What signals should I dig in all-metal mode?

[yogaguy]

Hi all. I've had my quattro for close to a year now. I've mostly used either coin or coin/jewelry factory modes with auto. sensitivity. I've always wanted to hunt in all-metal mode, to learn what I should dig and should'nt dig. But I've always been bombarded by different tones and signals. One example is, I will get a two-way repeatable signal but it would be a certain tone going left or right(either low or high) and another tone the coming back either left or right(low or high). But not the same tone going left to right. I was wondering what this usually means? (The two-way signal, but different tone). What exactly should I dig in all-metal mode? Thanks. Sincerely, Randy

 

[Mirage]

I did a recent test with a coin and a nail. See attached diagram. I used all metal mode and high trash settings with the stock coil. The coin I used was a dime and the nail was about twice the diameter of the coin. If I put the nail about 1 inch from the coin and swept from right to left "slowly" I would get the 37 signal and tone before getting the -10. Then on the sweep back from left to right I would not get the high tone at all. IF I tried to sweep 90 degrees(up and down in the picture) I could not get the coin at all - total masking. Now if I moved the nail to 2 inches I could see the coin both ways - again providing the sweep was fairly slow. At 2 inches you could sweep from right to left very fast and still get the coin.
Now as to what signals you should dig.....depends on soil conditions and types of signal. If it is "good" soil and I am looking for only coins I will not dig anything less than a 28. If the soil is a factor and the signal is deep(at least halfway on the indicator) I will dig signals that are "jumpy" as long as they show something better than a -8. A lot of how I approach this also dends on the site - very old sites I tend to dig most signals(until I dig about 10 rusty nails). Other sites that are not as old I am very selective. You might have to turn the volume down when in all metal mode so that the constant low tones don't get to you. The only true way to get a feel for this mode is to start digging! Good luck.

 

[Angela (Australia)]

Hello Randy, it is possible to pick up the two signals from a nail and coin lying close to each other in the ground. By approaching the targets from different angle, diagonal, across, top to bottom and reverse, the signals can vary in that you get a more positive ID on the targets, a more definite, and slightly stabler sound for those targets. But it does take practice to understand what you're reading by those tones. And by digging up everything you're unsure about, will help you determine the sounds or signals you hear. If you are using discrimination, you risk masking over targets. That's why working in All Metal Mode helps to prevent this. Yep, there are a barrage of sounds to content with, but after a year of detecting, you may find you have a good head start to using this mode now. Try it and keep at it, for though you loose in stability, you gain in depth and a lot more targets found. Just my imput on it!
HH Angela

 

[yogaguy]

Thanks Mirage and Angela for the help. I'll give it a try for awhile and see how it goes. Thanks too Mirage for the diagram. That was pretty cool. HH. Sincerely, Randy