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I have experienced all of what you have said as well. A few years back I also found a merc in the corner of a park that I had... and others had hunted a lot over the years... I barely broke the surface of the dirt and the merc popped out... still scratching my head on that one. The oldest nickels I have found seemed to give me an 11-12 reading... but the depth of the signal made me chase it. My mindset was... if this soft deep tone is a pull tab... chalk one up for the site... but when the shield nickel popped out... or on another occasion a "v" nickel popped out... I was glad I took the time to dig deep. Funny thing... probably just mental more than anything... but I always get "nickel fever" when I start going around the base of trees... all my old nickels have been around the base of a tree... like I said, probably just my own mental focus on those tones.. 😉 As I mentioned, I normally run 50 tones... but your 5 tone setup is interesting... I will probably give that a try at some point soon too... I do love the 50 tone setup though. And now... alternatively... the 1 tone has my interest (and the theme of this thread... sorry for going off into the weeds a bit...) I am going to try to hit the old school this afternoon with the 800 in Gold 1 and the 6". Most likely over the area where I found the quarter, wheat, and yesterday the back of the pocket watch... so see what other hits are around there. ~Tim.

I know!! My thought too. I checked and re-checked the hole, and area... then made a mental note to mark the area with landmarks to go back and spend time looking for the rest... I didn't find any glass either... but it was pretty dark by the time I finished working my way around that root. The next dig in that spot will be much easier though ;).

Also a great comment Badger... Come to think of it.. my middle of the road recovery of 6 was probably the least appropriate... haha. well.. live and learn to detect another day 😉 Next time out... 6" with recovery 8 and then 4.

Had about an hour before dark last night so I headed over to the old school grounds... interesting find that I thought I would share. It was deep, and under a root that was about 3" in diameter. It took me most of my "dusk time" digging around that thing... I was swinging my Explorer II with the 13" ultimate coil and was getting a bouncy signal, but enough of a high tone to make me investigate, I was past the handle on my Lesche... and was surprised to pop out something big and round from directly under the root. Had a fleeting thought that it was a dollar coin... but it was too chunky... wiped my thumb across and it immediately shined up gold. Checked it on my Equinox when I got home... and it air tests at solid 32... so my thought is gold plated silver? but there is also corrosion on the inside... so I'm not sure. It isn't magnetic, so definitely not steel core. Anyway, I'm very happy with the find, so I thought I would share here..

Welcome Michael, Looking forward to hearing about your finds when the snow melts 🙂 +1 on your comment about Steve! ~Tim

Hey One Trick, Lots of information on this forum about the Equinox... There is a sub forum to this main Minelab forum that is all about the Equinox if you haven't already found it. A few of my own thoughts (and there are many others with a lot more hours and experience on the machine than I that have and most likely will respond as well)... If your machine is chatty after noise cancelling and ground balancing... you are right sensitivity is most likely the other culprit. The Equinox is very powerful at less than max sensitivity settings. I usually run between 18 and 22, and in my ground, I am hitting targets that are over 10" on occasion. My personal feeling is that higher sensitivity does amplify the signal, but it also amplifies everything above anything deeper you are trying to detect... including any ground mineralization, or iron and other trash that may be nearby. So are you really gaining depth, or just bringing in more noise above that depth? I maybe giving up one or two targets in a hunt by running 18, but I'll take a solid and quiet running machine over something that is chirping at me with every swing. Again, just my preference. The other key thing there is "ground mineralization"... not sure what your ground is... but I have hunted some pretty difficult ground, so tuning the machine to your ground is also important (ground balancing AND sens). Others will have better suggestions for salt water setup than I, but I'll be a student there as well, as I plan to do more of that later this year as well. Welcome to the forum and be sure to check out all the great posts by everyone here... the search menu is your friend to find pretty much anything you may need related to detecting here on the site 🙂 Tim.

Yes, I started the same way... wide open... It sure makes you appreciate the ability to set the volume on those iron hits in the park and field modes, huh! 🙂 This is very similar to my test run... I was digging the shoulder tones around nickels as well (11's and 14-15's... as much to clear the can slaw and pull tabs out as anything). I have a fairly short swing amplitude anyway, but you are right, I shorten up even more with the 6" coil. Also, I have been including 18 and 19 as the potential IHP range... interesting that you have found 20 to be the sweet spot for them. Agreed, at a site where I (or you or anyone) have worked it over with other mode and settings combinations... it gave me enough of a different approach to listening to what the machine was telling me in Gold mode to stop and investigate. I want to try a slower recovery as you tested... a 4 or 5 recovery, small coil, maybe single frequency comparison against multi... just to better understand what this arrow can do when I pull it out of my quiver. Thanks for the details GBA! ~Tim.

Great recoveries Abenson! That seated half dime is awesome!!!

I was in multi in the Gold mode... I wonder if single freq would produce different (better/worse) results... should have tested that. Recovery 6. Had I thought of that... I probably would have slowed it down to 4 which is where I normally hunt... but maybe that accidental combo helped find the coin. I too, should have opted for the 6", but was afraid of the depth limitations on this site... all the oldies I have found have been no less than 8", I will try that next. You can't tell from the pic, but my pinpoint was off-center too... maybe 4" like the one you found. I had to chase the target away from the center of the hole... that usually means falsing iron... which is what I thought I had until that quarter popped out. Good luck today... I hope you do twice as good as I did! Anxious to hear your experiences using gold 1.

😆

NICE!!! That is quite a hit list there!! I can't even imagine fishing on the Potomac. I am/was a bank fisherman... two feet firmly on the ground. Salmon and Steelhead were my focus... trout, bass, crappie... on occasion, whatever would bite. My grandpa owned a 25 footer... complained about keeping it up the whole time. haha.

Exactly right Popeye! Never Hunted Out. "Never Stop Checking" I like that tag line 🙂 My "quest" is specific to that site. I chose those 4 items, partially because I know how hard it has been hunted for silver in the past... and probably cherry picked based on my hunting/finds. Also, since cherry picked... I am assuming those less than silver conductors might be left behind in that carpet of trash... so a couple of mid conductive oldies, and the silver. Add to all of that... this site is a walk from my house... so I get up in the morning on the weekend before the rest of the family is awake (just my schedule) and I walk over and spend a couple of hours hunting, walk home, make breakfast for the family. 🙂 My overall goals for the year are a bit more aggressive than one silver coin 😉 (old silver, gold, large silver, several area beaches, maybe a prospecting trip - depending on the pandemic limitations... are all on my 2021 goals list) - but more than anything, the goals are just motivation to get out and hunt more than I have the past couple years... that is the real goal :)). Happy hunting to you this year too and may you fulfill all your goals for the year!! ~Tim

Difficult to tell if I would have "heard" these coins while hunting in multi... I just know that I have hunted this area more times than I can count with various machine/coil combinations with various settings... but yesterday... using gold mode 1, stock coil and setting up the disc at 10 and below... I got three very clear 12-13 ID's that ended up being Jeffersons. A 24-25 that ended up a 1939 wheat at 8 or 9". And thin but and somewhat repeatable 28-29 that ended up being the silver Washington I posted in my "Quest" thread: The quarter was on edge about 9 1/2" down, and I did cross check in Field 2 - 50 Tone... the tone was there, but I had to really work for it. It was only there in one direction too. Iffy to say the least, even knowing where I pinpointed it with Gold Mode, and using ultra short sweeps. Hind-sight... of course I would have stopped... But there was enough scratchiness to the tone, I might have dismissed it without the Gold Mode verification. I think I will be using it more... I didn't even mind the 1 tone... I had committed to digging everything I could get a repeatable tone on... so why not? Then again... that is what my Vaquero does too :). Of course, I have a pocket full of pull tabs and ring pulls... but that was expected. One hunt result: Powerful mode I will be using more. ~Tim.

Had to give up fishing except for special occasions... it was cutting into my detecting time. haha. But when I lived in the Pacific NW, I wouldn't miss razor clam season on the Oregon Coast... Limit out... then go detecting. Big pot of razor clam chowder for dinner 🙂

I love that your whole family and friends are into detecting as well. Family time is the true treasure in my honest opinion. My wife and kids just shake their heads at me "Hi Dad... were you detecting.... AGAIN?!?" Haha. At least they are supportive. 🙂

Wow. just Wow!

All my childhood neighbors would find lead weights in their yards if they detected..... casting practice.. haha.

That is very cool! Love that lock F350P. I have found a couple of Yale locks.. never one of these. It is a beauty! ~Tim

Honestly, I thought the silver coin from this location would be my last to check off the list... this place has definitely been cherry picked over and over through the years before I happened onto it. But I have a nice collection of pull tabs and ring pulls already... so the nickels and IHP are in there... just have to get down to them.

I would love to plan an extended trip to New Zealand someday! Your comments go in the pro column, for sure Kioti.

That sounds like a blast Walker!

Fascinating... still trying to fully understand all the comments above. I have used gold mode when hunting on occasional tot-lot... to "dig it all" including any small gold that may have been dropped by parents or kids while playing... but have steered away from it in more "trash populated" sites... So, If I am following the comments above correctly, gold mode has a potential to be a great tool in un-masking targets... and honestly, I never even considered using the discrimination aspect of the mode, leaving it in stock settings when I used it. As I said... fascinating... and I have just the site to test it out on! Thanks GBA for the thread, and everyone for the comments and links. ~Tim

Well. Not exactly what I had in mind... maybe this is worth a 1/2 check mark for the tally board... I was getting some solid tones but bouncing around between 10 and 15 and at 4-6"...dug a plug. I cleared some can slaw and a pull tab in the same plug/hole. Re-swept the hole and got a repeatable 12-13 - 5" War Nick.

It is beautiful just as it is Scar. Any seated is a good seated. 🙂 Great finds. I love that button too... with the shank! ~Tim.