Got The Nokta Fors CoRe Yesterday....

[bado1]

Took the CoRe out today to a new area (to us, anyway)in the gold fields. Started with the SDC and very shortly realized that the area was very trashy from a 100+ years of mining activity. Traded the SDC for the Nokta and the small 5.5" coil, ran the ID-Mask up to 20 and away I went. Made a huge difference! No more iron garbage signals which really quieted things down. The machine had no trouble at all handling the soil and only sounded off on a couple of hot rocks. Dug some lead of course and a number of copper grommets that were wedged down in the bedrock cracks. No gold which was no fault of the machine.... just didn't get the coil over any gold. I used the DI2 mode (BST on the Fors Gold), sensitivity at 50, ID-Mask at 20. Needless to say I am very pleased.

[auminesweeper]

Took the CoRe out today to a new area (to us, anyway)in the gold fields. Started with the SDC and very shortly realized that the area was very trashy from a 100+ years of mining activity. Traded the SDC for the Nokta and the small 5.5" coil, ran the ID-Mask up to 20 and away I went. Made a huge difference! No more iron garbage signals which really quieted things down. The machine had no trouble at all handling the soil and only sounded off on a couple of hot rocks. Dug some lead of course and a number of copper grommets that were wedged down in the bedrock cracks. No gold which was no fault of the machine.... just didn't get the coil over any gold. I used the DI2 mode (BST on the Fors Gold), sensitivity at 50, ID-Mask at 20. Needless to say I am very pleased.

Sounds good to me, have you checked out Steves posts about his review/settings, you have a great machine there and in good ground there is no point in giving your self a hard time with a PI machine unless it can weed out some of the junk,

I think there is going to be a lot of good finds made with that machine, keep up the good work,

john

[Steve Herschbach]

I do like my PI detecting and try to be a dig everything guy, but in a place where no gold has been found yet and there is a ton of trash a good VLF makes more sense. Now, if you do find a nugget, put the PI on the immediate area and dig everything. The FORS is a great machine for this.

[auminesweeper]

Until we get a discriminating PI this is the best method by far I just need to build up my PI skills and confidence in the PI.

[bado1]

John and Steve-

I agree. I love the PI machines but there is just some ground that is more suited to a VLF...like this place. I also like the fact that most VLF's are super light and easy to swing for long periods. I also enjoy going to even a modern park, for example, with a VLF and just try to figure out what the machine is telling me before I dig the target. The VLF's are more "interactive" with VID #s and multiple tones, etc. thus more mentally stimulating/challenging to me. Thank God we have many different machines to choose from- the right tool for the job.

Dean

[californiagold]

Hey bado

I run my fors gold in d2 boost mode most of time. But I run my sens. Up at 80-85 and my id mask turned down to 5 if the soil isnt too chirpy. Turning down id mask to 5 helps the tiny gold hit a little harder. Or the targets that are whispers become louder. Running my sensitivity up at 80-85 works fine for me. My soil usually is quite hot and ground balances with a # of 75-85. The fors gold is slightly chirpy when turned up at 85. But you know when any metal goes off versus the ground chatter.

Atleast half the gold I found with fors was a jumper target id. It jumps back and forth from below 40 ( ferrous) to above 40 ( non ferrous) it jumps around for a few scenarios. 1. The gold is very tiny and the detector has a hard time accurately identifying the gold. 2. The gold is at the edge of detection range. 3. There could be a gold piece and iron lying near each other.

I have found alot that would show 14-17 id on one swing then above 40 next swing. So if you turn up id mask above these numbers then you could miss the gold on the first swing. I tend to swing over the same spot with 2 swings to make sure that I catch the jumpers.

If your detecting in a iron junk area you might have to try the settings that you tried. In the old iron infested area I still run mine the same settings that I run. I just listen for that beep mixed in the grunts. I have been successfully doing this.

Another technique that I might use in a tin can pile is turn up the id mask to 39 so that iron is silent. I used the same techniques with my ol gb pro in the past. And with either detector I would catch those non ferrous targets right out of the tin cans. I dont use this technique in the regular gold field for if the id mask is turned up to excuse the ferrous targets then I might miss the jumpers.

Good luck

[Steve Herschbach]

Great advice! If you are really new to detecting taking it easy with sensitivity is a wise thing also. Get used to the machine in easy mode where it falses less often and gets those solid target id numbers. Turning the sensitivity up does boost performance but the machines get "sparkier". The FORS run hotter than most even at lower sensitivity levels. Push for the most sensitivity that allows you to get tolerably stable operation.

The ID Mask is preset at 10 to help eliminate most ground noise and many hot rocks. In milder ground lowering it does just as californiagold says. It is just a discrimination control that runs well into the ground response range. Steve tip - digging a few hot rocks never hurt anyone, and gold does phase all the way into reading like hot rocks under certain conditions.

[californiagold]

Agreed steve the fors does run a little sparky at high sens. I have learned to block it out and only hear the metal targets. A newer detectorist should probably start with the default 50 sens. And get to know the detector, then increase as you advised. One tip that I can add is if at any sensitivity the ground chatter in most cases doesnt sound off on consecutive swings. A target or hot rock will. Thanks

[bado1]

Wow! Great advise guys. Thank you both very much.

Californiagold- The "jumpy number" explanation is excellent. Your posts have been very helpful in cutting down the learning curve of this machine-Thank you!

I have a great spot to try this machine on next. The ground is very mild with very little trash compared to the spot we were in yesterday. We have hammered it with our PI units. It will be interesting to see if the VLF will find gold that the PIs "couldn't see". It will be interesting just to get a different machine on it... other than a 3500,5000, and SDC. I will give your suggestions a go.

Dean

[californiagold]

Dean

If your going to a spot that is pretty mild,

You might try all metal mode (general on fors gold) I have never really had a chance to use my all metal. Everywhere i go is pretty hot ground, pocket gold deposits. Does core have a ground tracking switch?

Good luck