My take on 4KHz

[Ism]

First I would like to thank CZconnoiseur and Beepsilver for their imformative posts using 4KHz.

Because of the strong case for 4KHz in searching for coppers and silver, I decided to put it to use in a couple places that I had found silver in the past.

I went to a local school where I have dug many silver rosies and mercury dimes and countless wheats. The school dates from 1924 but the football bleachers date from the early 50's.
The bleachers are no longer there but the outline in the grass from the running track that was around the field it is still visible from satellite as well as the ground. Old aerial photo's show where the bleachers were located.

So I started searching this area. I had my notch set to 70 and my reactivity-2 with silence-1. I always wondered why I never found any silver quarters because of all the dimes I dug in the past when my first "not so dig" signal gave me an occasional 77 out of the much higher numbers that indicated iron. I dug the signal and found two rusty bolts with a 1960 quarter. I searched for a while and got several wheats but no more silver. I decided to move to another area and found the merc less than 2 inches under the surface with a very nice signal. I thought it was going to be clad and am surprised it was never found before since the area was searched many times by me and others. I am guessing it had been brought out of hiding from the general movement of the soil during freeze and thaw.

A couple days later I returned and continued to use 4KHz. I got a nice signal that sounded deep that was somewhere around 80-81. I dug and found more aluminum foil, the bane of 4KHz. It seems to come in anywhere from 70-88 at 4KHz in this iron infested site.
I re-swept the hole and I still had a deep coin signal. I didn't look at the VDI, I just pinpointed and dug deeper. Out pops the 43 quarter. So under the foil was the silver quarter. Had I been in another frequency, the quarter would still be there masked by the foil.

Then I got a bouncing signal that gave me another 73-88. That turned out to be the rosie with the buffalo off to the side. I had nickels notched so I'm guessing the higher numbers were a result of local iron.
All in all I'm happy with the results but the best audio signals were from deep bottle caps and aluminum foil. That stands to reason because I dug everything that wasn't masked in the past.
However I suspect that most of the targets (except 43 quarter) would have been dug in 8KHz had I been using it.

The 1895 IH was from a different hunt and not with 4KHz. It just happened to be on the same towel. The rest of the coins are wheats found with 4KHz.

 

[CZconnoisseur]

Boom! Great story! I love getting those iffy signals and then first finding the trash, followed by the until-now masked keeper(s)!!!
There's bound to be more masked goodies around that area as well. Aluminum items seem to pop a little TOO well in 4kHz, and the larger the item, the better it sounds. Cast aluminum bits are the bane of my existence!

 

[beepsilver]

Ism well done on the finds--that's a nice silver tally for two hunts--an indian and buffalo are nothing to sneeze at either! A 4K Deus Master you are!

Thanks for the detailed post! Your first quarter find where the bolts pulled the bouncing VDI down to an occasional 77 is a good memory tickler for me. If the bolts brought down a quarter's VDI then they could also do the same for a silver dime which can hit between 70-81...with bolts I would guess the dimes might fall to below 70. Consequently, if you notched to 60 instead of 70 in 4K, you may get an earful of more undesirable targets but you may end up pulling a few more wheats and silver dimes from the site.

 

[CZconnoisseur]

The less notch you use, the better you will become at telling nickels from pulltabs. Nickels and other circular objects sound a little better than a similar-sounding target with the same total conductivity. Pulltabs sound pretty good one way, but not as confident on a 90-degree sweep. The exception to this is round Pulltabs...

I think Andy's book had it spot-on when describing the best discrimination circuit out there being your brain. The more I use this machine, the more i believe that statement!!! I like to hear those medium and medium-low tones and see how steady the VDI is along with the quality of the audio component.


Still no gold for 2014 yet!!!

 

[Ism]

Thanks for the advice. I will go back with a lower VDI and continue my search.

 

[Cladiator (OR)]

Good job! Nice bunch of keepers. Congratulations and thanks for the target details and pictures.

 

[newuser]

Nice hunt.
I just want to add be careful with the notching. My reason for this is that I dug a 1943 P silver war nickel that rang up at a solid 33 in 4kz. It was near some foil so that may have brought the #'s way down. . Anyhow that is why i'm on the fence with notching.
Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Ism]

Yes Newuser, good advice.
I was just trying 4KHz out in an area previously detected to see how it does finding silver.
I have since removed notch and set tone breaks. I know what you mean about TID's changing in the presence of another target.

Today I did a baseball diamond that has been played since the late 1800's. Probably sometime in the 70's it was reworked and fill was brought in.
I found a couple wheats in the past, but today I found a merc dime. I got a few sweet signals that registered 95 but after digging 10+ inches, I quit because I didn't detect a target with the pinpointer.
Bottle caps sound like that but are usually only around 6".
I used Deus pinpoint and the target footprint was that of a deep coin sized target so I'm not sure why I didn't find it but was worried about the image of me digging deep in a ball diamond.
there were lots of people at the park and by the 3rd inning, the ump told me I had to leave....grin

Oh yeah, found my first "solid" bracelet. Plated copper with silver inlays (I think).

 

[samandnoah]

Nice adjustments, and looks like it yielded you some goodies. Congrats.
Rich

 

[newuser]

Ism, I couldn't agree more about setting tone breaks. Of course if you are in a hurry then by all means notch out what you don't want and just dig for coins,or whatever desired target you may be seeking.

 

[samandnoah]

Hey lsm, can you pls clarify one of your statements above? I keep reading it and rereading it, and I can convince myself that you meant either one.

When you said "I have since removed notch and set tone breaks", did you:
A) removed the notch, and then set some tone breaks (I'm assuming either going 2 tone or full tones before), or
B) removed the notch, as well as removed the tone breaks you had before (and so now going to 2 tone or full tones)?

Thanks!
Rich
PS My initial reading and understanding was choice "A", but then I suddenly wasn't so sure.

 

[Ism]

Rich, I am using 3 tones and set my set break at 70 (first is at 5 automatically for disc=5) So I actually only set one tone break.
I had wrap around notch set at 96 but I dug a 6-7 inch wheat penny that registered 95 (most likely because of nearby chunk of iron pulling the ID up) so I removed upper notch.
I have to admit, I am having trouble with bouncing numbers in 4KHz when trash is present, but in a clean site, there's no question when it's a good target.

 

[samandnoah]

Hey lsm, thanks for the clarification. I said 2-tones because, as you pointed out, Disc is the first "tone", and 2 tone would effectively make it a "beep & dig" machine. So that was my logic as to why I assumed you were either in 2-tone or full tones, and going to multi-tone set-up. I haven't been able to cope with full tones because of the trashy nature of where I hunt. That also leads to a great deal of the bouncing numbers like you're experiencing. I still haven't had any great luck with 8 kHz, though I know many prefer it over either 4 or 12 kHz. My slight preference is 12 kHz, but have been strictly focused on 4 kHz lately to see if I can develop a strategy to cope with some of its shortcomings where I hunt.

Please keep us posted as you learn new things and come up with any novel approaches!
Take care,
Rich

 

[Sleepyjim]

Man I gotta try 2 tones.......

 

[Ism]

Rich, I went out today and realized I lied to you about notch. I actually dropped it but didn't eliminate it (notch 5-40).

 

[samandnoah]

How could you lie to me?! But I do appreciate that update. VDI of 40 in 4 kHz is so close to letting nickels register, and 40 - 44 is where I find so many pulltabs. Granted, this is my soil and my best effort to ground balance, but that's where they register for me. So why not go either a little higher or lower (just curious)?

Good luck!
Rich

 

[Ism]

Rich, every nickel I found (in iron infestation) registered very high 60-75, similar to a zincoln. Same ID with many beavertail pull tabs and foil wads.
There is just too much bouncing of target ID in this location even on copper/silver coins. As much as 10 points and very broken audio to go along with the bouncing ID.
If I was in a clean area I would move the notch down to 20.
I'm not worried about nickels at that location, I want to pull the silvers right now, then I will go back with 18KHz and pull the nickels. I'm pretty spot on ID'ing them at 18KHz by TID and audio.
I do a lot of jewelry hunting at 18KHz so the 4KHz frequency doesn't come easy to me in ultra high trash sites. The parks baseball field was a dream to work in comparison to the school.
Ran

 

[samandnoah]

Wow. Really interesting, and I appreciate the explanation. I don't recall ever seeing a nickel that high. But this is an excellent reminder about using AUDIO. I'd likely have missed the nickels for a while, and/or be very, very confused for a while until I figured out that VDIs were "off" of my expectations. And another reason I need to learn to stop staring at the d@mn controller all the time!

By the way, I would love to get your take & info on jewelry hunting and using 18 kHz in general. I've tried going to 18 kHz several times, and it's love of tiny targets, teeny shreds of aluminum in particular, has driven me to abandon it too quickly I suspect. I've read reviews/tests from some very respected folks that unequivocally state 18 kHz gets you the absolute most depth. And obviously should also be most sensitive to low conductor targets like gold.

Please feel to start a new topic (how about something really clever like "My take on 18 kHz"?! ) because it is likely to be a topic others would want to see as well. When & where do you decide to go 18 kHz? Settings? Tweaks to your standard settings to get the most out of it? etc.

Thanks,
Rich