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Xterra 70 on NH beaches

S

seaweednh

Member
I just bought an Xterra 70 and took it out to the beach. Had lots of signals but only found one piece of gold.........tin foil.

Was hoping someone could tell me where I have gone wrong. I would get a good signal, pinpoint it, dig it and nothing there. If I used the detector again over the the sand that was taken out of the hole, I would get another reading and still nothing there. Is this common on NH beaches? What should I have done to eliminate these false reading?Although I bought the two coil package, the 18.75 kHz elliptical coil, as I am told, has been back ordered because Minelab ran out.

Regards,
Ron
 
First question is have you ever hunted saltwater beaches before and if yes with what machines previously?

HH
BarnacleBill
 
BarnacleBill,

I have a top of the line White's ,from 1973. All I ever found was flip tops on the beach with that one. I had better luck in the woods finding larger objects. Not much luck with coins, even thown on the top of the ground.

I decided to buy buy the Xterra 70 with the promise of actually finding something worthwhile.

I will be doing some beach detecting, more parks and schools yards but mostly a parcel of land, 216 acres, with five foundations, four dug wells and abandoned town roads. This has been family owned since 1957 and last occupied in the mid 1800's
 
I don't know about salt water beaches but inland waters mine works very well. I have had it sound off on the smallest of pieces of metal like the clips that hold studs in your lobes. Just wave the smallest fine wire gold ring you have over the coil. Should sound off loud and clear.
 
OK, the best time to hut NE beaches is after major Nor'Easters. I suggest you monitor the Beach & Water forum on Findmall as there is a group from NH & Northern MA that hunt the area and frequently give reports on sand conditions. If the beaches are filled with sand you are wasting your time.

Settings to start with on the X70 for saltwater are.

Sens = 15
GB= Beach Mode & Tracking ON
Pattern 1 = All minuses(iron) & +48 notched OUT

Keep the coil one inch above the sand, don't let it touch or it will false. Below is part of a previous post on how to pinpoint on a saltwater beach with the X70.

*********
On Saltwater beaches in the damp/wet sand the Pinpoint on the X-machines like many single freq machines will simply not work. My personal preference for a hunting style is to check a hole once I have removed a scoop/shovel full of sand, before I dump it. Unfortunately on the saltwater beaches I hunt, the X-machines will respond to an empty hole in the damp or wet sand in Coin/Disc mode.

Arriving just after high tide, I positioned myself on the damp sand portion of the beach and located an area free of targets and then dug a hole about six inches deep. The X70 was in Coin/Beach tracking GB mode and default pattern 1. Pinpoint as usual would not work, and when swinging over the hole in disc mode, the hole ID
 
The depth of sand on saltwater beaches is not static. It changes depth with wind, current, & tidal action. There can be dramatic swings especially in storms. On Monday you can stand on a spot, then come back Tuesday and there is ten feet less sand depth in the exact same spot. Monday you can't find anything & on Tuesday targets everywhere.

HH
BarnacleBill
 
BarnacleBill,

Thanks for the explanation. I may try tomorrow with the sensitivity turned down lower as well as trying a section of beach that doesn't have much loose sand.
 
BobNH,

Spent close to two hours on the beach today. I did turn down the sensitivity, nothing but a hum for the first 45 minutes. Then I got a hit at 10, pinpointed, depth says 4 inches (ground is frozen at 4/12") dug it out and passed the detector over it, no signal! Filled the hole in, still no signal. Perhaps I'll have better luck when the other coil arrives
 
I know you have done this but check coil and cover for sand.
Also, are you dragging the coil on the ground at all?
I would give Sandy a call at Minelab and chat with her.
 
BarnacleBill,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm working on a job 3 miles from the beach, I may have to take a ride to try my luck.

Any suggestion as to what sensitivity setting I should be running?
 
This is where I am getting confused. The threshold sound is consistent, I have however gotten false signals, I could even pinpoint them but nothing there. What is the definition of running quiet?
 
Salt when wet is conductive like a metal. When on wet saltwater sand you are in essence detecting over a sheet of metal. It will respond around the conductivity of light foil, so try to think of it as an area covered in small bits of surface foil. If you have the sensitivity cranked up high the detector will emit short audio beeps and fleeting VDI's. Running quiet means setting the sensitivty low enough to not get these shorts beeps.

As you are new to the machine and beach hunting make sure you are:

1. Not finding hot/cold rocks.
2. Don't touch the sand with the coil.
3. Make sure to auto-noise cancel before GB'ing the machine.
4. Small depressions filled with water can cause falsing.
5. Don't swing the coil like a pendulum, consistent height and uniform speed.
6. If you dig a hole spread the sand out to make sure the taget isn't on edge in the sand pile. Switch to All Metal and swing over the pile.
7. Widen the hole to make sure it isn't a coin at an angle giving an off center response.
8. Use a pinpointer to make sure the coin hasn't fallen deeper into the hole when you dug.
9. Look for large rust spots when you dig to make sure you haven't broken up a piece of iron that now ID's below your Disc point.
 
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