Jump to content

Tarsacci Cookbook And Best Practices


Recommended Posts

On 2/2/2022 at 12:20 PM, JCR said:

Where do you mostly hunt? What type of sites & soil conditions?

The soil is fairly mild here, though frozen for another few weeks. It will GB in the range 550-600 mostly. The most challenging sites are situational, fill dirt with furnace clinker for example. The sites chosen are all public property in a major metropolitan area, and all close to home. Parks and sports field areas mostly. Places a lot of people are using.

Because these are well used busy places there is replenishment. They are chosen specifically because they have a lot of traffic, with an eye to problems some prefer not to solve. Special favorites are places with some kind special problem. Like being under the landing pattern for an international airport (EMI), or being built over ground that old buildings were torn down from (nails), or picnic grounds (crown caps). Many of these places have been in continuous use for a long time, so trash is the usual issue.

So the problems to solve come with modern aluminum trash mixed with rotten iron and urban EMI. Some places easy, some hard, but they all get a lot of detector traffic from people who know how to hunt, and lately with Equinoxes and Deuses. The parks do not get any bigger. 

My answer for this is recent drop hunting using settings recently described. Even the worst of ground has some sort of setting scheme to allow a person to pick through. As mentioned, the sticker is pull tabs. On most sites there is a dominant style, usually rectangular modern ones. If push comes to shove, one number can be ignored to save your back, but it falls in a very unfortunate gold zone. Still, you can do it and still be surprised that the heavy gold that falls there almost twists your arm to dig it.

The big advantage to this common technique in well known and well hunted areas is the Tarsacci ability to unmask and be stable in littered ground and EMI. This is hunting with the Tarsacci in one hand and a Garrett Carrot and dandelion popper in the other. Simplicity itself and the settings allow a decent amount of ground to be covered without agonizing over every little peep that might be a million dollar diamond ring stolen from the Smithsonian. Good targets sound good, you can learn to trust the Tarsacci for that.

Doing this comes with some loss of course. An unknowable unknown. This risk is assumed in the name of simple enjoyment. Being content with that makes all the difference. I do not dig everything, not even close. I dig everything that sounds like it could be a nice piece of gold or money and only if the carrot hits it.  I am ok with it if I leave some for the next guy. Young guys with strong backs need the money more than I do anyway. I cover ground and enjoy myself.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Thanks for the detailed reply. All my Tarsacci ground is highly mineralized, usually with plenty of small iron & nails. Relic sites.

I do intend to try it out on some town lots & older parks that have a good bit of modern Al trash. They are mineralized red dirt also. Sought targets will be deeper ones in the parks as they have been hunted by regular VLFs. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, JCR said:

All my Tarsacci ground is highly mineralized, usually with plenty of small iron & nails. Relic sites.

In another thread you mention that this ground can balance into the 900s.

Remember that Tarsacci has GB numbers available above 999. It sort of starts over again at 500. Funny sort of thing that could be useful for you. It could see through some of that small iron. You can go GB +150 or more if you need to for stable operation.

Here in 600 dirt with a lot of iron, running 800 or even a bit more is very helpful sometimes. If it gets chatty, add a little more and drop the salt balance a few points.

You might lose some little stuff this way, but not anything ring or coin shaped with serious weight. The unmasking is worth a little loss sometimes. You can find quarters that have no earthy reason to still be there but for masking.

For what it is worth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing about finding Gold rings in parks.       There isn't a place you can rule out.     I have or some I know have found Gold under picnic tables, around pavilions , infields/outfields, swings, tot lots you name it. Heck my wife found a thin one in a parking lot tar.      Once I had to move to a area I didn't want to hunt because they were mowing the field.    First hit, yep Gold band.      Figure that.       I never found a Gold ring laying on my couch.     But it's been done somewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/3/2022 at 6:37 AM, Dancer said:

 I never found a Gold ring laying on my couch. 

True, and metal detecting is good exercise for good health. Health is worth more than gold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Add my 2 cents.

Headphones differ.  Those with Piezos like Tony Eisenhowers give you a better modulation and sizing.  Where as those with Audiosear speakers are louder and most targets sounds the same even weak ones.  

The is a difference between the standard and 12" coil on the beach how they like to be ran.   The standard you can increase the SB from say 23 to silence it..... but the 12" seems to like to go the other way...... with a setting of say 18.   So it can make a difference how you set them up. 

I run AM 9Khz in the water.  Ive tried 12.... but by time i got it stable (standard coil) i was at like 43.  What i noticed was 12 wasnt quit as deep as 9 AND the tones were faster choppy which means you could miss stuff.  That changes in the wet sand where 12khz had the edge for depth..... and obviously 18khz was good in the dry sand and volleyball courts to pick up more sensitive targets.   Im always in AM if i can see the screen.  Yes the screen is  jumpy running hot the way i do but if you go over targets you know it.... and of course you dont hear all those ping and pongs from falsing....... very much like running and Xcal in PP mode.

Sensitivity 9 threshold -1, full volume, black sand off (because it doesnt seem to help much in the water HOWEVER with a lot of EMI it did seem to help cut that out of the water)  SB i adjust on the fly with the standard coil i run 27ish with the 12" 30 to 33.  27 is always a pretty good starting point with these freqs.  Our sand dont GB well with low mineralization.  You can do it then a few feet away it might change so i normally run 560.  I run tracking off.  I run Disc -30.  I do this because im using reverse disc hunting.... meaning im switching to disc when i want to check to see if a target is Ferr or Non Ferr.  

Im not really looking for coins or even silver which give those high digits..... thou i will dig them if i get a good repeatable read.   Anything with iron thats deep like some bottle caps when you flip to disc you can get a high tone with some low tone.   Pull tabs and can slaw can bounce when its deep say 8" and read well above a quarter which is 20.  WHERE THAT TARGET HITS ON THE COIL CAN GIVE YOU DIFFERENT READINGS.  Try to get it a couple of inches back on the tip of the coil ..... then BARELY move the coil you will get a much better read. 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/3/2022 at 11:47 AM, dewcon4414 said:

The is a difference between the standard and 12" coil on the beach how they like to be ran.   The standard you can increase the SB from say 23 to silence it..... but the 12" seems to like to go the other way...... with a setting of say 18.   So it can make a difference how you set them up. 

Dewcon,

This may not be the right place for this question, but you are certainly the right one to ask. I have been using the standard coil since 2019 when that was all there was, but now have purchased the 12” coil for this coming season. 

You mention that the larger coil changes salt balance, and I have read where you show that TID numbers seem to go up a little too. Specifically, you tested gold rings and found them hitting a point or two higher on the large coil, depending somewhat on frequency.

So, does the TID of pull tabs change the same as the gold rings? One might assume it should, but sometimes Tarsacci does not follow common wisdom. You of course will see the advantage if there is any difference at all in how that upscale presents in common trash items.

Further, aside from salt balance, does the large coil change other settings? Here also one would expect it to. I read where some say less sensitivity is required and that will help me if true, but I wonder if a notable change in ground balance is seen, or indeed any other setting. If sensitivity changes then threshold might, etc. These are settings that are site specific, but if they change in a predictable way then operating character changes. Many have commented that the stock coil will never go back on.

How I hunt is so very different than how most hunt here, but the people running the ragged edge of capability see how it translates. Many of you hunt hot and at the very limit of detection and recovery. I hunt the very opposite, at the other end of that very same capability which allows hunting sites I never could before. I appreciate the help and will post what the coil does for me when the ground thaws here.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was thinking of selling mine and getting the D-2. but somthing in me just tells me to wait . Its a good machine , the tarsacci , It handles E,M,I better than any machine I have now or have had, and even when running 6.4khz i would run 12khz more but it does not like my M-4 pinpointer, when going deep i run the 6.4khz and gain at 6 - 7 and the threshold at -1 salt balance at 43 and black sand on , and it just ingores alot of foils

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Kaolin washer said:

I was thinking of selling mine and getting the D-2. but somthing in me just tells me to wait .

Kaolin,

Need you sell one to get the other? It would be interesting to see what you might think comparing the two. I was a fan of your YouTube videos on the Mirage PI, and think you would have some great input for fans of both machines.

From the day I unboxed the MDT I have not even turned on any of the other detectors. I sold a CTX, then Gold Bug 2, then (gasp) my beloved Compadre. Still here are a Mirage and a Gold Racer, I do not know why I keep them. Nostalgic backup perhaps.

I probably could not run a D-2. I need children to explain my iPad to me and still use a flip phone. Still, I love reading about the D-2 and the Nox and whatever will come tomorrow. I so appreciate having a place where people explain such things even if it only serves to reinforce my contentment with the Tarsacci.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/6/2022 at 9:52 AM, Geezer said:

Dewcon,

This may not be the right place for this question, but you are certainly the right one to ask. I have been using the standard coil since 2019 when that was all there was, but now have purchased the 12” coil for this coming season. 

You mention that the larger coil changes salt balance, and I have read where you show that TID numbers seem to go up a little too. Specifically, you tested gold rings and found them hitting a point or two higher on the large coil, depending somewhat on frequency.

So, does the TID of pull tabs change the same as the gold rings? One might assume it should, but sometimes Tarsacci does not follow common wisdom. You of course will see the advantage if there is any difference at all in how that upscale presents in common trash items.

Further, aside from salt balance, does the large coil change other settings? Here also one would expect it to. I read where some say less sensitivity is required and that will help me if true, but I wonder if a notable change in ground balance is seen, or indeed any other setting. If sensitivity changes then threshold might, etc. These are settings that are site specific, but if they change in a predictable way then operating character changes. Many have commented that the stock coil will never go back on.

How I hunt is so very different than how most hunt here, but the people running the ragged edge of capability see how it translates. Many of you hunt hot and at the very limit of detection and recovery. I hunt the very opposite, at the other end of that very same capability which allows hunting sites I never could before. I appreciate the help and will post what the coil does for me when the ground thaws here.

 

Some gold will bounce but for the most part the numbers are pretty good from 4 to 10.   I’ve yet to have one fall out of the no ferr range.   I dig weak some weak ferr just to check.   Pull tabs and aluminum after the 8” range can read above a quarter.  I find this to be an advantage others may not.   When I can’t see the screen deep iron you may hear both iron and a high tone…. Pull tabs can do the same … and a lot of times I’ll pass those.  I completely understand what you are saying about backing off the power.  With most machines it cuts the chatter a lot.  But here the MDT runs fairly quiet.   It’s like hot rocks … back off a bit and they can go away on some sensitive machines.   Odd you should mention the coils.  I just put my standard back on for the winter.  Not quite as deep… but it’s sensitive to pretty small gold at better depth I believe than the 12.   Since the machine was designed around the coil adjustment and both salt and GB seems more straight forward.  I hadn’t realized I had chatter with thw 12 until i put it back on.   Coverage not as good but it does well.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Tarsacci Cookbook And Best Practices
  • The title was changed to Tarsacci Cookbook And Best Practices

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...