Question re: Iron Masking

[MikeK]

Are Iron Mask and Discrimination two different modes? In other words, if I choose Iron Mask, am I not discriminating? Or, do they both run at the same time? If the latter is the case, how the heck does that work??

Help?! Thanks Mike

 

[James N.D.]

Iron Mask is set up so you can Hear everything that is Non-Ferrous and Conductive, at least on up to -15 on my XS. After that, you are in All Metal Mode which will make the Detector gives signals off of everything in the ground, including Iron. Ferrous Tones has to be used when using All Metal Mode so you can get the Low Growls of Iron and the High Pitch for Conductive Targets so you can know the difference between the Iron and the Conductive Items in the ground. Running a Pattern is different in what the User wants to find. With a Pattern, you can get rid of Pull Tabs and such but with Iron Mask, the more you open it up, the more Targets you will hear next to Iron and you will get some False's off of Iron also the further you open Iron Mask up. I use Iron Mask all the time since I need to know exactly how much Iron is in the ground. The Iron will give a Null (the Threshold will go Silent over Iron Targets) and helps me to distinguish in how fast I should be swinging the Coil and what kind of Settings I should use in this kind of Environment. It also tells me if there is a lot of Trash or Iron, that a Smaller Coil should be used to be more successful during the hunt. On a Pattern, if you block out too much or use too small of a Cursor on Edit, Coins that are next to Iron or Trash will then become choppy sounding or may even be masked and no sound at all. I hope this helps you a bit in understanding the difference in Iron Mask and a Pattern. If not, look over you Owners Manual and reread the Iron Mask and Pattern pages. Good Luck and HH.

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

Iron Mask discrimination will only start at left side of screen and progress to right side of screen. Regular discrimination can be started at any place on the screen, you can make the exact same discrimination pattern for both and they will work the same. The more discrimination you use will cause the machine to lose the threshold (null),

 

[NH Bob]

I can see clearly now, the rain has gone.

 

[Doctorcoinz]

All metal sometimes , sensitivity set for stable operation .

 

[Captain Kirk]

Mike,

Using IRON MASK is a special way of setting the discrimination pattern.
* This discrimination pattern is based strictly on the ferrous content of the target.
* It is done by establishing a vertical line on the screen with everything to the left being dark (discriminated) and everything to the right being open (accepted).
* One can adjust the position of the line from the extreme left (accepting all targets) to the extreme right (rejecting all targets).

ONE WAY THAT I USE IRON MASK
I have found it helpful to do the following:
* Establish a non-iron mask discrimination pattern to select only a desired group of targets. This is done by either "painting" portions of the screen and/or using the LEARN/REJECT feature.
* Set the iron mask to -16 to accept all metal.
* Then I hunt with the non-iron mask pattern. If I get a marginal target reading (jumping around or fading in and out), then I switch to the iron mask pattern to get a better look at the target.

HH,
Glenn

 

[NH Bob]

Correction-All Metal All The Time.
Sensitivity, well. That's another story.

 

[Doctorcoinz]

Our soil here is hot and full of iron. Max sensitivity is a no no (mostly) I was on a site today and was running semi auto 9 , i pulled a few 5 inch deep coins out from the highly contaminated soil. Running single number sensitivity levels works fine for me on some sites. All metal hunting well - no thanks only on clean ground maybe..

 

[NH Bob]

When I say "to the max" I mean as high as you can comfortably run it. We all hate too much static. Besides too much in bad soil and you lose depth.
As for wide open, I love the drumming of iron. It lulls you into a trance. You begin to think SILVER, LARGE COPPER, SPANISH REALES the it's back to earth cause the high tone snaps you out of it. No nulling means no missed targets. If you are on your toes.

 

[sangamon]

i am new to the SE. i have been using a small discrimination pattern to cherry-pick silver. i have found that IRON MASK is useful when i get a lot of nulling, just to give me my bearings. i really can't stand the noise of open [no] discrimination, and i don't have the patience to dig all the trash, so after a minute, i'll switch back to my narrow [upper right-hand corner] discrimination pattern. i know i'm missing the odds & ends [and probably some gold], but i'm really happy with all the silver i've been finding. a buddy of mine, known on this forum as 9volt, started out this way, but now he uses IRON MASK all the time, and he's been finding lots of gold and deep, old silver. i'm hoping to work into that mode!

 

[Captain Kirk]

When I am coin shooting I use the following pattern.
* Use the EDIT mode to reject the bottom 80% if the screen (where the silver generally falls).
* Use the LEARN mode to open up the region where Indian head pennies fall.
* Use the LEARN mode to open a window for nickels.
* Select the FERROUS mode of operation
Using the FERROUS mode allow for easy tone ID of nails and other iron. You will quickly learn the sounds of zink pennies, dimes, quarters and nickels without ever having to look at the screen. Keep in mind that when you have a coin next to iron, then the challenge is greater.

You must recognize that you will not have much luck finidng gold jewelry with the above setup. If you want to find the gold (and a lot of pulltabs), then IRON MASK (with a setting of -10 to -14) is a better setup. When hunting the salt water beach wet sand, then I still use ferrous mode, but hunt with a wide open screen. The low pitched growl of iron is easy to ignore.
Then