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Dry Ground


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Hi ya'll... I have a White's MX7, and noticed when the ground is really dry my signals are all over the place. I use the six shooter coil, because at the moment the only place I have to detect is at my house, which is eat up with iron. I'll get a hit, and it shows, penny/iron/dime/copper/iron...stuff like that. I do the wiggle, and circle the spot and eventually it will show iron, which is most things I find. I tried a couple different settings yesterday without any change. I only have the sensitivity at 4, because of so much iron trash, and run the coin /jewelry program.

 Anyone have any tips that might help?

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I have found with the dry ground that it will cause problems that you are describing. I will turn the sense down a little bit and keep on going.

Hope this helps and my detector is the 800.

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Hello.

That autotracking can cause some problems in areas with many spots of higher mineralization and a lot of man made iron (rubbish). That will make the machine unstable. You may lock in the ground (manual ground balance or ground grab) and/or lower the sensitivity (gain).

I'd recommend to read the paragraph about TRACK in the MX7 manual pg.14/15.

MX7_en_es.pdf

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I know I'll take heat for this comment. But if you want to punch past iron in dry or wet ground you need to get a Tesoro. They will disc past all of your iron and not kill the target. I can put a old hand forged nail on top of a barber dime and after disc pull the barber a 100% of the time. And the best part is their is no program. Ground can be funny and cause a lot of problems. Here in my part of PA we have a lot of red (iron) clay. My problems usually occur with wet ground and bouncy targets. Don't beat me up folks, I know Tesoros are old tech and really are past tense.

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Thanks ya'll.... I had considered,but wasn't sure about turning sensitivity down, it's always on 4, as it is...won't that affect depth? Hate to be surface detecting on 1...lol If I go above 4, then I start getting false signals.

 Read the manual first about tracking, and tried that...Most of the rock I have is quartz, but surprisingly, not had any signals on rocks, even though some are rusty with iron. Iron is everywhere here, around the house, you can't walk out in the yard and swing anywhere and not get an iron signal...horse shoes, nails..I found a place looked like someone dumped a bucket of nails, I kept pulling them out by the handfuls, then said forget it, covered the hole, and stay away from that area.

 Nails all around close to the house, where they probably done repairs, or roofing/shingles etc, some horse shoe nails too...1867 or older farm house. I'm not sure what it was for, but find lots of bits of sheet copper too.

 One thing that puzzles me, is the only coins I have ever found here, are no older than 1940's...wondered if maybe I couldn't get deep enough because of all the iron...found model T hubcap, damper from coal burning stove, tractor parts, a cast iron can opener patented in 1892, I think it was..

 Another detector is out of the question for me, I am disabled, on fixed income. I like my MX7 too... 

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4 hours ago, Diggin' It said:

One thing that puzzles me, is the only coins I have ever found here, are no older than 1940's...wondered if maybe I couldn't get deep enough because of all the iron...found model T hubcap, damper from coal burning stove, tractor parts, a cast iron can opener patented in 1892,

1940 was over 80 years ago a penny could buy a lot more then. "From the early part of 1940 to the middle of 1943, average weekly wages in manufacturing establishments covered by State unemployment compensation laws increased 71 percent, from $26 to $45"

I would of taken more care of my COINS if I had any back then.   🤑

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Yeah, I've been told that before...but look at all the older coins other folks find...Check out the SilverSlingers on Youtube, they find 1700's coins, maybe even 1600's can't remember, at old colonial sites.

 I have found an 1926 penny, but it was by an old church right down the road from me.

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1 hour ago, Diggin' It said:

look at all the older coins other folks find

I don't know the MX7 but it seems like a perfectly adequate machine. It's not the ground or the detector you have, it's how you learn to use it. 🤔 I found a few colonial buttons in my yard at first with a  humble Garrett Ace 400. Then I went outside my yard... 🤯

I've been detecting for a little over 2 years now, and have found Spanish silver, a couple of King George coppers, lots of other stuff but not much modern silver at all. Location matters, as does lack of prior detecting there. I happen to live in an area that has a lot of history, and not a lot of development. A good indication of what you find is directly related to when there was activity in that place. When was your house built?

It's all about persistence, a lot of trash digging, and plain luck. My best finds come from impulse and learned land reading, "why don't I just go over there to that rise in the field"... Or along the woods.

Research helps, using Internet tools like Historic Aerials is a major plus. I hope they always keep that site fairly free.

I have the Hoover Boys near me, they do better than me but they have to knock on doors and really get out there to maintain their presence. I've stopped and talked to property owners when I see them out and got some surprising and productive permissions.

I could spend all day finding absolutely nothing in some of the 1000s of acres I have access to, but have learned that hitting a lot of iron in a spot makes it a "hot spot" and worthy of close scrutiny. It has always paid off. Even digging some of the iron 🤪

I think the more you get out there, the more you will find, it may also improve your health. It's really that simple. Best of luck to you.  🙂

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Thanks... the farthest record I can find was the sheriff auctioning the land in 1867, but I also saw in later years, where the folks had their land auctioned for taxes, and another family member purchased and resold it back to them. I found them in the census in this area in 1850, and they have a son buried right down the street in 1861.

 I've dug tons of iron, I have no problem with that at all...one of my treasured finds is the cast iron can opener. I used electrolysis and cleaned it up, coated it in wax, and it's in my box of "treasures".

 I get out a good bit, I haven't much this summer, because of a very productive veggie garden, that definitely kept me in shape...lol I can only detect an hour, maybe two at the most.

 I have found tons of iron horse tack buckles, a brass one, lots of old shotgun brass from the 1800's....I even found two 1861 Henry 44 caliber shell casings laying together with a harmonica reed. 

 Thanks for the good luck....

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