Having A Hard Time With Wheat Pennies...

[Happa54]

Hey everyone... I can't seem to lock onto wheats. I primarily hunt in Parks 1/2 and Field 2. 

I use to do well on them with my Safari, but since I've had the 600, I've been doing poorly on the wheats. 

I'm averaging 1-2 wheats per outing whereas I used to dig anywhere from 10 - 20. My Etrac partner and off & on Explorer partner will dig 20 - 30 wheats in an outing. 

It seems that lately, wheats are coming in deep but my Nox isn't hitting em. My hunting partners and I don't stray far from one another and pretty much cross the same patterns...they're getting em and I am not.

I'm frustrated because I may be missing good deeper coins. I'm killing it on nickels and clad but that's about it. 

Any suggestions or comments is appreciated. 

 

 

 

[steveg]

Happa -- 

Not sure what to tell you, as I'm hitting wheats and Indians to really good depth with mine.

I know for sure what I'd do in your case, though; on your next hunt, ask your buddies to call you over when they hit a suspected deep wheat, and give a listen with your Equinox.  "Comparing signals" is, to me, one of THE BEST ways to learn things, and is especially helpful when you are hunting a new machine.  Listening to those targets "in the wild," should really help you with respect to the Equinox "learning curve."  I will assume, if you have the machine set up reasonably well, that you will hear the same targets your buddies are hearing with FBS units, BUT, they may not sound quite the way you expect them to, on your Equinox.  Deep targets are much more subtle and less distinct that shallow targets, as would be expected.  It may just be that your ears are not yet attuned to listening for deep targets on the Equinox, like they were with your Safari.  IF, however, by chance, you CANNOT pick up those deep wheats that your buddies are getting with their FBS machines, it would be time to look at your settings.  And if it's not the settings, then there may be something more serious going on, but no need to go there at this point.  Barring an issue with your machine itself, I am confident, based on my experience with the Equinox in different types of dirt/different states, that it should be every bit as deep, and similarly capable, of hitting deep copper coins as an FBS unit is -- ESPECIALLY when running Park 1 mode.

Steve

[Chase Goldman]

21 hours ago, Happa54 said:

Hey everyone... I can't seem to lock onto wheats. I primarily hunt in Parks 1/2 and Field 2. 

I use to do well on them with my Safari, but since I've had the 600, I've been doing poorly on the wheats. 

I'm averaging 1-2 wheats per outing whereas I used to dig anywhere from 10 - 20. My Etrac partner and off & on Explorer partner will dig 20 - 30 wheats in an outing. 

It seems that lately, wheats are coming in deep but my Nox isn't hitting em. My hunting partners and I don't stray far from one another and pretty much cross the same patterns...they're getting em and I am not.

I'm frustrated because I may be missing good deeper coins. I'm killing it on nickels and clad but that's about it. 

Any suggestions or comments is appreciated. 

 

 

 

What criteria do you use to determine the search profile mode?  I consider a wheat penny to be a borderline high conductor, so if that was my primary focus, I would leave the detector in Park 1 and avoid the "2" modes unless I was going for extreme nickel depth and simply adjust tones, recovery speed and iron bias as necessary for the site conditions.  Also, do you like to hunt in 5 or 50 tones?  I personally prefer 50 tones.  If you are hunting in 5 tones, Pennies, depending on corrosion, type can come in right at the default tone break of 20/21 which can give you a flutey tone (wheats should come in higher than that, but there are a lot of variables that can affect variability in TID).  My deepest Equinox coin recovery was a wheat, nearly a foot down in mild, sandy soil lying next to a piece of wire.  HTH.

[Happa54]

Steveg & Chase.... thanx for your responses.

Yup, we have shared many signals previously with my Safari but only every now and then since owning the Nox.

The flutey sounds of our FBS' machines are identical which made my learning curve a bit easier. But with the Nox, the sounds are not the same. 

Do the deeper coin tones change along with depth thus convincing me to walk past them thinking they are zinc or screw caps? Are these wheats or possibly silvers at depth? 

Thus far, I haven't dug anything over 5" but my partners are going deeper than this. Faulty machine possibly?

My primary settings are:  Park 1, NC + GB, 50 tones, 0 thrshld, 0 IB, recovery 2-3 (depending on trash). 

At other times I'll use Park 2 factory settings. 

 

[Chase Goldman]

Those are really good settings for deep silver and copper.  I don't know what to tell you but try putting some into the ground at depth in a test garden and see what they sound like shallow vs. deep and in various modes including single frequency.  Even pure non-ferrous targets can give a ferrous grunt (when in AM) off the edge.  Give AM a try if you are not already doing so (you can turn down the ferrous volume) to see if that enables the high conductors to stand out.

[steveg]

Happa --

I agree with Chase on the buried coins -- which will also help to see if you might have a faulty machine.  I doubt you do, though; but, some testing might be in order.

MEANWHILE, I would DEFINITELY make it a priority for a little while to go back to what you used to do, and "compare signals."  YES, your Safari vs. their E-Tracs and Explorers would have given similar tones on a buried target, when comparing signals in the past -- but, that's why I think comparing signals now, with their FBS compared to your Equinox, would be so immensely helpful.  YES, the sounds are different on FBS vs. Multi-IQ, but you would be comparing a "known" (FBS sounds on a deep coin) with an "unknown" (Equinox sounds on a deep coin), which should really, really help you to learn the "unknown."  In other words, if they locate a deep, likely-to-be-wheatie target, and call you over to listen, you can listen with THEIR machine, first (and you'll of course recognize the target's sounds given your prior experience with FBS), and then, work the target with your Equinox, and listen closely to how the machine behaves.  This will help you to figure out in your mind "what sounds like THIS on an FBS machine sounds like THIS on the Equinox."

Yes, I have dug deep wheats that are down into the zinc range, and the same with deep Indians.  So, you could be passing over some.  They also sound much more subtle, at depth, than a shallow penny sounds.  I at times will even get some occasional high-tone chirps mixed in, from certain angles, on a deep wheatie or deep Indian -- i.e. much higher than what you'd expect for a penny.  Bottom line, burying targets at different depths and working them with your Equinox, and ESPECIALLY "comparing targets" with your FBS hunting partners, should move you quite a bit closer to having success with your Equinox. 

Don't lose confidence; I promise you that the Equinox (at least, one set up properly and working properly) will find coins every bit as deep as your buddies' FBS units, in most types of ground (including everywhere I've hunted).  And for what it's worth, my machine of choice for many years was an Explorer, and I run a CTX now alongside my Equinox...and so when I say the Equinox is every bit as deep as FBS, it's a statement I feel confident in stating after through testing and experience with both Multi-IQ AND FBS. 

Steve

 

[Happa54]

Thanx guys... I plan on working out and testing with your suggestions. I'm loving the simplicity and detecting options of this machine and I want to get everything I can out of it.  I'll report back.

As always good luck and happy hunting !!!