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White's Spectra V3i

champsbbcoach

New Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2011
Messages
23
Location
Mt. Judea, AR
I've been using my toy for quite a few hunts now and so far, I've only found 1 wheatie and a bunch of clad and mems. I'm still looking for my first silver, and, actually, for my first nickle. The sensitivity on my machine is set at the following: Rx Gain...7, Disc...75, All metal...55. Would it help to change any of these settings or should I continue my silverless path?
 
Today was the first day I hunted with my dads V3i. So my opinion may not be the greatest. I would try to run the RX Gain as high as possible without the machine wigging out. Same with Descrimination. Are you running the preloaded programs? What is your VDI range?
 
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Posted this in a diferent section, but it might help:

For most high end machines, go slow! both learning the machine and with your swing(Fisher/Teknetics excluded) The factory programs are actually quite good. There is plenty of time to experiment and upload later.

If the factory manual reads more like a PhD physics thesis than an owners manual and you're left wondering what they're trying to say, find a book by an author that makes sense to you. And, don't be afraid to check out different authors. The local library should be able to get you different books by different authors through their loan program. Once you find a book that explains your detector to you in terms you are comfortable with, go out and buy it. You will also find that after you start to understand the basics, the owners manual starts to make sense.

Hold on! It's not time to start messing with new programs yet!

Leave the factory as they are for now. Use your machine in as many different situations(parks, fields, tot lots, etc.) as you can. After a while, what you've read and experienced starts to come together and makes sense.

At that point, it's time to make a change or two to the factory programs. This way, you can see what minor changes affect, and your understanding increases. Slow and easy with the changes.

Whatever you do, don't load one of those super hot, "it'll find silver at 84 inches" programs. First off they won't find silver that deep, and secondly, they will leave you wondering "what's wrong with your machine?". And, they'll likely increase your learning time.

Sooner or later, you'll either find or adjust programs to fit your hunting style and conditions. And, then, it's all good. Even though it was all good getting there.

How do I know this? Easy - I did it all wrong. Got so frustrated, I nearly sold the best detector I've owned, or wrapped it around a tree. Figured I could learn it all right away. It just doesn't happen that way. Probably increased my initial learning time by 300%, maybe more.

You live. You learn. And, sometimes, maybe you can help.

ATB & HH
 
I've been using my toy for quite a few hunts now and so far, I've only found 1 wheatie and a bunch of clad and mems. I'm still looking for my first silver, and, actually, for my first nickle. The sensitivity on my machine is set at the following: Rx Gain...7, Disc...75, All metal...55. Would it help to change any of these settings or should I continue my silverless path?

I would crank the AM and Disc each up 10 to begin with, Disc of 85 and Am 65. One method of testing I like is to bury what you'll look for at 6" and 8", stick it in the sidewall instead of under the loose dirt.

Then sweep the one you can see, turn the gain down a click at a time until it just barely reads. Next try a lower filter, 5 band is best for depth. Then tweak the Disc sensitivity. You might start by using the settings you have now, increasing Disc first after the filters, locating the lowest gain for improved response. You should try and get optimal at that lowest gain setting. Try the deeper target next, increasing the gain until that one hits. be CAREFUL to not bury near other metal, because if you are using the 10" coil, it will muddle the machine for these tests, especially in AM.

**Your filters will have a definite effect on response, so try to use the 5 Band filter if you can. The factory files seem to like 10 band but I think that is just a conservative setting for average beginning coinshooters, and 10 will reduce depth. Too high Disc can give lots of false noise so I like to keep mine here high 80s to low 90s. All depends on your soil though.

That's where I would start. IMO you can jump on increasing the Disc and AM by 10 if you want to try a fast test. It's tempting to go deeper into the menus and change other stuff at first. I don't condone that. What coil are you using?

So, 1. Hit the shallower buried coin with what you have now. 2. Lower gain until barely reading target. 3. Play with the filters for optimal. 4. Tweak disc up(re-do gain lowering beforehand if new filter choice greatly improves things) 5. Ramp up the gain. 6. Work on the deeper buried coin.

Don't forget to ground balance. I'd use Lock Track in the test garden. martin
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to continue playing with it some more this week and this weekend I'll probably try to make some very minor adjustments. I like the 6" and 8" buried coin idea. BTW, I'm using the 91/2" coil which came with the machine. I bought an 18 incher but I haven't used it yet. Figured I'd learn the smaller coil first, and quite frankly I probably wasted my money buying the larger coil. Live and learn the hard way has always been my philopsophy. LOL
 
The 9.5" coil is fine. I myself, began with the 10"D2, buying the 6x10DD at the same time I bought the V3i package, and used the smaller coil for a long time before putting the 10" coil into serious operation(EMI warnings the reason.) Your 9.5 coil should be great for the 6 & 8" coins, even 10". Do you actually have an 18" coil for the V3i? martin
 
The 9.5" coil is fine. I myself, began with the 10"D2, buying the 6x10DD at the same time I bought the V3i package, and used the smaller coil for a long time before putting the 10" coil into serious operation(EMI warnings the reason.) Your 9.5 coil should be great for the 6 & 8" coins, even 10". Do you actually have an 18" coil for the V3i? martin

I do have an 18"x15" SEF Butterfly coil made my Excelerator for White's Spectra line. I haven't used it yet so I'm wondering what results I can expect from it.
 
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