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A Couple Of Old Ones Today...


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5 hours ago, steveg said:

...recovery speed 2, F2 setting at 0...

Wow, Steve!  I didn't intend to take so much of your time.  But it helps me a lot (and surely some others) to read the details.  I chose the above quote for both parts (separately):

1) That is a very low recovery speed.  I'm glad you mentioned slow, deliberate sweeping and interrogation.  Have you found that with recovery speed 2 you squeeze out noticeably more useful information?  I typically use 5 but have gone down to (only) 4.

2) As I'm sure you know (maybe not everyone, though) F2=0 is as low as one can go -- lower than FE=0 which I've read here is roughly(?) F2=4.  And you also mention the iron 'pollution' of the site, particularly square nails.  Have you experimented much with the Iron Bias settings on the Eqx?  If so, care to reveal some of your conclusions?  I'm trying to do some experimentation myself.  I haven't found it an easy project so far.  (I will report my results, but as of now it's way too preliminary and as I learn more my conclusions may change.)

Thanks for the extra effort.

 

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GB_Amateur --

SORRY!  Recovery speed 2 is a typo.  I was hunting with Recovery speed 3.  I used to use 4, but have moved to 3 and that's now what I use any time I am old/deep coin hunting.

More info to follow later, on the iron bias questions...


Steve

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Nice hunt Steve!  Don't see many largies being dug out here, a few, but I've seen far more gold coins dug than largies.

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Thanks, gents!  Much appreciated!

Cal -- I hear you, LOL!  What I wouldn't give to dig a gold coin!

Chase -- I'm still here, for now, but this is a relatively short trip; I'm hoping for another one this fall, and that one might allow me a bit more detecting time, than this one...  😉

Steve

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GB_Amateur --

I am going to try and give a bit more info about my opinions on iron bias (I mentioned earlier that my Recovery Speed 2 was a typo -- I was set on my normal Recovery Speed 3, during that hunt).

My idea on the iron bias, is that after hearing detailed input from Tom Dankowski, who was instrumental (from a design perspective) in having the new "F2" iron bias scale implemented in the Equinox via the most recent firmware update, I knew I wanted to give the "minimum iron bias setting" a try.  While that may not be the best setting for a newer detectorist, NASA-Tom is adamant that if you "ease your way into" lower and lower iron bias settings with time, and let your ears do more and more of the work, that there is "intelligence" built into the Equinox's audio that will allow you to learn to decipher the iron "falses" from the true high-toning non-ferrous targets.  Armed with the information that IF one uses their ears carefully, giving oneself time to learn, that it is not only possible, but likely, that one can learn to do a BETTER job of indicating which targets are iron and which are non-ferrous using your EARS, instead of the machine's algorithm, I decided to try it.  

After updating the machine, I went pretty much straight from FE=0 to F2=0 (I made the transition over a couple of hours' time, during the course of a single hunt).  And I must say, after several months of running F2=0 exclusively, I fully agree with NASA-Tom's premise.  It is extremely hard to explain/describe, but I feel that I have really learned how to decipher what the machine is telling me, when hunting for non-ferrous targets within sites littered with rusty iron.  I am unable to put it entirely into words; it's just something that with experience, and careful listening, you can begin to almost "intuitively" identify what targets are just iron masquerading as a possible "good target mixed in with iron," and which ones are ACTUAL good targets, mixed in with the iron.  I wish I could explain it more clearly, but I can simply say that for me, F2=0 allows the USER to learn to make an accurate diagnosis, instead of letting the algorithm try to do it for you...

My advice is to try it, and give it the necessary time (digging lots of targets, of course), and see if it doesn't "click" for you, the way it did for me.

Steve

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2 hours ago, steveg said:

Thanks, gents!  Much appreciated!

Cal -- I hear you, LOL!  What I wouldn't give to dig a gold coin!

Chase -- I'm still here, for now, but this is a relatively short trip; I'm hoping for another one this fall, and that one might allow me a bit more detecting time, than this one...  😉

Steve

Steve - No worries.  Ain't no way I am getting out for awhile anyway.  Busy with stir crazy kids and work.  Did get out a couple weeks back in 95F heat, found some keepers, but also started seeing stars too.  Drank 10 bottles of water to keep hydrated.  Luckily, the permethrin I sprayed on my trousers and socks worked as I did not bring any 8 legged hitch-hikers home.  There is a reason I hunt the fields mostly in spring and fall and the beaches in summer.  Fall sounds a lot better for a meet up if we can swing it.  Safe travels back to OK.

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Chase -- I hear you, LOL!  This weather is ridiculous!  I try to leave this weather behind, in Oklahoma, when I come up here to visit in the summer.  Somehow, it followed me here!  I'll see if there's a way we can hook up in the fall, for sure.  I look forward to it...

Steve

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21 hours ago, steveg said:

GB_Amateur --

I am going to try and give a bit more info about my opinions on iron bias....

That report is greatly appreciated.  When I've had time (i.e. out hunting but not in a hurry) I've experimented by running FE2=4-5 and when I get mixed ferrous + non-ferrous I go into the settings and run it up to 9 and down to 0, checking to see if things sound different.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.  But so far, it's only crown caps that have shown a difference.  I really would like to get some experience with buried (more so than test station) bent nails and square nails.  That's where it would do me some good.

It's interesting that on some detectors this iron bias fetaure is called "bottle cap reject".  Detector companies are all too loose renaming things, just making it confusing for the detectorists.  So until I get more experience/data, I'm not getting my hopes up.  Call me a 'doubting Thomas' if you (plural) like.  The more appropriate name for that is 'scientist'.

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