MDT Blacksand Setting

[Denny]

Yesterday hunted  a old 1850’s settlement here in California and used 9khz, sens 9, threshold 0, blacksand On, mixed mode.  If I turned blacksand off machine becomes a bit erratic so I left blacksand On.  
 

When I got home  I did a air test with  a nickel 9khz, sens 9, threshold-1, blacksand Off.  I found that using threshold-1, blacksand Off you will get less depth a little more than 1/2 inch compared to threshold 0, blacksand On.   Also helps with EMI if hunting around buildings.  Anybody else use blacksand mode while hunting?

Here’s a pic of my finds from the old settlement.   
pistol balls, rivets,  rusty nails (still getting fooled on some)  and some modern trash. 

[abenson]

When I had my Tarsacci I used to hunt with black sand on, relic hunting. I have fairly mineralized soil and it got me better depth and ran more stable with it on. Sometimes I even used salt balance as I have quite a few areas that have heavy alkaline soils.

[Chase Goldman]

 

1 hour ago, abenson said:

When I had my Tarsacci I used to hunt with black sand on, relic hunting. I have fairly mineralized soil and it got me better depth and ran more stable with it on. Sometimes I even used salt balance as I have quite a few areas that have heavy alkaline soils.

 Curious why you no longer have it.

[abenson]

I had some unexpected medical bills come up for my daughter and it just happened to be the metal detector I sold first. I do plan on getting another one in the next few months. It's right there in between the Equinox and GPX. Not as good in iron as the Equinox but deeper overall, not as deep as the GPX but has far superior iron disc. I really liked it relic hunting. It's great for those days you need the extra depth but don't want to dig deep iron with the GPX. I would say it's a good inch to inch and a half deeper than the Equinox. In AM mode I feel it matched the depth of the GPX (but your digging iron in AM mode) but probably a good 3 inches less deep than the GPX with disc ability, if that makes sense. This is in my dirt with stock 11" coils on the Equinox and GPX vs the stock 9 x 11 on the Tarsacci. Obliviously a bigger coil on the GPX would blow it away for shear depth.

[Chase Goldman]

Thanks, yeah that makes sense.  Looking for something that can get a little additional ID depth on relics in high mineralization vs. other vlfs like Equinox or Deus but has some some disc ability in thicker iron where the GPX tends to just continuously blank out if using iron reject.  The smaller coil helps with navigating between the junk.  Looking for targets that would be typically masked to the GPX and slightly out of reach for the Equinox or Deus.

[Denny]

19 hours ago, abenson said:

When I had my Tarsacci I used to hunt with black sand on, relic hunting. I have fairly mineralized soil and it got me better depth and ran more stable with it on. Sometimes I even used salt balance as I have quite a few areas that have heavy alkaline soils.

I agree, The places I hunt with  the MDT I have unstable numbers as soon as I turn it on.  I like to have the sensitivity and threshold as high as I can go if still jumpy I will switch on blacksand mode.  The only settings I haven’t used yet are salt and tracking mode.  Haven’t yet made it to one of the SoCal beaches.  
 

The park I hunt I hear music in my stock plug-in headphones coming from one of the radio stations in the area. It’s not loud but takes some getting used to.   Nothing corrects this issue on the MDT.   Some may experience this.

Denny

 

[dewcon4414]

Id be curious to know if its the headphones and not the machine for that music.   Ive hunted some very popular beaches in some major cities here and dont get it with Tonys phones. ... or the others i use.    I run in AM so i totally ignore those digits until i hit a target..... an i run hot.   BUT.... our sand is pretty light in minerals.   Out deeper thou where low areas are with a hard pan we get gray mud down there .... it collects the very  tiny pieces of iron and aluminum.  Thats where many machines like to chatter.   I did try black sand..... i believe i lost depth and got a lot more chatter with it ON in the water......i did notice a slight depth increase in the wet sand nearer the water.   BUT...... Tom reminded me....... raising a coil over a found target doesnt mean you will get targets at that depth.    I use air tests mostly just to see what a targets true ID might be in the perfect condition when they maybe shallow./surface targets.   I use it differently in the water...... wet sand...... and dry.... but always AM.   Me and Cliff were comparing targets yesterday between 12 and 9khz.   I found some pretty deep targets in 12khz..... but he was hitting them all in 9khz in the water.   In the water 9 is just a cleaner longer tone.

Chase i wished i could give you info on its relic ability..... but i just dont get out there anymore.   If you have ever used an Xcal in PP modes the response is pretty quick over near targets...... but not as quick as the Nox.   It can be pretty HOT on iron so i can see it being good for those type targets as far as ID.   I also like the AM because the volume going over a target is louder....... like high gain no matter the depth but you can easily tell the size of a target.   A bottle cap on the beach........ those that are iron will BANG hard and read say -27..... those a bit rusty...... can read around 17 or jump high to +28 (out of 30)...... and the corona style read say 22 just above a quarter.   Trash tends to upscale....... ie, a pull tab air tests at 6...... but deep can upscale in the low 20s.   It likes lead as well as iron depth wise.

[Denny]

5 hours ago, dewcon4414 said:

Id be curious to know if its the headphones and not the machine for that music.   Ive hunted some very popular beaches in some major cities here and dont get it with Tonys phones. ... or the others i use.    

 

Hi dew,

No it’s not the headphones it’s the MDT.  No other machine I have does this.  Just the MDT.    

The use of AM is a pain in the butt when park hunting too many targets. Even at the dry river bed AM is not a good choice too many junk targets. People over the years have dumped TV’s, radios,  car parts,  household items,  etc from the bridge.   

[dewcon4414]

A good example of having the right detector in a given situation.   Even the best detector can be second best given conditions.