Question for Excalibur users

[jopher]

This question arises from a situation that I found myself in this past Saturday.I recently aquired a Minelab Excalibur and was trying my luck in the shallows of a freshwaterport in lake Michigan. This port had been in use since the late 17th century. The waters since then have receeded about 75-100 yards and all that remains of the original port is two massive white pine mooring posts now only 10 yards off shore.Anyway, I made my way out into about knee deep water and hit my first signal.It was a high tone but as I turned my disc up it got all chattery.It ended up being a Miller beer can at a depth ,below sand, of about 27 inches.The next signal I got was just a repeatable blip of a high tone.I started digging and at about 40 inches I started loosing the battle.The signal was now a blaring high tone even with my disc at the max.The hole I had ceated was about 6 feet accross and the sand was flowing back in as fast as I could remove it.At that point I folded the handle on my sand scoop....rats! I then flipped my scoop over and prodded down into the sand probably another foot and couldnt feel a thing.OK...then I gave up. I filled the crater back in with sand and put the Miller beer can about a foot down right in the middle of it so that I can locate the spot again. My question to experieced Excal users is this.; What is your take on the possible makeup of this mystery item? Ive run this machine over large iron and aluminum objects at different distances with the disc on max and it either ignores or at least breaks up the signal noticably.The signal I was getting was a high pitch, clear as a bell and was picked up at over 40 inches.Just curious of what the possibilities could be. Thanks for any input....JO

 

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[Floater]

Well it could still be rusty Iron but it could also be another larger metal object in the stainless steel range though not likely for the area you describe. It sounds more like a chain or even an old Pipe that could be down there. Look from shore and see if you find a pipe back of the beach or area your in heading that way. Also use a probe next time. If you have objects that deep you need a long thin solid rod about 5/16 or so in diameter to probe down untill you hit something in the bottom. This will also give you an indication of the size of the object. Good luck and sounds like a good site. you amy need to research some more and find some old pictures to help you find the best areas for possible old coins or objects to hunt for.HH

 

[Sandman]

Yes it could be just rusty iron junk that settled deep. These give off high pitched sounds and are hard to discriminate due to their size. Unless your hunting for relics, you should give up before you dig huge craters. You can't use the discriminator to deceide what to dig when your hunting non swim beaches like this and you'll do well to dig anything that makes a sound with the Excal. or any machine for that matter. They only report that something is there. By using a disc. above 1, you are missing the white gold stuff and platinum. Check out this web site for real information. www.thegoldenolde.com

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[neilo]

Dont use your discriminator to try to identify your targets. If you are getting a strong high pitched signal from a good target the discriminator will not discriminate it out. If the signal is high pitched broken signal it will be a large iron object. What you will find is initially you will get a good signal from a deep item but as you get nearer the item as you are digging the signal starts to become broken. The machine is telling you yes I have found a metal object so it gives a strong signal initially, but it is too deep to identify and when you get closer to the item it then recognises it as iron and tells you by its broken signal or blanking it out altogether. I have been using Sovereigns and Excalibers for close on ten years, both of these machines are the same only difference is the notch discriminator on the Sovereign. I used to the Sovereign in the water ?with the control box in a bag on my back I had a couple of close calls with waves and then started using the Excaliber.I have done some marathon digs in my time start digging at knee height and finish up in chest deep water standing in a huge crater. It really is a ?task when you are forever fighting the sand collapsing back into the hole. It is heart breaking to do so much work and have to give up and walk away. Aluminium cans are a real problem its amazing how deep the detector will pick them up. You ?never know what is going to pop up I had a very strong signal which I dug and dug for about 20 minutes and gave up on then later in the day went back and had another dig and in the fist scoop full there was a beautiful 10 gram 18crt gold mans chunky ring. I could just about put two of my fingers in it.
I agree with the other writer dont use ?your discriminator in the water, aluminium foil which is very low on the scale gives the same signal as a gold chain or small gold ring. Silver gives a very strong signal as does copper and lead. Gold is generally mid range to low toned signal. The machine has its own iron mask system built in, which allows you to pick good targets in close proximity to iron. If you get a good signal swinging one way but not the other this is iron only dig signals which are good sweeping your coil from both directions. Once again the machine is telling you I have found some metal ?and it is iron on the return sweep by blanking it out. Small targets which are just within range of the detector will not give a signal all you will hear the threshold falter. If you notice this happening dig down a few inches and you will start hearing a propper signal the closer you get to it the better the signal becomes in loudness. I have picked up ?a few chains like this so it is important to have a threshold set so you can hear it.
I run my machine in manual sensitivity, you will get clearer signals, ?more depth and you are able to find smaller items as well .You turn your sensitivity up until it starts giving false signals them back off slowly when the falsing ?just stops leave it there.The volume control I leave on full volume, you will find the tone variability is better on this setting.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Well I hope Ive helped seeya Neilo ?

 

[Floater]

Neilo that is an excellent description of the Excal and the Soveriegn. Getting the Sensitivity correct and your tone steady is the most important thing with the Excal. Even though they say your depth will be affected by tuning the sensitivity off Auto and doing the Manual tune ,you definetly want to hear a nice steady humm or tone all the time untill you hit something or like Neilo Described the Faltering. HH

 

[southern gent]

I agree Jim. The best setting on my excaliber is auto. The way I see it jopher, is any signal that sounds that large IS that large. I have found a few goodies close to the top of the silt in local lakes that chimed in very loudly, so I usually take one or two scoops and leave it at that. I took a friend with me to Myrtle Beach for his first outing a few years back, and bless his heart he spent an hour digging up a storm drain! Point is, if your not looking for a huge cache of gold coins, ignore the really large sounding targets. Good luck and HH! Chris

 

[Floater]

I have always left my sensitivity setting on the AUTO mode on my Excalibur 1000. Is it honestly worth experimenting with it in a MANUAL mode? I could not fathom the Excalibur being any better than it is!

HH, Jim

Remeber guys he is not in Florida or the southern areas. he is in the great lakes areas. I have hunted both with my Excal and the difference can be huge. In south florida I would never take my sense off of auto .Also a few creek beds in NY but in a resavoir in NY I had to pull it off of auto and tune up to about 11 oclock before my steady tone returned. It really depends on the mineral in the ground and thats all there is to it. The other quirk I have noticed is time of day. If I am hunting at sundown or near to it. I may have to adjust offf of auto because of interference around me. I know it sounds wier but My machine is really sensitive to atmospheric change at that time. I also know that if I bring it out of the house (Air cond.) and into 92 degree heat it takes it aboiut 20 minutes to settle down. I now set it ouitside a little before I leave so it warms up a stabilizes.HH

 

[neilo]

Hi Neilo again, I dont know whether I made it clear about using the discriminator or not.I dont mean to use the machine in all metal . What I am saying is leave the discriminator on but turn it down to its lowest setting of 1, this still allows it to discriminate iron.By using it at its lowest setting you will pick up gold chains and small jewelry which would have been blanked out otherwise. example, I have a thin white gold ring with seven diamonds which is blanked out at setting 3 on discriminator, alfoil of similar size knocks out at setting 6 .So if I had been using the discriminator to blank out the ?alfoil ?I would not have that nice little ring. From experience I am always listening for the low tones ?as that is where most of your good finds are.
I read a couple of people querying my preference in using the machine in manual sensitivity. I live in Sth Australia and the head office of Minelab is here. I have been a regular visitor over the years and have met and talked with their top technicians. It was through one of these guys who is a mad detectorist and ?also uses a Excaliber that put me on to this manual usage over Auto. He said you could expect up to around 30 per cent increase in sensitivity, but you will be more prone to false ?signals. Good targets give a signal everytime you pass over it with your coil from any direction, false signals wont and are not consistent and are easy to recognise. When using the machine in high sensitivity levels it is important to try and keep your coil at a constant hieght from the ground level and move in smooth even sweeps. By moving your coil erraticly you might experience false signals which could make you miss a good target.
One problem at least you guys dont have is man eating sharks.We have had two people taken by sharks this year both close to my favorite detecting beach,one was only about 100 yds away from where I normally detect.Fortunately I wasnt down there that day,if I had been ?I might have been lunch. ?One thing, it makes you keep your eyes open. ?
? ?Keep swinging seeya Neilo ?

 

[jopher]

As a new Excalibur user I really appreciate the input from all . Ive only had the unit out a couple of times and have been running at the lowest disc setting in auto sens....digging all targets..Where I hunt I havent had any mineralization problems and as I get more comfortable with the unit Ill experiment more with the manual sensitivity.When I turned the disc up to max it was only to see how the machine would react to the already established target.From your responses Ive gathered that a clear tone, even on high disc, does not necessarily mean a non-iron target.On the other hand it could be a brass or copper relic....right??...Im gonna go back and dig MR.Deep one of these days and Ill let you all know what it is.Ive got a buddy fabbing me up a scoop more suitable for digging the deep targets and I did come up with a fiberglass bicycle flag rod that will make a decent probe.....Thanks again and H.H.....JO

 

[Floater]

Looking forward to it Jopher and good luck. HH

 

[Monty]

40 inches?? First thing would do is get rid of that thing and get a detector that would reach deep! ? I have a PI unit and I thought I was getting deep but apparently not!? The worse thing about frehwater beaches around here is the amount of junk buried in them.? A person who salvages empty aluminum cans could follow me around and get rich!? ?I've even thought about keeping the cans and forgetting about the treasure!? Off subject but this has been on my mind for a while.? jimakaks