Very important note:
This is the first PI machine I've ever used.
It took two years of research and study, but finally purchased the Whites TDI SL for my bad ground areas. First visit, test garden....
Did some detailed work in my test garden a few day ago using the TDI Sl. First results are very promising. Settings were, pulse delay 10, ground balance 7 ½, gain max threshold just audible.
I have a copper rivet buried at 7” about the size of the end of a pencil eraser a 6 ½” quarter, dime, nickel and penny along with each at 4 ½” deep in a different part of the test bed. In addition to these I purposely left nails where they were when I planted the garden over 7 years ago. Please keep in mind these were the depths when I put them in the ground, so the exact depth is not known after 7 years.
Starting off in high conductor mode each (except the nickels) gave a very good, smooth audio in every direction except the nails which gave a completely different sound, very much different. Keep in mind I’m still in a steep learning curve, by no means close to experienced but having a fantastic time on my journey.
After listening to the differences between the coins and nails I reduced the gain to about half and listen to each target again. I continued reducing the gain little by little until the deep coins and rivet ceased giving a audio response and that was about gain 3 ½. Raising the gain back to 4 and the coins gave a very faint, low volume tone.
Wanting to play a little I raised the pulse rate, re-ground balanced and checked each target with a gain setting of 6. The biggest difference came when the pulse rate was set above 20. The coins still gave a good audio, but the rivet, which is very small compared to the coins, became difficult to hear, very statically, extremely low in volume. All in all I had a very enjoyable evening, very educational.
First, actual hunt to the coal cinder fields yielded a wheat penny right off, 4 nails then another wheat. I was very pleased to recover these two targets in an area that stopped producing a long time ago. I've got a lot of learning ahead of me now.
Second hunting trip:
Went to an old school where the coal cinder waste has been dumped for years and hunted for 1 ½ hours. This area has been grid hunted for years and I was sure there were no goodies left to be found. Well wrong again.
GB to a little over 8, pulse 10, gain 10 and off I went; very first signal was a wheat penny at 4-5 inches and perfectly vertical. Wow, was I off on my pin pointing skills. Couldn’t believe how I could have missed that one because it gave a very good, consistent audio response from every direction. One thing I noticed, it didn’t give a double beep like a VLF machine would on a vertical coin.
Thought I had the sound of nails down, but was I wrong. Started digging nails, three to be exact, all sounded fairly good but I could tell there was something wrong, but I’m learning, so I dug anything that sounded remotely good.
A few minutes later, not more than 10’ from the penny, another signal that sounded different, not sure what sounded different, still learning. Wow, a silver dime and not quite 5” deep. Now I am wondering how I could have missed that one, not a clue yet. This small area of only 20' x 20' has quit producing any goodies and that was with the best VLF machines on the market today.
Well anyway, the next two targets were nails, then another perfectly vertical copper penny. Had a very good hunt, for an area that basically dried up over a year ago. Wonder what I'll find once I have a little time on this machine? One thing is very obvious, depth is not the problem where I hunt, masking................
This is the first PI machine I've ever used.
It took two years of research and study, but finally purchased the Whites TDI SL for my bad ground areas. First visit, test garden....
Did some detailed work in my test garden a few day ago using the TDI Sl. First results are very promising. Settings were, pulse delay 10, ground balance 7 ½, gain max threshold just audible.
I have a copper rivet buried at 7” about the size of the end of a pencil eraser a 6 ½” quarter, dime, nickel and penny along with each at 4 ½” deep in a different part of the test bed. In addition to these I purposely left nails where they were when I planted the garden over 7 years ago. Please keep in mind these were the depths when I put them in the ground, so the exact depth is not known after 7 years.
Starting off in high conductor mode each (except the nickels) gave a very good, smooth audio in every direction except the nails which gave a completely different sound, very much different. Keep in mind I’m still in a steep learning curve, by no means close to experienced but having a fantastic time on my journey.
After listening to the differences between the coins and nails I reduced the gain to about half and listen to each target again. I continued reducing the gain little by little until the deep coins and rivet ceased giving a audio response and that was about gain 3 ½. Raising the gain back to 4 and the coins gave a very faint, low volume tone.
Wanting to play a little I raised the pulse rate, re-ground balanced and checked each target with a gain setting of 6. The biggest difference came when the pulse rate was set above 20. The coins still gave a good audio, but the rivet, which is very small compared to the coins, became difficult to hear, very statically, extremely low in volume. All in all I had a very enjoyable evening, very educational.
First, actual hunt to the coal cinder fields yielded a wheat penny right off, 4 nails then another wheat. I was very pleased to recover these two targets in an area that stopped producing a long time ago. I've got a lot of learning ahead of me now.
Second hunting trip:
Went to an old school where the coal cinder waste has been dumped for years and hunted for 1 ½ hours. This area has been grid hunted for years and I was sure there were no goodies left to be found. Well wrong again.
GB to a little over 8, pulse 10, gain 10 and off I went; very first signal was a wheat penny at 4-5 inches and perfectly vertical. Wow, was I off on my pin pointing skills. Couldn’t believe how I could have missed that one because it gave a very good, consistent audio response from every direction. One thing I noticed, it didn’t give a double beep like a VLF machine would on a vertical coin.
Thought I had the sound of nails down, but was I wrong. Started digging nails, three to be exact, all sounded fairly good but I could tell there was something wrong, but I’m learning, so I dug anything that sounded remotely good.
A few minutes later, not more than 10’ from the penny, another signal that sounded different, not sure what sounded different, still learning. Wow, a silver dime and not quite 5” deep. Now I am wondering how I could have missed that one, not a clue yet. This small area of only 20' x 20' has quit producing any goodies and that was with the best VLF machines on the market today.
Well anyway, the next two targets were nails, then another perfectly vertical copper penny. Had a very good hunt, for an area that basically dried up over a year ago. Wonder what I'll find once I have a little time on this machine? One thing is very obvious, depth is not the problem where I hunt, masking................