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.
TP63 said:
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