My Advice on Setting Up Your New Sand Shark

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
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White Plains, New York
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Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
FIRST, go back to page 12 in the manual and MAKE SURE you have set your tone frequency to match YOUR hearing the best. Do you hear high or low tones better? Next, set your pulse width to about 3/4 power (2-230pm position). Turn your threshold up to where you can barely hear it above the waves and wind noise - like a mosquito hum, and use the machine in NORMAL mode.

I use “Normal” mode, because it is easier for me to hear these positive and negative breaks in the threshold – that does not hold true for everyone. It takes time on the headphones to learn to recognize whisper signals, usually over 100-hours. Sometimes actually speeding up your swing back and forth helps to recognize these signals. The general rule however is always to SLOW down and pay attention.

Slight “Positive” signals are also called “whisper” signals. This is a very soft or slight, almost unnoticeable, rise in the threshold signal. It will always be repeatable over the target – not random. “Negative breaks,” are also referred to as whisper signals. This is when the threshold gets quieter, or goes away completely over the target. Again, negative breaks are always repeatable over a real target – not random. As you remove a little sand from over the target and re-sweep with your coil, the signal becomes a slight or stronger positive signal.

If your threshold is set too high or too low, you can miss slight breaks easily. If your threshold is not smooth enough you can miss these whisper signals easily. If you want to make your machine more sensitive and cut down on interference, make sure you are not wrapping your coil wire close to the coil down on the lower plastic rod (see photo).

There can be a couple of reasons, including EMI, for an unstable threshold. The most common is too much pulse width. Sometimes you can max it out, sometimes you can only run it at the 12-1 o’clock position. It depends on the beach. Minerals in the sand and salt water can also cause the threshold to raise and lower.

I’m right-handed, so I swing the Sand Shark with my left arm. I mount the box up high and use the arm strap so that I let go of the detector and use my left hand to remove the target from the scoop. The arm strap keeps the detector right there attached to me, but gives me the ability to use both hands. Lastly, using your scoop effectively takes practice in the water. I put my toe just in back of the pinpointed target then place my scoop right in front of my toe for the recovery. This works well with practice. You’ll learn to time the waves.

DO NOT just walk up or down the beach in one direction or the other! Pick yourself a 50-yard long beachfront, and start gridding it. You start at the wet sand high mark and detect right into the water thigh-deep, move over a step and detect right back up to the high wet sand mark until the whole 50-yards or 5-hours is done. Hope this helps and feel free to PM me with any other questions or explanations.
 

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bleaver

Greenie
Jun 10, 2012
15
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Mississippi
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Cibola (X2), Tesoro Golden Sabre, Tesoro Vaquero, Tesoro Sandshark, Fisher CZ-21 (X2), Garrett Pro Pointer, and 5, Yes thats 5, Stainless Steel Scoops
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I learned something new - Never considered pulse width as influencing the stablity of the threshold.

I always tape the coil wire in a straight line up to the first rod connector.
Also, I agree the only way to grid that gives you a sense of position when in the water is, in and out, from the water line. I find it impossible to determine where I've been with Parallel grids it the water.
 

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