F350Platinum

4 hours ago, NCtoad said:

 I also got a really well made stand for the new stem on ebay

Ok NC, I need that stand. 😀 Got a link?

Nice rigs by the way. 👍 

https://www.xpmetaldetectors.com/en/ba/the-blog/deus-ii-v2-0-update.php

Bottom of the page it says "update now". You have to create an account on the site to be able to use the online updater.🙂

3 hours ago, NCtoad said:

 

I got it!!!   What threw me off was thisI kept waiting for the connect box to light up without realizing I had to click on the “xp deus2” first to enable the blue connect box!   Duh!🙄 

All is well now in my world!  Thanks for all your help!!

Yeah that one threw me too, I was wondering why it didn't pop up WSA II. 😠

Thing is the XP program doesn't care if your computer doesn't recognize the device, it saved them money to pay to do a driver that they'd have to fix all the time. 😀

Use the blue one. 🙂 Even if I get that message the program will connect, I don't think it cares. 😀

Then get out there and try Tekkna 🤣

33 minutes ago, NCtoad said:

Thanks Bob

maybe you can help me out.  I just tried updating and when I plug the usb cord into my laptop I get thisI’ve tried over and over to the point where I just want to get a new laptop because mine’s old and slow.  However when I updated my old remote and ws6 a couple of months ago I had no problems.  Do you know a fix for this?   I remember you saying you were an IT guy?   So that’s why I’m asking you.  I’m not too good at this stuff.  
thanks

Hey NC,

For one thing you need to be using the short USB cord that has only one of that connector. I get that message too, heck my laptop is on Windows 11, but the program kicks in when I've gone through all the steps.

There other hard thing is the steps to get the WSA II ready, it's very specific. You have to get it to where the light is on steady.

Some older laptops have USB 1 2 or 3 USB ports, make sure the one you are using is black or blue.

Yes NC, they need to be updated. First make sure what version the  RC is, unpair anything that is paired with the wireless headphone icon (if needed), update them to that version, and then go through the pairing process again if needed. 

Congrats on your new toys! 

23 minutes ago, Lodge Scent said:

Wow! Good work there F350. Yeah I will definitely play with that set up some more. I will even try Reactivity at 4 😁.

If there's a lot of iron, I guess that's the trick. This place was hyper saturated with it, so I'm grateful I got some nicer coins, when I tore it up with the Nox all I got were pennies.

I'll have to wait to do Gekko, 😅 it's going to rain tomorrow.

On 2/20/2024 at 9:03 PM, F350Platinum said:

Check it out. I'll be testing it a lot more very soon, and will update this with any other observations I make.

Heh, replying to myself!

Got out again today with a mission.

Last year or maybe the year before, I grid searched a particular part of a huge farm near me with my Equinox 600 and the 10x5 coil, I got some cool stuff. It had been previously detected by others, but not as well as it could have been apparently.

It's a small section but it is by far the most crap laden part of the farm. It is the spot where a house and barn stood a long time ago. It might be a half acre.

Imagine sweeping the coil once and hearing 20 or 30 targets, mostly iron. It almost seems like an area with bad EMI, the headphones are never quiet.

I thought I'd give Tekkna a try there, as I wrote last time, if I found anything there at all I would be a believer...

Well I'm a believer. 🤣

I'm not using the "stock" settings, after a very short time I bumped reactivity up to 4, something I've never done. I lowered iron volume from 10 to 8, there is just too much iron in that spot. I increased Audio Response to 5. I lowered sensitivity to 93, just too much noise.

I also tried Raziel's suggestion of lowering the disc to 35, it made a bit of a difference but for me it wasn't enough to leave it there. I put it back to 42, I didn't want to stray too far.

Found way more than I expected, I figured I'd dig lots of junk brass and lead for the most part, which I did, but only one piece of iron which was co-located with another target. I did not skip any positive signals.

Remember that you should only dig when the signal is crisp and repeatable, and listen carefully to make sure it doesn't break up or go iron. If it does it's iron or junk. Try to walk around the target to ensure it's good.

Believe it or not this is only a handful of trash. I am always shocked at the amount of harmonica bits I dig, it's annoying 😅. Shotgun shell ends are a given.

I got other stuff like a crushed aluminum thimble and some other odd bits, but here are my favorites:

A 1901 "V" nickel, I've never found one here.

And now my favorite, put some silver in the bag again!

A 1903 Barber dime, I didn't think they existed here. Guess the V nickel was my clue.

One last thing, I recommend always using the 9" coil with this program, the 11" and 13" double and triple tap targets and can get overwhelmed by iron in close proximity. If we ever get a small elliptical, I'll use it with Tekkna.

🍀

Yikes, I wondered! 😮 I was about to PM him, guess that can wait.

You are in my thoughts Cap'n, get well! Best wishes to you and your family. 

Do you ever use Historic Aerials website to look at where you are going?

As long as the detector remote isn't dissipating heat and pressure through the speaker grille it should be fine to do this.

I remember buying a cover for my Equinox, and one day it was really hot out the screen faded. Removing the cover solved the problem.

That's a lot of coins and rings and relics! The only experiences I've had like that are from hunting campgrounds.

All the makers marks in that last ring tells me it's pretty old. You should research that a bit. The square coin catches my eye as well!

In my opinion you need the best metal for the job, I go to stony beaches and beaches where the sand is like powder, this is a tough one.

Titanium is strong and light but you will damage it lifting rocks or scooping in stones, so I bite the bullet if you will on the days when I go to a local stony beach, and I bring both when I travel to beaches in the summer with my RV. Nothing better than a huge white sand beach with a titanium scoop. It just makes the day better.

I'm not sure how good the Carbon Fiber handles are at the bigger stores, both my scoop handles come from Steve's Detector Rods, his are slightly heavier but I have confidence they won't break. He took great pains to tell me why it would cost a fortune to get a really long one. I think his are in the 40s, I wanted one that was 52" or longer.

Why is a longer shaft necessary? Buoyancy works against you when over 50% of your body is in water. It also helps to stabilize when you are getting hit by waves. It might help save you if you get caught in a rip 🤔

Also consider a Raptor handle to put at the balance point, it may save your back in heavy mud:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MT248MD

They are very tough.

7 hours ago, Lodge Scent said:

Thanks for the report F350. I gave it a try myself Sunday morning. What I find scary is that I also lowered the Iron Volume to 7 and the Reactivity to 2.5 and raised the Audio to 5. 😄 But I didn’t sniff out any Spanish silver. I did recover a nice tombac though. With using all that Disc, I did like the fact that I wasn’t tempted to dig as many bent square nails as I normally would be tempted to dig. It’s not the program to end all programs but I’ll play with it some more. I think more than anything, because it was “different” I slowed down a bit and concentrated on the slightly different audio responses, and that helped me find a few targets from a worn out site. I used the 9" coil this time. I started with Reactivity of 3, dropped it to 1 for the heck of it, but that made the deeper iron hit harder, and settled on 2.5 for most of the hunt.

 

Lodge

Thanks for jumping in, Lodge!

I'm pretty sure it was pure coincidence and luck, I hope you do find some silver of any kind. 🍀

That is scary, but I'm not surprised. 😅 The adjustments you made are logical. Remember also that you only dig targets that give a consistent and repeatable tone all the way around. That will help dig less iron too, I know he took a chance on one target in the video but he was getting that high tone every time 

I love using Relic, but that high tone when I'm over a huge piece of iron kettle or something really hurts my ears. You can't get away from it because there's no discrimination. When I'm seeing oyster shells on the ground I can count on it now.

I find this program chatty but pleasant, it's great for comfort in heavy trash with those slight adjustments. 👍

I am going to create a similar program like the Colonel suggested using General for the moisture subtraction and call it "Gekko" or something, 🤣 I may try @raziel900's idea of dropping the tone break to 35 as well. Heading out to the spot(s) again today to give it a go. I have one area there where the trash is so bad it may just pull something special, i want to find a third of a Trime that got broken there. Honestly if I find anything there at all I'll be sold. That was a place I hit hard with my Equinox and the 10x5.

Chase suggested still higher reactivity like 4, that is also interesting. 🤔 I didn't have that luxury with the Equinox 600.

28 minutes ago, JCR said:

Distilled White Vinegar works well on iron relics.

Thanks JCR, I've got a bucket and I'll get a gallon. 😀 "Rural Electrolysis"...

16 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

The table below is consistent with information posted by L David Keith

Thanks Chase,

This is important, @L David Keith was the deciding factor in retrieving this artifact, I left it there because I could not glean this information well, he provided specific information that gave me the confidence to pick it up. I didn't want to get "blowed up real good".

Seriously, if you're not certain that ordinance is inert, be careful. I left this find for a while hoping the rain would wash it off and expose any kind of fuse mechanism, and even now that I am certain it is a solid ball, I still handle it with care. 

6 minutes ago, Naildiggerpro said:

Well I tried Gary’s tekkna program out today , I went to an old cellar hole that I’ve been to a lot with the deus 2 and before that with my old whites dfx with every coil that came with it. I hit it with the silver slayer program and countless other ones also, I’ve found a lot of old coins here but in last year there hasn’t been much. Anyways not to keep rambling but there is about a 10 foot are square in the front of the cellar hole and I go over that every time I’m there and today with the new program it rang out clear as a bell and out popped a 1872ih in near perfect condition , I don’t know how this program did that with the settings that he has but I’m a believer in it now 👍

Hey thanks for playing and contributing! Very cool. Maybe it was on edge and the higher reactivity caught it.

Silver Slayer was a great program, are you on V2?

11 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

If you bring two large rectangular blocks to either side, everything on a flat surface, and measure the distance between them

Thanks GB, that's a great idea. I do have some 4x4 blocks. I'll make sure the distance between them is even by measuring at the ends. 👍

Looks like a locket of some sort, must have a lot of brass in it too be so green.

21 hours ago, raziel900 said:

program number 3 with the aggressive silencer (even at 0) is the least suitable to create a base to unmask targets in the middle of the iron, following the logic I would have taken as a basis the program number 2, this is to say that logic is worth nothing in this hobby, things must be tried... And that's what I did in a medieval site full of iron and modern garbage, guys to my amazement I have to say that he unmasked some very small coins in the middle of that hell,I only changed the discrimination to 35 because some small coins sounded at 38-40 and the iron volume to 7....I was amazed and I must say that it works very well and if it works very well in a land with ancient bricks, iron of all sizes and modern garbage I think it will be good everywhere!

 

ps: i'm on 1.1 version

I agree with you that we should try stuff. 🙂 I love to!

I wonder though why you would not choose a program with moisture subtraction like General or Relic, especially General as the Colonel mentioned above, unless your part of the world is very dry. Thinking more about it, I wonder why a Frequency Addition program was chosen at all. 🤔

I also think your definition of "unmasking" differs from mine. To me, I've only seen true unmasking with an older detector on a silver coin with old iron nails placed on top of it. That detector had a mono coil.

The Deus and the Equinox, despite discriminating the nail signal completely, did not detect the coin at all, or only marginally, a faint high tone with a loud iron tone or a complete blank.

I'm thinking you are writing about co-located ferrous and non-ferrous targets, in which case high Reactivity and a small coil will find a target near iron.

I've found many things in the hole with iron in the plug, but it was always the above combination that did that, and I doubt the iron was directly above it. 🙂

V2 is so much more accurate. Gary Blackwell even hints in the video that much more was fixed or changed with that release. 

Cannon Ball update:

Brought it home today, cleaned it up a bit with a stainless grill brush.

It doesn't appear to have a British "Broad Arrow" or a French Fleur de Lis, so it's probably American. I still think it was an errant shot from a ship during the Revolution, judging from where I found it, it's corrosion, and the fact that it was almost 2 feet deep in the farm.

By this it looks to be 4.5 inches wide, maybe a little more. I tried to calculate a diameter with a tape and came up with 4.39 inches, but it appears larger than that.it looks to have a seam.

Next my wife donated a bag to the cause, I weighed it on a fish scale again after removing some of the crud.

It's around 12 pounds.

I saw a video where soaking it in vinegar was an option, I don't have the desire to fool with electrolysis.

Any other ideas?

Go to Serious Detecting website, type "titanium" in the search box.

The most expensive one is $303 with handle.

I have the Loch Ness Mini. 1.5mm titanium is strong, but not as strong as stainless. I have a CooB Shark v10 2mm stainless for that, Max 4 lbs I think. The Loch Ness on a CF handle weighs a little over 2.

5 hours ago, ColonelDan said:

Great report soldier.  👍🏻.   I’ll have to experiment with those settings but I’d like to try them using a modified General program using its conductive soil subtraction capability…just on a lark.

Good thought, especially this time of year here, and where you are it rains a lot. 👍 Relic is successful as well with conductive subtraction.

Full tones high square will give you an edge with aluminum, at least some. You get a brassy tone that is not clear. Lifting helps there too.

7 minutes ago, Rattlehead said:

I still wish v2.0 had the same ID normalization as .71. Not a huge deal, but a little annoying having to get used to new TID readings in different programs.

That took a long time for me, but it's so much better now. While I would still say it's not a "turn on and go" machine with the installed programs, once you understand how the settings work it can be a killer.

If you ever get Silver Slayer back to where it was, please post it here. 😀 I can see now where the ID shift caused problems. Or did you already?

Recently Gary Blackwell put up two videos informing us about a program someone else introduced to him - "Tekkna".

It has a whizzy name for sure, and some really odd parameters.

Here's the first video:

The idea is that it's supposed to help you find small coins in iron infested areas. Let me first mention that no program or set of parameters for the D2 is "magic", although @Rattlehead's "Silver Slayer" was as close as one could get on V0.71 in my opinion. 🙂 That was for coin shooting.

Today I went back to continue my grid search of the place I was yesterday, but I quickly found out there was really nothing else, I believe it was a spot that was used a few times for a gathering in the early 1800s, there were oyster shells everywhere and occasional big iron hits, I dug a couple of them and they were all kettle fragments.

I then switched to random hunting, located another really trashy spot further away, put the 9" on and tried Tekkna. Purely by coincidence I swung the detector a few times and got an 87 in all the trash, Tekkna really sounds off clear when you have a non-Ferrous target. Between a few odd bits of heavily squelched iron, I dug this:

Yet another Spanish coin, #5 this year. 😎 I believe it to be a Half Reale cob. The reverse is this:

Not much to go by other than the cross size, it would be much larger if it were clipped. Cobs are oddly shaped and cut.

I searched around for two more hours using this program, made a couple of tweaks to it, first iron volume which I reduced to 8, and then Audio Response which I increased to 5. I also lowered Reactivity to 2 rather than 3 and heard a lot more targets, but from then on the only stuff I got was bits of lead. I also put bottle caps at 3 because the first time I used it here I dug a bottle cap. I might change that to 5 if I get another, it really doesn't mess things up, I've found gold in the beach with it at 5.

Here's his second video posted today that gives clear instructions on how to set it up on the WS6:

And here, in a nutshell are my notes for setting it up on the RC unit if watching the first video doesn't help:

Tekkna Program

Based on Sensitive Full Tones

Disc 42

95 sensitivity

Frequency Max 40

Iron volume 10

Reactivity 3

Audio Response 4

Frequency offset 10

Bottle Caps 0

Notch off

Silencer 0

My impression of this program is that it is "interesting", it's not for the 13" coil for sure. You're going to be using it in machine gun iron hoping to squeeze one more target out. 😅 You don't need the bigger coils grabbing stuff on edge that might overwhelm the center.

I lowered iron volume because it really hammers you, 8 is rather comfortable. I raised Audio Response because I wanted targets to jump out slightly more, and lowered Reactivity because I felt I wasn't hearing enough.

I don't think the program is really "unmasking" anything, it's just giving you a better chance to find good stuff in the bad stuff. From other tests I've done live in the field I have yet to see any D2 mode "unmask", that seems to be a myth to me.

If you're like Gary (I am) and want to feel like you're hearing everything, albeit a whisper until you catch a diggable target, it works rather well for that. It did find a small desirable coin in a bed of crap. Understand though, my area of the country has a lot of Spanish silver, you're not gonna just go out and have it appear. 🤣

I'm pretty sure the UK is a lot different than my mild soil here in Virginia, but Tekkna might be another tool to add. I did not dig any iron, and had no instance where I might have.

Check it out. I'll be testing it a lot more very soon, and will update this with any other observations I make.

GL, HH 🍀