What setting should I try out first.

pepperj

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Feb 3, 2009
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Detector(s) used
Deus, Deus 2, Minelab 3030, E-Trac,
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
I got the Deus (11" coil) a year ago, and this year I'm getting the 9" elliptical HF coil. So what I have been doing mostly is hunting on fast 7.9-11hz, O-Discrimination, 6 sound, 90-95 sensitivity, never ground balance (never tried it), and everything else is factory settings.
So I'll bring in the detector to the dealer and they'll update the brains, and sync. the coil to the machine.

From running the Minelabs wide open I'm really used to hearing everything even in heavy iron. So that doesn't worry me, but I wonder should I be running the machine up in the 75Hz area?
The sites that I want to try this coil out are heavy iron, one site where I dug my GW button has large areas that 6+ pieces of iron something comes out of a sq.ft plug. So I'm thinking this coil would be great for that one site alone.
As we all have many of these iron patches that give endless signals it seems and there are finds there but just hearing them in the iron can be challenging.
So what are some of the recommendations on this HF coil newbie running a Deus like a Newbie. ( I never like to say I know crap about a machine unless I have passed a true 1000+ hrs of digging dirt with it)
 

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I wouldn't start in 75, I'd walk up the ladder, start with 28 then 54 then 74 last - it's not the iron that will drive you nuts it's the tiny shards of scrap non ferrous, if you have modern trash at a site, like foil and aluminum, you will be digging a million holes.
I also feel Calabash's "Pitch Program" works great with the HF coil...you can look it up or it goes something like this...
Deus Fast, change;

tones to pitch, move the pitch tone freq. high as it will go, something like 612 Khz
AR 3 or 4
R2 / S-1 ( I use R3, 4 or 5)
Disc. 10 (running the disc lower than 6.2 and your horseshoe doesn't work so well, ferrous/non ferrous reading)
GB - tracking, especially if moving to v4.0, silly not to run tracking GB in my opinion in v4.0
Sen - run it as high as you can without falsing

Or start out in Deus Fast and change the tone to Full tones if you want to hear it "all"

A ball of foil with the LF coil can read around the 40's where the HF coil will show it in the high 60's to 70's
 

My machine came with the 11" coil and I bought the elliptical when it became available. If you search YouTube for "metal detecting sifter program" you will find a program that works for me. A Brit named Gary has one posted I know. You hear plenty of noise but through it all a good tone magically emerges, for me at least. Good luck.

YouTube Search:

XP Deus Garys full tone hot and sifter programs explained
 

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Some good info here! Good post!
 

Well I went to the local dealer to pick up the elliptical coil and to update the brains from 3.2 so the coil can be paired. Got to love it when I can't do things because of owning a MAC computer and everyone runs on a windows program.
So off to a triple cellar hole site yesterday and being a newb (1yr) on a new coil it was going to be interesting.
So I put the XY setting in as it has intrigued me in the Skills video over the horse shoe setting.
Set the freq at 28 as it bounced from 14 to 28 to 74 pushing the + button. What ever happened to the 54 I'm :icon_scratch:
Iron at - something for the beginning then I played around with that off and on.
#3 fast
volume at 6 as I was wearing a toque over the head.
Every other setting was basically the way it was designed to do.
Now this XY screen was a bit baffling as the sun shining off the # in the left hand corner was hard to read and I try to use strictly sound anyways. I dug iron, and some more to see what it was telling me wasn't a lie, and it was bang on.
If it was a straight running line no interruption with a loop on the end well it was non-ferrous targets. I dug 8 targets in the first 3 hrs at this site and another being a beer drinking man hunting knoll in the next field.
This is where I tried with the 11" LF and the bottle caps drove me out, not this time the lines on the XY screen were all squiggly and the #80/81 for the number and sounding sweet.
I pinpointed and ID the targets that Dave was digging a few times as iron or a bottle cap( He just strapped on the new 11" and updated program).
We compared #'s and the signal strength, what we were hearing and what the actual target ended up being.
The coil preformed ok, nothing that I'd say it was a game changer either, but I'm a total newb with only a few hrs on the coil.
The last hour was across the creek that I soon discovered my rubber boot had a small hole in it, nice feeling 35 degree water seeping through the insulated portion and through the sock. Got to love that feeling walking around. :)
This cellar hole I have spent a lot of time around to the point of not digging anything non-ferrous.
So I ramped it up to 74 and I twerked out a thin sash buckle that was folded in half laying on its edge at 6-8".
Question: Why does the + bounce from 14-28-74 missing the 54?
Anything else I should of done to the settings?
I went to my GW Button site for 30 minutes, ran it on 74, and didn't dig anything non-ferrous.
This site is challenging as every hole I can dig 6-8 pieces of iron out so masking is what it is.
 

9" Round 14 - 28 - 54 khz

9" Elliptical 14 - 28 -74 khz

That's just how they're configured and is something that needs to be considered b4 purchase. I think that info has been scattered about in postings here and on various sites where the coil specs are posted.

That being said, not sure at the ultra high Freq setting of 54 or 74 kHz matters all that much so I wouldn't sweat it. What is important is getting the coil form factor that works best for you and 28 kHz seems to be the sweet spot for relic hunting. Nothing more frustrating than trying to find the micro targets those high end frequencies lock on to. LOL.
 

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9" Round 14 - 28 - 54 khz

9" Elliptical 14 - 28 -74 khz

That's just how they're configured and is something that needs to be considered b4 purchase. I think that info has been scattered about in postings here and on various sites where the coil specs are posted.

That being said, not sure at the ultra high Freq setting of 54 or 74 kHz matters all that much so I wouldn't sweat it. What is important is getting the coil form factor that works best for you and 28 kHz seems to be the sweet spot for relic hunting. Nothing more frustrating than trying to find the micro targets those high end frequencies lock on to. LOL.

Ok thanks for that, reading posts and just reading 54 on the 9" had me trying for that setting.
No problem with small targets yesterday it seems that everything was larger.
It might take some time on the coil to sniff out the smalls.
Might try another friendly iron patch that I have beaten to death this weekend.
Practise always helps and 5 hrs isn't even close in knowing anything.
 

Yep keep plugging away, pepper, sounds like you are giving the elliptical a workout. That's exactly what you need to do.

My recommendation is to use Deus Fast out of the box but up Disc to 10, 5 tones. Use whatever frequency you want (28 khz is a good MOR choice) and swing away.

If you want a little more depth you can back off on reactivity to 2.5 or even 2 without sacrificing much separation.

At some point you might want to switch over to Pitch tones and try that out. Just like 5 tones, you will get iron volume where you have discriminated but a single pitch tone for all non-discriminated targets. The pitch will vary in intensity and pitch frequency based on how strong the signal is, so shallow and/or large targest should just boom through. This is Calabash Digger's (and mine) go to unmasking program in thick iron but it also works as a general search program even if iron is not that thick if you are basically digging any non-ferrous. You can adjust the base pitch frequency in the Advanced settings of the tone menu under Disc (Calabash and I crank it as high in freq as it can go). You will hear the iron tones and then anything hiding amongst the iron will scream out in pitch. Need to recognize, however, sometimes you will get ferrous bleed through (also know as wraparound) but you can usually tell that is happening because you will get a really high VDI (98-99) with the pitch and with the strong iron grunt too. Takes some getting used to, but you can sometimes really squeak out some fine hidden gems, esp. buttons hiding in that iron.
 

Yep keep plugging away, pepper, sounds like you are giving the elliptical a workout. That's exactly what you need to do.

My recommendation is to use Deus Fast out of the box but up Disc to 10, 5 tones. Use whatever frequency you want (28 khz is a good MOR choice) and swing away.

If you want a little more depth you can back off on reactivity to 2.5 or even 2 without sacrificing much separation.

At some point you might want to switch over to Pitch tones and try that out. Just like 5 tones, you will get iron volume where you have discriminated but a single pitch tone for all non-discriminated targets. The pitch will vary in intensity and pitch frequency based on how strong the signal is, so shallow and/or large targest should just boom through. This is Calabash Digger's (and mine) go to unmasking program in thick iron but it also works as a general search program even if iron is not that thick if you are basically digging any non-ferrous. You can adjust the base pitch frequency in the Advanced settings of the tone menu under Disc (Calabash and I crank it as high in freq as it can go). You will hear the iron tones and then anything hiding amongst the iron will scream out in pitch. Need to recognize, however, sometimes you will get ferrous bleed through (also know as wraparound) but you can usually tell that is happening because you will get a really high VDI (98-99) with the pitch and with the strong iron grunt too. Takes some getting used to, but you can sometimes really squeak out some fine hidden gems, esp. buttons hiding in that iron.

I'm going to a spot this PM to get some practice in on the coil. Should be fun going around the corn stalks stubble that are 18" high. Got to the site and they harvested the corn and rolled down the failed crop over the small rise. Leaving a thick mat of stalks on the ground making it a real challenge for hunting 1/3 of the site.
20180421_143908.jpg
 

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Well I went to the local dealer to pick up the elliptical coil and to update the brains from 3.2 so the coil can be paired. Got to love it when I can't do things because of owning a MAC computer and everyone runs on a windows program.
So off to a triple cellar hole site yesterday and being a newb (1yr) on a new coil it was going to be interesting.
So I put the XY setting in as it has intrigued me in the Skills video over the horse shoe setting.
Set the freq at 28 as it bounced from 14 to 28 to 74 pushing the + button. What ever happened to the 54 I'm :icon_scratch:
Iron at - something for the beginning then I played around with that off and on.
#3 fast
volume at 6 as I was wearing a toque over the head.
Every other setting was basically the way it was designed to do.
Now this XY screen was a bit baffling as the sun shining off the # in the left hand corner was hard to read and I try to use strictly sound anyways. I dug iron, and some more to see what it was telling me wasn't a lie, and it was bang on.
If it was a straight running line no interruption with a loop on the end well it was non-ferrous targets. I dug 8 targets in the first 3 hrs at this site and another being a beer drinking man hunting knoll in the next field.
This is where I tried with the 11" LF and the bottle caps drove me out, not this time the lines on the XY screen were all squiggly and the #80/81 for the number and sounding sweet.
I pinpointed and ID the targets that Dave was digging a few times as iron or a bottle cap( He just strapped on the new 11" and updated program).
We compared #'s and the signal strength, what we were hearing and what the actual target ended up being.
The coil preformed ok, nothing that I'd say it was a game changer either, but I'm a total newb with only a few hrs on the coil.
The last hour was across the creek that I soon discovered my rubber boot had a small hole in it, nice feeling 35 degree water seeping through the insulated portion and through the sock. Got to love that feeling walking around. :)
This cellar hole I have spent a lot of time around to the point of not digging anything non-ferrous.
So I ramped it up to 74 and I twerked out a thin sash buckle that was folded in half laying on its edge at 6-8".
Question: Why does the + bounce from 14-28-74 missing the 54?
Anything else I should of done to the settings?
I went to my GW Button site for 30 minutes, ran it on 74, and didn't dig anything non-ferrous.
This site is challenging as every hole I can dig 6-8 pieces of iron out so masking is what it is.
Time for a new pair of Wellies my friend! :laughing9:

On Friday, after a while you seemed to pick out the good targets easily once you got the hang of the new coil Jim.
Loved seeing that early British button you found yesterday too! :occasion14:

Dave
 

Time for a new pair of Wellies my friend! :laughing9:

On Friday, after a while you seemed to pick out the good targets easily once you got the hang of the new coil Jim.
Loved seeing that early British button you found yesterday too! :occasion14:

Dave

Thanks Dave, it was great hooking up again for a few hours of hunting. Good to see you got some mud on those 4 X 4 tires. :laughing7:

If it wasn't for the buttons it would be pretty slim pickings Dave. Yes on the new boots or maybe a little PL cement will fix the hole up. :laughing7:

I guess I should clean this one up from Friday before the truck mats eat it up.

20180420_115302.jpg

Yesterday was rewarded with a sweet keeper for me as I tweaked it out of the heavy iron on 74hz after I put the discrimination up to 3 to quiet things down. So with the other buttons and things I'm happy.

20180421_193604.jpg20180421_193501.jpg
20180421_191058.jpg
 

Don't be afraid to disc up to 10 if primarily going for non-ferrous in 5 tones (or any multitone mode) or pitch. With low iron volume you can still hear the telltale ferrous concentrations plus, applying disc, I've found, makes the horseshoe display more stable if you use it, but more importantly, tends to keep non-ferrous from getting down-averaged in tone and VDI from nearby ferrous targets.

This is one of the reasons I've moved away from full tones. Sure you can apply disc to full tones but you completely lose the ability to hear any telltale ferrous concentrations (indicatve of a past structure or cellar hole) in the disc'd region. because there is no iron volume.

Also, lowering sensitivity in thick iron is another cool unmasking trick (known as sifting) as it tends to mitigate iron falsing and wraparound.

Great saves, btw!
 

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I went over to my GW site yesterday for a go at the iron. Not that I was trying for a keeper I was trying for a piece of non-ferrous of anything. I tried 28 + 74 with the disc ranging from 6-75 Lol
Nadda for recoveries out of the iron except iron. Lol

Thanks for the extended help and I will try the tones, and the knocking back the sensitivity at this site.

I'm just going to say this that I think a 1" coil would do this site justice as I counted the ferrous targets out of one hole 8" round x 10" deep hole and it was 16 pieces. The sides of the hole made the carrot sing with targets so detecting anything out of iron is challenge.

I went over to another site for an hour, well hit with the Etrac, and the 11" LF coil to the point where things were quiet.
I set it on 28, disc. at 10, reactivity 2, sense 90 and the site lit up with little finds, head stamps, an early Henry shell, small bits of pewter and lead, brass.
Nothing worth posting up but every target popped out of the iron to the point I had no problem hearing them.

Next is the tones and I'll see what that will do.
 

It's so great not to be so illiterate when it comes to changing a setting on a machine.:laughing7:
Thought ok lets do the tone change ???ok it must under this button or that button :icon_scratch:.
Eh screw it I'm going to play while it's nice out here.
Note to self: Don't be so male! Bring manual, read the instructions on the machine, then play.:hello2:
 

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