Detecting "exercise" was eye-opening...now what?

TrpnBils

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I was reading this article on Detecting365 this morning and decided to try this little exercise because I find that most of my coins, even with my etrac and now my 3030 are coming at no more than about 6" deep: Detecting Exercise: China | Detecting365 Metal Detecting Magazine

If you don't want to read it, essentially what it says to try doing is this:

  1. Dig a deep hole in a clean patch of ground
  2. Place a target at the bottom at a measured depth (suggested is a silver dime, 3 ringer, etc)
  3. Cover and see if you can find it.
  4. If not, mess with the depth until you can start to get a signal and adjust settings to see if you can clean it up at all

Really the idea here is to see what we can do to get a little extra depth or at least interpret a deep, iffy signal that we KNOW is good a little better.

Anyway, the author says that he's hitting a silver dime at 8" pretty easily with an Etrac and an F75. [EDIT: I have no idea why half of this is bolded, but it doesn't want to un-bold, so....] I KNOW that people say new test gardens, air testing, and all that sort of thing don't give you the depth that a long-buried coin will, but hear me out. Full disclosure: I have never built or used a test garden before but I have been detecting for about 10 years or so, so I have nothing to compare this to. So I dug my hole to 9", stuck a clad Rosie in there (and later replaced with a Merc...same results for both). Coin was in there flat. My recommended sensitivity was 18 and I was running auto+3. I couldn't even begin to hear anything at all at 9". I brought it back up to 6" and got nothing. I brought it up to 4" and got a muddy signal finally. Again, I get that I will lose SOME depth on a fresh bury, but even the author of that article is saying he's hitting at 8" on a fresh bury. As I mentioned before though, most of my finds come from no deeper than about 4-6".

Things I tried (one at a time, each time returning to my default settings) to gain depth without luck:

  • Jack up sensitivity (even manual 30 didn't hit it but it was so noisy I might have and not known it)
  • Wide open screen (even with discrimination there was only very minimal)
  • all four audio options
  • High trash, low trash, ground-coin, ferrous-coin
  • ground balance
  • noise cancel
  • manually move through every channel

What the heck is going on here? Shouldn't I be hitting stuff deeper than this? It really makes me question everything I thought I knew about this detector in the field....
 

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RobRieman

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Unless you have really bad soil there is something wrong. Do you have a buddy that can swing over the same test hole to compare results?
 

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TrpnBils

TrpnBils

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Not particularly bad... like I said my suggested sensitivity level was 18. A friend of mine has an Etrac but I don't know anywhere else around here that has a 3030.
 

Mach1Pilot

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Jeff - I will literally be driving within a mile of your house on Saturday evening and can stop by to compare my 3030 and Etrac to your machine, if you would like.... it almost sounds like something is wrong with it or perhaps the mineralization is hiding your dime???
 

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TrpnBils

TrpnBils

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Jeff - I will literally be driving within a mile of your house on Saturday evening and can stop by to compare my 3030 and Etrac to your machine, if you would like.... it almost sounds like something is wrong with it or perhaps the mineralization is hiding your dime???

Will not be around this weekend at all, but I can swing up your way Monday if you will be around.
 

tcornel

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That was happening to me and I discovered that my connector for the coil had worked loose about a full thread. Tightened it up and all is good now.

Check you connections. Perhaps reset the machine to factory settings.
 

Mach1Pilot

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tcornel has a couple of good points - easy things to try.

Monday morning sounds good, if you don't figure it out by then...
 

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TrpnBils

TrpnBils

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That was happening to me and I discovered that my connector for the coil had worked loose about a full thread. Tightened it up and all is good now.

Check you connections. Perhaps reset the machine to factory settings.

Well that's interesting....like interesting to the point where I kind of want to go out into the dark and try that right now. I almost never tighten my connection. I only put it on 2 or 3 turns, just enough to keep it held in place.
 

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TrpnBils

TrpnBils

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tcornel has a couple of good points - easy things to try.

Monday morning sounds good, if you don't figure it out by then...

Will let you know. I am definitely going to retest this with the connector tightened and see what happens. Also, while you're here....do you happen to sell the plastic clips that keep the connector/battery compartment clipped to the body of the detector? Mine just.....disappeared.... No idea where it is. It's not a huge deal but I figure if I can get a replacement I might as well, especially if I'm out in the rain. I'm talking about the clip on the bottom that you have to undo when changing coils, not the battery clips on the side.
 

Mach1Pilot

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Jeff - if you are looking for the clip that is underneath the lower housing (keeps it from sliding back/forth) I'm not sure its a warranty replacement part.... let me check if its field serviceable and get back with you.
 

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TrpnBils

TrpnBils

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Jeff - if you are looking for the clip that is underneath the lower housing (keeps it from sliding back/forth) I'm not sure its a warranty replacement part.... let me check if its field serviceable and get back with you.

No I know it's not warranty replaceable, but it can't be that expensive. I just figured if I could get a replacement for it from you or from Minelab directly I might as well.

Anyway, I went back out with the detector and screwed the coil all the way in. Slight improvement but not a whole lot, so Keith, if Monday still works for you I'd still like to do a comparison.
 

Mach1Pilot

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Contact me Sunday afternoon and we will work out the details on when to check it out. :)
 

Normsel

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My etrac will hit a dime at 8" with sensitivity at 17 and +3. I don't like digging that deep but if it is a good signal I always dig it. I hit a quarter at 12" a cp of weeks ago but for the most part everything I ever found at 12" was a soda can and I made up my mind last week if I don't find it at 8" I quit

This morning I found one dime at 8" the rest were about 4" or less
 

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TrpnBils

TrpnBils

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I made up my mind last week if I don't find it at 8" I quit

That would bother me personally.... I was able to find a KGII penny a couple of years ago at a measured 12". One of my best finds for sure....with a Fisher F5 at that.
 

adamBomb

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The tests you are doing are very important. You are learning how to get the maximum depth with your machine. Additionally many people over/under estimate target depth in the field because they are not measuring it. Keep making test beds, air test, etc and see how your machine reacts to various settings. One of the first things I do when I get a new machine is air test it on various settings to see what it sounds like and how to get max depth. Then I repeat that in a fresh buried target. Then I play with them in the field.

I can air test a quarter at 13'' on my Excal in both PP and Disc and have easily found quarters that deep in the wetsand. Same thing with my CZ and DF.
 

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