Anyone use 4kHz as a Primary Frequency?

[Dave Rishar]

It's an old trick to set up a program identical to your primary hunting one in 4kHz to verify targets, but I've recently started using 4K almost exclusively. For my conditions, I've found that it reduces the chatter caused by mineralization and/or EMI. I've been able to turn off my silencer completely, something that I was seldom able to do in 8K or 12K. Really, the only thing keeping me with 8K was the VDI, and since I no longer use it...well, why not 4K? Is anyone else using it? Why?

Note: My Garrett Propointer seems to operate on a similar frequency. I've learned to place the Deus on the opposite side of my body when pinpointing. The crosstalk between the two is particularly annoying.

 

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[Silver Simon]

It is funny you mentioned this, because it has been on my mind recently. Another forum that I visit specifically for Deus talk has a few users who swear by 4k as their primary frequency. Apparently is does well with deep coins, but naturally there will be a decreased ability to detect smaller gold items. I plan on creating a program in the next few days to see how it goes.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Falconman515 we do not allow posting links to competing forums...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[parkgt]

Apparently is does well with deep coins, but naturally there will be a decreased ability to detect smaller gold items.

Although I have not found any gold with it; the 4kHz does hit hard on a gold wedding band in my test garden. Haven't tried anything smaller since I doubt my wife will let me bury any of her jewelry.

 

[falconman515]

Well then know there is an answer at another forum all about the 4khz program ... many guys seem to use it very often looks like.

 

[Dave Rishar]

I think that I'm familiar with that forum and the threads in question. That's actually what gave me the idea to try 4kHz. Always good to hear other opinions though.

 

[sleepyjim]

It is my go to freq now, several great threads on another forum, while a diff place not really a competing forum, I would say, a complimentary one as I use both places......But I understand.

Jim

 

[Dave Rishar]

I used it more today. It's definitely more compatible with the local EMI around here. YMMV of course. I tried 8 kHz as a comparison and things grew noticeably noisier. When I turned it up to 12, I rediscovered why I'd changed down to 8 in the first place. I didn't bother trying 18, but I might in the future. Propointer crosstalk aside, 4 kHz seems to be the quietest frequency in my area. If it saves me a point or two on the silencer, I'll take it.

I won't know how it does on gold until I pass the coil over some. My Deus hit hard on 14K at 8kHz (even on a very small ring), so I'm not too worried about walking over targets at 4 kHz. I did recover a "wheel" from a lighter today, so it's not completely blind to smaller targets. I also found a part of something or other that was round and small enough to escape from my mesh finds bag, which it apparently did at some point because it didn't make it home with me.

I did dig a few crappy and weak signals for my own education. It was always junk at a depth that I don't like digging to without a shovel, so it seems to be getting down there. I'll go over it again with the E-Trac when the rain stops, but I suspect that it's seeing everything that's worth seeing.

 

[falconman515]

several great threads on another forum, while a diff place not really a competing forum, I would say, a complimentary one as I use both places

Yep .... exactly my thoughts, this is a hobby and forum to help out guys whether the info comes from here or elsewhere ... far from competing.

But it is what it is I guess

 

[Dave Rishar]

Yeah, I'm pretty much sold on 4kHz now. It would be worth the price of admission alone to just get rid of the EMI chatter, but I really like how it hits hard on coins. (And bottlecaps unfortunately, but I'm presently working a site that's eeriely free of trash.) Between 4kHz and the Big Notch program, I haven't dug up any can slaw for a few weeks now. Bottlecaps and ring pulls remain problematic, but that's mostly because of my lack of confidence in the new settings. I know that I'm digging up trash nearly every time that I do so, but I do it anyway just to be sure.

I still haven't proved its utility for jewelry. I did find a costume earring shortly after making the switch, but no rings yet. I hope that I'm not walking over any. My ring streak had already ended before I made the switch, so it's impossible to tell. By my way of thinking, if it hits coins hard, it ought to be hitting rings hard, and I just haven't put the coil over any yet.

 

[falconman515]

Yeah, I'm pretty much sold on 4kHz now. It would be worth the price of admission alone to just get rid of the EMI chatter, but I really like how it hits hard on coins. (And bottlecaps unfortunately, but I'm presently working a site that's eeriely free of trash.) Between 4kHz and the Big Notch program, I haven't dug up any can slaw for a few weeks now. Bottlecaps and ring pulls remain problematic, but that's mostly because of my lack of confidence in the new settings. I know that I'm digging up trash nearly every time that I do so, but I do it anyway just to be sure.

Have you tried utilizing that weird graph mode that this thing has?

I am trying to find the video I found on it but a guy was utilizing it cause he could distinguish in the seeing the squiggly line whether it was a pulltab or not ... solid hits in that range would come in on a very straight graphical line but when it was a cap or tab the line got all squiggly like and it was a tab Every Time!

I am not sure how easy it is to pull that graph up while using the regular main screen with VDI #'s but it seems to be able to distinguish those caps very well when it hit and that line was all over the place.

If I can find the video I will reply .... just wanted to let you know about that and it may be an option to help those pesky things.

 

[Silver Simon]

Have you tried utilizing that weird graph mode that this thing has?

I'm guessing you are referring to the "hidden" XY screen. You need to unlock that menu option with a key combo, each time you power the remote on. It does work to distinguish bottle caps and pulltabs from good targets, but there are some downsides to that mode. First, the line gets smaller the deeper the target, so at times it could be too small to tell. Also, if there is iron near a good target, it will cause the line to squiggle as well. Finally, it takes up the whole screen, and loading it back up requires digging in the menu.

I'm not sure, but it seems like the XY mode is in beta, and could be implemented better in a future update. I think it might be handy to have an option to replace the horseshoe with a small XY screen for reference when the environment calls for it.

 

[falconman515]

Ya it would be neat to see a larger screen on the next version of the Deus and have more options like that for sure!!!

But ya that's was the screen ... I was just remembering a guy showing how pull-tabs showed up so different on that screen and how to differentiate certain things with that XY screen graph.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

I am a huge fan of 12 khz for me. It a great compromise for deep coins and small jewelry! Seems to to let the XP DEUS Metal Detector work a bit better in heavy iron for me as well.

Whatever works best in your area!

 

[Dave Rishar]

Have you tried utilizing that weird graph mode that this thing has?

That's normally what my screen is set to. I don't pay much attention to the TID numbers anyway, so I leave my display showing something more useful.

It's not 100% reliable. Round trash loves to show clean lines, and some coins (particularly rotted zincolns) can become quite squiggly. Iron-affected coins also show weird traces, and unfortunately that's most coins around here. A straight line is a guaranteed dig-me, but I'll settle for a narrow oval pointing in the right direction. It's usually something good. I even occasionally see traces that are mostly in one quadrant and only barely in the other (or not at all), which I assume to be targets affected by close junk or vice versa...but who the hell really knows? It's a poorly-documented feature unfortunately, but with V3 it seems that XP is at least somewhat interested in developing it as an actual tool for the field.

But yes, I use it and I like it. It's a useful addition to the tones, particularly for someone such as myself with compromised hearing who can't necessarily hear all the sounds correctly. The X-Y is only a visual interpretation of what I'm hearing, but I often find that it's easier to see something accurately than to hear it. A person with good ears probably wouldn't have as much use for it, once they got used to the Deus's tones.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Doing some testing last night, I learned a few things and made a new program to go along with this. It was only air testing (the test garden is a long way from maturity) but it's something that I should have done long ago.

1. Max depth is with rx=0 and silencer=-1. I don't think that anyone would be surprised by this. What did surprise me was that adjusting rx to 1 or 2 and/or silencer up to 2 only decreased depth by an inch or two; the difference between rx=1 or 2 was insignificant, and a point or three of silencer didn't make much of a difference either. Silencer = 3 screwed up the tones badly. Rx=3 cut depth dramatically, like four inches.

2. Disc doesn't make as much difference as I'd thought it would. Cranking disc to 10 made no real noticeable difference in depth. I didn't test higher than that. In the interests of full disclosure, I still keep mine at 1...just because.

3. Dropping sensitivity from 90 to 85 cost about an inch. I won't personally run sense under 85, so I didn't test that further.

4. 4 kHz and 8 kHz went deepest, with 12 kHz right on their tail. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the depth of 18kHz, but that's a specialized tool for a very specific job.

5. 4 kHz hit my 3 gm gold ring, my silvers, and all of my junk rings extremely well. It wouldn't reliably hit my 0.8 gm gold ring. It also doesn't like nickels at all - maybe 5" or so, with a must-dig signal at possibly 3". 8 kHz liked it all.

6. Notch had no effect at all on depth, as I'd suspected.

I'd already seen in the field that 4kHz addresses a common complain for the Deus - that it hits hard on aluminum. It will still hit hard on flattened beer cans, but those are easy enough to spot. Perhaps my favorite thing about this frequency is that ever since I started using it, I don't remember digging up a single piece of can slaw...it just goes right over that, and even the foil balls. I'm personally willing to give up some very small gold for this. As others have also noted, it tends to rat out bottlecaps as well.

I'm leaving my low notch at 0-35, but I'm also adding a high notch from 94-99. This will safely let in silver in 4kHz (and even 8kHz, should I find it necessary to change up a band) but should cut out at least some of the ferrous wraparound. I'm finding that now that I've licked aluminum, rusty iron is what's giving me headaches. During air testing, this combination did extremely well, ignoring various rusty chunks of iron from my crap box, new folding knives, and other steel odds and ends that were laying around, but still picked up coins, jewelry (both real and costume), and even the toy cars that I've dug. This may be the one, but field testing will be required. I have high hopes for this. If I can find that hypothetical mix of settings that allows in 90% of what I want and rejects 90% of what I don't want, I'll be a happy detectorist.

What I'm looking at is a general purpose program using rx=2 and silencer=2, with the option to turn both of those down all the way if there's no trash and I need another two inches or so. As much as I've heard about 4kHz's problems with EMI, it's actually the quietest frequency in town here, so I intend to stick with it unless I absolutely must change, and then I'll use 8kHz with all of the other settings remaining the same.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to run this during the week. I've got just the spot to test it out in.

 

[parkgt]

Thanks for sharing your observations. I like 4kHz also.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Great post but be careful with air testing on the XP. I have found out that programing settings for air often does not carry over to real world detecting. Most machines need the dirt to operate correctly.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Great post but be careful with air testing on the XP. I have found out that programing settings for air often does not carry over to real world detecting. Most machines need the dirt to operate correctly.

Great advice, and thanks. I do need to do some thorough testing in the dirt with the new settings before I can really trust them. The fact that 4kHz/notch up to 35 made the can slaw completely disappear actually worries me a bit, but it was basically the same case with 8kHz/35 notch and I found my gold rings with that. If it gets too quiet, I'll likely go back up to 8.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Be sure to only make 1 adjustment at a time. If you make several at once it will be hard to see what the change did.