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ok I got some questions?????

M

michaelnc

Member
Today while hunting an old swimming lake I kept getting high tone signals with a readout of 42 or 44. Usually this means a quarter but today I dug several deep holes to find iron around 10 inches down. Is this normal? The tone was perfect and the VDI did not bounce but after digging these signals turned out to be iron. The lake bed is sand down to about 8 inches then it turns to red and yellow clay. Is it possible that the clay caused the iron to high tone and give a good VDI. The last time I hunted here I dug plenty of quarters with a 42 or 44 lock on VDI. This time only one quarter 42 and the rest were iron. I hunted in all metal with 4 tones.
 
ok couple things to try, turn all around the target and sweep the coil again, try to sweep over it in 4 directions. Another thing, put it in pattern one multi tone and listen if the signal is smooth or scratchy, normally if it is scratchy it is iron...........BUT not always. What did you have sensitivity set on? I try to keep mine at 25 IF the site allows it, if I got 26 or higher I get a LOT of deep iron fooling me into thinking it is a coin. was the signal real loud or a soft whisper, I find iron gives a loud signal where a deep coin is soft and smooth signal
 
if your MD'ing in a pattern mode then switch to All Metal and see if you can hear the grunt at the begaining and end of the tone and that might help you to tell if it's iron.
 
I really appreciate the tips. I've gone through a lot of detectors and I want this one to be a keepr. So far I am enjoying the Xterra. Its balanced great, the tones are excellent and it seems plenty deep. I just want to learn all of its functions thoroughly.

Thanks and HH
 
I guess I didn't read the whole post, my bad.

Ok, let me try this. What coil was you using?

I use the 10.5 DD 7.5 coil and it's not very often that I can't hear the grunt or the tone is clipped off on deep iron when in AM.
 
he just pm'd me and told me he had sensitivity at 30, I think that is the main reason he was having that trouble Mark, if I ran at 30 sensitivity I'd be digging iron all day, at least in my area, I cannot go above 25 or I get fooled way to much on deep iron.
 
Thats good to know G4e, though here I can hardly get past about 26 with out chatter and thats in tracking mode.

Jeff
 
It helps me to turn down the sensitivity to avoid the clay giving false readings. I think it's probably the minerals in the clay giving you the false reading. Out here in Washington state, I have experienced this in the wet sand and gravel on the edges of the lakes, and reducing the sensivity helps with the false signals. These are also places that have a clay bed under the sand and gravel. Out here, the false signals occur at the 44 to 48 reading on my X-70.
 
for me deep iron is usually 46 and 48 rarely 44. #44 is normally aluminum cans, lids, big pieces of brass, and every great once and awhile they are ACTUALLY half dollars like yesterday...lol
 
Ok for combatting deep(oxidized) iron keep the sensitivity at 25 or much lower, use 99 tones which is multi-tone, listen for the irons signature tones, it reads in the 40's, and then also use the 10.5 DD 7.5(MF) coil.

The 9" LF Conncentric may help and I have also heard on a post that Tracking also helps in combatting iron.

Any other TIPS??

Over on the Tesoro Forum they had a big discussion about this. Some Tesoro's also have this same iron problem. Both the new HOT models(like Vaquero and Tejon) and uMax Tesoros do NOT handle iron well. Monte was very helpful on this. The modern high gain units do no handle iron well. The best iron handling Tesoro machines were the older machines and also the present Compadre and Lobo ST did well along with the older Gold Mountain Cobra or GMT-1650:

Tesoro Forum
HOT vs non-HOT and behavior around iron ...Monte and tvr
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1010874,page=1
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1010874,page=2

Minelab X-Terra Forum
Back to Basics.......Coil selection. ...BarnacleBill
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?55,1012120

"I still use a couple of original Fisher detectors which have excellent iron rejection(Excel & Edge) but they can't match the sensitivity of the HF coils with the X-Terra for small gold."
 
I have been running the detector at maximum sensitivity 30 to squeeze out all the depth I can get. I hadn't really thought about iron falsing but in the future I'll sure pay close attention to my settings in iron laden sites and check my targets 4 ways to see if I can get the grunt for iron. I've gotta go to work tomorrow but I'll probably get to hunt again on Wednesday and I'll test out the tips you fellas have given on the Xterra.

Thanks,

Shane
 
In Michigan, with the X-Terra 70, I have difficulty running the sensitivity above 24-26 without falsing. Haven't had the problem of false signals on iron. The coil I use the majority of the time is the 18.75khz 5" x 10"DD. I have the 9"Concentric 7khz coil but prefer the DD coil for coin hunting. Don't own the 3khz but would like to try it for a while to see if I like it.




:minelab:X-Terra 70, Garrett Pro Pointer, Wilcox Pro 100 Digger
 
Sensitivity is a funny thing. There are many times that I have to turn my sensitivity way down to 15 - 17 to get my detector to settle down and tune out some iron readings. I'm in NC and the dirt here is "funky". Each one of my coils operates a little differently, too. Today (and yesterday) I was using my LF coil and had to adjust sensitivity down to the 15 -17 range. Other times and with different coils, I can have it up as high as 20 - 23. It's rare for me to be able to crank it up much higher than that here in NC.
 
Goes4ever said:
wow that would really stink to have to go as low as 15-17, I get very little depth when I have mine that low
Click to expand...

True, but it still works. Yesterday I found an 1889 IH penny and today found a 1958 quarter. Both were around 4" range. Granted, I might have missed out on any thing much deeper, but if I hadn't turned the sensitivity down I would have missed those coins.
 
I use to set my sensitivity as high as it will go, thinking it would always hunt deeper. But consider your sensitivity as being the same as headlights on your car. If it is a clear night, with no atmospheric interference, you are best served using your high beams. You can see farther and nothing gets in the way. But compare driving in fog, with detecting in dirt. In fog, you are better off driving with low beams. High beams in fog cause too much light to be reflected back to you, resulting in poorer visibility. Same goes with sensitivity. Setting your sensitivity too high will result in energy being bounced back to the coil, causing false signals and less than favorable results. Less sensivity can actually allow you to hunt deeper in given situations, with better results than trying to overpower the ground. Especially in sites that have multiple targets or high degrees of mineralization. JMHO HH Randy
 
that's a great scenario,i was at the park last night and just wanted to hunt coins so i switched the coils out for the 3Hz 9in i was using the 10in doubled 7.5Hz i found the night before some silver mercs and a Indian h so i figured i would find more with the 3Hz coil,well i too had to turn down the sens. i was on 22-25 with the 7.5 coil and down to 17-120 on the 3 Hz coil i was thinking that the 3Hz coil was going to find me more coins i was wrong i got more false hits the i did with the doubled.
 
I have never had a problem with iron till yesterday evening. I can relate to your frustration digging deep and finding iron.

Day before yesterday the X70 was humming right along not doing a thing wrong at all, no iron no falsing of any type.

I was feeling VERY confident and felt I was going to smoke my buddy at a small lot that we do, BANG! I get a good 42 from all directions at perhaps 6 inches deep. My friend couldnt hear it I thought this is perfect! I dug my brains out to find a iron nail that sounded sooo perfect in and out of the ground.

I had GB'd, noise cancelled, had my sens real low at about 15 and was running the stock coin pgm due to all the trash and limited time.

Ok, I figured this was a fluke of some sort. I got another hit reading a solid 38, again repeatable in all directions and the sound was perfect. AGAIN a nail at about 6 inches.

This went on for about 5 targets and me trying everything imaginable.

What finally solved the problem was to do a reset of the unit. I defaulted back to factory options for the setup and disc patterns. The same nails in my pouch no longer responded as a hi end coin and I didnt find any more iron either for the rest of the evening.

I doubt I had something set wacky because it has never done this before, I dont mess with the settings and I had used it the evening before with great results. IF I did have it set up weird, the reset resolved the problem. If the x70 got knotted up inside, the reset cleared that problem too.

Hope I never see this iron loving situation again, it was as bad as some say it is, probably worse.
 
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