New to the sport, Cortes questions.

[Matt_SC]

Hello!

I'm new here and fairly new to the sport of MD. About a month ago I bought a used but excellent condition Tesoro Cortes. The only issue it had was a broken battery door. I e-mailed Tesoro and they promptly sent me a replacement, for free! I like the Cortes but sometimes it acts crazy! While in discriminate mode it will sometimes start beeping randomly and will continue to do so even with the coil in the air. After about 30 seconds or so of holding the coil up it will finally "clear out" and I can go back to hunting. It doesn't seem to have this problem in all-metal mode. Some days it never does this and some days it seems to do it a lot. When hunting in gravel it seems to be the worst. Am I just not setting something correctly? Are the minerals in some places like gravel just too much for the pre-set ground balance in discriminate mode?

So far I've found just over $8 in clad and one wheat penny with the Cortes. No silver yet but I'm hooked on the sport!

Thanks in advance for any help / suggestions.

Matt

 

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[markincypress]

Sounds like you may be running your sensitivity too high.

 

[Sandman]

Welcome to Tnet Matt.

As was said, you might be having the sensitivity set to high, but I suspect since it doesn't do this falsing all the time that it is electrical interference. Electrical Interference Essay by First Texas Lead Engineer Dave Johnson This can happen to all detectors at any time. One of the culprits is your cell phone. Turn it off. That gravel could also have some extra minerals in it, but that wouldn't bother the detector when the coil was in the air. Also you should clean out the coil cover of any dirt. This is a common thing that most hunters don't think about.

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[Matt_SC]

Thanks for the help / tips! I seem to be getting less falsing. The more I use it the better results I get. Typical learning curve I guess!

 

[markincypress]

You do not want any chatter. It could be from EMI (overhead or buried power lines) or from excessive ground minerals or hot rocks (take the Cortes to a wet sandy beach and it will sound like a popcorn popper as it is NOT a wet sand machine). The most common mistake; hence my earlier post is running the sensitivity too high. You can crank it up all the way and start backing it off until it runs smooth and quiet. Never mind what number you set it on. If the machine is unstable you will find little. You just want a stable and quiet machine.
If you purchased your machine used, you might even have a coil problem (if you have a coil cover gently pop it off and clean any debris from inside it) or a short in the cable. One great thing about Tesoro is their warranty and customer service. I would consider (I in fact did this once myself when I purchased a used Cortes) sending it to Tesoro and asking that they check it out and make any needed repairs. If you do this you will be confident that you have a stable machine and the problem is... err.. operator error.

 

[Matt_SC]

Took the Cortes out this morning for a little while. The place I went is a very trashy site, I dug LOTS of balled up or melted foil. Found 1 Quarter, 4 Dimes and 13 Pennies. Two of the Pennies are wheaties. I had no falsing and no chatter. On another note, I can see how a smaller coil can be useful. I experienced masking on two of the Dimes. They were near the Quarter but there was so much trash they only gave a weak signal. Glad I ignored the TID and dug anyway.

 

[froggy38383]

Another couple of things which might be helpful is to try to keep your coil cord unwrapped near the lower shaft, also make sure your coil connector is plugged in snugly and that the pins are not dirty. Audio signals should take precedence over the TID.