New V3i user...iron infested site tips?

[bchampNH]

Hello,

I'm a relatively new V3i owner, and I'm really enjoying browsing this forum. I hope
I can eventually contribute to it.

I do have some questions and observations about the V3i from my time with it. I'm primarily a relic
hunter, and but I'm constantly getting more interested in old coins.

One of the areas I hunt is an old site, and it is absolutely FILLED with square nails. I did pull an
old copper out of here, as well as old buttons, so I continue to work the site. The copper was about 10" deep and was a iffy sounding with the VDI jumping around.
The ground is not very mineralized. Also, many of the targets seem to provide a solid VDI only after the plug has been removed.

I have used an assortment of coils...the stock 10"DD, the 950 V, a 6x8" SEF, and a 5" DD Excellerator. Each has shown advantages with the 950 being the 'quietest',
and the 10"DD being a little deeper.

Since there are nails under literally every swing, it has been tough to separate the trash from the good targets. Also, since the good targets are deep, they are iffy to begin with.
I have tried various recovery delays, but the trash problem is at odds with the desired setting(slow recovery for deep targets). I typically run loctrak mode and ground balance often(tricky with all of the nails).

The nails are constantly confusing me into digging them, because the rusted tips often give off high VDIs into the upper 80s and 90s. Granted, they are not often repeatable,
but neither have the deep GOOD targets been.

I have tried various program settings, often using the MAGIC, or FOX programs as starting points, and I have a pretty decent grasp of all of the V3i paramters. I just haven't found the perfect recipe
to deal with these conditions.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for dealing with Iron infested areas holding old, deep targets. Getting tired of digging so many square nails

Thanks!
Brian

 

[Rob (IL)]

As far as G/B you might actually have to clean an area of nails to achieve a good G/B spot.
A program using correlate could help with the nails. A small coil is necessary with all the trash.
The only real way to get the deeper targets would be to dig and clear the shallow crap and then use the larger coils. Magics program is a high gain program with a large coil foot print. It would not be the best for getting between the trash.

 

[bchampNH]

Thanks for the advice. I have dialed back the sensitivity and gain of those programs, and it did seem to help with separation. I think you're correct in that I just need to keep clearing out the junk. Unfortunately, many of the nails are deep as well and sound a lot like the good stuff.

Regards,
Brian

 

[mthunter]

With the Eagle spectrum I used to use DC phase to ID deep iron and it worked like a charm.
I just pinpointed to the side of the target and drew the coil over it, if the DC phase was anything over 0
it was a traget not made of iron. Negative numbers were always iron.

The V3i must have something similar to measure ground phase....right?

 

[Rob (IL)]

If the nails are deeper than the targets, you will hear them. Have you tried the correlate? Are you using the smaller coil?
Also you should use a faster recovery speed and a faster ground tracking or even Locktrac.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Although the VDI's might peak in the 80's to 90's from wrap-a-round, the Signagraph should show red bars down in the iron range, a give-a-way of iron. The Pinpoint and Analyze screens should also support the Signagraph. I would try the Correlate mode in that much iron, that should eliminate almost all of your iron wrap and a small coil should also help with the separation. As Rob suggested, I would also lock the tracking after a good GB and and a faster recovery speed of 50.

 

[ak_1234]

With the Eagle spectrum I used to use DC phase to ID deep iron and it worked like a charm.
I just pinpointed to the side of the target and drew the coil over it, if the DC phase was anything over 0
it was a traget not made of iron. Negative numbers were always iron.

The V3i must have something similar to measure ground phase....right?

I don't have a V3i in front of me, so I'm going by memory. The phase display changed a little due to the language options that went in it. But, zoom on the tracking live control. There are 2 displays - one for the tracking settings (inhibit, offset, on/off) and the one on the right will show the phase for each of the 3 frequencies. Make sure that the display on the right is in full view. May have to press the menu/tab button to bring it to the front. The normalized VDI (only one VDI displayed - it is calculated the same as normal operation) is displayed at the top of the frequency phase info list. The phase information for the individual frequencies are the true phases in degrees. You can put your coil on the ground and press the zero button. This will grab the ground and machine constants to remove them from your target info. Move your coil over your target and it should give you a pretty good reading on your target.

 

[burlbark]

I hate these trash filled areas, and they can drive a person crazy with all the square nail falsing. However these sites are often the ones that yield the best treasure. I see from your list of coils that you do not have the 5.3 or the 4x6. These are a must have and will double your good finds in hard to hunt locations.

The technology is just not yet here to determine with utmost certainty that you are passing by something good when rash is overwhelming. Fundamentally the v3i is as good as they come and has very little room for improvement and it will take a serious breakthrough to make it replaceable.

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

All good advice but I would dial the recovery delay back to 40. Also, make sure Mixed Mode is OFF. the All Metal will give you a headache if you leave it on!. I would also accept all targets down to -30 to avoid the masking of good targets by nearby iron.

 

[bchampNH]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I went back to the site this evening, and although I didn't find anything great(an Ox shoe and an old shotgun casing), I dug much fewer nails than normal. I dialed my recovery delay back to 40, filter at 5/Band, and swung slow. I used the trigger forward spectrograph analyze with very slow recovery(120) for double checking iffy targets. With the fast recovery I was able to separate several nails per swing as opposed to one big iron blotch with bouncing VDIs.

I was using correlate with relatively low gain(RXG=6), locktrack on, and the 950 coil. I was too lazy tonight to swap to one of my smaller coils, but still, the 950 did well as long as I moved slow.

I'll keep working the site with smaller coils. I'm sure there is more copper in there!

Best Regards,
Brian

 

[Giant056]

That's the thing I really like about the V3i is once you've got the hang of it you can easily adjust on the fly while you're out there. I'm thinking about making 3 different programs myself all for different size coils. I have the 9.5 but it's an old one as is my 6x10. I pretty much only use the D2 coil and a non nulled 4x6 that works as good as if it were nulled. It's been a tossup between buying a nulled 6x10 or 9.5 and I'm pretty sure I'll opt for the 6x10 cause they're fantastic in the woods when there isn't too much snow.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

Over The 4th Weekend I hunted one of my Local Dry sand Beach, which is Loaded with Iron & Lost Jewelry, as I have found several Rings at this Beach.

The V did alot of VDI wrap a rounds ...... I don't recall getting that much wrap arounds with my DFX ?.

never thought of using Correlate. ......will try that out next time I go back.