Relic Settings?

[Valley Ranger]

I searched first, but could not find what I'm looking for on this topic. I apologize if I've missed it. The Equinox has been very good to me on some "trashier" colonial and homesites here in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. But it's struggled on a Civil War battlefield site that I have access to. It seems to miss a lot of lead (Minie' balls) and just not performing well. The soil is slightly mineralized due to fertilzing, but not anything major and most other machines handle it very well. There is VERY little trash on this site. Over the last 10 years I've used many different machines and dug a ton of Minie' balls, shell fragments and some iron musket parts - but the brass has eluded me. There was intense hand to hand on this site and thousands of troops, so I KNOW the brass is there. What programs/settings might some of you recommend for this type of environment? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know I'm not getting the potential out of the Nox and want to really give the unit a good shot at this site. Thanks!

 

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[bigscoop]

I searched first, but could not find what I'm looking for on this topic. I apologize if I've missed it. The Equinox has been very good to me on some "trashier" colonial and homesites here in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. But it's struggled on a Civil War battlefield site that I have access to. It seems to miss a lot of lead (Minie' balls) and just not performing well. The soil is slightly mineralized due to fertilzing, but not anything major and most other machines handle it very well. There is VERY little trash on this site. Over the last 10 years I've used many different machines and dug a ton of Minie' balls, shell fragments and some iron musket parts - but the brass has eluded me. There was intense hand to hand on this site and thousands of troops, so I KNOW the brass is there. What programs/settings might some of you recommend for this type of environment? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know I'm not getting the potential out of the Nox and want to really give the unit a good shot at this site. Thanks!

Look at the VDI scale on the Nox, it is very narrow, so you're going to have to get use to this machine's limited discrimination capabilities. You can't treat this machine's notch features like most other machines that offer a broader discrimination range. If you do you stand to lose returns that you would normally receive when in the disc modes. Another thing that's becoming apparent with the Nox, you can't just skip over targets that only read in one direction as in recent hunts I have recovered several good targets that would only read in one direction. But it sounds to me like you're going to have to recognize (get use to) the entirely different manner in which the Nox classifies targets due to it's limited discrimination range. Hope this helps.

 

[smokeythecat]

I am digging a site south of you. Soil is so red and bad, the Martians don't even want it! That said, if it squeaks, dig it.

 

[Valley Ranger]

Look at the VDI scale on the Nox, it is very narrow, so you're going to have to get use to this machine's limited discrimination capabilities. You can't treat this machine's notch features like most other machines that offer a broader discrimination range. If you do you stand to lose returns that you would normally receive when in the disc modes. Another thing that's becoming apparent with the Nox, you can't just skip over targets that only read in one direction as in recent hunts I have recovered several good targets that would only read in one direction. But it sounds to me like you're going to have to recognize (get use to) the entirely different manner in which the Nox classifies targets due to it's limited discrimination range. Hope this helps.

Very helpful. Thank you. Yes, the VDI/Tones are a whole new world for me to adjust to. Thanks again.

 

[Valley Ranger]

I am digging a site south of you. Soil is so red and bad, the Martians don't even want it! That said, if it squeaks, dig it.

Thanks!

 

[bigscoop]

The tones on the Nox don't actually offer you any additional target information, they're just standard tones. The biggest thing is to eventually figure out how the Nox is classifying targets, and why. Once you get a better grasp of this things become easier. So maybe hunt in a 2-tone all metal mode so you can focus all of your attention on your recoveries and how the Nox classified each one of them. Once you get a better feel for this you can then go back and position your tones however they best suit you.

 

[KREQ600]

Lead Civil War Minie' balls and musket balls will normally have a VID number in the 17 to 18 range in Park 1 and Field 1. In Field 2, they may ring up 15 to 18. Not sure why this is in Field 2. If the field you are hunting is not trashy at all, dig everything including iron signals. I have dug many horseshoes and buckles from horse or mule bridals in and around Civil War sites when digging those iron signals. Good luck!!

 

[bigscoop]

Lead Civil War Minie' balls and musket balls will normally have a VID number in the 17 to 18 range in Park 1 and Field 1. In Field 2, they may ring up 15 to 18. Not sure why this is in Field 2. If the field you are hunting is not trashy at all, dig everything including iron signals. I have dug many horseshoes and buckles from horse or mule bridals in and around Civil War sites when digging those iron signals. Good luck!!

I think this target classification variance has something to do with the narrow discrimination range of the Nox and the manner in which each mode is weighted differently by default. I've been playing with this a lot lately (almost daily for a month now) in the trashier areas of an old local park near my home and it's becoming quite evident that certain targets can receive a rather wide classification and placement on the machine's VDI depending on certain factors. It's also quite common for targets to also appear where they normally shouldn't.

 

[cudamark]

For small brass targets, I'd first give Field 2 a try. I like 50 tone and push the horseshoe button to get the iron sounds too. Iron bias at F2 0, Recovery speed down around 3 if there are deep targets and not too much in the way of trash. If you get lots of chatter, you may have to raise that setting. Sensitivity to wherever it will be stable. Dig all the low tones that are just above iron if brass items are what you want. Personally, at a Civil War site, I'd be digging just about everything. It will take a while to get used to all the sounds you're going to hear, but, eventually, you'll become one with the machine after you dig a bunch of targets. You don't say whether you have a 600 or 800, but, if you have the 800, I'd give the Gold modes a try too...... along with a small coil. Those modes are real sensitive to tiny non-ferrous items.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

The tones on the Nox don't actually offer you any additional target information, they're just standard tones. The biggest thing is to eventually figure out how the Nox is classifying targets, and why. Once you get a better grasp of this things become easier. So maybe hunt in a 2-tone all metal mode so you can focus all of your attention on your recoveries and how the Nox classified each one of them. Once you get a better feel for this you can then go back and position your tones however they best suit you.

Field 1 and two tones is what I recommend! Keep the the horseshoe turned on, but turn the iron volume down. You'll be able to tell if a target is iron most of the time, but dig them anyway because it could still be something awesome like a spur or something. I hunt a lot of ghost towns and old logging and cattle camps. I've settled on Field 1/ and 2 tones as my default mode because it has been working very well for me. YMMV

 

[Valley Ranger]

For small brass targets, I'd first give Field 2 a try. I like 50 tone and push the horseshoe button to get the iron sounds too. Iron bias at F2 0, Recovery speed down around 3 if there are deep targets and not too much in the way of trash. If you get lots of chatter, you may have to raise that setting. Sensitivity to wherever it will be stable. Dig all the low tones that are just above iron if brass items are what you want. Personally, at a Civil War site, I'd be digging just about everything. It will take a while to get used to all the sounds you're going to hear, but, eventually, you'll become one with the machine after you dig a bunch of targets. You don't say whether you have a 600 or 800, but, if you have the 800, I'd give the Gold modes a try too...... along with a small coil. Those modes are real sensitive to tiny non-ferrous items.

Thanks. I've got the 800.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

We have had luck with Beach1 at sites loaded with iron. No horseshoe. Sens as high as stability allows. Looking for any signal above a 6 consistent at least 1 way. Give it a try.

 

[pulltabfelix]

On my 800 for my CW relic hunting:

Use headphones, recovery speed 4, sensitivity as high as you can set it without the chatter and threshold audio up so you can hear it. 50 tones and FE2 6-7. Remember increase recovery speed really kills depth on the 800. Also I am using the 10 x 5" coiltek for the Nox. (love this coil).

But be very careful using other people's settings (including mine) since you are likely hunting in a different area. Learn to figure out what really works for you. I know that is what you are trying to do, but just don't accept anyone's setting as an absolute answer. keep reading this sub forum on the 800 and you will learn a lot.

 

[Toecutter]

I hunt trashy cellar holes, I run park 2, 6 recovery, fe0, horse shoe off, brass rings in 15 to 17 on smalls and hits consistent, scratchy 15 to 19 usually a squarer nail for me..