Interesting hunt

Went back to the same location we've been hunting for many years. My buddy had the Manticore and I took the Equinox and the TDI SL with the Minelab Commander 11" mono coil. I had buried (in a clean area with no sign of either trash or iron) a dime at exactly 4" several weeks ago when I was using a borrowed Tarsacci. The Tarsacci would only occasionally give a non ferrous audio (was crippled by EMI) but the Equinox only gave an iron audio. Took the TDI over the area and it had no problem giving a very nice smooth audio on the 4" dime. Called Fred over with the Manticore and he got nothing. I ask him to try every setting he could but still nothing good. He said the threshold would on occasionally break but no audio. He went through different settings but nothing. He rotated the dime many times then finally he got a response. But he said he had to be rubbing the ground to get an audio of any kind. Raise the coil just off the ground and it was gone. Lower and scrub the ground and he would get a very intermittent scratchy audio. Ask if he dug that type signals and no was his answer. So we dug a large plug about 3" deep and inserted the pin pointer and found the dime at around the 4" mark. He was speechless. I ask him what he thought but no answer and I explained the complex ground matrix of not only orange clay but the coal waste (coke) that will attract to a magnet. I explained that I was very happy with what we had learned. It intrigued him so much he started hunting the rest of the school yard, scrubbing the coil on the ground and ended up finding several pennies ranging from 4-6" deep that until yesterday was a cleaned out area. He even made the statement about buying a GPX, but was only kidding. I did explain the TDI was good in this type ground but the discrimination was almost non existent, I'm forever changing the GB to 5-6 and and rechecking coin signals to see if the tone changes, trying to not dig so many nails. I really had high hopes for the Tarsacci but the EMI all but completely crippled my hopes. Just thought I would share our hunt yesterday.

Thanks for the report. A site like that is frustrating, but can be very educational if you take advantage of the obstacles.
I'm surprised the Tarsacci could not be made to perform better. I'm sure you tried different frequencies, Sensitivity & Threshold levels.
I don't find much Coke here as people burned wood. I knew it is a very, very low conductor, but I never knew it could be magnetic also. You may have to try a good, True All Metal channel detector on that site & see how it performs.

Chris

This coal most likely came from West Virginia. Not pure coal since both states have an iron ore belt that is located both in Virginia and West Virginia.
As the coal is burnt, any metal ores in the coal is smelted together into the waste that was discarded on the property. Some of this waste is quite heavy compared to the regular coal waste. I have struggled with these areas for over 2 decades. I really had high hopes for the Tarsacci in these areas but having a 3 phase power line running through these areas created a completely new set of challenges. My hunting buddy has the Manticore and it runs very quiet in these areas but is severely handicapped by the coal waste. But we both learned a lot yesterday.
Had one location I wanted to hunt the Tarsacci but it had been planted in corn so the TDI will have to do for now.

Sounds like the Tarsacci was not hindered by the dirt/mineralization; yet/but, by EMI issues. Did you try different Freq's? Don't be afraid to run Sens on 3 or 4 !!!

On the Tarsacci I tried each frequency, threshold and finally the sensitivity. I could finally get the machine quieten down enough to hunt some at sens of 4 and threshold of 4 but it struggled to give a non ferrous audio on the 4" dime. EMI was my enemy with the Tarsacci. I finally had to send the detector back because the person was going on a beach hunt later this month. I was extremely grateful for the guy sending it to me for over 2 months.

Mark........ it sounds like the EMI with the Tarsacci.....was still eating it up! Frustrated to hear this; yet, it DOES happen.,.,.,.,.,., and with other brands also.

Correct, I can't get a good quiet channel to work on the Equinox 800, so I have to turn it down to about 15. But my hunting buddy has the Manticore and his runs fairly quiet but only at a sens of 20.

Manitcore on Sens 20......... is equivalent to Equinox on Sens 20 or 21.