Vaquero Discrimination

[SavageHunter]

I've been using my Vaquero for a few weeks now and picking up some clad and a few cheaper rings and having a good time. I've been running my discrimination just above the first notch above iron and that seems to be working pretty good, but I dig the occasional pieces of foil. The foil makes me wonder if I'm running my discrimination to low. What discrimination setting do you all like to run?

 

[TreborBdiggin]

I used a 10K ring to find out where it was discriminated and I disc everything below that. On my vaq that is the second line above iron

 

[jld66]

i been using the vaq about 2 months now. i set the disc the same, second line above iron. sometimes a tad under, about ten o'clock position and sometimes get older pieces of tin foil that are balled up and flattened that dont disc out until past the tab mark. even sometimes get the older pull tabs that dont get disc out until the line above tab even higher, i dug a silver half dime around 7 inches that disc out about 3 o'clock. around the same spot i found that zinc pennies do. i just dig all good hits above the 10 o'clock position.im finding out a hit that maxes out disc and is more than 8 inches. it is always a crushed can or large piece of iron.
i set gb at the neutral
tres at 2-3 o'oclock
sense at 10
i dont bother with supertuning because no matter what i do. when the sense gets a bit above 10. gets real chatty and falses a lot. maybe its just my inexperience though as this is my first detector.

 

[REVIER]

On both my Vaq and my Compadre I rarely run much past the I in iron.
I have found small, thin chains down there in both silver and gold...don't like missing those if I happen to run across one.

In sites with heavy foil I will go up to the f in foil but that is about it, even if I am tired of digging that stuff.
Too many gold rings down there, small yellow ones and larger white gold, not to mention the good amount of silver chains that also dwell in all areas of foil.

I dig ALL targets that come in solid with no or very little clicks or noise that I hear when I thumb past the target area and then back down to listen how they come in.

If you want to dig gold you can avoid digging trash as much as possible, especially foil, but the numbers say you will be missing at least some gold rings and a few of those small chains.
Myself...I can't take the chance.

 

[CO_T\Huntr]

Foil will, occasionally, trick any machine... and higher K rings (18K-24K) are harder to pick-up
than lower K values due to the alloys in them, if you are digging a lot of pull-tabs you are giving
yourself a chance at small gold rings... TreborB is right too, and I use a small gold ring to check where
it drops out in DISC but I put it about 3" deep, some people will use small lead fishing weights instead
as they respond very similar to raw gold, or so I've been told. Every machine can be slightly different
in their settings, and your soils can vary significantly so you need to check your machine in your soils....
Sounds like you are doing it right, persistence is the key....

 

[MarkCZ]

Some of us calibrate or check the calibration of the discrimination knob to the reference scale on the face plate, I used a nickel to do mine.
I set my knob to "5" cent mark and then checked to see how the Nickel sounded, then I decided that with the knob's pointer setting dead center on the "5" I wanted a Nickel to just start breaking up, so if at the factory setting the Nickel hits either solid or went silent then I loosened the setscrew on the knob and repositioned the knob on the shaft and checked it again until I got it at the point I wanted it, some times it takes a few tries to get it right.
Then, I do like the others have stated, how small of a Gold item are you willing to pass over? find a smaller gold ladies or child's ring and adjust the discrimination accordingly, you can use gold earrings to, but be careful with the loop type, they will respond differently with the loop open and closed (sometimes opened they don't respond at all)

Many people who coin hunt with Tesoro's "Thumb" the disc control to key points on the scale, now the upper range copper or silver coins isn't as much of a problem, but those nickels are another story! So, calibrating the disc control not only provides a common calibrated reference but its helps to thumb the control to "Nickel" for coin shooting. If the response holds just to that calibrated point then it increases the odds of the target being a nickel, I didn't like the "just the upper side of 5" its just not defined enough, so I used dead center, its still not exact but its pretty close.

But, without a common calibrated reference point between machines my "F" in foil might be your "I" in iron.

Mark

 

[hatpin]

I try to set mine on minimum disc and then thumb it up. I listen to the quality of the tone , where it breaks up and where it eventually disc out. Balls of aluminum foil have a great sound with smooth [not sharp ] edges but disc out rather early. I always dig it unless Im in a lot of it.

I dont super tune either. I am able to get the sensitivity in the red most of the time. I like the threshold set at the last o of the Tesoro emblem. This allows me to still be able to push the red button. I push the pinpoint button not to pinpoint but to hear the signal. Sometimes with the button pushed Ill raise my coil to see how high I can get it and still produce a signal.

 

[jld66]

Some of us calibrate or check the calibration of the discrimination knob to the reference scale on the face plate, I used a nickel to do mine.
I set my knob to "5" cent mark and then checked to see how the Nickel sounded, then I decided that with the knob's pointer setting dead center on the "5" I wanted a Nickel to just start breaking up, so if at the factory setting the Nickel hits either solid or went silent then I loosened the setscrew on the knob and repositioned the knob on the shaft and checked it again until I got it at the point I wanted it, some times it takes a few tries to get it right.
Then, I do like the others have stated, how small of a Gold item are you willing to pass over? find a smaller gold ladies or child's ring and adjust the discrimination accordingly, you can use gold earrings to, but be careful with the loop type, they will respond differently with the loop open and closed (sometimes opened they don't respond at all)

Many people who coin hunt with Tesoro's "Thumb" the disc control to key points on the scale, now the upper range copper or silver coins isn't as much of a problem, but those nickels are another story! So, calibrating the disc control not only provides a common calibrated reference but its helps to thumb the control to "Nickel" for coin shooting. If the response holds just to that calibrated point then it increases the odds of the target being a nickel, I didn't like the "just the upper side of 5" its just not defined enough, so I used dead center, its still not exact but its pretty close.

But, without a common calibrated reference point between machines my "F" in foil might be your "I" in iron.

Mark

i checked that nickel thing out. yes, i was loosing nickels before the 5 cents mark. go silent at about 11 o'clock.i never realized it. that is some great advice. so i did adjust the knob. boy it's real touchy. i did call tesoro about it before i did it. a "rusty" told me that sometimes the knobs are not put on perfect and it is good to check them when getting the detector. thanks for posting that. you did good.haha

 

[MarkCZ]

Mark, I checked that nickel thing out. yes, i was loosing nickels before the 5 cents mark. go silent at about 11 o'clock.i never realized it. that is some great advice. so i did adjust the knob. boy it's real touchy. i did call tesoro about it before i did it. a "rusty" told me that sometimes the knobs are not put on perfect and it is good to check them when getting the detector. thanks for posting that. you did good.haha

Your Welcome!

Well its okay that you called Tesoro, but many people remove those knobs for cleaning, some put O-rings around the knob shafts to firm up the rotation a bit, and to just calibrate them to their own reference points. So, its not a big deal to the company for us to remove the knobs, now it is possible for some to over tighten the set screws and strip them or crack the knob but neither is a big deal.

Those knobs get put on at the factory and they no doubt try to get them at some point of reference, but what they use and what we are trying to do me be a little different, so its pretty common for the owners to remove the knobs.
I've heard of some who set them for pull tabs, but I don't think that's a very good idea because of the lack of uniformity in them, that's why I use the US nickel for a reference.

I'd say you did good!

Mark

 

[jld66]

Mark, I checked that nickel thing out. yes, i was loosing nickels before the 5 cents mark. go silent at about 11 o'clock.i never realized it. that is some great advice. so i did adjust the knob. boy it's real touchy. i did call tesoro about it before i did it. a "rusty" told me that sometimes the knobs are not put on perfect and it is good to check them when getting the detector. thanks for posting that. you did good.haha

Your Welcome!

Well its okay that you called Tesoro, but many people remove those knobs for cleaning, some put O-rings around the knob shafts to firm up the rotation a bit, and to just calibrate them to their own reference points. So, its not a big deal to the company for us to remove the knobs, now it is possible for some to over tighten the set screws and strip them or crack the knob but neither is a big deal.

Those knobs get put on at the factory and they no doubt try to get them at some point of reference, but what they use and what we are trying to do me be a little different, so its pretty common for the owners to remove the knobs.
I've heard of some who set them for pull tabs, but I don't think that's a very good idea because of the lack of uniformity in them, that's why I use the US nickel for a reference.

I'd say you did good!

Mark

thats what rusty said about them. the nickel is the best as long as its not a ww2 nickel. they have silver in them.first time i spoke with him. real nice guy. does not rush you and makes sure all is well. very pleased with there customer service. thanks again. gives me an excuse to go back over some spots again if it ever stops raining here in maine. im new to detecting and like all the info in this forum. glad i went with the vaquero instead of fishers F4 or F5. which i almost got.

 

[SavageHunter]

You guys have provided me with some great tips and advice! Thank you! I will be checking the calibration of my discrimination knob the first chance I get.