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SDC Over Load Signals On Gold?


bado1

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Hi All,

Well, I received my 2300 Friday afternoon and, of course, charged the batteries right off. Then fired her up. All good!

After putting in my time on the "honey do" list on Saturday I was able to escape for about two hours to a near by gulch that has been prospected since the late 1800s. A buddy of mine does well there using the usual "wet" methods of recovery. My main concern was the proximity of some large power lines (100-150 yards). I knew that the GPX line would have fits there and wanted to see how the SDC would handle the emi.

 

I fired up the SDC, did a noise cancel and ground balance with the sensitivity set to 4, and was pleasantly surprised with a mild warble in the signal...still very hunt-able even at 4! The #2 setting was even more stable. Loving it so far! Hit some small trash items right off the bat...small pieces of wire that gave nice "dig me" signals. as I worked my way up the gulch I started hitting signals that "over loaded" the machine. The recovered targets that caused the over load were the ever annoying bits of flat, decaying, rusted iron the size of a finger nail or smaller. The stuff was every where :(. So, I started to ignore the over load signals. My question is... was I  ignoring gold as well? Will the machine give "over load" on the usual small gold? I can imagine that if it were swung over a large shallow piece of gold it may over load (?).

 

I was in such a rush to get out and give the new SDC a swing that I forgot my .3 gram test nugget to test this for myself. I was getting these over load signals even on the #2 sensitivity setting. My conclusion was that there is a ton of trash in this spot and would be better suited to a VLF with discrimination capabilities if it could handle the ground (doubtful). 

 

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with the SDC! Handles the ground and emi incredibly well. Hopefully, I can get out this afternoon and give it a go. Thanks!

 

Dean

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That's a great idea for the headphone cord. Chris is right on about no overload on small gold and I've yet to actually find big gold so I'm hoping to verify that soon. I do dig every target just in case and have a lot of lead nuggets and various other bits of wire, boot tacks and other metal frags to be sure, but I know eventually that screamer will be a big one as long as I keep at it. Good luck and happy hunting with the new toy.

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Thanks for all of your responses! It's fun learning a new machine. I will get out on Thurs. (day off) to known patches and see how she does.

The wife and I are working on "The Wall" (No, not Pink Floyd. Great album, though:))... our retaining wall. It has become known affectionately (NOT) as "The Wall" in our house because it is one of those projects that was supposed to take a couple of weekends and has gone on for a couple of months and will, most likely, take another month to complete. Therefore, it deserved a name. It's totally messing with my detecting time so I need to get it done and out of my life. Anyway, there was no escaping "The Wall" today but I did have time before dark to play with a .3 gram test nugget in the back yard. The EMI was strong but the SDC was able to pick it up at about 3"- 4" with no problems. Very impressive. Will be better, I'm sure, out away from the EMI. Thanks again!

 

Dean

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Howdy Dean, Glad to see you got your SDC- I've been so busy with family and trying to deal on a new-used motorcycle that i haven't been detecting since a short trip over a week ago which i got skunked on. 

As Chris said the SDC will hit loud on small gold when right on it but not over loading. Testing it on my 1/4 piece and it screams like a banshee.

 

Good Luck Man - look forward to seeing your first SDC Gold

AjR

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AjR,

Thanks for your reply. I am going to shoot for a morning hunt tomorrow (gonna play hookie on a teleconference ;)) and see if I can score that first piece. I will post it up as soon as I find it! I hope you are able to get out soon. Looking forward to seeing more of your finds.

 

Dean

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Agree with what most of you are saying about the SDC. It's very sensitive, even without the sensitivity notched up.

I haven't found any gold with my detector yet, but it has picked up very small pieces of lead shot and fish hooks with no problems at all down to about 3". The thing that really sets it off however is metal foil or any large piece of metal such as a nail or a length of wire. I've no doubts at all that if you run it over the right patch it will sniff out that gold like a bloodhound!

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I made it out this morning for a few hours with the SDC. No gold but I learned a ton about the machine.

Impressions thus far: ( I apologize in advance for boring all of you seasoned SDC users. You all ready know this stuff! )

 

Super stable machine in VERY hot ground even on sensitivity #3. Encountered only three pockets of ground noise that gave repeatable "dig"signals then as per usual with a bit of scraping/digging  the signal disappears. The ground here was dark red with a bunch of iron stone. I am very impressed because with other detectors used in this area I dig lots of hot ground pocket signals.

Not bothered by hot rocks. 

Rumblefish is right on. Foil and flat rusty pieces of iron get her screaming.

Old pieces of lead shot (covered in white stuff) give a short, distinct warble at the end of the low tone echo. Brief but audible. I was able to predict very accurately that the target was going to be "old" lead. New lead (not covered) did not give the little warble. Anyone else experience this?

Recovered a .22 short case at approx. 8 inches...impressive depth.

The stock head phones suck. Time to get the head phone lead and use different ones.

 

Beautiful morning in the Arizona desert. I can't wait to get the SDC out for another swing.  Very impressed so far.

 

Dean

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