Omega 8000

[TP63]

I've had mine for a week now so by no means do I have it mastered. I do like the way that it locks on to targets and Id's for the most part. Although it does id modern tabs as nickels (57)
I do have the 11"DD coil so that may have something to do with it. I was at a site that I have hunted with my other detector that I have had alot of iffy signals that turned out to be coins.
Same thing with the Omega, numbers jumping and tones all over the place, trying to sort out the good from the bad. Thing was the targets weren't deep and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't
lock on like it had been doing. Ground balance was 68 and no Fe bars running in 4 tones disc at 16 sens. at 99 and running quiet as a mouse. So after some frustration I switched to 2 tones
and was able to lock on to targets better with better id.

 

[Monte]

I've had mine for a week now so by no means do I have it mastered. I do like the way that it locks on to targets and Id's for the most part. Although it does id modern tabs as nickels (57)

Tom, as you said, you haven't put in enough time to master the Omega, although it is a very versatile Coin Hunting unit, to be sure. As you work with it more, I am sure you'll get a better understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Remember, there is no such thing as a 'perfect' detector.

Some of the old ring-pull type tabs, or parts of them [size=small](both the ring portion and some beaver-tails)[/size], and most modern rectangular pry-tabs like on the cans today, have a conductivity that can range from just a bit below the US 5¢ coin [size=small](our "Nickel")[/size] to exactly like a "Nickel" and then on up above that into the old-use 'Tabs' range. On my Omega's, three of them, most US Nickels produced a '57' VDI as long as they were in favorable condition, laying relatively flat-to-the-coil, and within the upper 3" to 4" range from the coil. Any coil.

That said, I have had Nickels produce a numeric VDI read-out as low as '55' and as high as '59', usually reasonably well 'locked-on' when all seemed favorable. I have also had them, like other US coins and good conductive targets like trade tokens and rings, etc., produce very jumpy and erratic audio and visual responses. The cause? Too deep, odd angle, or generally masking from a nearby metal object.

I do have the 11"DD coil so that may have something to do with it.

Nope, it wouldn't cause that directly. I will remind you, and readers, that typically a Double-D search coil is less accurate when Discriminating and has more difficulty with iron targets. Also, remember that the larger coil is going to cover more ground in a sweep, and that means more metal targets [size=small](both accepted and rejected)[/size] which can lead to total good-target masking, or at least partial masking that can result in a jumpy audio and visual response, or just cause an up-scale reading or a down-scale reading.

I usually rely on smaller-than-stock search coils and, in many site conditions, that helps eliminate all or some good-target masking which results in better, more accurate [size=small](or more useful)[/size] visual and audio responses.

I was at a site that I have hunted with my other detector that I have had alot of iffy signals that turned out to be coins.
Same thing with the Omega, numbers jumping and tones all over the place, trying to sort out the good from the bad. Thing was the targets weren't deep and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't
lock on like it had been doing.

What we don't know by your post is your definition of "deep," or what you consider to be an "iffy signal."

When conditions have a lot of targets of varying conductivities, or many that are too close to other targets, it can be more difficult to use get good, clean signals. Smaller size coils can help, and sometimes reducing the Gain/Sensitivity can help, but you'll find, as I have in over half-a-century of detecting, that you are going to have more of the less-than-perfect conditions and audio/visual results than you will nice-and-proper results.

Ground balance was 68 and no Fe bars running in 4 tones disc at 16 sens. at 99 and running quiet as a mouse. So after some frustration I switched to 2 tones
and was able to lock on to targets better with better id.

Mild ground compared to sites I hunt, but if I want to reject iron nails with an Omega I use a Disc. setting of 16/17, and run the Sensitivity at '99' or as close as I can most of the time.

Enjoy your Omega and the time spent learning it and finding stuff.

Monte

 

[TP63]

Thanks for the reply Monte, very informative as usual. One more question... what's the difference if I turn the discrimination up to discriminate out everything but dimes and quarters or set my discrimination at 16 and notch out everything but domes and quarters?

 

[Ezer19]

Thanks for the reply Monte, very informative as usual. One more question... what's the difference if I turn the discrimination up to discriminate out everything but dimes and quarters or set my discrimination at 16 and notch out everything but domes and quarters?

the difference would be a misuse. Notch is used to disc out a specified, predefined type of metal. Goal is, to disc out a higher conductivity target and let the lower in.
If you want to hear iron, but not foil, notch foil out and let the iron. You can hear the iron than, but not the foil. Notch is a Kind of "selective" discrimination, while the the "other" disc works linear..
To hear the Iron is essential for me on deserted villages. iron infested spots indicates former human activities (buildings, fortifications etc.)

Excuse my bad english.

 

[detectingMO]

Thanks for the reply Monte, very informative as usual. One more question... what's the difference if I turn the discrimination up to discriminate out everything but dimes and quarters or set my discrimination at 16 and notch out everything but domes and quarters?

Not a whole lot of difference performance wise disc/vs notch. Use the best combination for you. One potential issue with high discrimination is you may be end up running too high sensitivity but not "hear" the emi registering. However, the machine still has to recover from strong emi registration in the disc target response so you'll miss targets. If you want to test this simply disc to 80 with sensitivy up to 99 indoors. Machine will be quiet but going nuts inside. wave a quarter over the coil. it will probably only hit every once in a while or partically due to inability to recover from emi target response.

Now the reason a lot use disc 16 is at that number all 0-40 iron goes silent. so you can run lower disc but still silence iron. HOWEVER, this "glitch" seems to be fixed in version 5/6 and you have to disc to 40 to silence iron.

 

[Monte]

fairly well when Relic Hunting, if the site is not too densely littered, especially with iron.

Things to be alert to for the best success afield include:

• Not using a high Gain/Sensitivity such that there are EMI issues. To adjust for this, I ALWAYS started out with the Omega set at a Discrimination setting of '1' [size=small](minimum)[/size] and then set the Sensitivity as high as I could for the site [size=small](with the search coil about an inch or so off the ground at search height)[/size] that was stable ... no EMI.

• Use the least amount of Discrimination you can tolerate. If a location had a LOT of iron nails, I would increase my Discriminate level to '16'/'17' as that was just enough to reject most iron nails and some other iron. I would still hear the iron targets that still had some conductivity above that of iron nails. Most [size=small](not all)[/size] ferrous targets will read in the '1'-to-'39' numeric VDI range, and most non-ferrous targets fall in the '40'-and-higher VDI range. I had four [size=small](4)[/size] Omega models, all of them were version '4', and I never used any higher Discrimination than just enough to reject common iron nails.

• Selecting the audio Tone ID that you are most comfortable with for the chosen site. I almost always used a 4-Tone audio when I was Coin Hunting in a typically trashy area, such as around bleachers, picnic tables, spectator areas around the sides of sports fields, etc., etc. I liked the performance for most typical urban Coin Hunting areas. However, I would opt for the 2-Tone audio when I was searching a beach, plowed field, or large, open sports fields or big grassy park, as long as the targets were spaced well apart and not too close.

If hunting a ghost town or old encampment, dance hall site, etc., I would use the 2-Tone audio, unless the area was heavily littered at which time I would change to the 4-Tone audio ID.

• Consider the environment condition, such as building rubble, density or trash, how brushy it might be, and select the search coil you feel most comfortable using to best handle the site conditions. For me, during the bulk of my fifty years of detecting, smaller-than-stock search coils have enhanced my rewards and the results in most of the sites I hunt, probably because I mainly search very trashy sites and close to metal fences and metal structures.

Regardless of the types of sites I search, I like to find Coins, any coins, new or old. I also like to find Trade Tokens, Gold and Silver Jewelry, and neat, interesting smaller artifacts, such as Buttons, Bullets, complete Cartridges or Cartridge Cases, Thimbles, Cuff Links, and all manner of 'neat stuff!. To do so, successfully, especially when dealing with pesky and annoying iron trash, I have to be patient, use proper coils for the task, work the coil slow and methodically using the least Discrimination I can, and recover all good and reasonably 'iffy' target hits.

The use of too mush Discrimination or too large a search coil, and often working at a too fast sweep speed, can all impair the performance and results afield. Target masking is one of the biggest challenges we have to deal with, and using too much Discrimination, a larger coil or working too fast enhances or adds to good-target masking.

One more question... what's the difference if I turn the discrimination up to discriminate out everything but dimes and quarters or set my discrimination at 16 and notch out everything but domes and quarters?

If you increase the Discrimination up to reject Zinc cents and only get better-quality copper cents, dimes, quarters and above, then you will be rejecting the US 5¢ coin and virtually all gold jewelry, some older, lower-ready US coils, and you'll have a lot of target masking.

If you increase the Disc. to '16', you'll be rejecting most iron nails and accepting all conductive targets greater than that. However, if you then notch reject ALL segments except for dimes and quarters, you'll be essentially duplicating the first thought.

Notch Discrimination, in my opinion, is close to useless as far as function and efficiency are concerned, and using any more rejection than absolutely necessary, or tolerable, will result in more favorable target loss.

Monte

 

[atomicscott]

I found this mens 14 KT bracelet about 3 weeks ago. If I had notched out tabs, I would have not have found it.

 

[amberjack]

I only have about 10 hrs on the Omega V6 using a Nel 5" coil , hot on high conductors no 2 ways about it but, was really annoying me with the falsing in 4 tone disc at 65 , hunting Australian coins but it would keep chirping and stopping me and there was nothing there.

I am an old hand with GBP/G2 now F19 and I remember it driving me nuts too when I 1st started using it, but now it doesn't bother me after many 100's hrs with it and a go to machine for spending coins in trashy sites. has paid for its self many times over and I love it NOW remember when I 1st got it it came close to being rapped around a few close by poles.

you know how the F19 hisses and pops and farts I know what all that means now, but the Omega was not hissing and spitting it was sounding more like a good target then it was gone, yeah I know take my own advice and spend a good 100 hrs at least before whinging.

so guess I answered my own question

I do like talking to myself sometimes I even like the answer

AJ