[attachment 236439 1.jpg][attachment 236438 PhotofromCTX3030copy3.jpg][attachment 236435 Photofrom3.jpg][attachment 236434 PhotofromCTX3030copy.jpg][attachment 236433 PhotofromCTX3030.jpg][attachment 236432 PhotofromCTX3030copy2.jpg]Today I hunted Daytona Beach with the 17 inch coil. It's no secret the Daytona beaches suffer from sanded in conditions and so I wanted to see how this 17 inch coil would fare in those conditions. I have always like hunting in the rain and I believe it is the best time to hunt the flat sand beaches. I could be wrong but I think the freshwater rain helps to dampen the salt matrix effect. So here are a few thoughts....FIRST: This is a big coil. I used a swing type harness to make it much lighter. I do the same thing with the Sov GT and the WOT. For me this is quite standard with a big coil.
The CTX has tear drop shaped holes near the handle for a lanyard or dummy cord. I put some quick ties through these and then ran the bungie through the quick ties to keep the wear off the machine from the swivel action.
I left the machine in auto and I noticed the Sensitivity varied from 14 to 24. It seemed to settle around 24 most of the time. In two hours I ended up digging about 25 targets. There was a definite trend. The targets were either 11 or 12 inches deep or 2 to 4 inches deep. This gave me a rough idea of the various sand layers that the water had brought in. If you are familiar with Daytona you know that the native sand is a dirty chalky white color that compacts easily. When Daytona tends to sand in you will see the orange sand that is lighter and tends to be much more prominent in the North Ormond Beach Flagler area. There was quite a bit of orange sand so I knew the chances of finding something good were low. I found I was much more excited about digging the 12 inch targets than the shallow ones.
I did notice that the big coil is just as accurate as the 11 inch coil. The pennies rang in at 12:36, Nickels at 12:13 and Pulltabs at 12:15. At a depth of 9 or 10 inches the numbers seemed to dance around but interestingly enough the signal cursor seemed to stay put as if it was averaging all the frequencies pinging the target. I was digging the pennies because this area is known for old class rings and military rings....but after about 20 pennies I stopped digging them (if it was a tight 12:36 signal). I found the depth readings accurate to plus or minus one inch. In one case a signal registered at two inches and I scooped shallow and it was a childs pin logo. You can see the striations in the sand from the scoop as the sand cuts like chocolate when it is compacted. This makes it much easier to gage accurate depth.
I noticed that the dimes and nickels I was hitting around 12 inches tended to be dark. The nickels coming in at 12:13 sound really good. A nice clear attack, sustain and release like the Sov/Excal detectors. The coil had no problem hammering on the dimes at 12 inches. Not a light signal or a whisper but instead a nice bold sound. Towards the end of my hunt the wind started picking up and the water was being pushed in. The detector started to chatter and so I went to manual. I found the best way to adjust to a quiet threshold is to keep swinging and walking and to pulse the sensitivity down one point at a time as I walk. As I walked it down to sensitivity 13 the detector settled and the chatter went away. I dug several more deep coins so it did not seem to effect the depth, The coil tends to pinpoint directly under the red Minelab logo.
The hunt was fun even though I did not hit any rings. My take away thoughts were that if I can hit a dime at 12 inches I need to see how deep it will nail a class ring. I am affectionately calling this my PKC. Pulse Killer Coil!
Cheers
PS Not sure how these pictures will post? Apologies if it looks funky
The CTX has tear drop shaped holes near the handle for a lanyard or dummy cord. I put some quick ties through these and then ran the bungie through the quick ties to keep the wear off the machine from the swivel action.
I left the machine in auto and I noticed the Sensitivity varied from 14 to 24. It seemed to settle around 24 most of the time. In two hours I ended up digging about 25 targets. There was a definite trend. The targets were either 11 or 12 inches deep or 2 to 4 inches deep. This gave me a rough idea of the various sand layers that the water had brought in. If you are familiar with Daytona you know that the native sand is a dirty chalky white color that compacts easily. When Daytona tends to sand in you will see the orange sand that is lighter and tends to be much more prominent in the North Ormond Beach Flagler area. There was quite a bit of orange sand so I knew the chances of finding something good were low. I found I was much more excited about digging the 12 inch targets than the shallow ones.
I did notice that the big coil is just as accurate as the 11 inch coil. The pennies rang in at 12:36, Nickels at 12:13 and Pulltabs at 12:15. At a depth of 9 or 10 inches the numbers seemed to dance around but interestingly enough the signal cursor seemed to stay put as if it was averaging all the frequencies pinging the target. I was digging the pennies because this area is known for old class rings and military rings....but after about 20 pennies I stopped digging them (if it was a tight 12:36 signal). I found the depth readings accurate to plus or minus one inch. In one case a signal registered at two inches and I scooped shallow and it was a childs pin logo. You can see the striations in the sand from the scoop as the sand cuts like chocolate when it is compacted. This makes it much easier to gage accurate depth.
I noticed that the dimes and nickels I was hitting around 12 inches tended to be dark. The nickels coming in at 12:13 sound really good. A nice clear attack, sustain and release like the Sov/Excal detectors. The coil had no problem hammering on the dimes at 12 inches. Not a light signal or a whisper but instead a nice bold sound. Towards the end of my hunt the wind started picking up and the water was being pushed in. The detector started to chatter and so I went to manual. I found the best way to adjust to a quiet threshold is to keep swinging and walking and to pulse the sensitivity down one point at a time as I walk. As I walked it down to sensitivity 13 the detector settled and the chatter went away. I dug several more deep coins so it did not seem to effect the depth, The coil tends to pinpoint directly under the red Minelab logo.
The hunt was fun even though I did not hit any rings. My take away thoughts were that if I can hit a dime at 12 inches I need to see how deep it will nail a class ring. I am affectionately calling this my PKC. Pulse Killer Coil!
Cheers
PS Not sure how these pictures will post? Apologies if it looks funky
