Breaking All The Excal Rules

[bigscoop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLImLi5rf4&feature=youtu.be

 

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[RustyGold]

Thanks for the link Bigscoop! Very interesting.

 

[WaterWalker]

Interesting for sure. I wish I had read this before going out this morning. Now I will have to wait for the snow/rain/wind to stop. Then targets watch out...I going to let the genie out of the tube!

Great watching your videos...even if they fry a few synapse.

 

[jadocs]

Thanks for the post bigscoop

 

[bigscoop]

A couple of things about the Excal settings in this video and why they work. First, think of the footprint of a really deep or very small item, it is very small and the returns are very weak. When we run the threshold "a lot" of these very faint returns can be mistaken for very quick and insignificant threshold breaks and in turn they can be too easily dismissed. When we turn our machine to silent mode with our return volume cranked all the way up then these very faint and very quick returns become more recognizable because there is no chance that they can be masked by the threshold. I hope this makes sense as it actually works. This is how I have been able to recover a lot of those tiny gold chains, earring backs and studs, etc., the actual returns being very quick and very faint but recognizable and repeatable. I think once you've tried it for a while you'll see what I'm talking about and you'll start recognizing and recovering more smaller and deeper targets.

 

[JamesR1964]

Thank you Bigscoop for the tip. I"m going to give that a try... I personally don't like hearing any threshholds. Except when using my Etrac I use a very low threshold. I just bought a used Excalibar 1000 and been running it with the switch just turned on with no threshhold in pinpoint. So what you're saying is to turn the threshold all the way up until you don't hear it? (Silent mode?) Along with running it in disc mode..I understand the sensitivity setting... I just want to make sure I understood the video? I was experimenting with a new beach Hunter ID with no threshold,sensitivity maxed out in all metal and was getting good results. Of course having the red yellow green lights helped on what to dig. I bought the Excal hoping for the deeper smaller gold and what have you.... Thanks again my friend. I hope to try it this weekend.

 

[bigscoop]

Thank you Bigscoop for the tip. I"m going to give that a try... I personally don't like hearing any threshholds. Except when using my Etrac I use a very low threshold. I just bought a used Excalibar 1000 and been running it with the switch just turned on with no threshhold in pinpoint. So what you're saying is to turn the threshold all the way up until you don't hear it? (Silent mode?) Along with running it in disc mode..I understand the sensitivity setting... I just want to make sure I understood the video? I was experimenting with a new beach Hunter ID with no threshold,sensitivity maxed out in all metal and was getting good results. Of course having the red yellow green lights helped on what to dig. I bought the Excal hoping for the deeper smaller gold and what have you.... Thanks again my friend. I hope to try it this weekend.

Put your machine in discrimination mode. When you first turn your machine on slowly turn the dial up until you hear the threshold and then back it off until the threshold can no longer be heard. Now turn your machine volume all the way up, set your sensitivity to about half, discrimination at 1. ( You can adjust the sensitivity once you're actually hunting to suit the conditions.) Also, the better the headphones the better the results as some returns can be extremely faint and quick. Dig any tone that repeats, regardless how faint or deep it might be.

Yes, the higher volume is going to allow shallow targets to return extremely loud but this is the trade off suffered in order to hear those very deep and/or faint returns.

 

[JamesR1964]

Put your machine in discrimination mode. When you first turn your machine on slowly turn the dial up until you hear the threshold and then back it off until the threshold can no longer be heard. Now turn your machine volume all the way up, set your sensitivity to about half, discrimination at 1. ( You can adjust the sensitivity once you're actually hunting to suit the conditions.) Also, the better the headphones the better the results as some returns can be extremely faint and quick. Dig any tone that repeats, regardless how faint or deep it might be.

Yes, the higher volume is going to allow shallow targets to return extremely loud but this is the trade off suffered in order to hear those very deep and/or faint returns.

Thank you my friend.....

 

[sandnsea49]

Hi bigscoop, I already have tinnitus from loud noises so turning the volume hurts my ears. Any suggestions?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If you don't have at least a little threshold in disc mode you want hear deep targets that just bumps the threshold. In PP I see my threshold as low as possible to point if I turn it any lower there is no threshold at all, by doing this I can hear 18 " deep targets on 10" coils in my test garden, turn it lower I don't hear target, turn threshold up louder I don't hear target either.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Volume needs to always be wide open, it is what gives you the different tones and if turned down you want hear the really deep targets.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[bigscoop]

I'll run the threshold in really clean environments where I'm not constantly encountering tiny bits of iron, black sand lines, etc., that are constantly interrupting that threshold. In essence these riddled environments are the same as hunting trashy areas, those really faint tiny or deeper returns becoming too easily masked by all the quick/short threshold interruptions. By going to silent mode and running the volume wide open these "good" very faint quick/short returns become extremely obvious. Hunting the beach like this I had little trouble routinely hitting good targets in that 15-16" range, some even deeper depending on what that target was, say a larger item like a quarter or a big class ring, etc. Also, with the larger coil, these same tiny pieces of iron, black sand lines, etc., can cause the machine to null, this and the potential slower recovery time possibly masking other good targets that are either under or near the coil. So I only used the larger coil when the beach was fairly clean/stable or when I was just looking for recent drops. But when the beach wasn't all that clean I always dropped to the smaller coil for all the above reasons. (Talking in Disc mode here.)

IN PP/reverse, it's something I only did on fairly clean beaches when pickings were slim. Pinpoint also allows for easier target separation so when I was hunting in disc I would use the pinpoint mode whenever I suspected I had more then one target under the coil.

 

[bigscoop]

Hi bigscoop, I already have tinnitus from loud noises so turning the volume hurts my ears. Any suggestions?

Wish I did. Since my widowmaker I've had this faint buzzing in my ears that never goes away, sometimes it's worse sometimes I hardly notice it, Doc's say that it's a common aftermath but not yet fully understood? So the silent mode also helps in this area as well. Honestly, after having hunted both methods for so long I really haven't noticed any measurable difference in the detection of those deeper and fainter signals. In fact, I'd even have to say that the silent mode has produced better for me.

 

[bigscoop]

Keep in mind that there are numerous variables that can also effect performance in the field. Per example, text gardens are good but they lack the conductivity of the saline environment and the motion of that saline environment. So it's one thing to test our machines in clean and groomed environments but very often it's quite another once we start introducing all these other variables. In perfect environments, per example, we can usually run much higher sensitivity settings then we can in those less then perfect environments. So each time we head off into the field the conditions are subject to changes that can alter our machine settings and performance. This is why I'll never again own a hardwired machine.

 

[cudamark]

I've tried about every combination of settings with my blue 1000, 800, and Ex2. They all seem to get max depth in PP with a threshold tone, regardless of sens setting. I get signals in PP that I don't in Disc, whether I'm in silent search or have the threshold on. I do run the volume and sensitivity up to max and no discrimination. I dig quarters at 18" and dimes at 14". Not sure I want to dig any deeper in the wet.....kinda futile most of the time with waves hitting you and filling the hole back in. I guess I just like hearing the slight change in the threshold tone. In disc, I just get too many falses in our black sand.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

It works the same in salt water, I get far more depth in pp mode hunting the beaches, I see targets in pp that desc never sees untill I remove one or more scoops of sand. I get bumps in threshold in pp that I dont get if I turn threshold off completely.

 

[bigscoop]

In pinpoint mode, what types of targets cause threshold breaks? Obviously, all of them, which is my point. Now this isn't a real issue on clean beaches but on trashy beaches, such as after a storm, or on beaches that possess a lot of black sand lines, etc., that threshold is never stable and it is constantly changing, this only being magnified when running the coil hot with high sensitivity, this also increasing the size of coil footprint and target footprint, now even faint halos can cause threshold breaks, as can targets outside the coil footprint, not to mention that your recovery time can also become much slower. So now let's increase the coil size and see what happens, obviously the situation can only get worse. By dropping down to a smaller coil you can still run a hot coil, in disc mode, and achieve the same "efficiency and depth" without all the constant interference in the search field and threshold that can mask a lot of faint/quick targets. Hold an iron nail over a quarter, or next to it, and swing them under your coil in pinpoint, then switch to disc and see what you get....you still get a null, or at best, a burp that won't repeat regardless how many scoops of sand you remove, and so you pass it by. Reverse disc and larger coils are only effective on clean beach environments, beyond that you can achieve the same efficiency in disc mode. This is my point, not arguing that in really good environments that I don't hunt in PP mode, I just seldom have found myself in those stable environments. Unstable environments are the same a trashy environments and too much trash/interference in the search field can, and will, mask a lot of good targets. We all know this.

 

[bigscoop]

This is an interesting conversation as Cuda mentioned all the false signals when he was in disc mode at higher sensitivities. Are they all false signals? Maybe switch to PP and see? I do this all the time. The only difference here between PP and Disc mode is the number of frequencies being applied, and so when ignoring iron many of those "ignored returns" often break through, which in turn might be repeatable responses in PP mode when not ignoring iron. So in the end all we're really talking about is the added threshold response, a response that can be easily lost and masked in all the reoccurring faint/quick threshold interruptions we can experience while swinging our coils over trashy or infested beaches.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

That is the point of switching to desc mods to see if it nulls, remove couple scoops of sand, if it nulls in 2 directions you move on.. Used this method and been hunting with large coils for 8 years, all over Florida beaches and up to Hilton Head Island.

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[bluediamounds 55]

Bigscoop I hunt in silent mode also volume all the way up disc 1 sensitivity 7 I have been hunting this way for several years now I have done very well
I hunt the same way when I go to the beach also this is a very good way to hunt