Hunting in trashy places with a 600.

[tennessee digger]

I hunt in a lot of trashy places with my Nox 600. Many old house sites and bulldozed sites in and around my city (Nashville). I find a lot of newer coins but not many old coins even though some of the places are very old. I also don't seem to get a lot of depth. I know that I'm probably doing something wrong but would like to get you guys input. What settings do you use on sites like these? I would appreciate any help that anybody could give me, thanks.

 

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[vferrari]

Let's start with what settings you are using.

 

[tennessee digger]

Vfearri...After I noise cancel and ground balance I run in field 2, volume on 22, threshold 3, target tone on 5, accept/reject -9, recovery speed 2, and iron bias on 1. I may have it set up wrong but I'm very new. I also hunt for civil war relics but have not taken it to a camp area yet however some of the places around Nashville that I hunt were camps and old bulldozed house sites. I would appreciate your suggestions, thanks.

 

[Tommybuckets]

I used park 2 multi frequency recovery speed 2 at 20-22 depending on conditions. I'd have to look at the more advanced stuff (iron bias etc) . It seems to do ok for me but I am not amazed. I look forward to being enlightened but calabash digger has some great vids on the subject. I swing the thing all day but have no idea what settings to tweak where. That said it seems to cut through and around the iron and finds me lots of old toasty coppers, musket balls, artifacts and a little silver here and there. I've been hunting colonial sites that are laden with square nails and plough shares etc.

 

[vferrari]

Field 2 is a great mode for relic hunting as it is optimized for mid-conductive and small targets (brass, lead, gold, jewelry, nickels), and as you observed you can also find high conductive coins with it too but not as deep as other modes (all the modes are optimized for specific targets but that does not mean you will not find targets for the mode is not optimized, that is the nature of multi frequency). if you want to go deep on high conductive clad and silver, your best bet is either Park 1 or Field 1. Field 1 is 2 tones, but you can easily shift it to 5 tones if that is your preference. Let's look at your individual settings:

Volume on 22 - Did you mean Sensitivity on 22? Regardless - run sensitivity as high as you can without falsing/instability (after you have noise cancelled and ground balanced). If you can run at 22 that's good. Don't push sensitivity too high or you will just amplify noise. The default of 20 is good but if you can run it two or so points above or below and keep the machine stable you are doing good. - this is mode independent. Tip - If ferrous junk is thick, you may want to reduce sensitivity to keep from overloading the coil with all the ferrous targets. You will loose depth but may be able to unmask shallower keepers from among the ferrous junk better than if you keep the sensitivity high near 20.

Threshold 3 - Your preference. Threshold is good feedback to let you know your machine is alive and detecting. It doesn't do much else other than alert you to targets you have discriminated out by going silent. It is not really true threshold control that allows weak signals to be detected out of the muck.

Target Tone - 5. No quibbles here. I prefer 50 - you get a lot more audio information on targets but for some it can be overwhelming and can be more of a distraction than an aid.

accept/reject -9 - Does this mean you cut out all discrimination? (The Field 2 breakpoint is 2 (i.e., -9 to 2 is discriminated out) did you change this default? I would just use the default discrimination settings and use the horseshoe button to instantly remove discrimination as needed.

Recovery Speed 2 - Good middle of the road setting. Keep it here unless trash is so thick, you need higher separation, then go with 3. You can possibly get more depth with 1 but you will also likely generate more ground noise and need to swing slower, so I recommend keeping recovery at 2 and only change it for special situations.

Iron Bias 1. That is fine. May reduce some falsing. The only drawback to having iron bias cut in is that you may mask some high conductive targets in the vicinity of iron junk. I can deal with falsing by using the horseshoe button, so I just keep iron bias at 0.

Overall, for coin shooting, you settings appear to be OK other than your selected mode. If you want to maximize depth on coins other than nickels and gold, then I suggest Park 1 (watch its high default iron bias setting though) or Field 1 (switch to 5 tones if your prefer). Use the default discrimination settings and use horseshoe to listen for iron. Pinpoint is good for getting a bead on the depth and size of the target under the coil - Equinox does not overload and modulate enough on shallow/large targets in the regular search modes to alert you that you are swinging over an aluminum can or large round iron. Pinpoint can clue you into this because the target area will be huge vs. a coin sized target, especially at depth. Remember that on equinox each mode is like a separate detector, so they have to be individually noise cancelled and ground balanced separately when you use them at a site. Another thing you can try, especially if the trash is non-ferrous, is to go to single frequency at 5 khz to see if you can ferret out any deep high conductors. By going to single and the lowest frequency, you will lower sensitivity to mid-conductors even further by eliminating the high frequency bands in the mult-frequency mode that tend to pick up the aluminum. You are not discriminating out aluminum this way, but it might help get a little more depth if your focus is silver/clad.

HTH

 

[tennessee digger]

Thanks so much man, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. For what it's worth, I should have said that I use default discrimination. I'll try your settings and see how they do. Thank you.

 

[tennessee digger]

Thank you for your tips, I appreciate it. I'll experiment with some of them!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

If your goal is old coins, I would go with Park1. Pretty much stock. But if you are getting familiar with the Field2 set up you should be ok with what you described.

My main thought is that you are hunting very difficult sites. “Bulldozed Old home sites”. I’m assuming there are all kinds of building materials mixed in the soil. Maybe try moving away from where the actual structures once stood. Try to find virgin soil, not smoothed over by the dozer. You will have better luck finding old coins with less shallow trash signals.

Good luck!

 

[Happa54]

Hey V, or whomever wants to chime in..... I have a comment and question that may help out Tennessee and me.

I have a new "go to" site where I dig old coins and relics. It is extremely trashy. House and appliance parts are buried here. I'm sure I'll be digging up a bathtub here too. Thus far, I've dug a barber, injun, mercs, v nik, buff, rosies, wheats, rings & jewelry and cool relics here.

Depending on my objectives during a given hunt, I may use Field 2 because my understanding is that it will be more dominant towards working around the iron better which will produce more relics and mid conductors. Or, I may work the site in Park 2 because the Nox is dominant towards high conductive/silver, coins, etc. And at times, I may run with Park 1.

What is your take on this method of hunting?

What is your confidence level based on your experience with the different modes? Have you truly noticed a difference?

FYI... I hunt in 50 tones in all modes and primarily in AM

 

[tennessee digger]

I have been running in field 2 but I'm going to try both part 1 and park 2 just to see. Some of the places that I hunt are older house sites (1800's to early 1900's) and are just loaded with iron and junk. Down here in Tennessee we also hunt for civil war relics which I will hunt for in field 2. I'm new with an Equinox but have been metal detecting for around 45 years. I'll learn!

 

[cudamark]

Once you decide (depending on what type of targets you're hoping to find) on a search mode, using a smaller coil and swinging slower is another good way to work in a junky site. Even though the Nox has a very fast processor, it can still miss a masked target if you swing too fast for conditions. A smaller coil will reduce your depth capabilities however, so, if you can get away with using the larger coils, and swing real slow, I'd do it for those deep targets. I also like to reduce the recovery speed to add depth. If this is a site you will be detecting on a continuing basis, I'd try several different search modes and maybe even some single frequencies to ferret out those difficult targets.

 

[tennessee digger]

Cudamark........I do hunt slow on these sites and I will get a small coil also. What do you run your recovery speed on? Thanks.

 

[Hawks88]

Thanks for all the info guys. I think V knows a lot about the equinox. Good luck.

 

[smokeythecat]

Happa54, I know where you're coming from. On my best Civil War on Sunday I dug the shaft and windings for a medium sized electric motor. Bathtub is next! Go figure.

 

[vferrari]

Hey V, or whomever wants to chime in..... I have a comment and question that may help out Tennessee and me.

I have a new "go to" site where I dig old coins and relics. It is extremely trashy. House and appliance parts are buried here. I'm sure I'll be digging up a bathtub here too. Thus far, I've dug a barber, injun, mercs, v nik, buff, rosies, wheats, rings & jewelry and cool relics here.

Depending on my objectives during a given hunt, I may use Field 2 because my understanding is that it will be more dominant towards working around the iron better which will produce more relics and mid conductors. Or, I may work the site in Park 2 because the Nox is dominant towards high conductive/silver, coins, etc. And at times, I may run with Park 1.

What is your take on this method of hunting?

What is your confidence level based on your experience with the different modes? Have you truly noticed a difference?

FYI... I hunt in 50 tones in all modes and primarily in AM

Actually Park 2 is similar to Field 2 and is optimized for mid conductors but ostensibly gold jewelry vice relics (but honestly Equinox can't tell the difference). Some like Park 2 for Relics others like Field 2 for Relics. I like Field 2, personally. Seems less harsh sounding in trashy areas.

If you want to focus on high conductors (silver coins, coppers, etc.) then Park 1 is good or Field 1. But like I told Tennessee Digger, Field 1 is two-tone so you may want to switch it to 50 if that is your preference.

I pretty much just keep it in Field 2 when relic hunting. In parks, I'll use Park 1 at the default or back off on the iron bias a bit. I like gold mode for relic hunting too, more of an interrogation mode once I acquire a target rather than a pure search mode (I may use it on small patches). I know that is not an option though for 600 users, unfortunately.

 

[Happa54]

Actually Park 2 is similar to Field 2 and is optimized for mid conductors but ostensibly gold jewelry vice relics (but honestly Equinox can't tell the difference). Some like Park 2 for Relics others like Field 2 for Relics. I like Field 2, personally. Seems less harsh sounding in trashy areas.

If you want to focus on high conductors (silver coins, coppers, etc.) then Park 1 is good or Field 1. But like I told Tennessee Digger, Field 1 is two-tone so you may want to switch it to 50 if that is your preference.

I pretty much just keep it in Field 2 when relic hunting. In parks, I'll use Park 1 at the default or back off on the iron bias a bit. I like gold mode for relic hunting too, more of an interrogation mode once I acquire a target rather than a pure search mode (I may use it on small patches). I know that is not an option though for 600 users, unfortunately.

Thanx V... and I apologize Tennessee for hogging up your post but I think we can both figure this out together.

I'm analyzing your comments V with a bit of cross referencing with the manual. There are many angles in which to hunt with the Nox even with the 600...from the park, field and beach modes, not to mention single frequency, etc.

Each and every mode has given me enough success in great finds that I honestly can't say that one is better than the other. This site that I mention is better than any old trashy L.A. park that I hunt... it has it all...old coins and relics. This is the place where I hunt through thick iron, tin metal, pull tabs, can slaw, aluminum... you name it. I go real slow and methodically and the thing Tennessee and I have going for us, is that we have various modes in which to work these bulldozed sites.

I like working in Park/Field 2 but I really need to start working more in Park/Field 1. I have tried to work in the single frequencies but it seems there is way too much static and erratic noise that i feel is intolerable for my ears and confidence level. Maybe I need to learn more about the single frequencies but for now I just don't know how to work in them.

The Nox is one hell of a machine and I'm loving it and learning from it. Every time I look at my finds box, my special coins, jewelry and relics, I can only appreciate this machine.

 

[tennessee digger]

No need to apologize Happa54, we are both in the same boat. I'm learning a lot. Actually thanks!

 

[vferrari]

I actually rarely use the lower single frequencies because they are more susceptible EMI. If I go single frequency, its usually 20 khz.

 

[cudamark]

Cudamark........I do hunt slow on these sites and I will get a small coil also. What do you run your recovery speed on? Thanks.

Like I mentioned before, I have the 800, so, it's a bit more adjustable than the 600 and why many of us recommended spending the extra money for the 800 on challenging sites. I use 7 a lot in junky areas, which is slightly higher than your 3. I've also used 8 on mine, but, didn't notice much difference over 7. If I need depth for those deep targets, I use 2 or 1 and move real slow. Like Vferrari mentioned, I don't see a lot of difference between Park 2 and Field 2 on paper. It has a slight tone difference on the lower conductors, but, not much else that I've seen in the specs chart. In actual use though, I like Field 2 better for old sites with a moderate about of iron. If I'm not looking for iron relics, I bump up the Iron bias to 3 (which is between 1 and 2 on the 600), which helps a lot with the iron chirps and chatter. This is where Park 1 can help in some areas, as the iron bias default is higher. You just need to change the tones from 5 to 50, if desired, and change the recovery speed to match the degree of trash and/or depth needed.

 

[Bottlecapbill]

I don't have a NOX but......in a really messy area I would spend less time trying to pick everything out in one run than going over the same ground multiple times with different settings. First I would run your highest recovery speed in say park 1 or two. Clean out all the shallow stuff first. Maybe even keep your sensitivity on the stock setting the first time around. Then lower your recovery, bump your sensitivity up a bit and go over the same ground again from a different direction and clean it out a bit more. Then do a final run again with the lowest recovery and highest sensitivity in a field mode, again from another angle.

I know it sounds like a lot of work but if you just concentrate on one small section of your site per day(draw a map to remember) it's not so bad. I find this layer cleaning technique works really well for me, instead of just trying to fumble every target out of multiple layers of trash which is difficult, just break it down into baby steps. Obviously in cleaner spots you can relax due to there being less noise but when in multiple layers of heavy trash, no single mode is going to be as effective as just cleaning the place out. The machines get confused and so does your brain. Make sure you clean out some of the large targets too, they can block out a lot of smaller stuff near or under them.