Committed to Sensitivity 15, “sifting”

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I’ve hit a mid 1800’s cellar hole site 6 separate quickie hunts. Field2, sensitivity 24, iron on, 5 tones on my 600. Loads of iron sounding off like a typical cellar hole site. Basically would circle the cellar each trip. Found lots of typical old relics each short hunt, then last visit basically found nothing. Hunted out....

So I decided to give it another go and commit to lowering and staying with the power down to 15, all other settings the same. Here’s what popped out in 2 one hour hunts in the same soil I had passed my coil over at least 4 times.

No gold coins or Spanish silver, but a full handful of solid relics.

The soil in W PA is very neutral and my sites are away from power lines, so I have grown accustomed to cranking power on my detectors all the way up. When I had experimented with “sifting” (lowering power) before I only lowered it to 18-20 thinking that was a dramatic drop from 24-25.

I found running on 15 required skipping some of the brushy/briar areas and focus on the areas where my coil could basically come very close to dirt. Also, no screaming signals with this approach. Slow, steady and dig all the solid 2 way signals above a 4. Passed on signals that “dragged” / synched with the background iron tone. This method did unveil a lot of unwanted finds as well, shotgun brass, bullets and casings, but minimal iron falsing on these settings.

Most of the finds in the handful were 4” or less, the only exception being one of the crotal bells was 10” down and just gave a faint high tone. Main problem was when I tried to use my Carrot pin pointer it was hard to find the high tone target mixed among the iron bits...

I am not ready to permanently commit to 15 as my preferred hunting is more exploratory hiking, fast paced and covering a lot of ground.

I wonder what results I would have dropping down to 10 or less?

(Thx V Ferrari for the tip)

 

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[vferrari]

Yeah, great job, great finds! Use it as another tool in the tool kit vs. a main search method. Something to try after you've given the site a scan with normal sensitivity and have assessed the level of iron target density. It does take s lot of discipline to commit to it. I wouldn't lower it much below 15 as the targets would have to be very shallow for detection. Glad it paid off for you!

 

[GB1]

nice finds

 

[HighVDI]

I've even done this in the old fields and you seem to lose a little depth BUT gain some back from lack of ground feeback. Dug a wheatie at pinpointer depth on 15. She still goes deep with low gain. Nice finds man!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I've even done this in the old fields and you seem to lose a little depth BUT gain some back from lack of ground feeback. Dug a wheatie at pinpointer depth on 15. She still goes deep with low gain. Nice finds man!

When you are at your typical old mowed park grassy area with no EMI or very little, not iron infested (maybe with pull tabs), how hot are you running your 800 now?

 

[HighVDI]

When you are at your typical old mowed park grassy area with no EMI or very little, not iron infested (maybe with pull tabs), how hot are you running your 800 now?

I'm usually camped out right in the 21 area. I'd say typically 17-23 EMI permitting. Thing sucks coins out of the ground it seems anywhere close to that range.

 

[sprailroad]

Hmmmm…..you fella's got me thinking...

 

[pulltabfelix]

I’ve hit a mid 1800’s cellar hole site 6 separate quickie hunts. Field2, sensitivity 24, iron on, 5 tones on my 600. Loads of iron sounding off like a typical cellar hole site. Basically would circle the cellar each trip. Found lots of typical old relics each short hunt, then last visit basically found nothing. Hunted out....

So I decided to give it another go and commit to lowering and staying with the power down to 15, all other settings the same. Here’s what popped out in 2 one hour hunts in the same soil I had passed my coil over at least 4 times.
View attachment 1645213
No gold coins or Spanish silver, but a full handful of solid relics.

The soil in W PA is very neutral and my sites are away from power lines, so I have grown accustomed to cranking power on my detectors all the way up. When I had experimented with “sifting” (lowering power) before I only lowered it to 18-20 thinking that was a dramatic drop from 24-25.

I found running on 15 required skipping some of the brushy/briar areas and focus on the areas where my coil could basically come very close to dirt. Also, no screaming signals with this approach. Slow, steady and dig all the solid 2 way signals above a 4. Passed on signals that “dragged” / synched with the background iron tone. This method did unveil a lot of unwanted finds as well, shotgun brass, bullets and casings, but minimal iron falsing on these settings.

Most of the finds in the handful were 4” or less, the only exception being one of the crotal bells was 10” down and just gave a faint high tone. Main problem was when I tried to use my Carrot pin pointer it was hard to find the high tone target mixed among the iron bits...

I am not ready to permanently commit to 15 as my preferred hunting is more exploratory hiking, fast paced and covering a lot of ground.

I wonder what results I would have dropping down to 10 or less?

(Thx V Ferrari for the tip)

So I decided to give it another go and commit to lowering and staying with the power down to 15

you said power down to 15, is that the same as sensitivity on your 600? I have an 800. I am not sure you are saying sensitivity or power means the same thing.

if that is true, then why does lowering the sensitivity after you have hunted it on a higher setting produce more finds?

maybe V will answer that for me.

I kind of thought you would hunt a site on a lower sensitivity to cherry pick and or get rid of a lot of easy targets and trash then go back at a higher sensitivity to get deeper targets that will be easier to find since you removed lots of interfering targets/trash.

 

[Wild Colonial Boy]

great post,

i tried similar once on a site i hunted out, I want to 16 sensitivity and i also lowered my recovery speed to 3 and found 4 mote small flat buttons from 3 to 6.5" deep

I have to remind myself to always do it on the last round

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Hi Felix, I use the term sensitivity and power interchangeably. Keep in mind this was 100% in the nail infested zone of a cellar hole. I dug more keepers (over 6 hunts) with the power at 24 than at 15. Lowering it to 15 somehow magically allows the Nox to “sift” through all the surrounding iron tones (less targets since power is much lower) and allowed for clean two way targets to appear where there was nothing at 24. V would have a better answer...

 

[HighVDI]

The only machine I know of that does better in iron unmasking with the gain turned up is an f75.

 

[pulltabfelix]

Hi Felix, I use the term sensitivity and power interchangeably. Keep in mind this was 100% in the nail infested zone of a cellar hole. I dug more keepers (over 6 hunts) with the power at 24 than at 15. Lowering it to 15 somehow magically allows the Nox to “sift” through all the surrounding iron tones (less targets since power is much lower) and allowed for clean two way targets to appear where there was nothing at 24. V would have a better answer...

I guess that doing that filters out a lot of iron and lets the good target signals come through but probably only weaker but not be overwhelmed by the iron responding. That would make sense to me if that is what is happening. I don't doubt your word because you are experiencing it. Yes, leave it up to V to explain it so we can understand it. V is a very good reason to be on this forum in my opinion. a true resource to all of us.

 

[relicmeister]

Great post I’m sure has a lot of us thinking of giving the lower sensitivity a serious try in iron infested sites. You had amazing results with it.

 

[vferrari]

My theory is that the lower sensitivity prevents the stronger ferrous signals from overwhelming the detector allowing the high recovery speed of the Equinox to actually separate and unmask the relatively shallow non-ferrous targets. These shallower targets have been left behind even in pounded sites with thick iron because it is too hard for detectorists to remove all the iron and therefore the non-ferrous targets just sit there masked by the iron because most detectors don't have the recovery speed of the Equinox, Deus, Makro/Nokta, and even Tesoros to separate out the keepers. And for those that do use these faster detectors, it is very hard to convince most of us depth obsessed detectorists to turn down our gain/sensitivity settings which is the key second ingredient to success in this situation. A small coil helps too because it lessens the bulk number of targets under the coil at any one time.

 

[nagant]

I tried this a week ago on a short trashy park hunt. Same amount of clad coins but easier on the ears, don't know what i missed but it kept me hunting longer

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Ok, sensitivity 15 cellar hole #2, Small 15’x10’ depression left of the first tree. Have hit this 3 times before, Garrett (2 coils) and Nox at sensitivity 24. In the past found 5 IHP’s, crotal bells, buckles, relics. Last visit was a total bust, today with the commitment to 15 “sifting”

Again, nothing earth shattering here, but still in shock that so many targets popped out at this tiny hole after last visit was nada.

I have 2 more I will try this week (lunch hour hunts) at 15 and see if the magic is consistent. If so, I have 2 spots I can’t wait to try this weekend!!!

 

[Wild Colonial Boy]

My theory is that the lower sensitivity prevents the stronger ferrous signals from overwhelming the detector allowing the high recovery speed of the Equinox to actually separate and unmask the relatively shallow non-ferrous targets. These shallower targets have been left behind even in pounded sites with thick iron because it is too hard for detectorists to remove all the iron and therefore the non-ferrous targets just sit there masked by the iron because most detectors don't have the recovery speed of the Equinox, Deus, Makro/Nokta, and even Tesoros to separate out the keepers. And for those that do use these faster detectors, it is very hard to convince most of us depth obsessed detectorists to turn down our gain/sensitivity settings which is the key second ingredient to success in this situation. A small coil helps too because it lessens the bulk number of targets under the coil at any one time.

Thank you you just answered my next question

 

[Wild Colonial Boy]

View attachment 1645665
Ok, sensitivity 15 cellar hole #2, Small 15’x10’ depression left of the first tree. Have hit this 3 times before, Garrett (2 coils) and Nox at sensitivity 24. In the past found 5 IHP’s, crotal bells, buckles, relics. Last visit was a total bust, today with the commitment to 15 “sifting”
View attachment 1645666
Again, nothing earth shattering here, but still in shock that so many targets popped out at this tiny hole after last visit was nada.

I have 2 more I will try this week (lunch hour hunts) at 15 and see if the magic is consistent. If so, I have 2 spots I can’t wait to try this weekend!!!

what is the big square plate I found one similar a few weeks ago?

 

[digger27]

Mounting plates like that hold gears and guts for clocks.

 

[Royn2751]

Tried this technique for 2 hours yesterday. Running stock coil, recovery speed, iron bias and sensitivity at 15 in park1, toggling the horseshoe at each target.
Finds ran the gamut from surface to 10" with the bulk at 4-6".
Every one was non ambiguous. They seemed to "pop out" as was mentioned in an earlier post.
Not pictured a few pull tabs and some can slaw. No iron.
BTW, this was at a spot that has been hunted relentlessly.
Many thanks for a valuable though seemingly counterintuitive technique.