Pinpointing with the CTX 3030

[gabbyhayes]

Looking for some advice on the 3030.
When I pinpoint modern canadian clad that is very shallow, the tone disappears if I'm directly over the coin. I will get 3 blips as I pass over it.
I don't seem to have this problem on silver.
Our modern clad in Canada is 92% steel or nickel.
Thanx

 

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[Pointman]

I'm not sure why it would do that because it is in all metal mode when you hit the trigger.

Sometimes when I get a really faint or iffy signal even when I pinpoint. What I do, is push the pinpoint button down and then hit it again and hold it and swing over the spot. Where you get a short "blip" is where the target is, and then I will swing the opposite way the same way to cross it and listen for the same short signal. It also helps if you watch your target numbers as you slowly pinpoint.

Doing the pinpoint this way has helped me find a lot of targets that would have been missed. It works good when coins are on edge.

 

[Fletch88]

I found the same issue. Been trying to help a member with his Canadian coin program and it is exactly the same. It pinpoints off to the side and all over the place. I actually bought a complete set of 1970 Canadian coins and they do nit seem to be as bad but that's laying in the surface and coins are mint condition.

 

[Pointman]

I found the same issue. Been trying to help a member with his Canadian coin program and it is exactly the same. It pinpoints off to the side and all over the place. I actually bought a complete set of 1970 Canadian coins and they do nit seem to be as bad but that's laying in the surface and coins are mint condition.

So in the ground it doesn't pinpoint Canadian coins well? I know on surface or really shallow targets I sometimes have problems with US coins. Usually it will pinpoint 2" or so off.

 

[Fletch88]

Pointman, no it pp off to the side. This is a 2002 beaver 5 cent coin. It may be the DD coil. I tried it with the 11" and 6" coil and the problem gets worse the larger you go on coil size. My Xterra with the concentric pinpoints dead center without jumping around. I wonder if sizing will work better than standard? Standby.

 

[Fletch88]

Gabbyhayes, switch your pinpoint from "normal" to "sizing". Pinpoint works much better in that mode than normal. It must but the steel core mixed with whatever clad there is on these coins that make it go nuts in normal mode. I can get a decent signal with Canadian coin program, but I'm not sure at what depth. This nickel I dug on wetsand beach at 10-12" but I really don't use pp on the beach and run a wide open screen. It had a good enough signal to dig and was next to a rusty bottle opener, but I was able to seperate targets from audio response.

 

[gabbyhayes]

Only notice it on very shallow targets....less than 1-2 inches. When I put the coins right on the surface to try and figure out what was going on it was even worse.

 

[gabbyhayes]

I'll do some more testing and let ya know how I make out.
Gabby

Gabbyhayes, switch your pinpoint from "normal" to "sizing". Pinpoint works much better in that mode than normal. It must but the steel core mixed with whatever clad there is on these coins that make it go nuts in normal mode. I can get a decent signal with Canadian coin program, but I'm not sure at what depth. This nickel I dug on wetsand beach at 10-12" but I really don't use pp on the beach and run a wide open screen. It had a good enough signal to dig and was next to a rusty bottle opener, but I was able to seperate targets from audio response.

 

[gabbyhayes]

I think it has something to do with iron. The CTX 3030 hates iron and since our coins are as close to iron junk as you can get it also hates our coins. (Stock Coil that came with the 3030)
When I put a silver dime on the surface it pinpoints perfectly.....right dead under the minelab logo. When the logo is directly over the canadian clad the pinpoint goes dead silent.

 

[sask hunter]

Have seen exact same issue ! Just learned to live with our crappy coins

D.A.D.D.-Dads against daughters dating

 

[Fletch88]

Have seen exact same issue ! Just learned to live with our crappy coins D.A.D.D.-Dads against daughters dating

Sask, I received the 1970 complete set and had a minute to do a little testing. I had no problem getting a repeatable target signal, even though they are all splotched across screen. The one thing I noticed was all the splotched readings seem to follow the undiscriminated area down in iron range, except for the penny which was a clean 12-4x. I would have dug them. As far as pinpointing the best way I found was using "sizing" instead of normal. When PP in sizing mode after sweeping coins several times it would pp off to either side of coil in line with outer rim if coil. Good luck but theseore modern Canadians are a little tough.

 

[sask hunter]

Thanx for ur help fletch!!! Ya these coins are crazy , and it changes as well for different years , a 2010 quarter is different than a 2013!! It's nice to find those toons and loons as it adds up very fast lol, what's crazy is iam finding a lot of old American coins at this same old beach , I realy love the ctx .wish my knee would allow me to hunt more . Hopefully a fast recovery so I can get out !!!

D.A.D.D.-Dads against daughters dating

 

[Pointman]

Interesting info. Makes sense that it is a combination of the iron and being a shallow target which causes the CTX trouble. I use a relatively wide open discriminate pattern on mine and I will sometimes have problems picking up surface zinc penny targets.

 

[Mach1Pilot]

I like Fletch's suggestion about using sizing... personally I'm not a fan of the normal pinpoint mode and that was one of the first changes I made to both my Etrac and CTX 3030.

It should help (but maybe not solve) the issue.

 

[Koffee]

Thanks Fletch there is some good information in this thread.

 

[pwcguy]

I get the problem with targets disapearing in pinpoint mode. Only shallow targets. I find that I have to have the coil well away from the target before I switch to pinpoint. I think it even says that in the operators manual.

 

[Fletch88]

I get the problem with targets disapearing in pinpoint mode. Only shallow targets. I find that I have to have the coil well away from the target before I switch to pinpoint. I think it even says that in the operators manual.

Yes, this is true with any machine. You will cancel target out if you select PP while coil is over target. This was a specific problem with clad coins that have iron cores using "standard" pp mode.

 

[atomicscott]

Yes, this is true with any machine. You will cancel target out if you select PP while coil is over target. This was a specific problem with clad coins that have iron cores using "standard" pp mode.

Yep, I have noticed this with my X-Terra 505 and my buddy also has noticed it with his X-Terra 705. Move the coil away from target a bit before hitting pinpoint button, or you may think that it is stuck in pinpoint mode.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

If you need more help feel free to call me with pin pointing questions!

 

[Jackalope]

The point of being somewhat off-center when selecting PP is to de-tune the response which narrows the response. PPing directly over the target will usually de-tune the entire response to zero - and the audio is gone, which you don't want.

With the CTX, I'll end up hitting PP several times in quick succession, trying to narrow the response. Or, if the response is fairly strong (w/o using PP), just zip back across the target with short movements and dig where the audio is maxed - quick and dirty.

Watch for very shallow targets that are under or just outside the coil's diameter - you dig along the DD center (where you'd expect the target to be - at the max field line) but all the time it was just outside the outer Tx/Rx coil area. In other words, the coil has two response areas - a shallow coin can fool you, the weak field at the coil periphery will cause a response that mimics the response you'd expect from the center line of the DD. When you finally locate the wayward coin, you just shake your head and laugh, then fill in that large hole you needlessly dug.

Jackalope