Equinox signal “development”

Today I learned something with the Equinox. I was hunting a ball field built in 1901 that had grass about 2 inches high and thick. Now we all want to hunt on a putting green (perfectly smooth short grass)
But that’s not possible.

Working a small area 15x15 for 3hours I was swinging the nox Etrac slow and listening. When I got a solid tone or high tone I started to concentrate or develop the signal as we normally do by turning 90 degrees changing programs.

What did I learn?
Well before I was swinging to fast and walking to fast. Doing this I was passing over deep faint signals that could be “developed” or brought to life with some focus.
Also I wasn’t giving Targets enough chance to tell me what’s there as you need to do this when they are deep.

In this little area I pulled 5 wheats, 3 dimes and a quarter as well as 1 screw top and zero big iron.
Happy Hunting
G

XP Deus
Minelab Etrac
Minelab Equinox 800
Garrett Carrot
22 silvers, 2 silver rings, 1 Gold Ring -YTD 2018


Some of my random digs: [www.youtube.com]

The E-trac and CTX3030 has signal gain adjustment that brings the weak signal strength up to make it easier to hear. I wish that minelab would add this to the NOX. It would be good if they had a switch that would reverse the sound so that deep weak targets were loud and shallow targets were weak.

"Good story Mr. G
Kinda reminds me of 'the infamous Sov wiggle!"

I think we all swing too fast! And then when we get a NEW detector [ we slow down ] to learn how to use it!

On those proverbial 'iffy' signals (gotta be careful with the I word cos some don't believe such I signals exist!) I always turn 45degrees and check and another 45 on top of that: sometimes I do a FULL circle...very telling that!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2018 04:08PM by Des D.

Nice thread here.

One thing I notice.
On the deeper, yet detected the Nox likes to give a ping (hollower sounding) kinda signal. ID may be lower than actual ID of target, but better coil management over such a target may reveal it is not say a junk lower or mid conductive target. And higher ID on sweeps may start creeping in giving clue to higher conductive present.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2018 04:43PM by tnsharpshooter.

I learned the same thing. It's pretty deep if you swing normal/fast but I was at a hard hit site, and the first 30 minutes or so there wasn't getting anything, so I slowed my swing speed down, not quite Sovereign slow, but slower then normal, and the deepies starting coming!! Going slow and low I'd get a faint hit, and do the minelab wiggle over it to bring it to life, and low and behold I could work up a good signal, TID would typically bounce between the mid 20's to low 30's. Got fooled by a few deep nails once I raised my sensitivity to 25, dropped it back down to something like 22-23 and it was still getting the deep coins without the nails.

Here's my report from that hunt, I took photos of some of the deepies, you see my pinpointer was buried:

[www.detectorprospector.com]

HH,
Brian

That is impressive, Cal....a beat to death site filled with iron bits and the EQ brought home the bacon.

I’d also like to add i noticed signal, depth and a performance boost when ground balance is at zero.
I’ve read in many places that when ground balanced... the Equinox can false more and chatter when ground balanced in mild soil which I have in Tennessee.
The deus does the same thing. When I GB on it it gets real touchy to coil movement and striking sticks, tall grass etc.

-G

XP Deus
Minelab Etrac
Minelab Equinox 800
Garrett Carrot
22 silvers, 2 silver rings, 1 Gold Ring -YTD 2018


Some of my random digs: [www.youtube.com]

Two things --

Des -- you mentioned that "sometimes you even do a full circle," and it is "very telling..." I ABSOLUTELY agree. I do a full circle on almost ANY deep target. I'm not sure if it's just Minelabs, or all machines, but I suspect it's a particular trait of Multi-Frequency machines, that you can really "develop" the signal, as everyone here is discussion. Trying to figure this out in my head over the years, what it seems like to me is that the "Minelab wiggle" (the "Sov wiggle" as you called it Des) is allowing multiple snapshots to be taken by the machine, and since (I think we all generally agree) that the "magic" of BBS/FBS/Multi-IQ is accomplished by signal processing...COMPARISONS and CALCULATIONS occurring, in the algorithms, using the data acquired from multiple "samples" of target information which emanating from the multi-frequency transmissions, is why the "Minelab wiggle" works. In other words, if you are lighting up a target with multiple frequencies, and then collecting/comparing/contrasting the receive data from each of the different frequencies being utilized, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, you are giving the machine many, many samples/snapshots of data (from each of the different frequencies) by "Minelab wiggling" the target repeatedly, you are thus allowing an increasingly accurate "read" on the target to occur. This is what it seems like, to me.

And yes, I do seem to be noticing this with the Equinox. IN FACT, I believe I have noticed it, in a subtle way, in BOTH directions -- in other words, not only can you "tease out" a good, deep, iffy target using the "wiggle," and ending up with an "improvement" in the signal/ID when it's a GOOD target, I also believe I see it at times where you can "wiggle" an "iron false" to where the falses diminish, and the iron grunts become dominant. In other words, a target the machine may have high-toned you one, can be "wiggled" into revealing itself as just iron -- much of the high-toning "going away" the more you wiggle it...

Good discussion here, I'm enjoying this thread.

Steve

When hunting polluted sites.
Running in park 2 or field 2. Watch for extremely low sounding waivers - wisp sounds. Too fast a coil sweep, too high a coil sweep, or being out of position coil wise can cause. When honed in on better user can many times get the Nox to give fuller signal.

Some times the nonferrous will be small, sometimes bigger but heavily masked, or orientation of target is causing.
I love field 2 in the most polluted.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2018 02:30AM by tnsharpshooter.

Your brain does a lot of the work. On a subconscious level (you may not even know you are doing it)........... when you are sweeping a single target multiple times.,.,.,., and rotating your body around the target also....................................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,........................................ on a subconscious level: you are finding exact pinpoint 'center' of the target.............. which............... in turn................. will naturally give the target a better chance of ID'ing correctly. IN ADDITION: you are also finding best ID acquisition coil position ..... and ..... worst ID coil position acquisition.........,,,,,,,,,,,, and comparing the two (subconsciously).............. for a more intelligible command-decision.

Interesting that you say that, NASA-Tom; as I was typing my post, I was thinking that PART what's going on, is that you are "honing in" on the dead center of the target as you are "wiggling" it -- just as you mentioned. But, you are taking it even a step further, by noting that whatever the algorithms inside the unit are doing, from a "comparing/contrasting/calculating" perspective, our OWN processor is also comparing/contrasting...and perhaps that's an understated, underappreciated part of the whole "wiggle" thing...

Steve

With every detector we use and after 'so' many hours on a unit, our brain thinks up easier and more practical ways of completing the task and to get the best results. That goes with most everything we do. We get into a basic rhythm and only change if needed.

Watch someone who has many many hours/years detecting....watch them with the external speaker on or shared headphones. Watch them in high trash/iron to see 'how big' the difference is verses swinging away in a trash empty field/beach.

You could put any detector brand in front of the words 'signal development'. This is where experience comes in....when you do something repeatedly and learn the does and don'ts and all the short cuts and tricks. As Tom says, we do it without thinking about it.....like scratching an itch, the hand goes right to the spot without thinking.
I know I'm stating the obvious....we all know this stuff because it pertains to practically everything we do.