Help with excal 2 please

River Hound

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Dec 17, 2011
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Hi all did a road trip to Half Moon bay in california both excals working fine headed south to Santa Cruz lots of black sand both detectors null out almost completely even in all metal I turned down the sensitivity to 1 I played with sens all over the place. I tried going very slow and had a hard time. picking up a penny I threw down :icon_scratch:
This is a salt water beach.
Thank you for any advise
 

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redcobra8u

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I'd be in all metal mode in black sands my friend. I don't think the sensitivity does anything in all metal.
 

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surfnturf

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Love that black sand!
PP and Med Sen.
 

dewcon4414

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It is what it is in some locations. If it nulls completely in disc and you have to turn the sensitivity way down ........ switch to PP, thats your best option. It reacts more like a PI at that point with little or no recovery time. Personally, in PP id keep the sensitivity high. I see no advantage in PP to reducing sensitivity especially if there might be pockets of good sand. If you are dealing with a LOT of iron targets ..... then thats different and sometimes reducing the sensitivity can put you in the right depth for better targets.
 

sonnar28

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Dec 2, 2011
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Those are truly difficult conditions!

My suggestions are:
1) use the machine with the smaller coil, a large coil sees to much background noise to see the target
2) try autosensitivity
3) try pinpoint with low sensitivity and threshold below audible, good responses should break thru
4 )use very short, slow sweeps as the bad ground amplifies coil control issues. Also keep the coil still for a few seconds before starting each sweep to let the machine get a good background reading.
5) clean out your coil cover frequently if you use one
6) sweep along the length of any visible "blacker" bands, not across them
7) try a lot of different areas on the beach, you might find a good spot. Flat areas will be easier on the machine as opposed to uneven ground.
8) Have fun! Everyone else is wrestling with the same conditions.

Good luck!

Charles
 

OBN

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Even though hunting in PP maybe a solution I found it to be very weak in depth in black sand. If the beach has a great history of finds I would consider a PI.
 

cudamark

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Pin point, slow coil movement, no pendulum swings, keep the coil flat and even across the sand.
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Pin point, slow coil movement, no pendulum swings, keep the coil flat and even across the sand.

I once had a policeman ask me why I was "carrying a knife on the beach", I told him "for the sharks, both land and sea"..... He laughed and told me to be careful, he didn't see my .45 I was also carrying concealed.... (I wasn't in the water)
 

surfnturf

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Med Sen. allows peak performance in heavy black sand! Its like driving your car in the fog, hi-beam will blind you low-beam penetrates better. This has worked well for me!
Don't forget... reverse discrimination!
Threshold Set at bumble bee and listen for a tick or bump in the hum, dig top 2-3 inch recheck the hole, good targets will sound better stronger! Go low and slow!
 

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