same with discrimination or no discrimination. The indication stayed at the lower edge from half screen to the right side. (My friend told me its at least 18k but possible the necklace is 22 karat ...I didn't check it).
-Platinum/gold pendant: This was a smaller possibly 1/2" pendant with a gemstone. This indicated with my "normal" swing, but better with the slow swing. With the "normal swing" the indication (Circle) was 12 FE, 40-50 CO, and smearing between 12-25 and 12-50. With the slow swing, the screen would show 2 areas shaded especially when pinpointing, one around 12-07, and the other around 12-43. This showed a distinct 2 different metals.
Thanks for any comments or advice you may have,
Mike
-18k Pendant: The pendant was 18k gold, approximately 3/4" diameter and 1/8" thick. We put that on the ground. I had the detector on Andy's "Beach Mode" and tested with and without discrimination. (Response= Normal, Recovery Deep=On, Recovery Fast=Off, Target Separation= Low Trash, Pinpoint=Normal). What I found is the expected indication, a constant 12-07. But unexpected was with my normal swing, which I thought was slow as compared to others (~1.5-2 seconds each direction), there was no indication or sound, or a chirp with no indication on screen. It was only when I swung the detector very slowly (~3 seconds each direction) that I picked up a good signal (or even that something was there at all). So apparently I was swinging too fast for this pendant. Now a heavier 14k ring sounds off even with 1 second each direction. So it appears it's possible I've been missing pendants or items this size 3/4" and 18k gold for 5 years now. I'll try slowing my swing (even though this limits coverage) to see what happens. Any comments about this or detecting high karat gold items welcome. I've read this machine isn't the best for high karat gold, but the indication was solid with a slow swing.
-18k Necklace: This was a fairly thick necklace, guessing the length to be 18". We tested on the ground as a pile and also spread out. The indication under both conditions was not as expected. There was no gold indication at any time, pinpointing or not, discrimination or not. The screen indication was in the lower right of the screen (near the "Iron" range, spread out, not a solid indication and no circle). >30 FE, and between 25-50 CO. The audio was erratic. This was the same with discrimination or no discrimination. The indication stayed at the lower edge from half screen to the right side. (My friend told me its at least 18k but possible the necklace is 22 karat ...I didn't check it).
-Platinum/gold pendant: This was a smaller possibly 1/2" pendant with a gemstone. This indicated with my "normal" swing, but better with the slow swing. With the "normal swing" the indication (Circle) was 12 FE, 40-50 CO, and smearing between 12-25 and 12-50. With the slow swing, the screen would show 2 areas shaded especially when pinpointing, one around 12-07, and the other around 12-43. This showed a distinct 2 different metals.
Thanks for any comments or advice you may have,
Mike
