CTX 3030 help/advice

[paul75]

Hi I've recently purchased a CTX 3030 and so far its amazing for coin shooting in the hunted out sites. But now ive getting familiar with the machine i wanted to take it to the next level. I live in England and have quite a bit of land to detect thats produced roman silvers and small silver hammered coins in the past. Can anyone recommend any settings thats good for this type of detecting please (getting the small stuff at maximum depth) any help is appreciated thanks.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[DeepseekerADS]

17" Coil. More coverage and perhaps deeper, there's debate about that.

 

[paul75]

17" Coil. More coverage and perhaps deeper, there's debate about that.

Thanks Deepseeker, I'll be getting all the coils eventually. I've just started out with the standard package and im pretty impressed with the CTX up to now it's a beast. I used to have a Nokta fors core with all the mars coils and i was getting really deep with the goliath coil 15'' x 15'' but this CTX beats the nokta with the standard 11'' coil so the 17'' should be awesome. I was just really wanting to know if there was any particular settings i could use to get maximum depth with the 11'' coil for now because i know theres that many tweaks you can do with the CTX which will make it perform better or worse. I've got the hang of building programs and all the basic functions on the CTX but im still learning what settings is best and what does what its an on going thing that will take time to master. Thanks

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

One of the amazing features of the 3030 is how much you can customize it. As example you can program it for 2 tone conductive and assign a tone to silver that is very high so any time coil goes over silver it would scream at you. Look at the "Tone ID Profile", it is adjustable for each search program.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I second the 17" coil. Most folks agree that you get about an extra 2" depending on settings and substrate. The right setting for a specific piece of ground will get you even more sometimes. imo, a lot more at ocean beaches but as you say, the tweekability of the CTX really allows you to tune to your ground. Better/Experienced CTXers get better depth- it really is that simple.

 

[cudamark]

I'd start with an open screen and not discriminate anything. Depending on ground conditions, try the highest manual sensitivity you can without it falsing or by using the Auto in it's highest stable setting. I would use Ferrous coin with only two tones, but that's a matter of personal choice. I second (or third) the 17" coil for field use. You can cover a whole lot more ground that way, even if there wasn't a depth improvement. Oh, and deep on and fast off.

 

[paul75]

Thanks for everyones opinions it's much appreciated, I'll definitely have to get the 17'' coil by the sounds of it. Cudamark the only problem with the open screen is the amount of iron here in the uk. I've been using tadpole 4 and ghost 4 which is pretty good on coin shooting so far but i didn't know if there was better settings i could use for the small romans and hammies at depth. Im going to the roman sites tomorrow so I'll get the chance to try a few programs and see what gives me the best signals on the small deep stuff. fingers crossed

 

[cudamark]

With two tone ferrous, the iron sounds should just be a low grunt. You can just ignore those sounds and keep moving. Good sounds will be a higher tone. You can then look at the screen if you need to. I would just dig all good (as in non-ferrous) sounds. You can also dig ferrous sounds too if you find a big one. since you will still hear the low tone response.

 

[beerguy]

I am a big fan of the 17" coil. I am looking at the new Coiltek 14x9, thinking that might be a great choice as well.

I think I will sell another detector to purchase it, I have too many detectors as it is.

Anyone want a Vaquero?

 

[paul75]

Thanks for everyones comments its much appreciated. I've been trying the 2 tone ferrous it's pretty good but i can't help thinking am i missing some deep hammered coins and Roman stuff by running it in 2 tones which leads me to another question! if i run it in 50 conductive tones the hammies and Romans will be a low to medium tone which will stand out from the high iron tones which is good but the iron tones sound like sterling silver to me. Is there a way to lower the iron tone in 50 conductive tones so its just the lowest tone of all without affecting the silver tones then it would be perfect.

 

[paul75]

One of the amazing features of the 3030 is how much you can customize it. As example you can program it for 2 tone conductive and assign a tone to silver that is very high so any time coil goes over silver it would scream at you. Look at the "Tone ID Profile", it is adjustable for each search program.

Thanks for your reply Treasure Hunter, I find the two tone discriminates to much out i know you can alter it but its right across the bottom of the screen and if you put it too low the iron bleeds threw and if put it to high you could be losing some good finds or depth on the smaller deeper targets if i start to alter sensitivity to make it more stable, it seems like a catch 22. Im after the deepest the machine will go but without the iron coming threw, i know thats how your supposed to set it up anyway but if i do then i dont get that deep on my ground for the small hammies. I thought the CTX would go really deep but so far its not much better than my £300 detector. I just feel a bit frustrated having payed £2000 on a detector that doesn't get much deeper than my £300 one and the iron sounds like silver i know im still learning the machine and its probably to early for me to judge it but agghhhhh the little bugger driving me crazy lol

 

[DeepseekerADS]

One thing Andy Sabisch stressed during the bootcamp was to NOT use the Ground Balance button, but to use the Noise Control button instead - and to use it frequently.

 

[paul75]

One thing Andy Sabisch stressed during the bootcamp was to NOT use the Ground Balance button, but to use the Noise Control button instead - and to use it frequently.

will do Deepseeker thanks for the tip��

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

One thing Andy Sabisch stressed during the bootcamp was to NOT use the Ground Balance button, but to use the Noise Control button instead - and to use it frequently.

Should never need to use manual ground balance, but noise cancel should be done each time you change locations or situations like dry sand to wet salt sand and wet sand to salt water.

 

[paul75]

Should never need to use manual ground balance, but noise cancel should be done each time you change locations or situations like dry sand to wet salt sand and wet sand to salt water.

I'll give it a go and see if that helps any, It's much appreciated

 

[cudamark]

Thanks for everyones comments its much appreciated. I've been trying the 2 tone ferrous it's pretty good but i can't help thinking am i missing some deep hammered coins and Roman stuff by running it in 2 tones which leads me to another question! if i run it in 50 conductive tones the hammies and Romans will be a low to medium tone which will stand out from the high iron tones which is good but the iron tones sound like sterling silver to me. Is there a way to lower the iron tone in 50 conductive tones so its just the lowest tone of all without affecting the silver tones then it would be perfect.

Why do you think you would be missing hammies and Roman stuff in two tone ferrous? It should still sound off, even if it has a low tone. You should be able to move the dividing line down a bit to make them have the high tone. I haven't found the need to do so myself. I've found both with my E-trac which uses the same sort of system, and they all had the high tone. The hammies do have a lower reading on the screen than you would think they would have considering they're silver. They read down in the pull tab range on some of them.

 

[Agent Green]

I second that thought DeepseekerADS, go open wide and use the 17 inch coil.. plus Andys program.. goodluck!!!

 

[paul75]

Why do you think you would be missing hammies and Roman stuff in two tone ferrous? It should still sound off, even if it has a low tone. You should be able to move the dividing line down a bit to make them have the high tone. I haven't found the need to do so myself. I've found both with my E-trac which uses the same sort of system, and they all had the high tone. The hammies do have a lower reading on the screen than you would think they would have considering they're silver. They read down in the pull tab range on some of them.

Hi Cudamark, its because the iron bleeds threw just below the silver range it quite often gives a good signal where you get silver coins and copper pennys. so if you have the two tone where do you put the line for iron if its lower like 20 then you have to dig all iron signals if you raise it youre missing half of the good targets you're cutting off half of the screen. The places where i hunt have thousands of years worth of iron and junk everywhere you can hardly move youre coil at times so digging it all like some sites is not possible, you'd be there all day just to cover ten square metres. So with two tone 90% of the iron sounds good yes you can turn sensitivity down or go in auto +3 but you will be scratching the Surface and might as well use your pinpointer. The hammies and romans can read on the left or the right of the screen but if there small or deep or even vertical they read all over the place its probably best to go by sound and not by the screen when looking for these. so thats why i said conductive might be better because each metal has a different tone and its easier to pick out the targets instead of the two tone when iron signals sound the same as good targets. ie targets can be missed, especially when you've heard pips squeaks and farts for the past 8 hours lol.

 

[paul75]

I second that thought DeepseekerADS, go open wide and use the 17 inch coil.. plus Andys program.. goodluck!!!

Hi Spede thanks, The 17'' coil sounds great i can't wait to get it for where the targets are spaced out and deep it should take some beaten or on the beach even.

 

[cudamark]

Hi Cudamark, its because the iron bleeds threw just below the silver range it quite often gives a good signal where you get silver coins and copper pennys. so if you have the two tone where do you put the line for iron if its lower like 20 then you have to dig all iron signals if you raise it youre missing half of the good targets you're cutting off half of the screen. The places where i hunt have thousands of years worth of iron and junk everywhere you can hardly move youre coil at times so digging it all like some sites is not possible, you'd be there all day just to cover ten square metres. So with two tone 90% of the iron sounds good yes you can turn sensitivity down or go in auto +3 but you will be scratching the Surface and might as well use your pinpointer. The hammies and romans can read on the left or the right of the screen but if there small or deep or even vertical they read all over the place its probably best to go by sound and not by the screen when looking for these. so thats why i said conductive might be better because each metal has a different tone and its easier to pick out the targets instead of the two tone when iron signals sound the same as good targets. ie targets can be missed, especially when you've heard pips squeaks and farts for the past 8 hours lol.

I've hunted your farm fields too, and haven't had that issue. I started out digging just about every signal, just to see if the machine agreed to what was actually in the ground. It was very accurate in determining good target vs. junk. I did dig a few items that the machine said "might" be good, and they weren't, but, all the signals it said were junk, were junk........or at least iron targets......something I wasn't trying to find. I realize there could be good iron targets to find, but, I wasn't looking for any small iron. I did dig a few large iron targets hoping to find a cooking pot full of gold, or maybe an old ax head, but, those large targets are fairly easy to determine over say, a nail or bolt. Like I said, I would occasionally dig a deep rusty nail that would let out a squeak, but, not enough of them to be concerned about. Combining what I heard with what the readout said, seemed to work quite well. Oh, and I didn't find Auto+3 to be as bad as you found. I switched back a forth from that to manual on lots of targets and sites, and found very little difference in depth. If I found it in manual, I also found it in Auto+3. The manual setting sometimes gave a slightly stronger signal, but, Auto+3 was a lot more stable in most places.