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Sounds Again

Cody

New member
So, how do we distinguish a high pitch sound that hits "somewhere" in conductive zone 31. One way is with a Ferrous "marker" in which we look at the horizontal axis for an indication of how much ferrous content the target has. Another is to go by the duration of the sound or telling one middle C from another would be the duration of the sound. Let me say this very quickly.......this takes a lot of hours on the detector to include pitch duration with how fast we are sweeping the coil. A second problem is the skewing of the targets. If we use learn edit we will see that the same target can hit at different points on the screen simply because of how we sweep the coil. This is why we need a nice consistent sweep and need to center the target for a really good reading. This is a very good reason to always pinpoint a target then take a good reading to see what caused the hit.

A good example of duration is the difference between iron and non-ferrous metals. iron will generate a sound far outside of the diameter of the coil. This is not true of the tiny bits of iron but say something the size of a quarter. Non-ferrous metals will often only generate a sound, when in the soil, if they are under the coil. The old timers or experts use the sound width or length of sound in addition to the pitch. Now add sweeping the coil from different angles and we end up with a pretty good idea of what to investigate further and dig or let pass it up.

My personal preference is to go by sound pitch using Ferrous sounds as this follows the ferrous/non-ferrous content and that is what I am interested in. I then use the Digital Readings for Ferrous/Conductive. I taught digital electronics so am comfortable with digital numbers and have a mental picture of how the display is laid out in digital numbers. Sounds also become very easy to relate to a digital reading so a dime is easy to recognize.

We can then add ferrous targets next to non-ferrous ones. We now mix low and high tones but the saving grace is that a piece of iron next to a silver dime will have a sound "tune" and digital reading that we come to recognize as co-located targets. This is one reason for using IM-15, IM-14, something in that area, as targets co-located will generate sounds we recognize. There actually does come a point where we say "That is a dime next to a piece of iron" and every once in a while we are right.

However, unless all you have to do is play around with the detector it might be best to use a visual indication, the screens, with the tones as it may take a while to get to the point Bill has achieved with sounds.

Does this sound correct to you Bill? Please understand I have a lot of respect for your skills from reading your post over the last couple of years so ask this question in earnest.
 
This is an illustration of how to make the sound work to your preference. This helps to get the tones in control and then work into using an open screen with all tones in Ferrous or if you prefer Conductive. If for conductive cut the screen in half on the horizontal axis.
 
Cody/Bill - I have stored all this info in my minds computer (which has a bad hard drive). I will go out again and try to put all this info to use. Thanks to you both

AK in KY
 
Cody,

Conduct or Ferrous. Some points to make in choosing what's it right for you. Trash content. If you're hunting an area that is polluted with pulltabs, conduct sounds, depending on trash density (more on that later), may be the way to go. But, if you're detecting an area with minimal amounts of modern trash ferrous should be the tones to use. BUT, tone choice is not that simple. If you're in detecting in a pulltab infested site with a high trash density. Meaning there is something under the coil almost all of the time. Then, conduct sounds will be more desireable because of one simple reason. The threshold will not update on the Explorer till the threshold returns. So, you are relying on sound ID. With conduct sounds and sound ID I can tell a pulltab from a coin without the LCD ID. In ferrous tones a pulltab sound exactly like a coin hit. But, if you're in a very low modern trash area without much trash irregardless of the trash density ferrous may be more desireable as you can open up the iron mask (-15, -16) to hear iron and get targets close to iron that may have had a chopped/iffy sounds in -12 or so. Also, in areas of lower trash density where you can rely on the LCD ID, ferrous tone, with the higher tones (compared to conduct tones) can help good targets 'stick out' more than when using conduct tones. Both have their drawbacks. One 'trick' is to go to the screen where you pick CONSTANT, CONDUCT or FERROUS sounds. Hit the 'detect' button. When you come across something that you can't ID using ferrous tones because of the LCD ID won't update because of the threshold hit the 'back' button and switch to CONDUCT sounds. Using the two as a reference you can get a pretty good idea ID if you understand the axis of ferrous and conduct! But, alot of sounds choice is recognizing which, ferrous or conduct, will benefit you the most. Trash density also can play a major role because of the threshold not updating in your choice. HH!

-Bill

-Bill
 
I hope this isn't off topic but:
If I am in an area where there are a lot of targets close together and I'm using the "Normal" audio response setting, I have to wait for the threshold to come back before I can move onto the next target for accurate identification.
What I do now is this:I use "Audio 1" and I never lose the threshold.
I seem to be able to move from target to target a lot faster and the sounds are a lot clearer and the threshold is always there. I have only been using the Explorer for about a year so I'm asking you if this is true that there is no threshold dropout in "Audio 1"? I also never use any discrimination.
HH RonL (rluka)
 
There are two primary variables that will cause threshold dropout. Threshold null is due to rejection of discriminated targets and response to very heavy negative minerals. With no discrimination rejection there should virtually be no threshold dropout in normal or audio1. In audio1 better ID is achieved since the processor has a longer time frame to examine the data. Audio2 has a little longer time to examine the data and audio3 the longest.

It is not audio1 per se that causes no dropout but discrimination. I suspect that with audio1 when you hear a target due to the longer responding sound it appears there is no dropout compared to normal audio. Audio1 primarily adjust how long we hear a positive hit and since you have no discrimination then I assume you are working in very heavy negative minerals if you are hearing dropouts. Also, if working near a strong source of EMF there can be disruption of the threshold that causes a stuttering sound.

In my opinion the biggest problem with using the Explorer is trying to run the sensitivity and other setting excessively high. Adjust the threshold to a comfortable level and then the sensitivity only as high as the threshold remains stable. In the areas I hunt the sensitivity can almost always be set between 25 and 28. Once I go above 28 the internal electronics starts to create some noise. Almost everyone I have worked with in helping them to get their detector under control was trying to run the settings too high. This seems to go hand in hand with misconceptions of how to achieve more depth.

Hope this helps,
 
Thanks for that info.
 
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