Nickel depth test with the X-Terra 705

[Squirmingcoil77]

I decided to do some testing in my backyard with a nickel at 6 inches deep. My soil is quite mineralized and I GB around 15. I noticed the GB tracking went from 13-21. It has been raining a lot and the ground was also moist. With the 6in HF DD it picked the nickel up, but gave a low iron tones with a solid -8 and -6. I also tried the 10.5 MF DD and it picked it up great, but gave me high tones and a solid 42-44.

I haven't found many nickels in my hunts and was wondering if there is something wrong with my machine or this is just normal. I was very surprised when the HF 6in DD was giving me solid negative numbers.

Has anyone else had this issue? I'd hate to know I've been passing up deeper coins due to lack of accurate TID numbers.

I'm going to try testing other coins at depth and see what other readings I get.

 

[Squirmingcoil77]

I forgot to add that my sensitivity was set at 25. I dropped it down to 21 and could still pick up the signal. Any lower and the signal went away.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

First off, if your test bed is not at least 2 to 3 years old then you are not going to get any accurate info. test beds need to be aged before you can get any true info from them.

I do not have the 6" coil but I do have the 10.5 MF DD coil and when it comes to finding the deep old coins most times you will not get a accurate reading on them. That's why they are still in the ground and have not been found yet at the old parks and schools. most times they will have a rusty nail, bottle cap or piece of trash real close to them and be throwing off the ID. I've found old V's and buff's that were coming in as a dime or quarter with a flash of a real low number on the screen and I've had the old nickels with numbers jumping all over the place in the teens and low 20's. You just never know and that's why they are still in the ground. if you want to find the old nickels then you will have to start checking out the iffy signals that are 5" and deeper that kind a have a good tone to them.

In another words, it's rare if you do get a good ID on a deep old nickel...

Oh yea,,, IH's are the same way. The ID is not so good but their is something about the tone that gets me to dig.

 

[Squirmingcoil77]

Thanks for the reply. I guess that explains it. I know my test bed needs to be older, so I'll let the coins sit in there for awhile. I guess I'll just have to investigate those deep iffy signals from now on.

 

[atomicscott]

I know it's a bit different, but with the 505, I haven't found a whole lot of nickels either. I mainly use the 6" MF coil. When I do find nickels, they usually bounce between a 15-18, sometimes dropping to a 12. They act similar to a pulltab for me, not a solid ID like a quarter would. I've found clad dimes at 9", but nickels down to about 6". I would think the HF coil would rock on the low conductivity stuff like gold, nickel, etc...I usually try to run my sensitivity at max or as close as possible.

 

[Old Longhair]

I dig every repeatable coin sized signal between 6 and 16 with a 705. Often it's a small piece of folded canslaw, but I dig a lot of nickels and occasionally gold.

 

[mapper65]

My 10.5" MF coil is probably the coil that I use most. I rarely find nickels with that coil. It's not out of the question to find them with a MF coil but the HF coil does much better with nickels. I've been loaning my Mom the 10.5" HF coil for quite some time and just like when I was using it, she always finds nickels.

My 6" digger coil which from everything that I read prior to buying it was not supposed to be very good with nickels either, but.....to date I've found (2) V nickels, (2) buffalos and tonight I found a 1964 nickel. That's More nickels than ive found in a long time with the 10.5" MF coil. The strange thing with the digger coil is that they ID in the 40's below ground and 12 on top of the ground unlike a 12 above and below ground like they read with a HF coil. Our typical ground balance around here is 28-30.

 

[Squirmingcoil77]

All the nickels I've found have always read a solid 12 and were not that deep. I was just surprised that it read -8 and -6 at 6 inches. I really love my 705 and I guess I'm still learning its nuances. I did the same test with my White's XLT and it didn't even register. I pretty much dig almost everything, so I'll just have to investigate those iffy deep signals next time.

 

[Old Longhair]

unlike a 12 above and below ground like they read with a HF coil.

And there you have it in a nutshell.
ID accuracy most often has to do with the combination of the frequency and the target metal.
As stated here often, any frequency can see all metals, but the the best accuracy and response still be had when the target metal and frequency chosen compliment each other. Which is to say that high conductors will return the best and most accurate response to LF coils, and low conductors will be best served with HF coils.

 

[tonopahkid]

I use the 10 inch elliptical coil hf dose really good on nickles I find a lot of them most comein at 10 to 12 but older an deeper 1s some times come in as 8.