bigscoop
Gold Member
- Jun 4, 2010
- 13,373
- 8,689
- Detector(s) used
- Older blue Excal with full mods, Equinox 800.
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Excal - Depth VS I.D.
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to play with the Excal, the Skullies headphones, and various coil sizes, and the results have been pretty enlightening in regards to depth VS discrimination. Basically here’s what I’m discovering in the saltwater environment:
As the coil size and depth increases - the gold targets must also increase in size and density or the ability for accurate I.D. becomes unreliable. Add to this that as the size of the coil increases it becomes much harder for the processor to isolate smaller gold objects from the increased amount of mineralization introduced by the larger search field of the larger coil, hence it becomes easier to miss small gold targets starting at about the mid-depth range and beyond. So in mineralized conditions there is clearly a tradeoff when seeking the greater depth that these larger coils provide.
Target signature seems to be the only reliable reference when analyzing these deeper responses. If the response is faint but rather larger then you be fairly certain the target isn’t a coin or piece of jewelry. But if that signature is small then what? One of the things I am discovering is that deep/faint nulls and/or threshold breaks need to be investigated further. One of the tactics I’ve started using is in disc mode, by which I’ll swing the coil over the target area at different angles and speeds to see if I can raise any manner of a tone, a burp, a momentary tic, a chirp, whatever. If I get any type of a response while doing this I’m digging that target! Just in this past week I’ve yanked some nice deeper finds from the deep wet soup that I would have passed up only weeks prior, and surprisingly, most of these deeper good targets have been silver. Sure, the greatest portion of these deep tics are iron junk, or zinc pennies, or tiny pieces of foil or junk pieces of eaten away costume jewelry, etc., but let’s not forget that these targets started out as nulls, a sure sign that our I.D. capability is failing at these greater depths.
I don’t like having to dig these deeper mystery targets but as DewGuru says, “He who digs the most junk gets the most gold….”, and in recent weeks I have come to realize that there is accuracy in this statement, especially when this philosophy is applied to these deeper targets. The big coil can get you deeper and it can allow you to access some of these deeper targets but don’t trust the accuracy of those small and faint nulls, especially the deeper ones. So how do you know if it’s just a small target or a deep target? Take at least one full scoop out of the target area and see if the item is still in the target area and if it is see if you can get it to take to you. If it so much as squeaks, go after it!
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to play with the Excal, the Skullies headphones, and various coil sizes, and the results have been pretty enlightening in regards to depth VS discrimination. Basically here’s what I’m discovering in the saltwater environment:
As the coil size and depth increases - the gold targets must also increase in size and density or the ability for accurate I.D. becomes unreliable. Add to this that as the size of the coil increases it becomes much harder for the processor to isolate smaller gold objects from the increased amount of mineralization introduced by the larger search field of the larger coil, hence it becomes easier to miss small gold targets starting at about the mid-depth range and beyond. So in mineralized conditions there is clearly a tradeoff when seeking the greater depth that these larger coils provide.
Target signature seems to be the only reliable reference when analyzing these deeper responses. If the response is faint but rather larger then you be fairly certain the target isn’t a coin or piece of jewelry. But if that signature is small then what? One of the things I am discovering is that deep/faint nulls and/or threshold breaks need to be investigated further. One of the tactics I’ve started using is in disc mode, by which I’ll swing the coil over the target area at different angles and speeds to see if I can raise any manner of a tone, a burp, a momentary tic, a chirp, whatever. If I get any type of a response while doing this I’m digging that target! Just in this past week I’ve yanked some nice deeper finds from the deep wet soup that I would have passed up only weeks prior, and surprisingly, most of these deeper good targets have been silver. Sure, the greatest portion of these deep tics are iron junk, or zinc pennies, or tiny pieces of foil or junk pieces of eaten away costume jewelry, etc., but let’s not forget that these targets started out as nulls, a sure sign that our I.D. capability is failing at these greater depths.
I don’t like having to dig these deeper mystery targets but as DewGuru says, “He who digs the most junk gets the most gold….”, and in recent weeks I have come to realize that there is accuracy in this statement, especially when this philosophy is applied to these deeper targets. The big coil can get you deeper and it can allow you to access some of these deeper targets but don’t trust the accuracy of those small and faint nulls, especially the deeper ones. So how do you know if it’s just a small target or a deep target? Take at least one full scoop out of the target area and see if the item is still in the target area and if it is see if you can get it to take to you. If it so much as squeaks, go after it!
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Not sure I want to challenge that all the time. Advil and gloves are suddenly on the top of my detecting needs list! 
