New site =Abnormally high target IDs with Equinox 800

[Martin_V3i]

I am prone to be in the "discriminate everything below 19" club. I only have so much stamina and time, and my super slim chances of finding any lost gold in local public dirt, not beaches? Well, next to impossible, so why waste my time and physical energy to find one gold piece of gold jewelry that will likely cost me week(s) of time, while the lower disc #s simply demean me with beavertails, pull tabs and chewed up aluminum cans? I will use the horseshoe in playgrounds, soccer fields, volleyball courts. Otherwise my lowest Vdi numbers when hunting "blindly" will only be 12-13. A single 13 number gets me enough nickels and an odd weeding band. All those other teen numbers are a simple nag mostly.

Now, give me a report of a lost ring and any description of it at all, and I will open the screen up a lot. Otherwise, I am basically a high conductor coinshooter all of the time.

Tons of new people get into metal detecting "looking for the gold", and they quickly find a spot in the closet for a new machine. Kudos to y'all who work and dig all the trash, and do actually find some gold. Maybe it's location, location, location but here? The aluminum trash will kill your stamina. Jm2c

But, we are digressing from the original topic on higher Vdi numbers. I get them to, especially in ultra dry soil conditions. Numbers seem to be more stable in Multi mode, and highest in 4 & 5 kHz. It's just a shot in the dark but with the air waves being filled with more Rf frequencies, 5G being a biggie, I don't doubt that the Equinox isn't maybe losing it's handling ability of Vdi accuracy.

The 5G rollout may add many interesting things in time.

 

[mh9162013]

I am prone to be in the "discriminate everything below 19" club. I only have so much stamina and time, and my super slim chances of finding any lost gold in local public dirt, not beaches? Well, next to impossible, so why waste my time and physical energy to find one gold piece of gold jewelry that will likely cost me week(s) of time, while the lower disc #s simply demean me with beavertails, pull tabs and chewed up aluminum cans? I will use the horseshoe in playgrounds, soccer fields, volleyball courts. Otherwise my lowest Vdi numbers when hunting "blindly" will only be 12-13. A single 13 number gets me enough nickels and an odd weeding band. All those other teen numbers are a simple nag mostly.

Now, give me a report of a lost ring and any description of it at all, and I will open the screen up a lot. Otherwise, I am basically a high conductor coinshooter all of the time.

Tons of new people get into metal detecting "looking for the gold", and they quickly find a spot in the closet for a new machine. Kudos to y'all who work and dig all the trash, and do actually find some gold. Maybe it's location, location, location but here? The aluminum trash will kill your stamina. Jm2c

But, we are digressing from the original topic on higher Vdi numbers. I get them to, especially in ultra dry soil conditions. Numbers seem to be more stable in Multi mode, and highest in 4 & 5 kHz. It's just a shot in the dark but with the air waves being filled with more Rf frequencies, 5G being a biggie, I don't doubt that the Equinox isn't maybe losing it's handling ability of Vdi accuracy.

The 5G rollout may add many interesting things in time.

I'm with you, Martin_V3i.

When I used my 540, I basically only dug targets that rang up as a 17 or higher.

On my AT Max, I usually focus on targets 70 and above.

 

[Beachhunt1]

So like anything else we need more info. Here is your words: And also the iron sounds really good. I dig my fair share. I ground balance every site, but most places I hunt are 15 and under so mineralization doesn't seem to be much of a factor. When I get alot of scratching and popping I lower the sensitivity to 17-18.

It concerns me why you have to run at 17-18 sensitivity? Do you think this is minerals in the ground, or EMI? No close cell phone, correct?

Also do you hunt in discrimination mode or horseshoe mode?

So to the OP??? Do you know? Do you want some help?

 

[MTtrashdigger]

So to the OP??? Do you know? Do you want some help?

Please go back and read my original post. You are quoting a reply to me from markinswpa. I will be glad to try and answer your specific questions if they are relevant to my situation. I am not hunting on a salt beach or black sand.

 

[Beachhunt1]

Please go back and read my original post. You are quoting a reply to me from markinswpa. I will be glad to try and answer your specific questions if they are relevant to my situation. I am not hunting on a salt beach or black sand.

Correct my bad. Is there anything else other than the target Id's having issues? Think it has been covered targets at depth will not ID spot on.

 

[MTtrashdigger]

There could be many many reasons of why this is happening but the really good news is you found a good place to hunt with lots of targets. I'll bet many other guys have given up on the spot.

Sounds like you got a great place to go!

Thanks Bart. Since i made this post I have been back a couple more times and have dug nothing but junk and clad but I wont give up on it yet .

 

[MTtrashdigger]

Correct my bad. Is there anything else other than the target Id's having issues? Think it has been covered targets at depth will not ID spot on.

The trash layer is dense in many places but not everywhere. I focus primarily on the deeper targets so I need to keep recovery speed a bit lower to get an extra 2 or 3 inches. Swing speed is painstakingly slow in order to get some separation. The iron falsing is maddening as well. I can turn up iron bias but it makes little difference. A lot of the holes I dig have nothing but rusty iron, almost always offset in the walls of the holes.

 

[MTtrashdigger]

Hi Todd, interesting post. As you know I use the AT Pro, but all my detecting buds use the Nox 800. Was just out detecting with my friend from Corvallis MT. He was having difficulty with his Nox, weird numbers higher than normal, digging a lot of trash, and just plain missing targets. I went behind him on a couple of yards and found wheats, one silver, a So Dakota trade token, and some other odds and ends that didn't ring up well for him. Don't know what is going on but you are not alone.

David

My detector is pretty stable everywhere else. This particular park is a bit maddening. But I am running out of places to hunt in my town. I have become more obsessed with finding old stuff rather than just finding lots of silvers. There are tons of post WWII neighborhood yards (most of the curbstrips in those areas have been removed to make the streets wider) that probably hold good numbers of rosies and washington quarters, but I am focused on finding a pre 1900 silver coin. The 1901 Barber dime is as close as I've come and it came from this park.

 

[Beachhunt1]

The trash layer is dense in many places but not everywhere. I focus primarily on the deeper targets so I need to keep recovery speed a bit lower to get an extra 2 or 3 inches. Swing speed is painstakingly slow in order to get some separation. The iron falsing is maddening as well. I can turn up iron bias but it makes little difference. A lot of the holes I dig have nothing but rusty iron, almost always offset in the walls of the holes.

I think there is lots of misinformation on recovery speed and depth. I find a high combination of recovery and IB helps offsets iron and interference. It may actually allow for higher sensitivity.
Higher sensitivity always rules.

For a whole year in my user program I had the identical program except with recovery 4, instead of 6.
Every time I had an iffy target I would ask my self if it was a digger. In every case [almost] switching to the recovery of 4 there were truly just a handful of targets that changed my mind. Out of that handful, NOT ONE target of worth.

Have you ever gone to the horseshoe mode to ferret out that deep iron. Horseshoe is the "truth" mode. The bins separate like magic.

What if I told you that: I can identify non-ferrous targets in horseshoe mode that will not even register in discrimination?

 

[MTtrashdigger]

Todd what you describe here is pretty much the norm for me in Pa. soil. In your case it definitely sounds like the soil. One thing I have noticed the dryer the soil it tends to up the numbers a bit but not like you describe. What you do describe sounds exactly like a hunt in one or all of our city parks. I have used the 800 for 3 1/2 years and have a fair amount of time with it. I sent my first one back after only a couple months because it was Iding all over the place. The shallow targets most times Id where they should but the deeper ones all come in in the 30's with silver dimes frequently show 39-40. Copper pennies all come in in the 30s. A deeper coin here is in the 7-8 range with the average in the 3 to 5 in range. Square pull tabs hit 27-28. And also the iron sounds really good. I dig my fair share. I ground balance every site, but most places I hunt are 15 and under so mineralization doesn't seem to be much of a factor. When I get alot of scratching and popping I lower the sensitivity to 17-18. My recovery is almost always 4 and Field 2 seems to be the most stable.
One thing, it sounds like this site, being tough ground may have been passed over by others and yield some cool finds. Good luck, Mark

Thanks for the info Mark. I suspect that you are right about the soil in this park. Its a bit maddening because I haven't experienced the same instability or oddly high target Ids anywhere else. Also, the trash layer is extremely dense. I am going to cash in some clad for the very first time ever and invest in a smaller coil to help with separation. I hope I don't lose too much depth. All of the older coins I have dug here have been at least 6-7 inches below the sod line and the old V nickel was all of 10.

 

[MTtrashdigger]

I think there is lots of misinformation on recovery speed and depth. I find a high combination of recovery and IB helps offsets iron and interference. It may actually allow for higher sensitivity.
Higher sensitivity always rules.

For a whole year in my user program I had the identical program except with recovery 4, instead of 6.
Every time I had an iffy target I would ask my self if it was a digger. In every case [almost] switching to the recovery of 4 there were truly just a handful of targets that changed my mind. Out of that handful, NOT ONE target of worth.

Have you ever gone to the horseshoe mode to ferret out that deep iron. Horseshoe is the "truth" mode. The bins separate like magic.

What if I told you that: I can identify non-ferrous targets in horseshoe mode that will not even register in discrimination?

It has been my experience that lower recovery speed adds depth. I had recovery speed set at 5 or 6 almost all the time prior to this spring. I went down to 4 and old areas came back to life with deeper signals. But swing speed had to come down with it. As far as using the all metal horeshoe button, I use it to identify iron all the time. But in this place iron seems to be everywhere and hunting with it on all the time is no picnic when trying to sift through the trash. And as far as identifying deeper targets that will only register with all metal on, I can do that as well but I typically don't, because it also amplifies every bit of shallow trash that I am trying to disc out.

 

[KOB]

It has been my experience that lower recovery speed adds depth. I had recovery speed set at 5 or 6 almost all the time prior to this spring. I went down to 4 and old areas came back to life with deeper signals. But swing speed had to come down with it. As far as using the all metal horeshoe button, I use it to identify iron all the time. But in this place iron seems to be everywhere and hunting with it on all the time is no picnic when trying to sift through the trash. And as far as identifying deeper targets that will only register with all metal on, I can do that as well but I typically don't, because it also amplifies every bit of shallow trash that I am trying to disc out.

Exactly. It is important to note that this style of hunting is site specific. One reason I'm not a big dirt hunter. Sand is much easier to dig and less wear on the knees. Except when you dig 300-500 targets and are dealing with time constraints (tides). The only possible help here is going to 50 tone in trying to get a deeper signal in a trashy , iron infested zone. But this in itself can take time getting used to the signals you want. Especially getting past the shallow machine gun signals. Pick your poison I guess...