Menu
What's new
Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!

Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Tight coin pattern-what are your experiences?

G

gates21

Member
After reading through Andy's book, and using Jim Upstate NY FE/CO chart, I have come up with a pretty tight coin pattern for the field. I made it like this:
-I took the FE/CO # from his list (i.e. a shield nickel) 12FE 13CO.
-I opened up the pattern by making a line from 25 FE (the lowest a coin could possibly display according to Andy's book), and up a few spots- 9FE
-The book states that the etrac is very accurate on CO numbers- so the nickel should almost always show a CO #of13, but the FE can be pulled up or down based on ground conditions/trash/etc.

Does this sound correct? Are your experiences that the CO is accurate while the FE varies? Is this true even at extreme depths?
let me know your thoughts/ideas.
Aaron
 
I'd say that your understanding is correct. The question then becomes when to use a tight pattern. More discrimination usually means less depth. As a cherry picking pattern (where you hope an accepted tone will shine through the null) is an approach that can pay off if you go slow enough. I usually start with an open pattern and modify it as I learn the site.

A lot of things can affect the FE/CO numbers of a target; ground, multiple targets in conjunction, corrosion, moisture, emi, iron, a holed target, a bent target, a target swept at a less-than-optimal angle, etc. can all change TID's. So, by discriminating the closely surrounding area you increase the chances that you will not hear the target if it is out of the nominal range. An erratic blip you might investigate won't be there to investigate.

HH!
Beep
 
I've tried a tight pattern I created myself at the local city park and found it was very good. On shallow coins I'm sure it would do fine, but most of the coins I'm recovering are 8" or more which means the FE number is pretty much useless, and the CO is not completely reliable. Add in 125 years of trash, and you really can only rely on the depth meter to determine if you should recover or not.
 
When i'm not hunting cellar holes/fields I use a very tight pattern I made last year..On any iffy signals that dont wanna Hit solid on my pattern and I feel it maybe a good target..I simply pop into all metal real fast and re-scan the target to be 100% sure.This has worked extremly well for me..After many many Holes testing my pattern,Ive determined I can trust the pattern 95% of the time.But if you keep all-metal loaded in the quickmask u can Double check the target super fast and let your mind at ease.When I Hunt cellar Holes /fields Im looking for a wide variety of relics so I open the pattern up to almost all metal. Im digging Nickles at 8 inches Np and I feel they are the hardest coin to find with a tight pattern. Here is a link to a video I made last year when I was making patterns.I have modified this pattern alot since this vid was made..The video will show u the diffrence in signals between the many different pull tabs and such.I need to make a video with the pattern im using now ,maybe in the near future .HH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-vihGyLlj4
 
I have often found the numbers to be useless. A 9 inch deep silver dime or wheatie might be reading 01-35, bouncing around everywhere, but it SOUNDS good. I'd recommend just knocking out some iron at a minimum, black out your screen below FE 24 and leave it wide open otherwise.
 
In a place that has alot of trash opening up that wide is gonna cause a very sore back lol..Esp if u find the # in-acurate and dont trust them.( I find them acurate myself)Thats why its so nice to be able to run a tight pattern,and jump into all metal on those iffy deeper targets that dont hit dead on with the pattern. Anything 6 inches or shallower will hit loud and clear so No need to not trust the pattern on those targets.You run a wide open pattern in heavy trash and it not only causes wasted time investigating bad targets,Its very noisy in the headset.Anything deeper than 6 inches that doesnt hit perfect in the pattern but still hits, I would investigate with all metal(quick mask).These are my personal Settings and my not be usable by alot of you,Hopefully it helps someone find more goodies.The best thing is to always be open to new ideas and methods and use the things that fit your Hunting style and sites. HH
 
Anything 6 inches or shallower will hit loud and clear so No need to not trust the pattern on those targets.
Click to expand...

Thats where my problem is. In our city park the only thing you'll find at 6" or less is clad. Most of the old coins are from 8-12" deep and more.
 
Yeah, tight patterns have probably saved many of us from insanity. Since we seem to agree when and where to use them and that, in general, they produce results, then "how tight is tight?"

How many CO coordinates on either side of the optimal ID (or optimal ID range) are you going to accept? The FE is a bit easier since we know we should go down an amount proportional to our soil conditions and/or through experience.

How much "lateral leeway"?
 
What I did, which was probably part of the problem, was to train my E-Trac on the coins I wanted. I used the medium block and ran a bunch of old coins under the coin and used that pattern. It's very tight!
 
My experiences with Explorers and E-Trac show there are too many variables to tighten the pattern in my (chicago) area as you describe. I've seen the FE number all over the scale for coins AND for non-coin good stuff, especially old jewelry, fobs and toys. I would not cut off the top part of the FE scale at all. I do not want to miss those items because of a tight pattern.

Yes, in extra heavy trash, it can be frustrating to have to sort through all the unwanted noise. But today, in areas like mine that have been pounded for many years, this is where most of the remaining good targets are hiding - heavy trash, heavy iron. I trust my ears and a very s-l-o-w sweep speed with Fast=On in heavy trash areas. Don't set your gain too high - you want to "hear" the depth difference. No need to cover lots of ground. As someone said, the depth meter is key - it makes me pay closer attention - then it's zero-in mode, letting my ears and my head tell me to dig (not the numbers).

For 2009: 293 Indian Head cents, 169 Silver including 2 Capped Bust and 12 Seated

Train your ears what to listen for. Study those "iffy" signals well. Over time, your skill at making the dig decision will improve.

Good luck!
 
I am also in the Chicago area...
I took Charles FE/CO #s and opened up a CO vertical line for every coin that he tested (a lot)- I then went down to FE 25 and up to FE 10. There is actually quite a bit of white showing with all those coins, I should post a pic of it. I just started hunting in iron mask mode with FE27 down blocked out, and CO 1 and 2 blocked out. If I find a deep signal (which I havnt yet due to time constraints), I will then switch to my coin pattern and see if it picks it up, then dig to determine what it is. If I start getting too many coins that register in iron mask that don't show in my coin pattern I will probably scrap it.

Thanks for the help, i'm sure you guys are helping out a lot of other forum members too.
Aaron
 
Why talk about it and not upload a pattern?

Here is my tight pattern. It brings in nickels and silver. Also some copper.
 
At a new site, I will begin with more of an open pattern to get a feel for the site. I usually walk the perimeter first and then go for bee lines straight across the site, in an X'ing pattern. I dig lots of junk at first with the "open" pattern. Once I figure out where the concentration of items are, I modify the pattern or upload one according to what kind of junk I am getting. Then it's slow down and investigate every little peep, sometimes opening quickmask to double check. If the fe #'s stay constant at 26-35, it's usually iron or other irregular shaped junk. If the fe # bounces and hits on anything lower than 20, especially 6-20 and the co # is staying fairly consant in upper 30's or 40's...dig the sucker!

Tight patterns are good for certain sites but I try not to rely on them 100%. I relate it to relying on your queen only in a chess match. It can become a crutch that could cost you the game or in this case...That sweet find!

In a near perfect scenario(unlikely) No iron, No E.M.I., No mineralization, No junk of any kind, only keepers. I would run Etrac hot as hell, and wide open! (or if I had access to thousand year old Roman and other sites with virtually zero modern trash)

Until then I will be incorporating somewhat tighter disc patterns in conjunction with quickmask. My brain would soon scramble otherwise.
 
Here is my tight coins pattern.
tightcoin.jpg


Here is the pattern file
Tight Old Coins pattern
 
I've tried various combos based on TID's.

Pic 1 is bench test data for US coins...there is a little pad, but not a lot.
Pic 2 is the same pattern rounded out and given a maximum FE allowance
Pic 3 is the change I made in the field when I found I was in wino country and wanted to bypass some of the large screwcaps that come in up to 12-44.

This is theoretical, but I've used patterns very similare to these...just like a battle plan, no pattern survives the first engagement, at least not a tight, specific pattern.
 
I put some thought into what I would try at an older trashed out place and wanted to hear as little as possible...you know, not have to concentrate so hard. Getting your ears trained eases the concentration level as some of you have stated. This pattern/program would be something I might start out with. It will be very quiet accept for extra large screwcaps, cans, big targets in general, sporadic iron effects, etc. and the garbage surrounding nickels; but you'd also catch a significant percentage of the nickels and silver in the area depending on your technique and knowledge, your soil conditions and your settings (or what we jokingly refer to as SDI - your Statistical Detecting Index, which is always in fluctuation...lol). The thing you always run into is the threshold problem...if the trash is too thick to get a threshold even with a small coil then you have to rely on see-through and go slow (or start cleaning out a patch). If you can get a theshold, go slow enough to hear it a significant percentage of the time. It's obvious, of course, but, unless you have a seasoned coin garden, fully testing patterns requires locations with at least a few good targets.
 
Nice patterns Beep! I will mention that u are missing the Flying eagle cents on that pattern I believe.mine was missing them too(Ive since modified).Good Luck..HH
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top