FIRST, go to page 12 in the manual and MAKE SURE you have set your tone frequency to match YOUR hearing the best. Do you hear high or low tones better? Next, set your pulse width to about 3/4 power (2-230pm position). Turn your threshold up to where you can barely hear it above the waves and wind noise - like a mosquito hum, and use the machine in NORMAL mode.
DO NOT just walk up or down the beach in one direction or the other! Pick yourself a 50-yard long beachfront, and start gridding it. You start at the wet sand high mark and detect right into the water thigh-deep, move over a step and detect right back up to the high wet sand mark. Rinse and repeat until the whole 50-yards or 5-hours is done.
Slight “Positive” signals are also called “whisper” signals. This is a very soft or slight, almost unnoticeable, rise in the threshold signal. It will always be repeatable over the target – not random. If your threshold is set too high, or too low, you can miss them easily. If your threshold is not smooth you can miss these whisper signals easily. There can be a couple of reasons, including EMI, for an unstable threshold. The most common is too much pulse width. Sometimes you can max it out, sometimes you can only run it at the 12-1 o’clock position. It depends on the beach. If you want to make your machine more sensitive and cut down on interference, make sure you are not wrapping your coil wire close to the coil down on the lower plastic rod (see photo).
“Negative breaks,” are also referred to as whisper signals. This is when the threshold gets quieter, or goes away completely over the target. Again, negative breaks are always repeatable over a real target – not random. As you remove a little sand from over the target and re-sweep with your coil, the signal becomes a slight or stronger positive signal.
I use “Normal” mode, because it is easier for me to hear these positive and negative breaks in the threshold – that does not hold true for everyone. It takes time on the headphones to learn to recognize whisper signals, usually over 100-hours. Sometimes actually speeding up your swing back and forth helps to recognize these signals. The general rule however is always to SLOW down and pay attention.
Hope this helps you, and feel free to PM me with any other questions or explanations.
