Happa54

Hey everyone....

Here is an interesting dig.

This weekend at my favorite lot site I picked up a signal bouncing between TID's 23 to 28. Never hit a 29 or 30. It was not screaming at me like the Kennedy Half I got there recently. 

Since I pull a lot of rusted nails from this site, I thought this would be another nail or possibly a clad quarter. 

Low and behold, a 1945 Walker Half on edge 4-5" under a pine tree root. I slightly nicked the rim with my Lesche....bummer.

I never would have ignored a signal like this but it sure fooled me. 

Settings: Park 1, 50 tones, 0 IB, 3 rec, 22 sens

Good post Mark

I find Park 1 to be the best mode for me too. Learned the FBS waggle from A Sabich Safari handbook and use it on all targets. I use to use a 6" coil on my FBS and it is excellent in the trash. But, the 11" stock coil is awesome too and I stay with it on all my hunts. The one thing I like about the waggle is that those initial faint squeaks become magnified after a couple of seconds of waggling through the target. I've pulled many deep faint squeakers from the dirt this way. 

That dagger is a crazy find. Nice digging overall.

I regularly think about doing a beach or shoreline hunt since it is not a far drive. 

Congrats on the V Snohom !!!!

I have dug 3 V's since using the Nox......a couple of buffs, 2 war nickels and over 400 Jeffersons. 

The Nox hits hard on the niks. A couple of times hit on small cache and didn't think there were other coins in the hole since the nik was dominant. 

I remember digging wheats like crazy in trash sites with a 6" coil on my Safari.  I should get serious about getting one for my Nox since my wheat count is way down this year. My silver count is also way off but then I've cut back on the hours I hunt. Is the 6" that much better in iron & trash than the standard coil? I've read where some say "Yes" and others say "No".

Thanks for the pics. Georgeous area to hunt. I would love to camp there a couple of days. Seems a lot of good coins and relics coming from No California area. Congrats on your super finds!!!!!!

Wow, how exciting.... 3 seated's in one hunt and I have yet to dig my first.

Congrats!!!!!!

Excellent digs....Congrats!!!!

Your story moved me Gerry. You can't (I don't) put monetary value on something like this. The true value is in the experience and emotions that you were immersed in.

Great find and great story. 

Here are a couple that will confuse you.

My first ever war nik was high reading of 23-25. The few after that were solid 13-14.

The one on the left is 13-14 and the one on the right is 23-25....both are '43 S.

I read somewhere that it was at the discretion of the mint to ever so slightly bump up the silver content. I believe I read it this way but I could be wrong or forgot the details of what I read.  

51 minutes ago, GlazedTofu said:

I would say for me it’s like having more evidence to solve a crime.

 

i have tried 5 tones and I just don’t Like looking at TID constantly.

with 50 tones I can understand what my coil is trying to describe under the ground.

without looking at the TID

Agreed... well said

For me.... it's about tone memory. Learned that from my ML Safari.

With the Nox, I've dug enough targets now that I know when I'm over a nickel based on tone, then reference it by looking at its TID #.

High conductors such as dimes vs quarters... there's no mistaking these 2 objects by tone. Other high conductors, I'll look at TID and most likely dig if I'm in a relic site, if in a park site, maybe not. 

But to answer your question, I think everyone hones in on their targets in a different way. I prefer tones over TID but the TID is also important for the learning process.

Wow!!! crazy looking permission and nice silver haul.

Thanx for sharing this.

3 hours ago, Tiftaaft said:

Great thread!.  Thanks everyone for taking the time to detail your personal experience and results with the Equinox.  Hap, I bet you fidn't know the Hornets nest you were poking when you posted your first question... haha (and I mean that in a good way).  

My experience has been very similar to Bryan's here in the Pacific NW, though my finds have not been as impressive.  I have been running my 800 with the 15" (I agree with Bryan, it is a beast!!) In field 2, 50 tone, all tones (with a custom disc similar to Bryan's for really noisy areas), recovery 4 and IB-2 (though I have used IB-0 a fair amount).  I have a 30's-40's park near my work that I am currently meticulously grinding and I am pulling some nice finds at the 8-10" range.  I am starting to hear the nuance between a shallow target tone and a deeper target tone and probably more importantly understanding the "shape" of the target based on the tone.  I start getting excited when I hear that mellow round high tone and my depth meter is at 4 bars plus.  The WLH/SLQ combo was 9.5" at least, and was solid tone from one direction, but I had to work for it (note the "ring" on the back of the WLH where the SLQ was resting until I recovered it).  The hunt with the Ike was 2 days ago during a lunch break, 45 minute hunt.  All the coins pictured were 7"+, except the Ike that was about 6" (and singing solidly at 37-38).

I gravitated to field 2, but will probably cover the area again in park 1 or field 1 as reference to the discussion about the differences in the machine programming between 1 and 2 settings.  And I will also kick it down to IB0 to see what I have missed by making some iron co located targets.  

Thanks again everyone for the masters class of information above.  

Tim

Well Tim... I guess I'll have to poke around in another hornet's nest in another thread...LOL. 

I highlighted in red your response re "target shape based on tone". This is something I'm hearing for the first time. I more or less know the size of my targets through coil manipulation and pinpoint, but the shape of the target based on tone? I'm not there yet with the Nox. I need to know more about this technique. 

Thank you for mentioning it. 

13 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Hap - as an experienced FBS detectorist, you should just go with your detecting instincts.  Don't try to overthink or over tweak the Equinox - focus mainly on selecting your best case detecting mode for your site conditions and target objectives, getting the machine to run quiet (noise cancel, GB as necessary, adjust sensitivity accordingly AND perhaps dial back recovery speed for depth), focus on the audio and dig all repeatable targets. What it all boils down to for you, I think, is that the lack of depth related modulation with Equinox is throwing you off and you may also just be in a "slump" where your coil is not getting over any really deep silver.  Also, I will say that I think a good FBS machine (eTrac, CTX) is a good compliment to the Equinox, so I would hang to an FBS.  Under "ideal" conditions (low ferrous trash, low mineralization), the FBS machines will go deeper than Equinox and will give a more accurate ID at depth on high conductors.  The Equinox, though, is no slouch and is much more versatile and effective for many more conditions, situations, and targets than FBS.  HH

I think your statement that I highlighted in red text about sums it up. My Safari compliments my Nox quite well and that's why these two machines will stay with me. In time when my off & on tendonitis allows, I will be swinging the Safari as well...it is a heavy machine. 

This conversation is getting interesting and technically above my understanding of what the Nox is all about. 

I'll have to accept the fact that the Nox is not a FBS machine and those deep little silver or copper squeaks that I'm use to will not be heard with the Nox. I look forward to hearing a deep silver or wheat (with the Nox) exceeding 7" so I can place the tone in my memory.

The upside to owning this machine are the numerous angles/combinations/modes in which to hunt in. I mode hop quite a bit but then I don't notice a difference in whether one mode finds more of something over another mode. 

I'll keep running it as usual and I'll learn more about these modes, settings and tones with time.

Thank the Lord we have this forum.

Yes, Chase... this is the way I understand it. Park 1 is weighted towards the higher conductors, ie; silver. So, when I am searching for silver among the trash, I use the "1" modes. If my game plan on another hunt are for the relics, then I go into the "2" modes. 

It seems that my settings are closely in line with what most of you are using.  I also updated immediately when it became available, since it was asked. 

It could be that I haven't put my coil over a deep silver yet with the Nox so I started thinking too much after I read the posts that prompted me to start this conversation.  I dug quite a bit of silver last year, but only about 50% of what I dug with my Safari the previous year.

It's been an interesting transition going from FBS to Multil IQ and I guess it's just another learning curve. I'll continue to run my Nox with no changes and just see how it works out in time. 

Thank you for your support everyone. 

Thanks for your feedback everyone.

Here are pieces out of a thread from another forum post that made me think about my settings and prompted me to post this.

“I found that there isn't a real need to turn up the sensitivity to a high setting to get good depth. To a large part, the sensitivity just amplifies the audio response. The difference in depth between say 18 and 22 sensitivity settings is not noticeable if you're using good headphones. Also, I prefer using 50 tones so the need for tone breaks etc. on the 800 would be a big waste for me”

“Drop the sense to even 13 to try to proportional audibly get an idea of whats going on down in the dirt and how deep everything is...If I was running full bore sens, I couldnt tell audibly if this is a Q at 3 or a Q at 8...or a Q at 12....sure, the whole raise coil and whatnot dealie, it was a bit frustrating for me..trying to figure out a balanced set up that would allow the Proportional Audio to kick in accurate and still get me the depth and ID masked valuables”

“Yep, you got that right about the proportional audio response being diminished at high sensitivity settings. If a guy is smart, he'd bury a coin at 6 inches deep, set up the detector with the headphones that he's going to use and play around with the sensitivity and volume settings until he gets it all figured out. By raising the search coil over the 6-inch buried target you can figure out what are the best settings for your ears to get the most depth and still have the proportional audio response. I like to hear a whisper on really deep targets”

I hunt in all modes but I tend to stay more in Park 1, 50 tones, 0 IB, NC, GB, 3 recovery, 22-23 sens, 0 disc 80% of the time. 

It's an interesting subject and debateable unless I'm totally reading into this incorrectly. 

Hey everyone…

I’ve been tussling with something the past few days after reading a post regarding sens settings to bring out the deep squeakers (mainly silver and wheats).

I’m not hearing the deep squeakers with my Nox the way I do with my Safari, or my buddies Etrac and Explorer.  I don’t have confidence in the air tests nor freshly buried coins so my test results are inconclusive.

Are you hearing deep squeakers at a lower sens of say, 16 or 18 without losing noticeable depth? I’m running my Nox at 22-23 and I hear mostly loud shallow signals…even the coppers are loud at 5-6”. Would the high sens setting be drowning out the deep coins?  I haven’t dug a deep silver yet with the Nox.

I appreciate your feedback

Excellent !!! Congrats on all those V's. You did a great job on the clean up too.

That is one beautiful Barber. Congrats!!!!

10 hours ago, Cabin Fever said:

For the life of me I still can’t find a Nickel in the wild outside of 12-13. I don’t know if it’s the Mode I run in (Park 1-Multi) my settings or just my Detector.. I didn’t keep track of my modern Nickels but I dug around 20 Buffalo and V Nickels with the Nox in 2018.  I dug 2 Shield Nickels and unlike others they did not bounce at all. Neither would come off 12. Shield Nickels are slightly smaller then the Nickels that came after them.

Depth did not seem to affect the numbers. Most of these coins were between 6 and 8 inches with a few including a Shield Nickel reaching up to 10 inches. (The 15” Coil is a Beast!)

I can get a small percentage of Nickels to flash outside of 12-13 when air testing if I wave them over the coil on edge  so I know it’s possible, just rare for my setup.

 Bryan

 

I clearly remember digging a V on a 13/14 signal and a buff on a 11/12 signal. Several modern niks came in at these numbers as well but not many. In my area, any nik signal that is bouncing around within these 4 numbers but occasionally throwing off a 10 or 15 is a non-digger for me... but I will dig all numbers 11,12,13,14. Since honing in on these signals it has added to the excitement of just going after high conductors (silver, etc). More finds and satisfaction. It has been a game changer. 

Wow... this post still has legs on it. So, 9 months after I posted this;

I'm quite proficient at the nickel finds now as time goes by. I dig all signals at 11,12,13,14. Below and above that I walk away. 

12/13 seems to be the hot TID but they also bounce around at 11 and 14. Dig em all. 

In case I didn't post this here.... over 300 nickels and V's, buffs and a war nickel in the past several months. The ratio is pretty good. 

Not to mention I dug a nice 18k gold ring and a gold buddha pendant off nickel signals. 

39 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Like a lot of folks I find that a single frequency can help in bad electrical interference situations.

The other use is for those who encounter hot rocks. Many rocks that hit hard in Multi will be much weaker or disappear entirely at the right single frequency. This principle can be used anytime you are dealing with undesired targets that throw off signals at multiple frequency levels.

For those hunting jewelry lower single frequencies can make thin foil less responsive or invisible while still retaining better signal strength on most jewelry items.

This is interesting and good to know. My relic/coin site has tall Edison power lines overhead so I'll just work in single a little more and see how it works for me in the long run at this site. 

Thanks for your responses everyone. 

The 2 statements that really stuck out for me...

Mark Gillespie: "I've yet to find a single frequency to outperform the multi-frequency programs."  

Alluminati: "If there is a specific target you are looking for, you pick the single frequency that excites the targets the best."

I have used single freq (10khz) just a tad bit in my trashy relic/coin site. Still looking for my big barber quarter, half or dollar under all this trash and hopefully a single freq will make the difference. When I want to place more emphasis on the V's, buffs, niks, relics and hopefully, another gold ring, I"ll just move over to Field 2.

Onward with my testing....

Wow!!!! There's is only one place in my town where I can dig 1800 coins but I dare not hunt there unless I want my gear to be taken from me at gunpoint. 

Congrats on that fabulous coin!!!!