My Quick Pulse Primer

Great to see some posts on pulse hunting. I'll say this. When you go to the lower uSc ranges--its necessary to do certain thingss to mediate the micro conductors. This may involve coil control (determining the solidiy) using the cross sweep and multiple passes, or doing some "foot digging" to make sure the target is not a small target on the surface. It's also important to look for ground that itsn't "silt" carrying this type of micro conductors around--oval tabs, foils, pennies and caps. This is the "tradeoff" for the additional depth you get running down at say 10 uSc. Where you have a lot of targets, there is more of an emphasis on checking the general features of a response--size, shape and where it is sitting in the strata. To a certain extent, understanding the sand texture is one thing that helps you recognise what an object is--by how deep it's sitting. People ask why I have a large number of pulse machines. This is because they all do different things and are suited to different condtions. My small coil Cuda is great in black sand of harsh, fast salt conditions. It also has great audio to keep off the caps and pins. The Dual Field also has great audio and gives a long "tune-out" sound on iron. The Aquasearch has great optimization and adjustable SAT--for sidewalls or fast water.--to compensate for interference. More generally the idea with a pulse is to incorporate site knowledge and a number of target features into your dig selection. While iron will sound off--it doesent "carry" to the surface as well. Looking for small, sharp, narrow responses that don't give a double tone on the cross sweep can reduce the amount of iron you dig. As well, when you turn the Gain (or de-tune) a pulse, the response to iron is reduced more than is the response to gold. So in dense traash going to a lowered "discriminate" mode, combined with careful listening to the strength of your signals is another way to increase your accuracy. I've made all my best finds with pulse machines and although its great to have the fidelity and accuracy of a CTX or EQ, where there is any serious competition or changing "sanded in" type conditions a pulse is the way to get down deeper, find "strip outs" and hit those big lunkers. cjc
clivesgoldpage.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2018 03:04AM by cjc.

Very good input Clive. Thanks. In fact...…….. you beat me to the punch. My first few posts have been (rather) technical. . . . . . so my next intended post is going to be more targeted to 'how-to-use' and 'what-to-listen for' whilst swinging a PI on the wet-slope.

Lots to learn if you want to use a PI effectively at the beach. The usual complaint is that digging ferrous junk wears you down and makes you overall less productive. When some experienced users point out techniques that they use to minimize digging by ID’ing iron by using various techniques to reduce unwanted digging, they are often poo-poo’d by skeptics. Ironically, lots of these skeptics hunt with their Excals and CZ’s in all metal and only use discrim to cross-check - another “slow-down”.

Likewise tiny foil bits can be minimized by advancing pulse delay setting - where the detector has that control available.

In sum, like any other tool, optimum technique and lots of experience makes the best operators find the most gold.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

I use 3 PI machine's for exactly the same reasons that Clive has mentioned,my main ones that are used for beach work are my TDI Pro and a Mirage Pulse both these are better suited for small gold targets especially when used with smaller coils,the Mirage has a 5'' mono on it and when used in fine gold mode is pretty good on snagging small gold items.My 3rd Pulse is one of the original 13 Crossbow classics that had been made by George Overton who co owns Geotech1 forum,that is more suited for really deep artifact/hoard hunting especially when used with a large coil.

The TDI Pro without doubt is my favourite as i find that the ability too knock out selected conductivity items allows the TDI to be used even on some of my trashy roman sites,one specifically is so far inland but the ground is basically black due to the high mineral content,but the TDI can/does cut through the ground with ease and also reduces the amount of iron that one digs.

J and D - you just posted the greatest post I’ve seen in years!

Every hole is like a scratch card. Usually it’s nothing. Sometimes you win a prize.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

Hunting in reverse disc with a PP switch on an Xcal to me isnt time consuming........ i dare say i can move along as fast as most who just use disc. You do get more depth so you may have to move a little sand on DEEPER targets...... but the way the Xcal hates iron you know pretty fast weather you are chasing something worth going after.

Thanks also for your post, Tom--that's what inspired me to add a bit of "hands on" to it. It's like many hunters are so used to having these machines that "do everything" that these simple basics fall by the wayside. You could say that puse hunting requires a more "wholistic" approach to sites--and this turns out to be the main thing--not underestimating the dynamics of how targets classifiy--basically staying off the overburden. This is something that's also very important with the EQ in that it's putting out 20 & 40 kHz's and will hit these light low conductors all day if you are not approaching the grade / strata / contour / texture accurately. Had the chance to talk to Jim Pugh yesterday (legend) he's very excited about he EQ as are we all. No doublt he will figure out some thigns about it that have eluded us "horizontal thinkers". Made sure to 'bird dog" your post for him in case he hadn't seen it. Still have 3 working Cudas here doesnt' get any better --the design / optimisation and NR --right down to the silver solder.
cjc

Clive...…….. and that is a deep concern of mine. I'm now a true believer that Spherical-Thinking is now required. . . . . . . as the vertical & horizontal thinkers indeed have not figured out SO much.

I'm trying to find the time to make another PI-input/post.