Birds should chirp, not metal detectors

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,798
41,056
Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
10
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My "new" Deus is starting to look a little worn, It's been used a lot. Went to the beach today and used both the wet and dry sand modes, no problems and did get some keepers.

Then drove up country to a farm and used a coin mode, this is the version 3.2 and had a #13 coin mode on it. The thing started falsing some, like it was picking up radio waves or something. Could still hear "real" targets, but it was a nuisance. Was running 7.5 khz. I was digging with someone who was using a Garrett AT pro, but we were about 30 feet apart in horizontally blowing snow. Yes, too dumb to come out of the rain, so to speak.

Switched to the preprogrammed "relic" mode and the chirping stopped and it worked just find and pulled an 1835 dime out among other things. Suggestions? I still can barely operate the beast, and rely on it, rather than tweaking, as I have only had it 5 weeks or so.
 

With the little description to go on sounds like you hit some EMI ( electronic magnetic interference) the Dues loves EMI and if its around you will know about it. WiFi, dog fences and power lines are the most popular EMI producers out there. Even your cell phone will give off EMI and effect the machine if to close. But if you found a program that works keep using that, sounds like you got a nice find or two out of the day.

Where you hunting near the AT Pro the whole time or just when you noticed the "Chirping"?
 

Last edited:
That's what I thought first. But I was 5 feet from it up to 50'. Could have been the wireless cameras in the trees nearby. (Not kidding). Place has an absolutely AWESOME DRV setup. Everybody around here anymore has cameras working 24-7 to dissuade the bad guys. Also major power lines underground within 100'.
 

maybe the silent NSA drone I am following you with?
 

My "new" Deus is starting to look a little worn, It's been used a lot. Went to the beach today and used both the wet and dry sand modes, no problems and did get some keepers.

Then drove up country to a farm and used a coin mode, this is the version 3.2 and had a #13 coin mode on it. The thing started falsing some, like it was picking up radio waves or something. Could still hear "real" targets, but it was a nuisance. Was running 7.5 khz. I was digging with someone who was using a Garrett AT pro, but we were about 30 feet apart in horizontally blowing snow. Yes, too dumb to come out of the rain, so to speak.

Switched to the preprogrammed "relic" mode and the chirping stopped and it worked just find and pulled an 1835 dime out among other things. Suggestions? I still can barely operate the beast, and rely on it, rather than tweaking, as I have only had it 5 weeks or so.

When suffering EMI - Get the basics right. Ensure coil and module and headset batteries are fully charged. Always turn on the unit with the coil raised in the air so that it initializes without nearby metallic objects or ground conductivity affecting its power on alignment. Then, if the Deus is chatty, try the following in order:

First: Simply change the frequency away from 7.5 khz (you have 3 other choices) and pick the one that has the least noise. Sometimes two detectectors operating at the same frequency (or at multiples) will interfere. I forget the AT Pro's base frequency but I think its around 15 khz which is a multiple of 7.5khz (2 x 7.5), so switch to 4, 12, or 18 khz to see if that helps.

Second: If changing frequency did not help much or there is still noise, lower sensitivity down a tad. Don't go much below the lower 80's or you will really lose depth.

Third: Try adjusting TX power. Three settings 1, 2, or 3. Typically use 2, 3 drains battery more but may be helpful in good soil conditions for depth. Use TX 1 to conserve battery or when in highly mineralized soil such as the red clay in central Virginia. Or just adjust Tx power to see if it removes the interference. Its pretty random but has been known to work and it really does not affect performance all that much unless you are in one of the extreme soil conditions I mentioned.

Fourth: Adjust silencer above -1 or 0 which are the ideal "max" depth settings. (It is in a expert submenu below the reactivity setting). This is a last ditch change to make the machine quiet, it works but if you set silence at greater than 0 you will also lose depth. But its the tradeoff you might want to make to get the machine to quiet down. Note that the silence will go back to a high default setting whenever you adjust reactivity. Each reactivity setting has a default silencer setting that is typically high (which is good for silence, bad for depth). Whenever you change reactivity on the fly, go in a reset the silencer to the desired setting (typically -1 or 0, or no more than 1 or 2 if noise is really bad).

I suspect that this is what happened when you shifted into relic mode because the default silencer setting in the relic mode preset is 3 which is way high. Silent machine but minimal depth. It will still work though as you found out with a good find. That is why experienced deus users avoid the preprogrammed modes because they tend to have some default settings that limit performance. If I were limited to using the default programs, there are only two that I would try are Deus Fast - which I use as the starting point for all my custom programs and Gold Field which is a pseudo all metal mode.

Good luck out there.
 

Last edited:
Jeff, be good and I captured your drone and it's now looking at you. Vferrari, thanks for the tips. I haven't had the machine long enough to know it well but get the general gist of what you're talking about and will try it. By the time I got to the field (had been at the beach this am for 3+hours) had 50% power left on the coil, which might have been the main problem. I think the silencer was at "1" and I think the TX was on 2. In the future I WILL keep the coil in the air when turning it on. Hadn't thought of that before. It's already dug a CW plate, a couple buttons, TWO gold rings, 1 with diamonds, a silver earring, abut 8 CW bullets, CW ax, James I half groat, colonial button, colonial musket ball, the 1856 dime and the new 1835 dime, $5 in clad, some sinkers, junk, junk and more junk. Also got my 2nd only Flying eagle cent on Saturday, 1858, toasted, but must be doing something right. I also dug today in horizontally blowing snow. Kind of hard headed. I had the day off and made use of it. Ground at the site has hot rocks in it, lots of magnetite crystals and possible small gold in the rocks.
 

I can't run my Deus on frequency 12 anywhere around our home. we have 5 acres surrounded by invisible fence for our dogs.
the Deus puts off so much chatter that I can't stand it. switch to 8 or 17 and its fine
 

Vferrari I think it's ironic you should mention holding the coil up when turning the machine on. I JUST read that little tip earlier today in Sabisch's book (he also added to make sure the shaft was extended out first). The really interesting thing he mentioned was this exact instruction is also pointed out in the owners manual but is often overlooked due to being almost a footnote (my words), at the bottom of the page!
 

Jeff, be good and I captured your drone and it's now looking at you. Vferrari, thanks for the tips. I haven't had the machine long enough to know it well but get the general gist of what you're talking about and will try it. By the time I got to the field (had been at the beach this am for 3+hours) had 50% power left on the coil, which might have been the main problem. I think the silencer was at "1" and I think the TX was on 2. In the future I WILL keep the coil in the air when turning it on. Hadn't thought of that before. It's already dug a CW plate, a couple buttons, TWO gold rings, 1 with diamonds, a silver earring, abut 8 CW bullets, CW ax, James I half groat, colonial button, colonial musket ball, the 1856 dime and the new 1835 dime, $5 in clad, some sinkers, junk, junk and more junk. Also got my 2nd only Flying eagle cent on Saturday, 1858, toasted, but must be doing something right. I also dug today in horizontally blowing snow. Kind of hard headed. I had the day off and made use of it. Ground at the site has hot rocks in it, lots of magnetite crystals and possible small gold in the rocks.

You need to change your handle to smokin'thecat because you are smokin' it out in the field with all those great finds with the Deus. Please don't detect anywhere near me because when you get used to the settings and get that Deus optimally tuned in you will be unstoppable (great sites also help, too - and it sounds like you have some great sites to hunt). HH and enjoy!
 

Vferrari I think it's ironic you should mention holding the coil up when turning the machine on. I JUST read that little tip earlier today in Sabisch's book (he also added to make sure the shaft was extended out first). The really interesting thing he mentioned was this exact instruction is also pointed out in the owners manual but is often overlooked due to being almost a footnote (my words), at the bottom of the page!

Yep, its something you just have to get in the habit of doing then it becomes second nature. Even after getting Andy's book, it did not sink in at first until I attended one of his bootcamp sessions. Also, it may be obvious to most, but don't initialize the deus next to your vehicle. Even holding it up in the air will not help if you are standing right next to the vehicle. Wait until you are away from any metal objects, structures, vehicles. Its a testament to the Deus that it will still work somewhat effectively even if you do not initialize it properly, though I think you will really throw it off if you try initializing next to the vehicle. That is also why I am skeptical of any Deus tests I see that are conducted indoors, since the only way you could properly initialize is to do it oustside then bring the detector indoors, and even then, how good can the test be with all the nearby conductors and EMI generating equipment? HH
 

When you dig every weekend about 10 hours a weekend, it adds up, even on a "hunted out" site. At the beach today, I got a handful of clad and a butterfly shaped sterling earring with what I assume are fake diamonds in it. Can't find the tester. These were older coin drops, salt water beach, found after everyone else decided there was nothing left to find after the tourist season. It's persistencethecat.
 

Last edited:
Just after a rain last week I had a simular problem. Was running parallel to standard size power line. Was chattering just like you mentioned. Same spot while dry. I had to be almost under it to chatter.
I was already in 18kHz when first happened and was able to turn down sensitivity a bit to calm it down.
 

Genius here was detecting in blowing snow showers, heavy at times.
 

I can't run my Deus on frequency 12 anywhere around our home. we have 5 acres surrounded by invisible fence for our dogs.
the Deus puts off so much chatter that I can't stand it. switch to 8 or 17 and its fine

I find it's all dependant on the type of dog fence. I have a permission that you can not hunt with the dog fence plugged in no matter what frequency you run it at.
 

Smokey is it possible you've got beach sand and possibly iron under your coil cover
 

probably gold or minies
 

Gold. Joe, I don't think so.
 

I can't run my Deus on frequency 12 anywhere around our home. we have 5 acres surrounded by invisible fence for our dogs.
the Deus puts off so much chatter that I can't stand it. switch to 8 or 17 and its fine

Wouldn't a frequency shift help with that while in 12 or have you tried that already ?
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top