A DFX Programming Tip

[RL OH]

I have swung DFXs for many years and have had great success with all that I have owned. For almost all of the field time with a DFX, I used my own modified "High Pro" program. It worked great, but for modern parks with loads of tab, caps, and aluminum slaw, it was hard on the ears. Last fall, I took the standard "Coin" mode and changed six facets. Pre amp to 3. AC to 75. Filters to 3. Sweep speed to 3. Recovery to 24. Tone ID on. I was amazed at the depth I was able to get. I was finding silver coins and wheat pennies in the 7 to 8 inch range. With previous attempts to use the factory "Coin" program, I could not find a coin any deeper than 5-6 inches. Give it a try, you might be surprised.

 

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[pescadore]

Thanks for the tip !! Those are almost my exact settings in the modified C&J program I run most of the time.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Thank you for the tip. We are very close on our settings, but we both know about the DFX and V3i a few little tweaks can make a big difference.

 

[chirper97]

Thanks for settings! I'll give it a try this spring.

 

[airscapes]

I have swung DFXs for many years and have had great success with all that I have owned. For almost all of the field time with a DFX, I used my own modified "High Pro" program. It worked great, but for modern parks with loads of tab, caps, and aluminum slaw, it was hard on the ears. Last fall, I took the standard "Coin" mode and changed six facets. Pre amp to 3. AC to 75. Filters to 3. Sweep speed to 3. Recovery to 24. Tone ID on. I was amazed at the depth I was able to get. I was finding silver coins and wheat pennies in the 7 to 8 inch range. With previous attempts to use the factory "Coin" program, I could not find a coin any deeper than 5-6 inches. Give it a try, you might be surprised.

Gota ask here as I am inexperienced and trying to get book smart at the moment.
So Preamp 3 ok AC 75 ok.. but EMI is the deciding factor there.. Filters 3, Sweep speed 3, these are determined by local ground mineralization. Recovery Speed is determined by your personal swing speed and trash/target density.. Tone ID is what I prefer .. Thanks for the tips but it seems the take away is more that these are some of the important configurations that can be altered depending on your site to get more depth.. not that these values are what you want to use.
Is this correct?

 

[RL OH]

Doug, the factory programs on a DFX are weak, but the disc patterns are set well. I think the six adjustments I made are the ones that add extra depth to the DFX, but the exact settings I use are not going to work for everyone. Their ground conditions and emi conditions dictate where the gains should be set. I have several thousand hours on DFXs since my first and I find it to be a very forgiving detector. As a matter of fact, I find it to be one of the best at dealing with emi. I hunt several old spots with very old overhead electric wires and at this spot two of my detectors were all but useless. F75-Xterra 70. Places that gave these two fits were absolutely no problem with a DFX. These spots also have very bad mineralization which kill the depth on most detectors. Older coins in these spots are 7 to 9 inches deep so I use only what works here. What works are Minelab FBS machines, Fisher CZs, and DFXs. Is it a coincidence that what works are multi-frequency detectors? I believe so. 8 or 9 years ago my buddy with an old XLT told me one of these parks was barren of coins. I have found over 800 silver coins since that day in that park all with these particular detectors. The DFX is still a "killer" coin detector.

 

[airscapes]

Thanks man! All of us (and there are bunch) new to the DFX users, who just got our new to us machines in the dead of winter appreciate any tips and help that will get us up to speed as quick as possible.
One of the reasons I questioned was that I have seen more than a few post of new to the DFX users wanting numbers to plug in to make it work best and not really wanting to know "Why". Being a Auto tech, then computer programmer and now system admin, the knowing "How it works and why" make or breaks the end result if you not just a very lucky person.
I have been studding the DDwtDFX book (Still not done the first time through) and it is very obvious that what works in one place in the country/world most likely won't work in others if you want to push the machine to it max potential.

As a long time user you probably know all of it without even thinking, and if not the technical ins and outs, you know when to do what because of such and such results or symptoms.
There are several items that it is suggested you do tests at each site and I was wondering do you do this when you visit a new site? And if so, I assume it really does not take much time once you know what you are doing.
For example
Ground mineralization strength,
Filters and Sweep speed
and there was something else but can not recall atm.

Could you give us the rundown of the process you follow when you fire up your machine at a new site you know nothing about?

Thanks!!

 

[deadeye 22250]

Gota ask here as I am inexperienced and trying to get book smart at the moment.
So Preamp 3 ok AC 75 ok.. but EMI is the deciding factor there.. Filters 3, Sweep speed 3, these are determined by local ground mineralization. Recovery Speed is determined by your personal swing speed and trash/target density.. Tone ID is what I prefer .. Thanks for the tips but it seems the take away is more that these are some of the important configurations that can be altered depending on your site to get more depth.. not that these values are what you want to use.
Is this correct?

The sweep speed setting is not determined by the ground mineralization in the ground.
I set preamp gain at 4 if the ground lets me, otherwise 3.
ac around 75
dc 45 or 50 it helps pinpoint deeper targets
modulation off that way I don't have to listen for a whisper from a deeper target, because my hearing is not good
I also like using mixed mode to find deeper targets

 

[deadeye 22250]

Turning ratchet pinpoint off and vco on is better
I also use sweep speed at 1 or 2
turning threshold down so you can just hear it helps

 

[MackDog]

Thanks for all of your tips will try on mine. Just ordered the 2 D coil. Keep the tips coming sooner or later I'll get it