CTX 3030 questions

[Beach Papa]

After much deliberation, I purchased a CTX 3030. Still trying to figure it out as this is my first Minelab detector. It doesn't get the extreme depth of an Aquasound in South Florida, but it may have a valuable place where I hunt further up the east coast where we have black sand and rougher water that limits the use of the aquasound. CTX questions: 1.) Any hints on maximazing its performace on the beach and in the water would be helpful and much appreciated. 2.) How do you adjust the manual descrimination in the field? I have not been able to find it in the manual. 3.) I have heard that reverse descrimination hunting is a productive strategy. Can anyone tell me how do you do that? Thanks for any input and may all your hunts be golden. Blessings, Beach Papa

 

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[TreasurDiggrNY]

Here is a short tip on how to use discrimination Beach hunting with the CTX 3030 - Part 3 | Treasure Talk
Here is a link with a boat load of tips for the 3030 Metal Detectors - Minelab Metal Detectors - for metal detecting, gold prospecting, treasure hunting, pulse induction and countermine operations.

 

[Beach Papa]

NY Treasure Digger. Great source for hints, and they are very valuable. I have read a lot of the CTX 3030 tester information and have found it helpful. However, although I understand when auto sensativity would work better then manual sensativity, I still don't understand how to change the Manual sensativity on the fly at the beach. I know I can go into universal settings and change the universal setting for manual sensativity but that doesn't seem to be the place to change it on the beach, but rather in the Exchange2 program. Does anyone know how do you change the manual sensativity on the beach? Thanks, Beach Papa

 

[Gary Drayton]

You have to go into the Sensitivity Menu by pressing and holding the Sensitivity button down ( button to the left of the Main Menu button) and the display will tell you what Sensitivity setting you are currently using. Scroll down, highlight and press Manual then use the buttons to the L & R of the main menu button to increase or lower the Manual sensitivity level. Make sure you lower or raise the Manual sensitivity level in small increments until the CTX 3030 is running stable and do not forget to make sure your Seawater setting is on when using the CTX 3030 close to or in the water.
Good luck Gary

 

[Beach Papa]

You have to go into the Sensitivity Menu by pressing and holding the Sensitivity button down ( button to the left of the Main Menu button) and the display will tell you what Sensitivity setting you are currently using. Scroll down, highlight and press Manual then use the buttons to the L & R of the main menu button to increase or lower the Manual sensitivity level. Make sure you lower or raise the Manual sensitivity level in small increments until the CTX 3030 is running stable and do not forget to make sure your Seawater setting is on when using the CTX 3030 close to or in the water.
Good luck Gary

Thanks Gary!!! That did the trick. I guess I wasn't holding the sensativity button down long enough to go into the manual sensativity adjustment mode. I could switch back and forth between the manual and auto sensativity controls but I couldn't figure out how to adjust the manual sensativity setting once in the manual mode. I did notice that my sensativity icon doesn't have the "M" for manual sensativity as the manual says, but it does have the "A" for Auto Sensativity and an empty icon for Manual, so now I know what it is suppose to say, I can work with it. Thanks also for the Seawater setting hint. The first time I was on the beach (last week) I wasn't sure if I needed the seawater setting or not since I wasn't actually in the water. I was concerned that using the seawater setting would reduce the depth or in some other way reduce the performance of the detector to cope with the salt water. By the way, I have read most if not all of your as well as other blog posts on the Minelab web site and found them very helpful. I appreciate all your input and if you have any other suggestions of ways to maximize my performance on the beach and in the water, please don't hesitate to post. Right now I am still digging pennies for practice, but I see them consistantly coming in at an 11/36 so I see where rejecting that target when time is short and targets are many has its merrit. Thanks again, All your finds with the CTX have been awesome. I do realize that most were after a storm and not to be expected on every beach all the time, but it was inspiring to see your success with the CTX. Blessings, Beach Papa

 

[Beach Papa]

Gary, while I have your ear, I read a blog post on the Minelab website that talked about when to ground balance on the beach and when not to. Lots of black sand = you need to ground balance. A little bit of black sand = ground balance or not? (not sure) Is there some reason why or when it is bad to ground balance? Thanks, Papa

 

[Gary Drayton]

Hi Beach Papa Thanks for the kind words and good feedback on the Minelab Treasure talk blogs.
I have never had to GB on Florida beaches yet, although I have experimented with GB but saw no difference in performance.
I doubt there are many beaches in the US that you would have to GB on but like all the features on the CTX 3030 you have it if you do need to use it in extreme circumstances.
The good thing about the CTX 3030 is having the triple target identification, tones, target cursor placements on the Detect screen and the FE-CO numbers. You have the power to reject pennies but after a while you know the tone, where they come up on the screen and what numbers so why bother rejecting them. You are not going to miss any gold not digging single pennies with this metal detector.
Good luck Gary

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Oops!

 

[Petrie502]

HOPE THIS HELPS A LITTLE IF YOU INTERESTED IN MY PATTERNS OR SETTINGS PM ME I DO VERY WELL WITH THE CTX

 

[MBbeachrat]

Max made a utube showing gold school rings giving the same sound and numbers as pennies with the CTX. The alloys in larger 10k rings is the reason for the same sounds and numbers. Only takes a few seconds to dig on he beach dig what you think is a penny, you may have a surprise every now and then.

 

[MBbeachrat]

After much deliberation, I purchased a CTX 3030. Still trying to figure it out as this is my first Minelab detector. It doesn't get the extreme depth of an Aquasound in South Florida,

You probably will not find any detector that gets the depth of the Aquasound. Also you won't find one that gets the small gold in saltwater like the Aquasound. If you want to sell the Aquasound let me know.

 

[Whydah]

Papa, May I also add that you should update your 30-30 ASAP from Minelabs website... It will give you the newest settings... Your gonna love it....