Question about ground phase and FeO readings

[FrankMD]

When I get a T2 I plan to use it to gold prospect, not just nugget hunt but to look for black sand concentrations as well.

So, the ground phase is read on the top row of numbers on the LCD display? The ground phase number is a combination of all the various iron minerals, salts, etc?

And the Fe3O4 is the magnetite or black sand, I'm assumming

Will I have to reground balance everytime I want to take a FE3O4 reading? Will it change as I sweep from location to location even if I don't re-ground balance?

Thanks guys.

Frank

 

[Bill W.]

The ground phase is the number that appears when you ground balance by pushing the trigger foward. That number is a reflection of the mineralization and I'm sure other variables. To get an accurate Fe304 reading you just need to pump the coil up and down a few times in an area with any targets. You don't haven't to rebalance. The Fe304 can change in any area just like mineralization. I have several areas that the ground phase number will go up or down within a couple of yards. I haven't got used to paying attention to the fe304 reading yet. I'm not used to having that information available... In the times I've paid attention mine has been .01 sometimes a bar up or down. But, I really haven't paid much attention to it. Another tool to get used to using.

-Bill

 

[FrankMD]

Thanks Bill for the thoughts. I see the FEO4 reading as a useful tool that the T2 has built into it.

HH

Frank

 

[jeff@middlesex]

I was just out in a field hunting an old house site. My reading is usually .01 but as I walked in one spot, it went up a bar or two. The machine went quiet and as I came out of the patch of mineralzed soil the bar dropped back to .01 and I could hear the nails and targets again. Pretty cool

 

[Rick(ND)]

This is something I was going to ask on a post, but being we are talking on the FeO readings I thought i would ask now. I notice mine don't show anything 90% of the time, but there is times when I notice it a bar or 2. I also notice a big problem with rusty bottle caps and pieces of old tin cans, so I have been trying something that may have been covered before. When I get one of the good signals I will go to pinpoint and center the target, then release the trigger and bounce the coil over that target, if I see a bar or 2 or even 3 I just figure it is iron trash and move on. There is a few that don't show anything on the FeO meter either that is iron, but sure helps dig less rusty bottle caps. I also been running my disc at 0 as i notice it too will help as I can hear the low tone of iron in with the good signals.
One more thing does anyone notice that a deeper target will read higher on the meter than normal??

Thanks
Rick

 

[jeff@middlesex]

So your hunting in disc and 0 discrimination? You don't use 3B for bottlecaps?

 

[Rick(ND)]

I run the 0 disc the last few times out in a farm field as I have the low tone of iron to tell it is there instead of just a high pitched tone of a good target. The 3d I have used in the park at 40 disc for hunting and really didn't see much difference in the bottle caps verses the 4 tones,but I am sure I need to use it more and may see a difference.
Even thought I got this Teknetics T-2 about 6 weeks ago I would like to see if I can make it work this way before upgrading the software and wonder if anyone else pumps the coil to check if it is rusty iron, or if this is correct.

Rick

 

[Bill W.]

I have come across coins that the feO meter spikes and have almost not dug them. I hunt in 0 disc and didn't hear any iron close. I might dig one or two bottlecaps per outing. I *think* with the 3b mode you're supposed to raise the coil some while sweeping. A coin will stay high tone and a bottlecap will bounce and become unstable in ID. One other thing I did notice is that almost every bottlecap I've dug has been under 3 inches deep. Most of the places I hunt have been pounded hard. Shallow signals (for me) are 99% of the time clad (not a clad hunter) or shallow bottlecaps. I really couldn't tell you the last keeper I found shallower than 4 inches.

As far as deeper signals getting pulled up in ID... I think I was one of the first to mention this. As I've got more used to the machine I can usually tell if it's a coin. But, there are still sites that seem to pull the ID up more than others. I am sure it's something in the T2's algoritm that is slightly off for some soils. I can put up with it as I tend to be a digger on iffy signals anyways...

-Bill

 

[jeff@middlesex]

I noticed tonight that the FeO meter would climb when I went over trash but not over good targets. This is something that needs to be looked into further.