Switched back to DE speed...What a difference!

Another revelation in my journey learning the F70...this was a big one!

Yesterday I went out to my big park near me with all kinds of areas to hunt including an old farmhouse site I call the iron mine because of the ridiculous amount of that metal all over the place.

I started in the more normal picnic areas looking for jewelry as usual, had the big 11" DD coil mounted this time.
My usual park hunting settings are disc at 1-4 to hear the iron grunts and figure out the pop tops and tabs which about 80-90% of them will grunt when you rim them with the coil, SL speed, sense at 85 or higher, Thresh at -1 or -2, 4H tones and notch always at 1.
My check program 2 is usually AT, SL, 99 Sense, Thresh at 9 because I can usually get a bit clearer and more accurate reading on the deeper ones.
I also have been using those blown-out all metal settings in the woods and also switch into it for regular hunting sometimes because even with all the signals and chatter and jumping around in the tones and the numbers, with much practice for the last several months I have learned to pick out the good signals from all that mess pretty easily and accurately.
At first those all metal settings made very little sense to me, but one day something clicked and I noticed some good target info, dug them and have become more comfortable using these settings on every hunt I used them.
As with all things, practice makes perfect.
I have been slowly moving toward using that very high all metal setting most of the time at most sites but that constant threshold hum gets to me after too much time so I switch back to disc once in awhile to give my ears a break.

I was at some pretty trashy picnic areas and managed to pluck out more clad that I missed on previous trips.
A couple hours in I moved to another area with an even more dense amount of trash and I did something I have never done before because I am constantly experimenting looking for optimum settings always...I kept all the other all metal settings high but switched the speed from SL to DE.
Now I know that the processing is faster in DE, but it was still pretty fast in SL, or at least fast enough for me to notice the sometimes brief but better target signals if I moved the coil at the correct slow speeds.
I recently watched a Gene Scully video about how he hunts in iron infested sites with his F75 and he says DE is the right way to do it because of that extra speed, and I believe Nasa Tom has also stated this several times so I always had that in the back of my mind, anyway, but really never hunted much using that speed because SL gathers more info from the ground and even though it is a bit noisier I want all the info I can get and just learned to ignore any extra noise.

When I switched to DE it was like another world opened up to me and I was almost shocked!
After hunting with SL so long the switch was that revelation I mentioned.
This time I noticed the difference big time, it was like I turned into the Flash and all my senses heightened and the numbers jumped around and the tones too, but by moving the coil slow each target showed up very clear to me in that trash pit and even using that big coil on high sense.
The speed difference was very noticeable, more numbers but they past by fast and with slight movements of the coil I could pick each one out for what they were.
I passed by targets that were trash and jumped so much that I couldn't calm them down, dug a few of the more solid trash targets that jumped no more than 2-3 numbers and more importantly plucked out some coins that showed up in their behavior like they had a beacon.

Now this was cool, I had to see if this new set up would work at that iron mine where I keep hunting but no other old coins have shown up for me in the last few hunts with the sniper coil using that blast through maxed out all metal settings and SL speed.
This time with that big coil and that faster pretty darn accurate speed I once again managed to pull out a few better targets that were at numbers higher than iron and I was able to avoid all the iron signals from the million nails and all the other junk, signals that I got with just about every move of that coil more than a few inches.

The first time I came to this iron mine with the F70 and the big coil It was all an unintelligible mess, this time it was way different.
With all the practice I have had lately hunting in that iron, practice noticing the higher if still very jumpy numbers, picking out and digging 2 silver coins and 3 wheaties from 6" deep in all that mess with SL speed I had to see if DE speed made a difference...and it did...and again it worked even with that big coil.

What you see below I found on this trip:
A part of an harmonica reed.
A rosette from I assume a piece of woodwork in the old home.
Some kind of a stud that came in at the nickel range.
A small Yale lock that I believe might be from the 30's or so.
Plus a few more modern clad coins hiding out.

And the best thing was a 1926d wheatie also at 6" and also right in the same hole as a few pieces of iron.
Exactly in the same area I found the silver coins, also in the same area I have gone over and over again with the smaller coils on the other SL settings and missed it.
The block of high numbers I noticed was very brief and fleeting, but I did notice it and went back to examine it further and made the decision to dig a hole.
A few feet over I also dug some sort of a button or stud, also a high tone, also at 6" surrounded by iron.
Neither of these targets was a silver coin...but they sure could have been and now I have even more confidence I can find old coin targets like these at almost any site.

Now I believe that these settings will go way deeper than that 6" and could probably be used at just about any site with just about any coil including the big one no matter how much trash using this high power all metal blast through method...just refined a bit more using DE speed instead of SL.
I am not sure if the difference I noticed so clear yesterday would have jumped out at me so much if I didn't have all those hours in with the slower speeds, but that is how I learn the best...start with a hard row to hoe at first and get good at it and then switch to an easier method which usually turns out to be a breeze.
Still more experimenting to do, more trial and error with the sensitivity and thresh settings to see if this can be refined to work even better, and hopefully more great targets to be dug.
Slowly and surely I am getting dialed in with that great F70.
This thing seems like it will never stop amazing me.









Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2014 02:06PM by diggwr27.

Yes you should have been in DE all the time less you are in clean veary clean ground then try SL it slows the reading down and goes deeper. Now go back and hunt in DE about 98% of the time

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

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If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

I use DE in disc most of the time, SL was on my check the targets setting and it worked well and also when I hunt in the woods.
In this total iron pit SL worked great, found wheaties, a silver merc and a walker half...but de works better so I will stay with that for awhile.
I do so much experimentation that it takes a while to get around to every aspect of what every slight change in settings can do.
I have much patience and still managed to find some great things along the way so it is perfect for a guy like me to do it this way.
Like I said, learning the ins and outs of using the SL speed and THEN changing over to DE helped me overall really appreciate what each slight change can do.
I might have been fine just hunting in DE most of the time, but my way of learning best is trial and error and in the long run for me this way worked out just fine and I hope my future finds will show that it did.
Some just want to set up and hunt, but learning everything I can about any detector I swing is just about as much fun for me as finding and digging great targets.
It takes time but I have the patience and in the long run this method I have seems to make me a better hunter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2014 06:59PM by diggwr27.

Like you said the only way to learn your machine is to know all it ins and outs. I do not run certain settings just because so and so said so. I try to educate myself with every setting on the machine,what each adjustment does or doesn't,t do ect. then will eventually settle on a few set ups.
Keep up the good work with your F70.
Nice digs too.
HH
Corey



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2014 05:15PM by docbars.

SL = SLow!!!! ..... but greater depth capabilities. Should never be used in high trash (especially iron infested) areas. It is a true representation/example of "Depth vs Effective Depth" resultant.