REVIER
Well-known member
Lately I have been using and practicing with monotone on my F70.
I get into phases and stay with some tone settings and just use them for continuous hunts until I get comfortable...practice does make perfect in this hobby from what I can see, or if not perfect pretty darn good, anyway.
So far I have spent a lot of time in all metal, 4H and 3H, (I rarely use multi tones without that high nickel setting), and 1F and 2F seems the most quiet and stable and that modulation on the shallow targets does come in handy.
I didn't think there would be a huge difference by switching into 1 tone from 1and 2F but I have discovered there is some.
One thing is without that modulation on shallow targets it is for me less mentally fatigueing to listen to signals all day.
Another thing is I do adjust the disc up and down between 1-23 depending on my trash threshold for that site or any specific day, but when I am down on 1 in disc and using monotone I think...maybe, the target separation is at the utmost optimum or it seems that way to me.
NASA Tom has mentioned this tone setting as the best for hunting in heavy iron for good reasons, I assume.
I had another post about this monotone stuff a few days ago and when I am at 1 disc it is almost like I can get a clear picture of everything that is happening under my coil in my head and I mean everything big, small, shallow or deep.
Not much about depth because one tone us really one tone, but on anything I want to check out better I have the pinpoint button for that.
A few days ago I was in the entrance area of the close local park I practically live at, (I have found many great but thoroughly masked targets in this area), just using monotone, the big DD coil, sense was at 85, thresh at -4, SL speed and disc at 1.
Pretty darn quiet at these settings too.
DE works ok for me but SL gives me stronger, clearer and louder signals in this iron saturated and mineralized mess I hunt in even if my goal is only to get down to the 6-8" area.
The thresh does affect the chatter I get in the areas I hunt, I know that the lower you go supposedly the more the really small targets will be cut out but I have hunted down to -4 and even -5 and -6 in the past and still got very solid dig me hits on a few ridiculously tiny targets so I don't think coins, rings or anything else I want to find would be a problem even if they are deep.
Maybe I will push the thresh down a bit further sometime and see what happens but my goal is to get it as quiet as possible and still get the best signals on possible good stuff in that 6-8" level and these settings seem to work pretty good for me around here.
I have lowered the sense to the 60-80 level when some EMI pops up and it still seems to be fine for depth but if I can keep it at 80 or higher and quiet I feel better doing that.
I still laugh about how many talk about how noisy these things can be, but if I can hunt in this hot ground with all the feedback, in areas with WiFi and even major powerlines overhead which this entrance site also has and still hunt almost deathly silent and still get good signals on targets deeper than most others can understand well...I ain't no genius, if I can do it anybody can.
All it takes is a bit of time learning to understand your tools and the conditions of the sites you hunt in.
So anyhoo I was getting ready to leave because rain was coming in and I was scanning an area I had hit before near an old sidewalk going superduper slow with that big coil, just crawling along, and I get some high tone signal behavior.
Not solid, nothing around here comes in at small jumps of 1,2 or 3 numbers unless it is really shallow but a range of higher numbers that tells me there could be a non ferrous target in the vicinity.
I stopped and pinpointed something that said 6" on the depth indicator, but also right next to it only inches away was something else big and deep and probably iron.
Now around here there is so much big iron everywhere and I have learned that rusty iron will usually throw off high tone signals up to many inches away from target center.
This situation was classic, big iron and high tones a few inches away and most if the time I would have walked away but this time I just had the sense that there were 2 separate targets down there.
That smaller high tone object seemed to repeat in the exact same place with different movements of the coil...false signals in this situation might be close but are never in exactly the same place on every swing.
I didn't switch to other tones to see how all this would present itself, would there be more bleed over between the two targets and blur the line, would I be able to get as distinct as these two seemed to be that triggered my digging instinct?
No clue...wish I had time to experiment but that rain was coming in so I had to dig this thing up and get going.
I got down to that 6" area and I did find something there, first a small curved piece came out because this target was thin, brittle and I think I hit it with my digger somehow but I eventually got out the other part which was as large as a half dollar thin and crusty dirty.
Thought it was junk but I scrapped one side with my thumb enough that I started to see some words emerge...A COIN...STARTS...barrel, WAY.
Had no idea what it could be but after a few days scrubbing and some research I finally figured out what it is.
This happens to be the plate off of one end of a promotional device called a barrel bank, distributed not only by banks but other businesses with usually some sort of advertising on the coin slot plate on the other end.
Popular in the 20's to the early 50's in metal, also made in wood and plastic later on.
I assume this piece was from the 20's to the 40's because I have found other targets in this area of the park from that era.
The words on this thing actually say...
"A COIN in the barrel today STARTS a barrel of coin on the WAY"
Way better than digging junk, wish it was whole but it is identified and I found a few pics posted below of a similar bank online with a plate that is not exactly the same as mine but real close.
I think it was monotone that really helped me notice this one so close to big iron, but next time I come across a similar situation I will try other tone selections and see how it all compares and shakes out.
I am going back in few minutes and hit this same area again and I will use the same set up to hopefully find some more hidden goodies so I will report back if something else cool and neat pops up.
I get into phases and stay with some tone settings and just use them for continuous hunts until I get comfortable...practice does make perfect in this hobby from what I can see, or if not perfect pretty darn good, anyway.
So far I have spent a lot of time in all metal, 4H and 3H, (I rarely use multi tones without that high nickel setting), and 1F and 2F seems the most quiet and stable and that modulation on the shallow targets does come in handy.
I didn't think there would be a huge difference by switching into 1 tone from 1and 2F but I have discovered there is some.
One thing is without that modulation on shallow targets it is for me less mentally fatigueing to listen to signals all day.
Another thing is I do adjust the disc up and down between 1-23 depending on my trash threshold for that site or any specific day, but when I am down on 1 in disc and using monotone I think...maybe, the target separation is at the utmost optimum or it seems that way to me.
NASA Tom has mentioned this tone setting as the best for hunting in heavy iron for good reasons, I assume.
I had another post about this monotone stuff a few days ago and when I am at 1 disc it is almost like I can get a clear picture of everything that is happening under my coil in my head and I mean everything big, small, shallow or deep.
Not much about depth because one tone us really one tone, but on anything I want to check out better I have the pinpoint button for that.
A few days ago I was in the entrance area of the close local park I practically live at, (I have found many great but thoroughly masked targets in this area), just using monotone, the big DD coil, sense was at 85, thresh at -4, SL speed and disc at 1.
Pretty darn quiet at these settings too.
DE works ok for me but SL gives me stronger, clearer and louder signals in this iron saturated and mineralized mess I hunt in even if my goal is only to get down to the 6-8" area.
The thresh does affect the chatter I get in the areas I hunt, I know that the lower you go supposedly the more the really small targets will be cut out but I have hunted down to -4 and even -5 and -6 in the past and still got very solid dig me hits on a few ridiculously tiny targets so I don't think coins, rings or anything else I want to find would be a problem even if they are deep.
Maybe I will push the thresh down a bit further sometime and see what happens but my goal is to get it as quiet as possible and still get the best signals on possible good stuff in that 6-8" level and these settings seem to work pretty good for me around here.
I have lowered the sense to the 60-80 level when some EMI pops up and it still seems to be fine for depth but if I can keep it at 80 or higher and quiet I feel better doing that.
I still laugh about how many talk about how noisy these things can be, but if I can hunt in this hot ground with all the feedback, in areas with WiFi and even major powerlines overhead which this entrance site also has and still hunt almost deathly silent and still get good signals on targets deeper than most others can understand well...I ain't no genius, if I can do it anybody can.
All it takes is a bit of time learning to understand your tools and the conditions of the sites you hunt in.
So anyhoo I was getting ready to leave because rain was coming in and I was scanning an area I had hit before near an old sidewalk going superduper slow with that big coil, just crawling along, and I get some high tone signal behavior.
Not solid, nothing around here comes in at small jumps of 1,2 or 3 numbers unless it is really shallow but a range of higher numbers that tells me there could be a non ferrous target in the vicinity.
I stopped and pinpointed something that said 6" on the depth indicator, but also right next to it only inches away was something else big and deep and probably iron.
Now around here there is so much big iron everywhere and I have learned that rusty iron will usually throw off high tone signals up to many inches away from target center.
This situation was classic, big iron and high tones a few inches away and most if the time I would have walked away but this time I just had the sense that there were 2 separate targets down there.
That smaller high tone object seemed to repeat in the exact same place with different movements of the coil...false signals in this situation might be close but are never in exactly the same place on every swing.
I didn't switch to other tones to see how all this would present itself, would there be more bleed over between the two targets and blur the line, would I be able to get as distinct as these two seemed to be that triggered my digging instinct?
No clue...wish I had time to experiment but that rain was coming in so I had to dig this thing up and get going.
I got down to that 6" area and I did find something there, first a small curved piece came out because this target was thin, brittle and I think I hit it with my digger somehow but I eventually got out the other part which was as large as a half dollar thin and crusty dirty.
Thought it was junk but I scrapped one side with my thumb enough that I started to see some words emerge...A COIN...STARTS...barrel, WAY.
Had no idea what it could be but after a few days scrubbing and some research I finally figured out what it is.
This happens to be the plate off of one end of a promotional device called a barrel bank, distributed not only by banks but other businesses with usually some sort of advertising on the coin slot plate on the other end.
Popular in the 20's to the early 50's in metal, also made in wood and plastic later on.
I assume this piece was from the 20's to the 40's because I have found other targets in this area of the park from that era.
The words on this thing actually say...
"A COIN in the barrel today STARTS a barrel of coin on the WAY"
Way better than digging junk, wish it was whole but it is identified and I found a few pics posted below of a similar bank online with a plate that is not exactly the same as mine but real close.
I think it was monotone that really helped me notice this one so close to big iron, but next time I come across a similar situation I will try other tone selections and see how it all compares and shakes out.
I am going back in few minutes and hit this same area again and I will use the same set up to hopefully find some more hidden goodies so I will report back if something else cool and neat pops up.