The F70 Groans from the deep

[IBdiggin]

Been hunting a beach here on the Wisconsin River that is used by a local pub/restaurant for summer volleyball, parties etc. Their season is just getting under way so I've gotten permission to swing the F70 there. Others have hunted there but don't know anything about them or their equipment. Lots of bobby pins, tabs, foil and iron. Found some clad , mostly quarters which seems unusual but considering it is a younger party crowd, I can see that would be the more common coin to loose. The thing I've noticed about the spirited F70 is there seems to be a relationship between the coin signals that seem to get kinda chirpy or distorted, and the presence of iron signals.. Like falsing. I have my mode 1 set to autotune for a quick comparison to what I am seeing in my mode 2 channel also for a better ground balance. Mode 1 is set at 65 sensitivity, and 0 threshold. Mode 2 is 65 sensitivity, 6 discrim. 0 thresh. delta pitch or 4H with nothing notched out. I use 6 discrim. because the Wi. River has lots of iron in the water and 6 will cut down on the low tones a lot. I found totally by accident while in autotune, I was hearing some 1/2 volume groans. They were so weak that there was no VDI at all. I switched to discrim. mode to try a comparison and there was nothing there. I turned up the sensitivity to 75 and threshold to +3 and there was still nothing there. Yes I am using headphones. I switched back to autotune and did a pinpoint which said about 8 inches. So I dug to 8" before the pro point finally started to pick it up. Determined to find out what the heck was going on and not having to worry about a mess, It ended up being about 10" to a clad Oklahoma quarter and water standing in the hole. If I am running so much gain that I am creating falsing from iron signals, how am I ever going to hear the deep targets? This is why I use autotone a lot. Does any one else find themselves switching back and forth between autone and discriminations modes? Or am I doing something wrong?------Larry

 

[mudpuppy]

That's going to be a real great place for you to hunt! You just have to fiddle around to get those settings right...yes it will bang deep Q's and silver rings...but once the season gets in full swing, think about quick brooming that place as early in the am or at night for shallow drops...then, you don't really need to hear the deep targets, you just want to hear all the info you can on the shallow ones! Down to 6" or so...Try a few of your lighters and knives out there to make sure they come in strong, take a few small gold rings if you have them and tie a string to them and bury them in the sand to see which programs make sense for that area...you may have to drop your thresh into the neg digits, but don't worry, you will still hit deep coins...get a light sandscoop if you don't have one yet, and for sure go after ALL signals for a while...even the bobby pins...I stay running in disc mode 1 and -3 thresh, sens 55-75 and DE mode with the DP tones and even in solid darkness without a light of any sort, you can tell what a target is by the tones, scoop it up, feel what it is, pouch it, and keep going....practice on those tab tones...you really want your ears to get use to foil,nickle,tab...you want a scratchy foil signal for a chain...you don't need to look at the screen for ID...that's a beautiful river there, I've driven across it and gazed down at those sandbars and party spots hoping for a chance to someday sweep it! Working that sand is tough duty, but there should be some great jewelry finds for you this summer, you will be finding cell phones too by the way, and folks are usually very happy to get them back, happy enough to give you money! Your settings will stay in the memory of the machine, so once you get them right, even in the dark, you just turn the thing on and fly! On the sand, don't waste too much time trying to figure out what a target could be, just scoop it up as fast as you can and keep moving...sand and iron and multidenom coin spills and coins on edge can give some very weird signals...just scoop and fly Brother! Get as many targets as you can in the shortest time possible and as often as possible throughout the season. Some of the best attributes of the F70 is its DP tones, its super fast recovery, and the ability to cut a 12' swath on the sand for freshies. Without the DP tones, a penny could be a dime or a Q...the DP tells you exactly what it is, to the point that even a Canadian penny sounds higher than a dime or one of our pennys and just like a silver ring. It is an absolute killer covering dry sand beaches in a hurry.
Mud

 

[jd88047]

Mudpuppy is right, just do the top 3" inches or less and use your largest coil. I try to break the hunt up going deep, then just surface scans as my back get sore after a while. While I don't have a F75, I run a lot of different settings. For sand I use all metal and stay there. I just barely crack on the machine and then just add a lil more sensitivity till I start finding coins. I run in a jewelry mode on high gain. If your picking up bobby pins, you got it set right. Digging all signals as long as you can will get you good results. I don't know the sounds of your machine, so you will have to figure that out. I have one mode that kills the coins, you will find yours. To find the right adjustment on mine is just a hair trigger of a setting. It can go quiet or squirrely if its set wrong. Good luck and post some pics.

 

[IBdiggin]

So Mudpuppy I'm curious. Do you think my false signals that originate from actual iron are being caused by my threshold set to high? When I get close to the water which is very stained from the iron content, where the sand is super saturated, I can get MUCH more depth in these horrific conditions by switching to autotones. Only thing is with the single tone I have to dig all targets. But think about that for a moment. If coins come in as whispers from the deep so weak that there is no VDI, and big iron is the only other dominating signal, then the trash in these areas are less likely to be heard in the first place increasing my odds for a positive target. I you agree I think I have stumbled onto another reason why the F70 was my right choice.---------------I'm still curious about the F5 though.---Larry

 

[mudpuppy]

Yep..drop thresh a little negative, like a minus 3...go with a low disc...keep the multiple tones, notch out iron if you want...deep coins will still have the ping with either no TID or a lower one than normal..funny, I hunted in Autotune for nearly a year under the assumption I did not want to miss anything..talk about a chattering mess! I only use that for ground balancing and even then seldom. For beach sweeping you want to hear the good targets solidly and wade through the trash as effectively as possible...you got the right machine for effective and speedy beach work brother! After a short while you will start to focus not as much on coins but on those foil,nickel,tab,zinc signals...you will get silver rings easily in the dime and Q tones, deep too, its the gold,plat you are after, and they are in the low tones mainly...grab as much of the scratchy foil signals as possible if you want a gold chain. Just grab everything for a while above iron, loud screaming shallow signals could be a pop can or a bracelet...
Mud

 

[mudpuppy]

Beach hunting is more of a race than a hunt..your competition is fierce! Unless you have a private beach to detect, you are in a race against 50 other schmoes. I can sit and watch the beachcams and see detectorists out there during the heat of the day and shortly thereafter hunting at night...I get up very early and smoke jump from one hotspot to another and try to find the lanes they missed...miles and miles of sand here, a fellow is plumb tuckered out by sunup. Most everything I find was dropped less than 24 hours before. A week tops...unless a good storm moves some sand..if you are finding older grayish colored pulltabs and coins, you can slow down and work the area good...one good season of beach sweeping and you will never have to buy another lighter, sunglasses, sunscreen, or knife again! It is brutal and I don't enjoy it as much as general dirt hunting, but hey, whats a fellow to do? Sand is a lot easier to hunt in the dark than dirt, and one really nice find makes up for all that walking.
Mud

 

[IBdiggin]

I can see where you are coming from which is why the situation here is a little different. This lake system is actually a flowage ( backed up river used for power generation) so in fact its more like hunting a river. Bad thing is changes in depth rate very quickly. Good thing is different things can unearth also quickly. An air boat would be really cool as there are lots of places where people congregate out on the lake or river itself to party on the sandbars. Water levels also vary and leave certain sand bars exposed sometime that normally are under water. Wisconsin DNR is quite fussy though in most areas of the inland water but the shore lines rights are owned by the power co. and beach combing is permitted on certain parts of the flowage.

 

[mudpuppy]

It sure sounds like a sweet area to hunt! Wherever people are rafted up drinking and playing in the water is a good thing!
Mud