Tom, any suggestions for Appomattox's county, Va bad soil

Hi Tom It is just TERRIFIC that you can take the time to answer questions. The best part is that it is always an honest answer from proven experience and knowledge...My question is : In that bad soil using the F75 only AM with a GB in the high 80's will work, and most times 1-9 is iron and or 10-15 can be buttons, bullets.The Fe meter is at 1. Haven't dug a plate so can't say. Using the 11 coil I find it best to hunt it 8-10" off the ground to keep a nice hum in AM. Then a hit you can check it more, fe, meter and conf meter. IF holding the big coil above the ground works the best because of the large footprint of it being on the ground drives it crazy. Will the small coil work better with the small foot print of seeing less hot ground??? Most items can only be heard not more than 5-6" if you are lucky...All targets on top of the ground will read correctly, but under the soil the discrimination of targets are shifted drastically to the left as iron readings....I've been detecting for over 30 years. It is a long drive from Annapolis,MD to Appomattox's county, 205 miles. So any help would really be appreciated for the next trip to that county area. Thanks a bunch LiL John



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2008 01:57PM by LiL John.

John,

Sounds like you are well on the right track. First, your GB needs to be spot-on for best performance..... especially for maximizing ID abilities,,,,,,, understanding that you will acquire a fairly severe ID 'shift' anyway. Second, sweep at a normal sweep-rate...... or slightly slower. When you find a 'suspect' target. . . . in your soil, try different sweep-speed rates to discover which rate will give slightly more accurate ID readings for your specific oxide soil. Third; you may want to try Static mode, so as to enhance audio-profile ID characteristics...... that your brain may 'calibrate' to.... and become accustomed to these signature-to-hull (target) audio presentations.
The F-75 should seperate close targets better than any other unit; however, the Minelab Explorer will work better in this type of lateritic soil..... with better ID capabilities.
There's a place in Georgia where the CZ and the F-75 will bell-tone 'overload' when the coil is approx 11" above the surface of the ground. Bad FAILURE dirt. ((( PI units are nearly completely unaffected by this dirt ))).

.... Ironic,,, Soon,,, I'm headed to Annapolis to visit my brother John.

Tom

Hey lil John, With my experiance here in the NC Red Clay Dirt The small coil works great, I can crank the sense way up more with good Depth..To me it just sees less ground matrix..its great at target seperation..In same location same settings with the Big coil it will be more noisier..Both do well..I have found coins Deep with both coils..And Iron marker stobs at 18" Deep in all metal mode with ease Using the big coil of course...In Bad soil..Like tom said a good GB is key..Tom has helped me alot in understanding how to hunt the bad soil!!!...I coulda gotten the minlab Se..But I am sooo glad I scarfed up a F75..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2008 12:47PM by liquid1.

Oh..... and yes, the small coil should help slightly. If the small coil were a DD coil with the extremely tight footprint of the stock coil.... it would help quite a bit more.

Tom