Minelab Explorer Guide Online

How to Buy A New Car

2007-03-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

My next project is a guide on how to buy a new car. I am doing this to learn Google Adsense.

Click on the link will ya help out, thanks!

http://howtobuyacarleaseandbuy.blogspot.com/

In Conclusion......

2006-05-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

In what may be the last chapter of this online guide, let me share with you the climax of my Explorer odyssey. Mark B. (Mr."find what the others missed), one of my hunting buddies, went to England with our close friend Randy G. to detect the ancient isles for some of its history. They did very well with the techniques and strategies outlined in this guide.

Here is Mark's story.

"It was the last day of the hunt with about 45 mintues left in the day, 4:46pm local time when I checked my watch, and I had been grid searching the whole day an area about 35-40 yards wide , starting at the furthest point and working my way back to the pickup point. I had covered approximately 250 yards when I came to the spot.
I was digging everything that wasn't iron, (I did dig a few of those just to be sure I was not missing anything), I was using the Explorer2 with the WOT coil Sunray X-1 probe. When I got the signal it sound just like a shotgun shell brass casing which Chris said to dig, Chris said to dig everything actually but those particularly as they sound like gold, and I had dug several,.at this point, I looked at the digital display and it read 11-02 which is a good possibilty of being gold. It was about four inch deep I didn't use my digger I just stuck my probe in the soft soil pulled it out and then slowly scooped the soil out with my hand and there she was,a little disc smaller than a nickel and larger than a penny.
At first I did not know what I had, it was caked up with mud but after I wiped that off and saw the gold I started to get excited I was looking at the reverse side which is plain then I turned it over and wiped that side off and saw the Horse I let out a laugh then a bigger Yahoo! Looking around I couldn't see any of my fellow hunters then I saw Dom from Australia off in the distance and then Randy further off. I decided I 'd show Randy first since he and I flew over together from L.A. He couldn't believe it with just around fortyfive minutes left to hunt I found my first gold coin and not just any gold coin a North Thames Celtic from 40 B.C. and according to the experts there are only 6 of these in known exsistence, 2 of which are in the British museum. Quite a trip for me. I'm waiting on the export license now hopefully that will be granted and I can show you personally.

HH Mark

Almost all the information detailed in the blog is from myself, my friends who I detect with and info culled from various forums and websites. Thank you all and HAPPY HUNTING! Bing Trinidad p.s. write to me at fishingdetectorist@yahoo.com I do appreciate the occasional "hi, the blog helped".

Battery Chargers

2005-12-30T23:19:00.000-08:00

If your going to use rechargeable batteries, save you money by investing in a good charger. Here are a couple thatll do the job. You know what they say, the right tool for the right job. Both will charge, peak detect, refresh, cycle, MONITOR CAPACITY and are editor's choice awardees from PC PHOTO and Outdoor Photography magazines. Git 'er done!

You'll need two of these La Crosse charger

or one of these MAHA 8 cell charger

For the more technically inclined, this will be more flexible Multiplex Multi Charger but will require a power supply and adapters/battery holders. It will charge even lithium batteries.

And for the best NIMH batteries around. The new ENELOOP cells from Sanyo will hold a charge indefinitely. Its 15% capacity loss per year is a technical miracle. ENELOOP by Sanyon

I am in no way connected with any of these online merchants. Happy New Year! /bing

p.s. the original wall charger will work, but if you dont want to be plagued by short rechargeable battery life, inconsistent performance and poor reliability, a first grade charger is the only way to go. Otherwise, buy alkaline.

Explorer 2 Vs Gold Bar

2005-12-17T21:06:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered how a gold bar will register on the Explorer? Well I have. Curiosity finally killed the cat. I think I am the only one who has ever done this. you could call it a world wide premier. Enjoy!

2005-12-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

Air testing is a divisive subject amongst metal detectorists. But, heck, I'm not crazy enough yet to bury this bar in a coin garden. Take it for what it is and I must say, the result was quite a surprise. I had thoerized that it would come in like a penny. Was I wrong! A 5oz 99.99% pure gold bar registers 00 Ferrous, 24 Conductivity (00-24)on the Explorer 2. The tone comes is as sweet and high as a Morgan dollar. Who knew?!?

Charles of NY puts up Explorer Tips!

2005-12-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

The person who is most responsible for helping me learn the Minelab Explorer is Charles Keith of Upstate New York. He sent me an email early on giving me tips and tricks to get to know my machine. Most of that is outlined in one of the earlier chapters.

Charles recently put up his own site with a very extensive Explorer Tips department. Here is a link to his site. The tool bar on the top will take you to the tip sheet. When there, a new tool bar to the left will take you to the different tips.

Thank for sharing again Charles!

Chapter 9: FERROUS and CONDUCTIVE Tones by Jay Wollin

2005-12-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

(As with all Explorer users) You are probably interested in the advantages/disadvantages of ferrous vs. conductive. I used to hunt always in conductive. It works, and is pretty much like the tone system used in other detectors. Silver and copper coins give a high signal, pull tabs mid tones, foil lower yet, and iron often a low growl. This is the easiest method to "start" in and certainly finds coins. However, you may have noticed with other detectors you dig a LOT of iron, particularly rusty iron- cause it sounds like coins (and, without realizing it, you are probably missing many coins that are deep and sound more like iron).

On the Explorer pesky nails often appear at the top of the screen (when looking at crosshairs on Smart screen), usually in the far left upper corner. Silver and copper coins also appear at or very near the top of the screen- but mostly toward the right side of the screen. So- when using "conductive" sounds, where the high tones are for items appearing at the top of the screen, a nail can sound much like a coin. If you are searching an area loaded with bits of iron and nails this can be REALLY annoying and frustrating; with much practice you can tell the subtle differences between iron and coin but there is a better way. Here is where the unique "Ferrous" sound option of the Explorer comes in.

In Ferrous sounds, the RIGHT side (not top side) gives the high tone, and left side gives low tone- since most iron falls along the far left side, and coins toward right side; now iron sounds totally different than a coin. Iron is a low bleat, coin a nice high tone. In theory, this makes it MUCH easier to ferret out coins in an iron-infested field. Since most everywhere I hunt has lots of iron and nails, I use ferrous almost exclusively. BUT this is not a wonder drug, cause it opens up other confusions. The worst are the devil's invention, "bottle tops"- steel crown seals, that closed the top of every old beer bottle and coke bottle. Picnic areas have as many of these rusting hulks as ants. And they appear on the screen in the LOWER right corner, and since they are near the right side of the screen, just like coins, they also give a high-pitched coin-like squeal. (In conductive, being at the BOTTOM, they would give a low-pitched iron signal) Fortunately a glance at where the crosshairs are on the smart screen (lower right) or numbers on the digital screen (a pair of very low numbers usually in single digits or close, like 03/08) immediately identify these as non-coins. Remember a typical silver or copper coin has a reading of a low number (usually under 10) and then a high number in the 20s- like 03/28. Very different. Many people get rid of the pesky crown seals by simply blacking (discriminating) out the lower right corner of the screen as few other items of interest fall in the crown seal neighborhood. This is what I do.

Our other enemy is the pulltab. Pull tabs fall more toward the center of the screen but in a wide area. Being in the middle, they give more of a middle tone whether you are in Ferrous or Conductive and you can ignore the middle tones if you wish and just dig the higher tones (hopefully coins). But some coins, especially deeper or corroded ones and Indians, tend to appear further and further away from the right side of the screen (acting more and more like iron), toward the center and sometimes way toward the left, though still near the top of the screen. This means in Ferrous they no longer have as high a tone, and the tone approaches that of pull tabs which are also away from the right side of the screen. In Ferrous these are more likely to be confused with pull tabs and passed by. If you use conductive, coins tend to keep a high tone (as they stay toward the top of the screen, even tho they may be toward right side-ideally- or even if they move to the middle) and pull tabs stay middle tone.

Therefore, in a nutshell, Conductive sound would work best in an area that has very little iron and nails but may have pulltabs, foil etc. Ferrous sound is best in an area with many nails and iron chunks, but little aluminum junk (like areas used only pre-1950).

Aha! Why not just switch back and forth between the two modes depending on where you are hunting that day- or hour? Some of us can make the shift; I find it very hard to flip-flop. Success with the Explorer means REALLY learning subtle differences between sounds, and most objects do not have the same tone or tonal relationship in Ferrous as they do in Conductive. It is sort of like driving in England versus driving in the USA- you can get to the same place with both styles of driving, but shifting to the left side of the road is confusing for a while, slows you down, and forces you to concentrate on and translate each signal, but after a week you are driving like a Limey and can enjoy the ride. Picture driving American style for an hour, and then shift to English style. Your success rate will be much better using one method and sticking with it as much as possible.

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The article above is used and preserved here with permission. Thank you Jay! (Jay-oldcoins)

Explorer Sound Files on the Web

2005-08-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Explorer sound files from Treasureport. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the files. Get there by clicking this.

Some more from Jimmyce's web page. Right here.

Ex. Quarter

This is neat stuff for those that have yet to buy their Explorers.

Chapter 8: Digital ID Chart for Minelab Explorer

2005-08-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

This chart is from the Explorer ring at MSN groups. The pic is a sampling of what is there. Click here

and some more as posted by Mike (Virginia Beach) in findmall.com

Fer/Con
One Dollar, Silver Eagle 00--15
One Dollar, Morgan 00--25,26
One Dollar, Eisenhower, clad 00--26,27
1/2 Dollars, walking Lib 00--28
1/2 Dollars, Franklin 00--28
1/2 Dollars, Kennedy, clad 00--28
1/2 Dollars, Capped Bust 00-29
Quarter standing Lib 00--29
Quarter, Wash, Silver 00--29
Quarter, Wash, Clad 00--29
Quarter, Statehood 00--29
One Dollar, Susan B. 00--29
One Dollar, Sacagawea 00--29
Quarter seated Lib 01--29
Draped Bust 02--29
Barber Dime 02--29
Seated Liberty Dime 03--29
Mercury Dime 03--29
Roosevelt Silver Dime 03--29
Wheatie 04--28,29
Gold 20 Dollars 04--29
Screw Caps 06/07 27/28
Memorial 06--27
Gold 10 Dollars 07--07
Gold 5 Dollar 07--22
3 cent silver 07--24
1/2 dime 07--24
Indian Head 07--25
Gold one dollar 08--04
Pull tabs 08/09 08/10
Gold 2.5 Dollar 08--10
Flying Eagle 08--11
18 kt 08-11 02-09
Indian Head, Fatty 08--12
5 cent, Silver war nickle 09--07
Beaver Tails 10--4
5 cent shield 10--05
5 cent, Liberty V 10--05,06
5 cent, Indian Head, Fatty 10--05,06
5 cent, Jefferson 10--06
14 kt 10-12 00-06
3 cent nickle 11--02
Foil 11--02
mens large ring 11--12
Wheatie, steal 31--28
Silver Quarter 00--29
Gold 20 Dollars 04--29
Gold 10 Dollars 07--07
Gold 5 Dollar 07--22
3 cent silver 07--24
1/2 dime 07--24
Indian Head 07--25
Half Reale 07--27
Gold one dollar 08--04
Gold 2.5 Dollar 08--10
Flying Eagle 08--11
Jeff. Nickel 10--06
War Nickel 09--07
“V” Nickel 10--05
3 Cent Nickel 11--02
Steel Cent 31--28

Chapter 7 - Selective Discrimination for Beach Hunting

2005-08-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

I generally dont recommend using any sort of discrimination on the Explorer due to depth concerns, however, the exception is when hunting for fresh drops at the beach. The following hunting strategy, in my opinion, is best suited for mid to shallow targets.

At the beach, I primarily look for fresh drops so depth is not a big issue. Why concentrate on "fresh drops" you may ask. Because in summer, they are a plenty. Also, with the number of detectorists in my area and the beach cleaning monster machines that scrape Socal beaches, fresh drops comprise 95% of my good finds. This is particularly true to hunting in the dry sand. What you dont find now, will likely be pick-uped by the next MDer, and vice versa. The early bird gets everything in Socal.

Time, rather than depth is your most valuable resource. Beaches stretch for miles and cover hundreds if not thousands of acres. A beach is a target rich environment and maximum coverage is the key to maximum finds. This is how a DISC pattern can lead you to more treasure. Selective discrimination will allow one to speed hunt with the Explorer and cover as much ground as possible.

See for yourself what Philo_NY has found in one season (and that is not even the lot of it) using his selective discrimination strategy. Then read in his own words his use of the LEARN function on the Explorer. For those that dont have much gold for LEARNing as yet, the reverse strategy of LEARNing the junk as described by Cody is also described below.
----------------------------------

Now, this is what I did a few years ago...

One, take all the gold you have available... go to learn on your Explorer I or II and program in as much gold that you have... all of it, rings, chains, bracelets, medallions, pendants, small rings, large rings, coins..all KtS 10, 14, 18, and 24 including Platinum. You need an all black screen to begin... all small gold you need to have a medium cursor, The large gold you can go with the small cursor.

It takes time and patience, and do remember to lower your sensitivity very low because you'll start picking up other metals or frequencies and you'll need to start all over again. So, you set the cursor to the needed size, and you press the accept button (The Check Blinks)and you should get a white box for the gold you have just programed, but remember to swing slowly and evenly... by going very slow make sure you receive a strong signal, now stop moving the coil away from the target and press the accept button again and pass the coil over the gold and you should receive a strong signal from that gold... Now get another piece of gold, pass the coil and see if you receive a signal, if you do, you don't need to program that particular piece of gold...keep swinging the coil slowly on all your gold and the ones that are not producing a strong signal, program that piece of gold into the Explorer...Hint...on chains... bunch it up, lay them out straight and make sure you receive a strong signal, now chains are an exception because very thin chains may not be seen by the Explorer, so you may need to bring up the Sens... till you receive a signal.... The only bad thing is that you'll have to make sure you are away from any other metal, power lines, air ports, passing planes, or taxis. They will produce frequencies and cause your Explorer to open spots on the screen you don't want to open... Take your time.

I tried programing the gold with the air test, but it's not the same....with the air test, you'll have to make sure that only the gold you are waving in front of the coil is giving off the signal. So go do it at the beach, on the sand or even bury the gold at one or two inches so you get the same response as if you are hunting, and PLEASE, PLEASE...make sure there are no metals in sight in the ground, or sand for an area of at least 5 feet to get the proper programing.

Now, once you have gotten every gold item to ring when you swing the coil over it....save the program by hitting that little box that's opening and closing, because if you reset your Explorer you are going to lose the program.... you will also lose it if you send in your Explorer for repairs and her board is replaced or cleared. Be sure you ask people you know if you can test to see if you are picking up their gold, if not try to program that piece into your program with the procedure in the pass paragraphs...

Now remember that you are discriminating a lot of other metals, say 90% and you'll need to find the right sensitivity level and coil speed to your swing when you hunt.

When you get those options in order...save them also... This is not a fool proof method, because you are still going to pick up pull tops, but get this... there are over 250 variations of pull tops out there, this will eliminate 60 to 70% of them, same goes with the foil, and other foil like metals...you will by digging foil.... but, I guarantee you will dig less trash in a trashy beach and you will bring more gold home... I would post a picture which I had posted years ago, but because people became so objected and began making remarks I did not deserve, I will refrain from posting that picture, but some hunters here know me and know the kind of finds I dig in the summer months...well good hunting and e-mail me if you need something cleared up... Well here a little teaser...

Yours, the GoldMagnet

Philo_NY

--------------------------

ed - Or in reverse, one can learn the trash and set them for reject as describe here:

--------------------------

User may not have a lot of gold so there is another way to do this. I guess it could be thought of as a negative image (of the above set-up). Go to LEARN and rejected trash targets with the smaller cursor, box pixel which will leave gold that is not an exact match to the rejected trash to still be detected. It is fairly easy to learn trash to be rejected with a single dot pixel, store this in a memory location, then add select this to kill most pulltabs and still get gold rings from very thin to the heavy ones. There are several different ways to do this but the idea is to reject with a tight single pixel so when we sweep the coil we hear a hit then can zero in and sweep the coil right over the center of the target and if it matches our tight pattern then it is rejected. There is enough difference in most pulltabs and rings to reject pulltabs and still get the rings. I will also fine tune by being sure all silver coins and rings both silver and gold are still detected. As you indicate as near as I can tell this will knock out about 75% of the trash pulltabs.

Cody
-------------------------

Due to the high trash to target ratio in the dry sand, there is much to be gained by following the outlined strategies.

Special thanks to Philo_NY for granting permission to use his advice here and taking the time to write them. Philo_NY is currently producing an Explorer video.

Best Danged Detecting Tool on the Web!

2005-07-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Get Google Earth right here.

Gain Experiments at the Beach - CharlesNY

2005-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to get to the beach with my Explorer this year but some have and are getting good results. I recently got permission to share with you some beach experiments made by CharlesNY on Gain and Sensitivity. They are not yet conclusive but do contain great insight. I will update it as Charles gets more results or I try them myself.
_______________________

From CharlesNY -

A friend and I have been hip deep in building ourselves a better beach coil for the Explorer. One of the goals is to reduce or eliminate the falsing that takes place in the wet sand on our NE salt water beaches. Coils which seem perfectly stable in the dry sand false when you move out onto the wet sand or into the water. All the coils we have tried seem to false, stock coil, ML 8, and the other brands. The degree to which they false varies quite a bit, and even with a group of stock 10.5 ML coils some are more prone to falsing than others.

I noticed something when we were testing an 11x14 eliptical recently that got me thinking about sensitivity verses gain.

My friend had his sensitivity turned way down to reduce the falsing, something in the 16-18 range which I hear is common for beach hunters. But he had his gain higher, 8-10 so that he would not miss the small gold.

I was setup just the opposite with my sensitivity at 26 and my gain at 5. Here's my reasoning for this...if you rated a target on a scale of signal strength from 1 to 10 a coin or ring might be a 10 compared to a wet sand false which is more like a 5. But when you increase your gain it boosts the wet sand false higher in volume to the point that it sounds about as strong as a coin or ring and so it was difficult for me to tell the difference between a wet sand false and a real target.

But I thought what if I reduced my gain to 5 (I normally run it at 7), that might quiet down the wet sand falsing to the point that I could ignore them and just concentrate on the loud stronger signals. That approach worked out pretty well as it turned out. I was still digging deep and sometimes quite small targets.

Now here's the interesting part of this story. I had a decent signal on a deep target and asked my friend to come over and check it before I dug it. He could not hear it at all, yet it was pretty decent on my machine. It was a bit fainter than a solid signal which makes sense with my gain at 5 but it was clearly there. With this gain at 8 or higher why couldn't he hear it???

Here's the question...which is processed first by the Explorer electronics, the gain or the sensitivity?

Keep in mind that the Explorer transmits at 100% power no matter how you have your machine set up. When you change your sens or gain its just modifying that signal its not varying the amount of transmitted signal strength or received signal strength. Its saying here's a signal in my electronic brain, and based on your settings it processes the signal and provides you with a response.

Now...does it make sense that it would process the gain boost first before the sensitivity setting? I think not. It makes more sense to process the sensitivity setting first, eliminating the unwanted noise and ultra faint signals and then apply the gain boost in volume to those that are left.

This would explain why he could not hear my target, with this sensitivity turned way down to 16 I think it eliminated this target where as my machine at 26 allowed it in. Therefore a higher gain cannot boost a signal that has been eliminated already by a lower sensitivity setting.

This is just a theory, but I think a lower sensitivity even on the beach is not a good thing which has been my experience in land hunting deep targets. Something to think about.

_________________________

In summary, it appears that CharlesNY is experiencing more depth and less falsing by reducing GAIN first before SENS. Cant wait to try it.

HH, Bing

Chapter 6: The Strip Mine Method or "How to Find What the Others Missed"

2005-03-01T19:48:00.000-08:00

Why, you may ask, is the technique called the "Strip Mine Method"? Well, as discovered by its developer Mark B., you will be digging up target IDs that you never gave second thought before. This is done by investigating multiple or complex signals by sweeping the target from various directions or giving it the Minelab wiggle. Let me emphasize that the "COMPLEX" signals I am talking about are targets which normally would be dismissed as "INTERFERENCE". Investigate these much closer!

Beyond the IDing the target, you will also be digging up more co-located targets. Not only does this mean digging up multiple targets in one hole, you will soon find yourself diggin multiple holes within a coil's width. After doing so, and looking at turf you have just ravaged, you will see for yourself why this is called the "Strip Mine Method".

As background, Chapter 5 basically discussed the setting for trashy parks. FAST ON makes the detector reset faster between targets and minimizes masking. GAIN setting can range from 6 to 10. There are no hard rules there. It all depends on user preference and site specifics.

Chapter 4 briefly described the advantages of hunting with no discrimination or Iron Mask. Doing so allows the user to still hear targets displaced in the smartfind or digital ID screens by target masking. (UPDATE:If running on wide open becomes too "hectic", you can always mix in some IM. Not too much as it is my opinion that any kind of DISC reduces depth. IM-14, is just about right to filter our pesky junk and get you concentrating on good targets. Just like if you are new to the explorer, every time I go hunting after not doing so for a while, I find using IM makes for a more enjoyable hunt, just because it is easier)

To give you a vivid example of how this stuff works and what to look for in finding the stuff that others missed, I am posting a typical situation of the technique in practice.

My friend Randy G. wrote the following story after digging up his most productive hole ever. His experience with the technique along with his "wandering probe style" is very effective in "unmasking" the good stuff from where they lie.

In his own words -

"Mark and I were detecting Bings hill and we had just got there. Right off the bat Mark scores a nice looking gold ring. Not being a very competitive or envious person ;) , I was thinking, nice ring Mark, but deep down I kept saying to myself "how the heck did I miss that ring" Confused. I then started thinking I better find at least one silver coin or my own ring because most days Mark spanks me pretty good and it looked like it was going to be one of those days. Every once in awhile I get the upper hand on Mark (not that I'm a competitive person :) ). A little bit later I get me a wheat. Then I move over next to the spot where I pulled out 3 wheat's in one hole while detecting with Michael the other day and I'm getting one of those readings where the numbers and tones are jumping all over the place. The main number that kept locking on was 04-20, but I was also getting 00-27, 00-26, 31-27 and some of the targets sounded deep. I dug a plug and the 1st thing I pull out is a pulltab, than a piece of small iron. I stick the probe into the hole and at the bottom I get 00-26. Out comes a wheat. I stick the probe back in and I get nothing, but I decided to take out some more dirt. I took out about 2 more inches of dirt and rechecked the hole with my probe. At the bottom of the hole I just catch a slight high tone. Take out a little more dirt and I get a 03-28 reading and it sounds like silver. I yell at Mark, here is my silver coin and out pops a 42 Merc. I stick the probe back into the hole and off to the side I get another chirp so I take out some more dirt from the side of the hole. I stick the probe in and I get a bouncer that reads 11-05 and 10-6. I swear to God I tell Mark, here comes my buffalo and I pull out a no date buffalo Shocked . Now I stick my probe back into the hole and I get nothing. I decide to dig down deeper. I take out a little more dirt and I get another 03-28 reading. Out comes a 1941 merc ( I did tell Mark this was going to be a barber but I can't always be right Smile ). I stick my probe back into the hole and I'm still getting a nice tone off to the opposite side of the hole. Out comes another wheat.

Things looked great. We had just got there and Mark had found gold and I had found 2 Merc's, 1 buffalo, and 3 wheat's and then the roof caved in when the park guy came over and told us they don't allow digging in the park anymore.

Mark, I got you in old coins today, but I'll trade them all to you for that gold ring Very Happy . Great find!

HH Randy

In summary, FAST ON allows one to cut thru the proverbial "crap" and hear the tones despite extremely co-located targets. When found, you wont always get the good tone on every sweep, but with slow swings and patient wiggling from a variety of directions, a semi-repeatable tone with a marked static crackle is the key. Digital ID will be way off but the ratios for silver or gold will be there (ex. 4-20, 22-06).

And, ALWAYS RECHECK THE HOLE, not just with the coil, BUT WITH THE X-1 PROBE TOO. There will be targets that the coil cant reach that X-1 can. If youve dug 12inches down for the 42 mercury dime, you might as well check for what else is down there, just like the bust dime that Randy G. found on one of his wandering probe meanderings.

Chapter 5: GAIN Settings (Advanced Strategies)

2005-03-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

Having done comparison testing with Gain 7 and Gain 10 recently, these are my findings.

There is an advantage with Gain 10 in areas where targets are close to each other. When a site produces 2-3-4-5 targets on a single sweep. I have noticed that:

1) Your hearing and concentration will naturally numb to faint signals when hit by a barrage of loud ones. This can cause one to start missing targets within a trashy site using a lower GAIN setting. I have very good hearing, but put fatigue into the equation, and you'll probably find yourself ignoring iffy signals when they come three per swing of the coil. GAIN 10 keeps you on the ball.

A shallow target next to a deep dime is likely to be drowned out by the last target as your hearing adjusts from the loud bang it just received. This is similar to when your night vision goes out for a moment right after you light up that ciggy. Or like trying to hear the wife say something over the cacophony of the football stadium as you watch the game. It can be done, but it isn’t as easy as giving her a megaphone to talk over the background noise.

2) FAST ON and GAIN 10 in concept and practice is giving me better separation with co-located targets. Conceptually, FAST recovery makes the detector reset back to the threshold faster allowing the user to ID collocated targets better. Coupled with GAIN 10 in practice, the effect on a deep and severely co-located silver dime is a distinct loud silver tone with a static crackle. The silver tone was not heard on every sweep but was repeatable. I had never heard this tone before, nor have I dug a silver dime, with a pull tab, an aluminum screw cap and a wheat all in one hole just as I did that day.

3) Using the above setting turns Digital ID into a mess. A dime will turn into a penny and a penny can land in foil. Use digital as a loose guide when hunting with FAST and GAIN 10 and go with the tones (now I know what CC’s been saying all along). This is not much of a negative as you’ve got to dig a lot of trash anyway to finds the good stuff in parks.

Gain 7 and DEEP is just as good a hunting set-up for another situation. It is especially good at finding REALLY deep targets. When I say deep, I'm talking "big fish" type deep find stories. It is very effective in sites where targets are farther apart such as those where targets are only 1 or 2 per sweep.

1) It definitely allows the user to identify deep targets with the use of audio alone and helps one to avoid digging up drag queen dimes that try to pass themselves off as silver.

2) There is a distinct audio difference between clad and old finds using this set-up. Faint means old, loud is clad.

3) Digital ID using this set-up is very good and will be correct say 97% of the time.

It is much easier for a newbie to learn to ID targets with lower GAIN and FAST off. Otherwise, the newb may find himself digging every piece of metal he steps over (due to poor disc and ID performance), which will quickly lead him to throwing the machine into the river. Charles Rock Solid Set-Up is the way to go, in my opinion, in learning to use the explorer and most situations.

In conclusion, both set-ups are very effective independently but each is much more potent in specific situations. Use FAST with GAIN 10 for target rich environments where the good stuff is mixed in with the trash. DEEP with GAIN 6-7 is best for cleaner sites with old coins located good and deep. Don't forget to switch into AUDIO 1 every now and then to boost iffy targets.

Deep Silver Action

2005-02-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

Here is an example of how a deep silver quarter with no masking was found. The post is by Keith (Indiana).

"I started at another spot and about 10 mintues in I get the deep signal that hit far right center. It was bouncing up and down slightly (on SMART FIND) and acted just like a deep quarter I found a couple of years ago with the stock coil When I cut the plug I didn't get a good hit with the probe so I went deeper and sure enough the probe sounded off quarter! It had to be at least 10 inches down and I think it was at an angle. It came out with the 3rd scoop."

Read and see the original post here.

I dont think you'll hear that one in pinpoint ;)

FAST and DEEP

2004-11-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

The debate on how to use the FAST and DEEP options on the explorer is as old as the machine itself. Charles' set up suggests FAST off and DEEP on. The following is a post by a Minelab specialist on the issue.

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A recent debate on the Fast & Deep Settings as per Explorer series metal detectors has been noted. This short reply as given here may help in explaining the function.
Their actions (FAST and DEEP) are, to some extent, opposite. During filtering of the signals different calculations are made based on what action has been chosen. To identify targets correctly these filters are on and off at differnt times to provide discrimination and to also react quickly to targets which are perhaps close to one another e.g. a coin and a nail.
Each of these settings may have a slight trade-off in relaying crisp signals and discrimination may also suffer slightly.
Therefore, it is a bit counter-intuitive to use these two options at the same time. However, it appears that sometimes the dual combination can work to provide results in certain situations. Typically in a trashy site the Fast option should be used. For clean soil of the non-mineralised/non-trashy variety (if you are lucky enough to find some)and for salt-water beaches the Deep option can be selected.

"Happy Thanksgiving" to all in the USA.

Best regards

Des Dunne
Field Application Specialist
MInelab International
Ireland

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I am posting it here as I feel that there is quite a bit of insight to be gleaned from his words. First, is that turning neither option ON is a viable hunting set up. I am positive that 99% of explorer owners hunt with one or both options on. Ironically, turning both off turns out to be a tweak too. Secondly, Minelab hardly discusses the inner workings of the Explorer due to the secrecy of the IP (intellectual property rights). The post is a treat to those who like to fiddle and tweak their Explorers. Lastly, and most importantly, that turning both filters on was never meant to be, but may actually work in some situations.

TWEAKERs RULE!

Me at Gary's Great Guasti Winery Hunt

2004-11-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

Chapter 4: The Wrong Way to Use the IRON MASK Mode (Update 8-03-2005)

2004-11-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

As we tweak our explorers even more, let us address something that is possibly taking depth away from us.

IRON MASK is a very useful tool. However, there is a tendency for people to abuse it thinking that they are solving one problem but actually creating another.

The problem I am talking about is the tendency for people to eliminate the drumming (in FERROUS, pinging in CONDUCT) of signals that I have previously discussed by mixing in IRON MASK discrimination.

Unless somebody turned over a bucket of nails at the site your hunting, that constant drumming in your ears is actually soil mineralization and you are hunting way too HOT on the sensitivity. Users of the Explorer have a tendency to hunt with sensitivity too high as this amazing machine can still deliver despite the HOT settings.

The Explorer is an automatic ground balancing metal detector. Set the sensitivity too high and the ground balancing software stops discriminating some of the soil mineralization and starts identifying them as targets. Soil mineralization being iron oxides and such, it will sound off as low tones in FERROUS and high tones in CONDUCT. These are commonly called false signals or falsing. At this juncture, some users mix in IRON MASK slowly to discriminate out the signals coming in from soil mineralization. It will work but you are loosing on two fronts here:

First, you are not hearing the nulls and the falsing anymore and are therefore not able to properly set your sensitivity for maximum depth and smoothness of operation. Take note that HOT sensitivity settings can cause greater target averaging effects which makes it more likely that a deep target will land in a different place on the SMART FIND screen or give off altered DIGITAL ID readings which can land it in the iron masked area.

Second, you are discriminating the good with the bad. IRON MASK is similar to the old discrimination knob of detectors from yore with one major difference. It adjusts on the FERROUS scale instead of the CONDUCT. Why is this important? Because when that 12 inch deep 250 year old large cent is averaged and lands on the left side of the screen which IRON MASK has blacked out, that large cent wont be yours.

Furthermore, all discrimination reduces depth and using discrimination unnecessarily is a waste of your detector's most valuable resource.

Having a detector that provides so much information about its target makes a strong case for reducing or completely abandoning discrimination. All discrimination reduces depth by some measure. If you want every fraction of an inch that your detector is capable off, you must use the least amount of discrimination necessary.

In years gone by, discrimination's main purpose was to avoid digging junk. If the detector is able to let you know its junk, don’t dig it. The ability of the explorer to run in FERROUS tones makes this way of hunting even more viable as it allows you to avoid most of those pesky rusted nails that try to pass themselves off as silver under CONDUCT. The exception to the rule would be if somebody did turnover a bucket of nails on your site :)

I suspect that my opinions on IRON MASK will be a bit controversial. It is a fact that the Minelab Explorer will hunt effectively even with different settings and people will find great stuff using their own techniques. I qualify that the opinions stated here are my own. They were largely formed by reading books like “Taking a closer look at metal detector discrimination” by Robert C. Brocket and reading stuff on the net.

In summary, set the sensitivity right and don’t use IRON MASK as a crutch to create stability.

ADDENDUM: Pre-programmed discrimination patterns as well as LEARNED patterns can have the same effect as IRON MASK in blotting out signs of a hot SENS setting. I emphasize, it "CAN" but will not always do. It all depends what section of the DISC screen is blacked out.

Chapter 3: When and How to Use AUDIO 1

2004-11-14T01:28:00.000-08:00

Now that you have learned to adjust your sensitivity properly and set up your explorer for maximum depth you probably want what every other detectorist wants, MORE DEPTH.

If you have followed the preceding guides, youre already hearing more deep signals than before. Targets that are deep enough to hit the bottom of the depth gauge. Often times, these faint and deep signals can become intermittent making a digital ID and a digging decision difficult. NORMAL response expresses a signal with a short beep. The deeper a target the shorted and fainter the beep. In my mind, these deep signals come really high and sometime are just barely a "tinkle". Really deep target are also sometimes beyond the reach of the explorer’s pinpoint mode.

To ID and pinpoint better, switch the RESPONSE from NORMAL to AUDIO 1. To the uninitiated, AUDIO 1 can be confusing with co-located targets but the signal does change from one target to another. They are just "connected". There will be no gap in between. nor will there be a recovery to threshold. Again, THERE WILL BE NO RECOVERY TO THE THRESHOLD FOR CO-LOCATED TARGETS. With intermittent deepies, AUDIO 1 amplifies and extends the tone enough to confirm to the user the existence of the target and makes for better locking target ID. You'll also notice that an iron target pretending to be silver will not produce a good tone in AUDIO 1.

You can hunt with AUDIO 1 full time if you can hack it. For me, I find it easier to keep switching between NORMAL and AUDIO 1 as the ground, and my brain, allows and as I move from one corner of the site to another. In an imperfect world, a tweaker makes for a better hunter.

HOT TIP: when you are on one spot and struggling to develop a target signal from a deepie, you can ramp up the sensitivity a few clicks, or even MAX it, to lock in that deepie. As you wiggle the coil over the target, the detector's processor has to work (ground balancing etc..) quite a bit less as you are actually taking the same soil matrix sample over and over again. The ability to hunt deeper with this trick is limited as interference and target averaging take their toll. Be sure to set your sensitivity back to your previous setting as you move on.

Chapter 2: Charles Rock Solid Set Up (Updated 3-1-2005) by CharlesNY

2004-11-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

I believe that setting the sensitivity correctly is the most important tweak on the Explorer. After you have mastered setting the sensitivity on the Explorer, I suggest you try the following set-up. Thus far I have not seen a better program to learn the Explorer than that of CharlesNY. I repeat, the exception to the following set-up is where you actually set the sensistivity. It is always different depending where you are. Charles has a lot of succes with sensitivity at 28, but in my case I find myself at 22 to 26 in Los Angeles. At the California beaches, I find myself setting the Explorer between 12 and 18. The following is the unaltered text of his email to me, I have not changed it as I respect the work that has already been done before. Thanks Charles!

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I had never used a detector before when I purchased my Explorer so I started from ground zero with this gadget. It took me about 2 months to figure it out but it was like flipping on a light switch, one day I was fumbling around not finding much, the next day I was finding silver and Indian head cents all over the place. This is good news for you because I'm going to give you some tips to help you over the learning curve; it won't take you more than 1-3 weeks depending on the sites you hunt. There has to be some coins there to find obviously. Note I was able to get a former Whites user up to speed on the Explorer in just a couple of weeks, even at that he was finding silver and wheat’s right off the bat.
My approach is different from the popular view, I will give you a setup which will let the Explorer flex its muscles right from the start. Trust me this approach works, I hunted today for 5 hours and found 10 wheat’s, 12 Indian heads, 2 mercs, and 3 barber dimes (including a nice 1892-o) in a patch that’s been detected already by the other top brand. Using these settings and this approach over the past 2 seasons I have found over 400 silvers, getting close to 400 Indian heads, a pile of silver quarters, about a dozen large cents, 2 barber half’s, a WL half, and gobs of other stuff and jewelry. All from parks that have been hunted hard for many years.
The advice below assumes that there are coins in your area in the 6-10 inch range like there are in my area; this approach is for hunting deep coins and coins on edge.
Ok let’s get to it...first if you want to go deep for the older coins forget the factory settings they won't get the job done. The factory sensitivity setting of 16 is 50% of possible, semi-auto mode can drop it further so you might as well use your old detector as far as depth goes. Plus WAY too much of the screen is blacked out, the deeper the coin, the less accurate the ID on the screen though the tone will be accurate for the most part. Worn silver will not hit in the textbook area of the screen. I found a worn reale that hit way over to the top left in the iron area, I found IH's that hit from upper left to upper right to lower right, again we are talking deep targets. Then you have to understand that a lot of the good coins that are left, especially silver quarters, half’s, and large cents are near other trash items. I have found many silver quarters up near and even under trash, most often a big rusty nail or a rusty crown cap. These trash items will pull the signal off the textbook location on the screen BUT you can still here them (the tone ID is highly accurate) if you have not discriminated that area of the screen out which the factory startup screen does.
Don't worry about programming the detector this thing is easy, once setup I rarely change anything other than bumping the sensitivity a few points up or down usually due to nearby power lines.
Here are my settings, just stay out of my town with them as I have enough competition from Ed the Explorer monster I helped create.
Sensitivity = Manual mode as high as it will go and be reasonable stable, I rarely will hunt at less than 25 and I'll put up with a bit of instability in exchange for the depth a higher Sens gives you. I almost always run 26-28 (refer to previous article "setting sensitivity" for my take on this matter) with the stock coil, 30 if the conditions are very good. I NEVER hunt in semi-auto, that’s a feel good setting. Semi-auto will give you a nice stable machine but it too often over compensates for the condition and you lose a lot of depth. Adjust the Sens manually.
Threshold = personal choice, I like it just barely audible.
Volume = 10 max
Gain = 7, I have found this to be the best all around setting. Deep targets still sound deep (different) from shallow targets yet they are not so faint that you have to strain to hear them. Be on the lookout for those fainter signals that repeat though, I found many a silver dime on edge with this machine and they don't give the more robust signal you get from a coin lying flat. Some guys hunt with the gain at 10, I get too many false signals that high. One quite successful hunter uses 6 but I nearly missed some on edge coins at 7 so 6 aren’t for me. 5 is much too low.
Variability = 10 Max, this gives you the widest variation which I like, like having 100 possible tones verses 80, or 50 at lower settings. You can actually hear the difference between a merc verses a barber/seated dime, even the difference between a worn silver and one in good shape.
Limits = Max which is the recommended Minelab setting. I like the high pitch scream of silver!!!
Sounds = Ferrous, (gasp!) yes this is an excellent advantage the Explorer has over other models. Silver still sounds high but iron sounds low. We have tons of iron around here so this makes it quite easy to hear silver mixed in with the iron. The down side is that rusty bottle caps will sound high like silver but I have some tricks for that below.
Noise = if you have the XS just hit the Noise Cancel button after you startup the machine, if you have the S adjust manually.
Response = Normal, a few have experimented with the other options but most find this to be the best overall. I would not experiment until you have this machine down pat.
Recovery = Fast Off, Deep On, this is very important. This combination gives deep coins a nice wide, robust signal which sticks out like a sore thumb compared with trash signals. But if you turn Fast on it will chop the signal off short and the coins will sound more like the short chopped off trash signals making learning the detector much more difficult. It should only be turned on in heavy trash conditions and my advice is avoid those areas until you are confident with the machine in medium to light trash conditions and you have learned what the coins sound like.
There's a good solid program, again I rarely change anything other than the Sens a few points up/down so this machine once setup is pretty much a turn on and go machine.
Now lets setup the screens, you basically have two machines (screens) which you can switch between quite easily. The Smart find screen and the Iron Mask screen. I recommend that you set up the Smart find screen with Nails and crown caps discriminated out. This will leave 95% of the screen open and yes you will here a lot of trash signals but remember you are listening for that distinctive coin/round target ring and the wide signals. If this is too difficult at first then you might disc out a few more trash objects but nothing like the factory setup.
Next go into the iron mask screen and back off the iron mask to -16, this is wide open allowing in all target signals, there will be no black on the screen i.e. all metal. Now here's the trick, hunt using your smart find screen and when you think you found a good target, switch to your iron mask screen and sweep it again. Notice how much more robust and clear the signal is, notice how you can kind of see (hear) where everything is around your target, there might be a nail to the left or a pull-tab. In your smart find screen the items blacked (discriminated) out cloud the signal, it distorts it and makes it more difficult to pinpoint when iron or trash is nearby. I especially use this trick when I'm working an iffy signal.
Now some tips...
1. Coins and round objects in general give a nice wide, robust signal as you sweep across them, often they sound fluty like several notes playing on a flute as you sweep across. This is very much different from trash items. Trash tends to give you a short, chopped off signal compared to a coin and the tone is generally a flat, mono-tone signal verses the fluty sounds. If you picture sweeping the coin, it may give a signal 6 inches wide across the ground where shallow trash might only be 2-3 inches wide. Once you learn this distinctive characteristic of coins and round objects you can wade right through the worst trash heaps and pick out the coins without much effort. Trash items are like my threshold now, I just mosey along until I hear that rinnnngggg fluty bicycle bell like ring go off, then I dig. Once this clicks you will start hammering coins left and right.
2. Slow down, don't fan the Explorer back and forth like a DFX for example, not too slow mind you, I'd say medium slow. Also slow down your pace, overlap your swings 50% pick at the ground and around trash objects, expect to find some coins and you will. There are many good coins left near and under trash that the older detectors could not lock on, the Explorer will get them but not if you are moving too fast. Every time I get to racing across the park I stop finding coins. I found a barber half directly under a rusty crown cap, I found another barber half right up next to a big chunk of iron, I could only get a signal from one very narrow angle, and if I turned a few degrees either way it vanished. I found a barber quarter, barber dime, and a V nickel in a single plug in a spot that’s been detected 50 times including a couple times by me with the Explorer...only this time I was overlapping my swings and guess what, you could only get a signal with the front 3 inches of the coil, any further forward and it vanished amongst the pile of nails that surrounded it. Turn left or right, it vanished.
3. Starting out you should only dig signals which repeat from two directions, if you get a good signal turn 90 degrees and sweep it again...did it sound low like iron? Did it move from where you thought it was? It’s probably iron. If it repeats good from both directions dig it! But you are probably wondering about those single direction signals I just spoke about, yes sometimes the single direction signals should be dug, my rule is if they hit real good from a single direction, near textbook, I'll dig them but you will dig some iron too as a rusty nail can give a pretty good signal especially this time of year when the ground is so wet. I'd save the single direction signals for later after you have some time on the machine so you don't ware yourself out digging nails at first.
4. Scrub the ground with the coil, the Explorer does not like air spaced between the coil and the ground, you lose depth. This thing goes deep but it likes ground between the coil and the target, air seems to be a problem. I see a lot of guys who are used to other detectors holding the coil off the ground, this is a mistake.
5. Pick a day, as I did one day where you will set a minimum depth and dig every single target of that depth or greater with the exception of rusty iron of course. For my area that was 6 inches or deeper, try this exercise and you will be very surprised at what you dig up and how far off the textbook screen areas a coin can hit. I have dug many a nickel for example that hit mostly bottom right of the screen verses the textbook. If you pick a depth of 6 inches and you are finding too much modern trash go to 8 inches. If older coins are found in the 5 in range in your area pick 5.
6. Lastly beware of the fainter very deep high pitch signals which are often a small rusty nail, stick with the more robust signals for now or if you get a fainter signal know that it will repeat generally from more than one direction and even though its fainter, its generally solid verses iron which always sounds a bit mushy and foggy to me.
I use many coils, the Minelab 8 inch coil rocks around sidewalks where the snowplows have launched trash for years. Nabbed a nice barber half and some barber quarters with it last season.
I hated the stock coil at first, I just could not pinpoint with that thing but later I found it was me not the coil, I just needed to learn how to pinpoint. Now I use the stock coil most of the time, good depth and not to bad in trash if you go slowly.
I also use the WOT which is an awesome coil. It goes deeper than the stock coil yet it’s quite sensitive to small targets, its great on coins on edge and I find most of my very deep relics in the 10-14 inch range with it.
I'm currently building a 6 inch coil and a 22 inch coil as well, stay tuned on those.

Hope this helps.

CharlesNY

Chapter I: Setting the Sensitivity on the Minelab Explorer (Update 08-03-2005)

2004-11-11T22:23:00.000-08:00

Setting the sensitivity is the single most important adjustment you need to master on the Minelab Exlorer. It dictates the depth that you will achieve and ease of which you will be able to use this amazing machine. The techniques that follow are meant to guide you through the most neglected aspect of the machine.

First of all, realize that when you set sensitivity to a level where your threshold disappears for a second or two at a time, you have set it to a level that is detrimental to achieving maximum depth. When the threshold disappears, the detector is actually nulling. As the detector nulls, your visual ID actually hangs as the internal processor struggles to get things going again. Until you get the threshold back, you won’t be getting a new reading. Why? This is because when the explorer nulls excessively in a relatively clean site, the detector is actually recovering from picking up mineralization that is in the soil. In FERROUS mode, it’ll sound something like a Japanese Bon-dori drum concert, “bumbumbadambumbumbdabumbumbum”. Using CONDUCT, it'll be a virtual experience of the gunfight at the OK corral. Unless you are actually walking on a landfill, this is probably what is happening. At this point you are running the machine HOT enough to confuse the automatic ground balance. You can simulate this by running the explorer at sensitivity 30 with the stock coil.

The nulling I'm talking about here is similar to the silence that you hear right after you go over a legitimate target. However since the mineralization is ever present, it simulates the effect of a multitude of signals when there actually is a minimum of targets. Imagine that the threshold is the fine line between rejecting the ground and accepting a target. This is the essence of ground balancing. When the ground is balanced, this is actually the detector discriminating out ground mineralization.

To explain it fully, here is an excerpt of an explanation from Cody as posted in findmall.com -

"Circuits in the detector look at the transmitter oscillator for a reference signal to establish the zero to know if a material is ferrite, metals, or iron oxides. The soil is neutral, positive or negative to the reference signal. Iron oxides are always negative so if there are enough in the soil matrix then the soil is negative. A VLF when tuned to a slight threshold with no offset will have the threshold go silent if lowered to soil that is negative or null. If the soil is positive the threshold will increase so we hear a loud sound. If the soil is neutral then nothing or very little change will be heard in the threshold. If the threshold changes, goes null or loud it will stay that way unless the user can do something (non-ground balancing).”

Setting your detector too HOT runs the risk of missing deep and faint targets as they may either be drowned by the nulls or averaged (MASKED) with the positive signals which the soil could be making. Set the explorer at manual 30 and listen. That is not nails you hear, that is the ground talking.

Learning how to set the sensitivity on the explorer begins with hunting in SEMI-AUTO mode and IM-16 (or clear screen in disc) at a relatively non-trashy site. Do this by pressing the button between up and down sensitivity to the left of the explorer front panel. You will know you are in SEMI-AUTO when a line starts circling the sensitivity level. Adjust the threshold sound to a comfortable level first on the explorer face panel or if you have the XS or the S, fine tune with controls on your earphones. For comfort and best depth, it is best to run the threshold tone barely audible but not silent, or else you miss the nulls. Set the tone to a frequency that is most comfortable to you in the advanced menu. The default threshold frequency is fine for 99% of users.

Note though that it is always best to keep the detector at full volume in order to hear faint targets. The exception is when you are using low impedance phones (32 to 60 ohms). With low impedance phones, you will usually get more sound volume than you will need at the risk of discomfort or worse hearing loss. Tune those down a bit.

Get some experience and learn what the threshold should be using semi-auto sensitivity. It should be smooth and much quieter than what you use to hear with sensitivity set at say, manual 28. The ground is not full of nails. I repeat, the “bumbumbadabumbum” that you use to hear is the detector picking up the ground’s mineralization.

It is very important that you note the recovery of the threshold after it passes over a target. It should be immediate. Much like “PING…hmmmmmmmmm” and unlike “PING………..PING(next target)”. This is true even if they are only inches apart. Continue hunting in semi-auto for a few hunts and listen carefully. What you need to master is the sound of a smooth and fast recovering threshold.

After learning how the threshold should sound and recover, use your normal settings and set the explorer to manual 28. Swing the coil and get a feel for it. Back off the sensitivity one or two clicks at a time and try to achieve that same smooth threshold. Keep backing off the sensitivity until you only get signals from actual targets. Back off another click if you hear radio interference. Radio interference can be described as a sort of warbling sound. What you are trying to get rid off is the constant drumming of mineralization and the pitter patter of interference.

When you are able to run the threshold smooth, then you will have achieved explorer nirvana. Hunting with the explorer will no longer be a constant barrage of sounds. No more finding that proverbial needle tone in a haystack of noise. If you get it just right, the tone should recover immediately back to the threshold just in time for the next target. This is the other advantage of setting the threshold perfectly. I have noticed that I am able to read more information in a tone especially on co-located targets. Besides tones taking on shapes, sometimes you will also hear differences by the way signals recover to the threshold.

One time, I found a deep faint target at a park which sounded like silver. I wiggled the coil over it to develop the digital ID. It read 00-31. “Iron” I said to myself. I noted that by using the sensitivity settings described above, I was also able to hear something after the tone. A sort of “PINGdum….hmmmmmm(threshold)”. By then I was sure it was iron but I dug anyway to confirm my reading. Eureka, an iron nail 10 inches deep using a Sunray X-8 coil. Depth hath not eluded me.

A disadvantage of monitoring and maintaining your threshold tone is that you will be thumbing the sensitivity switch a lot more. When you’re like me, I have the nasty habit of bumping it back up as much as I can when I notice that things are getting too quiet. Ground condition can vary up to 6 clicks from one corner of a site to another. Constantly listening and tuning the threshold will give you a sixth sense of sorts for mineralization and interference (i.e. you'll know your getting near wires even before you look up). Make sure that you compensate for noise as much as you can by clicking down or clicking up when the ground allows for it.

In my personal experience, hunting in manual is far superior to just being in semi-auto in most conditions. Most sites benefit greatly by maximizing sensitivity on manual with the exception of those that experience high radio interference.

If things get a bit confusing, a DFX user once put it to me that using the Explorer is like being in band practice, you can choose to dampen the sensitivity a bit more than needed with one or two more clicks down to avoid the constant tweaking. This added stability may marginally reduce depth but will be paid for by by the user being able to better discern good targets from noise and hunt more area!