Program Advice

[secondstar]

Good morning, I made a safe and stable 12K coin shooting program that seems to work extremely well in my soil using the 11 inch LF coil. I call it "Mikes12" and so far its netted me a walking liberty half, half a dozen large cents, a CT copper, a KG II, and too many wheaties to keep track of. I was wondering if I might get any advice as to how I might further optimize this program. I am a coin shooter, and again, this program has been producing for me.

ID Norm = Off

DISC 10

5 Tones
120 Hz
400 Hz (10-77)
600 Hz (78-88)
800 Hz (89-96)
120 Hz (97-99)

Sensitivity 90
TX Power 2
Frequency 12K
Iron Vol 1
Reactivity 2
Silencer 2
Audio Resp 3
Notch 00-00

Ground Manual (90)

Thank you for any advice that you might have.

Mike

 

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[vferrari]

Mike,

Solid overall program and that has been proven out by your successful finds. Here are some tweak suggestions based on my experience with the Deus:

Tones - General - You might want to experiment with pitch tone to see how you like it. It requires more dependence on the visual TID to make a dig decision and I would not recommend it at sites with dense modern trash but it is effective at unmasking non-ferrous keepers amongst iron. I recommend it more for relic hunting vs. coin shooting (in modern trash) because you are digging nearly all non-ferrous but it is an effective coin unmasker if you are dealing solely with ferrous trash. I use the highest pitch tone setting. If you simply switch your existing program to pitch (and adjust the max pitch frequency to your liking) you can easily switch back to your 5 tone program and none of your tone break settings will be disturbed.

Tone Breaks - Not a big fan of the iron wraparound low tone (if you are just going to ignore it) (97-99). It is better than completely notching it out but I would rather hear the high tone and make a decision on whether to dig based on the quality of the tone or interrogate the high tone target with a different frequency and/or pinpoint mode to see if it responds like a true high conductor or iron (if iron, the VDI will change erratically as you change frequency, if large, shallow iron you can get an idea of the size of the target by listening for overload, lifting the coil, or going to pinpoint to see where the target signal disappears). Though addressing high end notch, see Calabash's post http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/deus/590256-xp-deus-high-end-notch.html for more info. The other drawback to this approach is that it effectively turns 5 tones into 4 tones and you could use the extra breakpoint in the mid range to differentiate nickels/gold from foil. (e.g., breaks at 10, 45, 60, 78, 89). This is more of a personal preference thing rather than a performance thing, so if you are used to it, then it might not make sense to change it up.

Iron Vol: Again a personal preference, l like a little more Iron Volume and set mine at 3

Reactivity: 2 is my favorite setting. You can perhaps eek more depth out of the Deus at 1 as long as the site is not too dense with targets and trash. I'll go to 2.5 or 3 in thick trash/iron.

Silencer: Not super critical unless you have it set too high, but some have reported depth loss from silencer settings > 0. I like 0. Some like it off, (-1). Note that silencer is linked to the reactivity setting. If you change reactivity, silencer will automatically change to the nonzero default associated with that reactivity setting, so always check the silencer setting after you have changed reactivity. I have used higher silencer settings at the beach to break up bottlecap high tones when using the HF coil.

Audio Response: I like a tad higher setting at 4 or 5 to ensure I can hear those deep squeakers while retaining some depth related volume modulation.

If you are still running version 3.2, and/or your soil ground phase is fairly consistent such that you are not constantly having to rebalance, then manual GB makes sense. XP significantly improved the auto tracking GB algorithm in ver 4.X and greater, so I use GB tracking most of the time, especially in mild to severe mineralized soil.

I am a big believer in if it ain't broke don't fix it. Your program ain't broke. If you are having success and have a lot of swing hours on your program, making any significant changes can reset your learning curve. So, unless you really see an area where you might see a beneficial change in the quality/quantity of finds based on my suggestions or the suggestions of others, I don't suggest making anything but minor tweaks. I put the rationale for my settings in writing so you can decide for yourself if its worth the trip. I wouldn't use third party recommended settings unless you fully understand the impact good or bad in performance (or the user making the suggestion provides their rationale). Also, your typical site conditions (mild or mineralized soil, modern trash density, iron junk density, parks or plowed fields, anticipated typical age and depth of finds) will all factor in to optimizing settings further.

HTH. HH.

 

[secondstar]

Thank you so much vferrari, I've watched Calabash's videos on notching 97-99 and in my soil conditions I cannot get this setting to behave badly. I did however choose the tone break instead of notch in order to err on the side of caution. I really do like your suggestion with regards to perhaps using another mid-range tone to help identify nickel and gold as opposed to foil and may indeed go that route thus adding 97-99 into my high tone break. I came off the AT Pro and found an audio response of 4 to be a bit too much so I opted to start with 3. I am much more comfortable with the XP Deus at this point and feel as if stepping up to 4 might not be a bad idea. I recently picked up an Equinox 600 that I use in conjunction with the XP Deus as I like the idea of having two different "processors" available to me in order to truly scrutinize an area that I am working. Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my question, GL & HH.

Mike

 

[Jeff H]

I agree. That is a very serviceable program. 12K on that big coil will work fine on coins. But if you want to play a bit, once you covered a spot and it's not to trashy, try 18kHz, lower the Reactivity to 1, Silencer 0, crank TX to 3 and Sensitivity as high as you can go and cover that spot again. There are some deeper and smaller profiled coins waiting to be found. Using that method I've dug a couple of Rosa Americanas with 18 kHs that I missed previously with a lower frequency. High TX and Sensitivity with 18 kHz will help sniff out those smaller targets (coins on edge). I've pulled several KGs that way. A big coin not laying flat can have a very small profile.

 

[vferrari]

Mike,

You bet. 600 is indeed a good complement to the Deus. Plenty of great tips for the 600 over in the Equinox forum. Not as many nobs to tweak because the Equinox is set up with programs that are truly specialized for different target types based on differences in the underlying MultiIQ profiles and site conditions (unlike the Deus preloaded programs which are merely variations on the same 2 base "programs" (Deus Fas and Gold Field) just with different user settings) and the tone customization options are great.

Jeff's recommendation is great, in fact gridding the site with different frequencies will turn up surprises. 4 khz will max out depth on high conductive coins (provided the soil is not too mineralized as 4k on the legacy coils is locked at TX Power of 3 which is not suitable for hot soil) and just as Jeff's 18khz will tease out some edge on coins and will hit harder on gold and nickels. Note that with ID Norm off you will have to set up different tone breaks for the alternate frequencies as the TIDs will be different.

 

[cheffer]

Alright, alright, I'll give it another shot. Geez...

 

[austin_luker]

I agree with V after using the Deus for many years now, a higher "Audio response" is needed to really hear the targets. I use 5-6 most of the time and will go to 7 if the need is there. I get you want to be able to tell depth/size from the "sound" but you might miss a few targets that you just couldn't hear due to depth/size