Nasa Tom's setting, proof of concept

[atomicscott]

Hi Everybody! Took the Patriot out to the site where I recently found an SLQ to try out the reknowned Nasa Tom's setting recommendation (referred to me by Digger27). I have been hitting this spot hard (as one can imagine) after finding that SLQ, hoping there is more silver. Been back there 3-4 more times, hitting the same areas in 30 x 30 foot grids marked with flags. GB is in the low 70's here. Today I set disc to 6, tones 1 (monotone), de speed, thresh -2 and sens at 90 which was at the edge of being completely silent of emi. Right away I got some signals with jumpy #s that I decided not to dig. I then got a solid tone that ID'ed in the copper/dime range, dug the dime at about 5". Found a couple zincs which I always dig at old sites, knowing IH pennies will ID the same. I hit the 1970 nickel which had a good ID between 30-40 even when hitting it at different angles. Ended up with 4 zincolns 1 copper, 1 clad dime and 1 nickel. Not much age on this hunt, but wow, I walked right over these coins a few times using 3-4 tones and ZERO disc. I was pretty surprised. It was actually nice disc'ing out some of the iron and it helped with ear fatigue. I dug every good, repeatable signal above 30 and I also dug less trash, the single tone had more informative nuances of sound than I realized and helped to ID trash. This was with the NEL Sharpshooter. I plan to put the 11" DD on next hunt and see how that works with the same settings. If you haven't already, give these settings a try you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

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[HighVDI]

Nice hunt and finding more!

I'm not sure about the F70/patriot platform. I'm sure Digger27 could let us know but on the F75 anytime you do multi tones, 2, 3, 3h, 4 ect your machine automatically defaults to a disc. level of 15.

So, it might seem like you were running 0 disc when in reality it was actually running more disc than the monotone disc. on 6. Tom actually touches on that in his write up about this method of hunting in iron.

I never believed it until I started digging smaller iffy targets in 2f tones 0 disc. I'd cut a plug turn it over and the signal would disappear totally. After switching over to all metal or monotone disc 0 would I find the item in the plug. Usually iron or small bits or foil. Definitely interesting. Could also try all metal mode. It too has a ton of unmasking capabilities.

EDIT: automatically defaults the AUDIO to a disc of 15. I remembered there was something wonky about it, lol.

 

[atomicscott]

Nice hunt and finding more!

I'm not sure about the F70/patriot platform. I'm sure Digger27 could let us know but on the F75 anytime you do multi tones, 2, 3, 3h, 4 ect your machine automatically defaults to a disc. level of 15.

So, it might seem like you were running 0 disc when in reality it was actually running more disc than the monotone disc. on 6. Tom actually touches on that in his write up about this method of hunting in iron.

I never believed it until I started digging smaller iffy targets in 2f tones 0 disc. I'd cut a plug turn it over and the signal would disappear totally. After switching over to all metal or monotone disc 0 would I find the item in the plug. Usually iron or small bits or foil. Definitely interesting. Could also try all metal mode. It too has a ton of unmasking capabilities.

EDIT: automatically defaults the AUDIO to a disc of 15. I remembered there was something wonky about it, lol.

Thanks for that clarification. That is strange, as I was getting much more low iron tones in 3 or 4 tones using zero disc than when using monotone and disc on 6, seemed to quiet down a lot of the iron low tones using disc on 6 so I just assumed i was hearing ALL of the iron with no disc and the 3 tones. Good info though, I will have to re-read Tom's post, it is a lot of info to take in I'm sure I probably lost something along the way.

 

[digger27]

One thing to also remember is out of all the tone choices in disc, 1 monotone, for a non DST unit this choice is going to be less affected by EMI than any of them.
This is on all the units built on this platform the Patriot, F70, F75 or the T2.
This is according to Dave Johnson...the guy that designed them.

There is usually a huge difference between 0 and 1 disc no matter what tone choice I have found.
Lately I have been messing around with other settings, max disc and notched in lower areas and usually using DP or multi tones...plus other setting combinations.
At first for several months I used 4H most of the time and did very well while learning my F70...found lots of coins and jewelry.
Searching in some woods that were old and filled with tons of horse shoes and horse shoe nails 2F seemed to work very well.
I started messing around with all metal while in the woods, took awhile to get used to it but eventually got comfortable with that and when I hunted an insanely iron infested site I never had luck with before the all metal choice was the one that made me the most successful...with some practice.
I did try NasaTom's disc 6 monotone advice there too and it worked ok but eventually I lowered that disc down to 1 trying to duplicate that all metal behavior.
I want to see and hear the most that is possible and I try to let my brain and senses be the best discriminator, for me that works the best because in very challenging conditions these things can be fooled.
0 was just too noisy and jumpy even for me at that time.
Despite that it worked somewhat in disc and I did find a very masked coin using it all metal for me still worked much better and still is my go-to setting choice in extreme iron to this day, high trash areas sometimes too.
After moving back to where I live now with iron mineralization plus tons of extra bits and pieces of iron everywhere I tried a lot of things but eventually figured out that all metal or monotone just seemed to work the best for me in most areas.
I have pushed monotone down to 0 disc and got used to it pretty well but the fatigue factor is very high, 1 disc seems to be a whole lot better for me and surprisingly all metal rarely tires me out much either.


For several months now most everything I have been experimenting with is all aimed for finding the quietest and most productive arena to hunt in, (plus attempting to hunt and unmask successfully without looking at the screen all the time), and I have done pretty well but out of everything I have ever used over the years if I had to pick the two that work the best in the areas I hunt in presently it would have to be all metal number one and number two monotone with disc on 1 and the highest but most stable gain and thresh numbers.
If you took away all the other tone choices but left me only all metal and monotone I think I could live with that.

 

[aaroncr]

Keep talking gents...looking like I'll be able to take mine out on maiden voyage next week pending no rain......may even get more than 1 hunt in.

 

[atomicscott]

Nice hunt and finding more!

I'm not sure about the F70/patriot platform. I'm sure Digger27 could let us know but on the F75 anytime you do multi tones, 2, 3, 3h, 4 ect your machine automatically defaults to a disc. level of 15.

So, it might seem like you were running 0 disc when in reality it was actually running more disc than the monotone disc. on 6. Tom actually touches on that in his write up about this method of hunting in iron.

I never believed it until I started digging smaller iffy targets in 2f tones 0 disc. I'd cut a plug turn it over and the signal would disappear totally. After switching over to all metal or monotone disc 0 would I find the item in the plug. Usually iron or small bits or foil. Definitely interesting. Could also try all metal mode. It too has a ton of unmasking capabilities.

EDIT: automatically defaults the AUDIO to a disc of 15. I remembered there was something wonky about it, lol.

I noticed that when I am running zero disc in 3 or 4 tones, I still get iron tones that ID at 6 and up. This makes me think (perhaps inccorectly), that with the disc at zero, multi tones, it actually starts to disc iron at 6 and up. Does this make sense to you? Thanks!

 

[digger27]

With disc at 0 I have gotten all kinds of iron numbers including a few under 6 down to 4 a few times if I remember correctly.
Iron under 6 is actually rare, really tiny nails and other tiny iron things usually come in at 6 or above especially if it is rusty but there are some.
Sounds normal to me.

 

[HighVDI]

I noticed that when I am running zero disc in 3 or 4 tones, I still get iron tones that ID at 6 and up. This makes me think (perhaps inccorectly), that with the disc at zero, multi tones, it actually starts to disc iron at 6 and up. Does this make sense to you? Thanks!

I run 2f more than any other tone option and I notice when disc. Is on 0 I will get iron grunts that will come through but if you listen close they're trying to disc out .