I figured I'd respond to both of your posts under one heading, if you don't mind. I've been busy using my Racer 2 a lot this past week in some spots to favor use of a 7X11 DD coil, while also getting in some deer hunting time. By the end of the month I'll be working my Relic most of the time with the 5½" round DD mostly, filling in with the excellent 5½X10 elliptical Concentric. I prefer it on my Relic to the 5½X10 DD, but I have that coil also mounted on my Gold + should I want to do a coil swap afield.
So I'll start with this question, or a few questions:
1.. Are you using the 5½X10 DD or Concentric coil?
2.. Since you have the Relic, have you used the excellent 5½" round DD coil much in the trashy areas you appear to be hunting?
3.. I'm curious which search mode you use the most and in what level of trashy environment?
3RINGER said:
Working with IDM I found it blocked good targets that would give a good tone when set to 0 in heavy nails.
As with any detector, the use of Discrimination can help or hinder finding desire targets. The ID Mask [size=small]
(IDM for those unfamiliar with Nokta/Makro terminology for Discrimination)[/size] setting I generally use with any model is low enough to accept iron nails, but high enough to help deal with some problem ground mineral challenges [size=small]
(such as 'hot rocks' or wet alkaline soil, etc.)[/size]. My Relic models are usually operated with an ID Mask setting of '05', and with that I use a slow and methodical coil sweep and presentation, using the smaller size coil I can based upon the density and type of debris present.
3RINGER said:
Also finding that a iron blind with a high tone is not always a false, once I worked the tone and see the numbers not jumping from single digits to 90's ( held steady with a miner gap up or down after making my 90 degree turn) it would be a NF in the mix. Anyone else seeing this?
Hunting in any type of trash can be difficult. If there is a lot of non-ferrous junk such as small foil, larger foil, pull tabs, etc., then that can fool people because these more conductive targets have a tighter TID read-out that mimics desired coins or gold and silver.
Hunting in sites that contain ferrous/iron trash, especially that which is different from a nice-and-proper straight iron nail or piece of wire-iron like a hunk of cut iron fence, can cause a lot of mixed audio and visual responses. Things like
bent nails or wire-type iron, a larger size nail head that is 90° angled from the nail, rusty tin, iron washers, bottle caps, and the list goes on. Iron/ferrous metals have a different effect on an EMF [size=small]
(electromagnetic field)[/size] than non-ferrous metals.\\
Usually, the more conductive non-ferrous targets might produce a little tighter and more consistent TID read-out than a similar-sized and shaped iron object. However, while some iron junk is easily rejected [size=small]
(Discriminated)[/size] cleanly both audibly and visually, there is a lot of the annoying flat-iron or sheet-iron type of debris out there that might have some enhanced conductivity, or by it's nature produce an upscale numeric read-out when swept over with the center-axis of the search coil. It takes some time, practice, and ample patience to learn how to interpret of generally classify these types of 'false' signals and sort out some of the similar responses from a partially-masked desired target.
3RINGER said:
Pulled some more keepers. Hope to get out Saturday to some other places I have hunted in the past that stopped giving up coins and relics with the same type of conditions.
Yes, these conditions are out there for all of us to enjoy
and I definitely do. I've been hunting very mixed metal littered ghost towns and other sites for over forty-seven years now and they are the types of sites I mainly look for. My preference is to find those that are mainly plagued by iron nails and similar cut-wire metals, but all too often the blasted rusty tin and other annoying magnetic metal targets seem to hang out there as well.
So, I use the smallest coils I can, and with the Relic and Racer 2, those are usually the smaller 5½" round DD or the close-size
'OOR' DD coil on my CoRe. In low-to-modest levels of iron nails I opt for the 5½X10 Concentric on the Relic or the same-size DD on the Racer 2 or CoRe.
In all cases, I also make sure I work a dedicated area as thoroughly as I can, using a slower, methodical sweep speed, overlapping 50% or more, and when I get into a lot of brush or rocks or other obstacles I usually have the smaller coil mounted and I 'scribble' the coil in and around brush, rocks, debris and other undesired targets, and that means problem iron junk. Nails, tin, etc., I 'scribble' the coil around, not using fast movements, just to cover some 'tricky spots' a little better. The 'scribble technique' I describe as working the coil around a small patch similar to a toddler playing with a crayon on the white living room wall. Just 'scribble' looking.
3RINGER said:
Did'nt have much time and the ground is hard pack past the first 3-4". Lowered the Sen. down to 44 and set TB at 65 in Di2. Good way to pick up on how that sweet tone pops out on the coins. Really gets your attention. 7 dimes 11 quarters a hand full of pennies and another dog license to add to the collecting. Fun hunt
"Fun Hunt" ... that's how they should all be. I also have used the '65' Tone Break [size=small]
(TB)[/size] setting since I first started working with the detector.
As a rule, I really like to use any of the 2-Tone search modes, mainly Di2, when the sites I hunt are pretty sparse on targets or if the primary annoyance are iron nails. When I am working trashier sites, Relic Hunting or Urban Coin & Jewelry Hunting, I found the 3-Tone, Di3, mode to work very well and it really helps to audibly 'classify' a lot of the rusty tin and other junk ferrous that abounds at the sites I work the most.
Best of success to you on your next trip afield.
Monte
