50 Tones Or.....

[steveg]

Excellent post Steve.

I've tried to push the idea of 50 tones, though I fully understand it's not for everyone; some folks don't hear tonal nuance as well as others -- and so 50 tones would only serve to confuse the situation, instead of help.  With that said, though, I think many -- if they train their ears -- could learn to hear (and use to their advantage) the "tonal nuance" offered by 50 tones.  However, while I talked about the benefits of the "extra information" offered by 50 tones, and just generically referred to the "tonal nuance," you spelled it out extremely well there, with a much more concrete example of what I meant when I referred to "tonal nuance." 

Indeed, if you have a "tone bin" set from 20 to 30, and you take two objects whose ID averages 25 -- one that reads consistently 25, with only an occasional 24 or 26, and the other that is exhibiting more varied 21, 27, 29, 22, 21, 27, 25, 23, 29, 21, 20, 22 types of numbers -- both would sound identical in a "5-tone" setup with a 20-30 tone bin set.  However, in 50 tones, there would be substantial tonal differences there between the two targets, which could be exploited by someone who is listening closely, exactly as you described, Steve.  You laid that out excellently, as one example of a situation where multitones can offer a benefit over 5 tones.  There are other "nuances" that can be exploited when using 50 tones, but this is certainly one, and an important one IMO.

Steve

[Steve Herschbach]

Here is an interesting one. Shallow foil. In five tone shallow foil gives a nice tone. In 50 tones shallow foil sounds like a melody.

[Chase Goldman]

I have also found that the tone "intensity" if you will varies with the mass or thickness of the metal  target. Roundness or target symmetry produces a sweet tone with less distortion but how much metal is present also affects tone "intensity". I have found that very thin circular targets like foil freshness caps tend to have a non-distorted tone but also sound more hollow than thicker round coin targets or round jewelry where more metal is present.  Same goes for some bottle caps.  But crown caps also give the distortions and also the flutey tones based on the ridges on the crown, corrosion and whether or not they are bent in addition to the "hollow" tone which is a giveaway.  .

[Nuke em]

I have only used 5 tones so far . Even though i use so called 99 tones on the Terra . A Beach program on my second machine is set up with 50 tones , will use it on a search in a week or two . 

[Chase Goldman]

I generally scoop most of it anyway, regardless.  Today I got fooled twice by quarters that sounded flutey.  Thought I was scooping bottlecaps both times   They were corroded.  Set expectations low that way the surprises are generally good.  Like the 2 non-bottlecap quarters, the wheatie and a silver turquoise earring I scooped up this morning.

[bado1]

I only use 50 tones. Just more tonal information. After a while your subconscious becomes " tuned in"  and you just know by the nuances of the tones what you are digging. Coming from the X-Terra and then the E-TRAC, using full tones,  it was an easy transition for me. 5 tones just sounds " weak".

Dean

[fredmason]

and you said you are nearly deaf, Steve H....apparently your hearing is "reduced" but with full tonal ability intact...

Random noise drives me nuts...but, I may have to adjust for the sake of learning and forward progress.

I will definitely try 50 tones for a month or two.

thanks

fred

[Norm S]

I was in a soccer park today and someone had beat me to it. I could tell he either dug a lot or did well but I did terrible. I found 75 cents in 4 hours. I was hitting some brass electrical connectors that rang up a solid 29 -30 but sounded like a quarter even though they were rectangular. I must have dug 15 of them.. Even on the surface I could not tell the difference in the sound of a quarter when I laid the connector and quarter side by side. 

I used 2 tone field 1 for 2 hours and 50 tones in park 1 for 2 hours.. Everything I dug there was 6" - 10" . The park was probably 20 acres. 

I didn't get enough clear signals to help much. I was lucky to get even a faint signal every 100 yards or so

I will try again tomorrow in a different place..