learning the DFX

DFX hint

Hello Kevin

There are many many DFX users on this forum so you will get some good advise. Another forum is DFX ONLY and it's dedicated to the DFX and has many programs and threads with help for DFX use. Making a few changes to the DFX can make your life much easier. Also there are lots of coils made for the DFX that can help in trashy areas etc.

Best of luck with the DFX you have a good detector and with time you will become a veteran. Please do search that forum and you will find answers to your questions.

Best regards, ColoKid

do you get more than 3" if you put the coin on top of the ground and raise your coil above it? Do you depend on VDI's/symbols or sound? I like this for a generic program... just load the coins program go to your adjustments and up the AC to 75... change to tone ID ON... it gives nice readings for coins and should get you to at least 6 or 7 inches. It's a simple adjustment but has worked good for me. The factory loaded are loaded for a middle of the road conditions that will work for the most people... you may not be one of them because of your soil conditions in your area. Use the winter months to play around with the setting...you won't kill the DFX by doing this and you will only save it long term if you want to. Best thing to do is to do bench testing and make some tweeks to it to make sure you're getting depth... The deep silver program from Digging deeper should get you more than 3" though... double check your entries (block eliminating can be tricky) I messed it up my first go around and didn't get the desired effect with the deep silver program. If you still aren't getting more than 3" air test with even the preloaded coin program... you might need to send it to Whites for recalibration... Good luck!

i have been using my 5.3 coil because of all the trash in the park. i have dug some targets at 6 to 7 inches with that little coil so i know the DFX is working. the nails and bobwire i have got at 6 inches. my VDI for the nails and bobwire come up 91+ so i dont dig all the high VDI numbers. but after looking in my book digging deeper i seen silver is in the high VDI numbers. so i think i have been just looking for the new coins. i will try to get used to the ID tones and not look at the VDI numbers.

Kevin,

I wouldn't worry about the GEB #'s, if you're using "autotrac". This has to do with ground balancing stuff that the machine does automatically.

With regard to silver, you would think it would scream at you being a high conductive target. But, I found more than likely on my DFX that it was sometimes a broken up signal, put repeatable at the same time. Always dig those signals at older parks and houses, if it was > +78 VDI it usually was a silver coin.

Another factor is setting the "sweep speed" to "1" and when hunting use a slow overlapping coil sweep. This helps sort out those hard to find silver coins. Always double check a brief solid signal, lots of these beeps warrant extra review.

Another thing is to find a good patch of ground (no metal when pin point trigger is pulled) to get a good initial ground balance. This really quiets things down and also allows good targets to stand out a lot better. I'd leave the RX Gain at 3 and bump up the AC Sensitivity to 75 like Beefcake said. If it is noisy lower the AC Sens down a 2-3. Also, push the Disc Sensitivity up to 80-85 if the area isn't too trashy (this allows iffy signals picked up by the machine to ellicit a response). And another thing turn off Modulation, that only makes deeper targets sound less audible (suppose to clue you in its a deep target, but if you miss the signal )

Good luck, silver takes some time to figure out because there isn't much out there to learn from!!

Have faith in the DFX that when you get your coil over that silver, it will let you know.

My hunting buddies and I had hunted a school playground for 15 years and didn't find but a few wheats. Just 2 years ago it started spitting up goodies, for no apparent reason, and we've pulled silver coins over 80 rings since then.

As a relative newbie DFX owner I'm always on the lookout for more info.

Dave

dfx readings

My dfx is now 6 years old. I often thought about having it tuned up, (recalibrated) but the more i read from other owners, the more I think "if it aint broken, don't fix it". I never use tone when I hunt. To confusing for me. I like less noise. It is in mho high end detectors can find targets much deeper than they can accurately identify both in a vdi
and in the actual depth. I find this to be especially true in wet ground. To me, a vdi reading that fluctuates between 40 and 93 with depth reading banging in at 7 to 71/2 are worthwhile targets to dig. You have to remember, the dfx is only a tool and it's doing it's best to help you. When you have targets like that the detector is telling you there is a metal object down there, I can barely see it, so it's just beyond my ability to give you an accurate reading. I recently dug a pair of barber dimes far deeper than the dfx told me, and the vdi were banging in at the 40 to 90 range, same as a rusty square nail. It only took a half minute of my time to find them. It's a 50/50 deal with your machine. It finds the target, you get to do the thinking and heavy lifting..Gil

silver

Silver can be hard to come by. Hang in there, it will come!

Great detector. I've had mine for years and still just tweek the presets and been very happy with the results. It won't let you down.

Problem may be the park is fill dirt? I'm lucky. Lots of places I can run my preamp gain at 4. I mastered tone id due to a neck injury. Plate in my neck makes it painful to look down. My friend in Texas I bought my DFX off of was killing the deep silver. His program wouldn't work at all here.

Have a better understanding of the DFX. Digging Deeper With the DFX by Jeff Foster is the book to read and have for an unbeatable resource.

Hey there. I've had my DFX about 5 years now. I love the fact there are so many coil options and accessories for the DFX. I know it is a great machine but I too have sometimes had depth problems. Even with a big 13" Detech Ultimate coil I'm not always getting the depth I expect. I have Jeff Foster's book too which has helped big time. My DFX always comes home with goodies but I feel I am sometimes missing deep silver too. My overall favorite coil for my trashy areas is the Detech 6x8 SEF. For me, my DD coils seem to be easier for me to work with, handle my soil better and separate targets better than concentric coils like the Eclipse 5.3. I have one and use it once in a while with decent results. I try turning the AC up as much as possible, sweep speed at 1 and then swing low and slow. Tho sometimes a faster swing will work better on some targets- even deep ones. Try building your own test garden and try different techniques, angles and settings. Remember that the DFX is a classic detector because of its ability to be adapted to almost any hunting situation. I have been frustrated with my DFX at times but I always go back to it, try new techniques and parameter changes which always gets me better than I was. Hang in there. Check out youtube for some DFX tips and live hunts. GL and HH. Matt