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The following is more of a modest technical report than the story of my latest session on the seafloor. Days ago I posted my (negative) impressions of the impact of beach programs on thin or open targets, comparing stainless steel necklaces and bracelets to gold on the ID scale. Briefly summarized, I found no way to achieve an efficient and stable setting that could be reused underwater in a salty environment. Based on P12 and after several modifications, I arrived at the only final setting that allowed me to conduct effective research. Assuming a pair of frequencies (never stated), we still know a limit of 14/24/40 kHz in the menu. However, I got the impression that in the P12 the sensitivity was higher having slightly more interference though on 24Khz and reduced sensitivity down to 88. This makes me think of a second frequency (less than 24 kHz, coupled as 14/24 rather than 4/14 in diving mode. Again, I assume that in P11 the behavior is less responsive to thin targets in spite changing on 40 kHz. And to finish, I add that no particular filter changed the audio noise for the better outside of a high value of reactivity on 2.5 . Here is a quick summary of the program. Reactivity 2.5 Sensitivity 90 Salt sens 8 Pitch tone Treshold 0 B.caps 0 Notch 0 Silencer 5 Iron vol 5 Disc 5.0 Audio filter 5 GB tracking Magnetic reject and underhere a common fish finally audible among way too noise reduced.

Last night I just had to get OUT and detect. We haven't had many waves but you just have to get out in the night sky and low tide and detect. A few dry sand coins and then only a nickel for over a mile. On the way back I got a bit of an iffy signal and it turned out to be a corroded, copper cross. At least it was something. While I was digging it around 1 AM a guy came up to me and just was asking questions. I told him about the energy needed to make targets get washed up. I showed him what I found and upon his parting he wished me good finds. That was nice. About 20 minutes later I got a 12 with the 800/11 and dug down about 7 inches and discovered this 'thing' I've never seen before. It's a ring but for two fingers. Then I couldn't read it to know if it was real or not. I couldn't make out a k so I thought it might be cheap. When I got it home I could see some workings and also read 417. It weighs 6.7g. The internet says it is 10K. Yahoo! It has been a few months since a gold ring ... that this one is a double. But what do you call it? What are the key words? I found this one online for sale from a pawn shop. It is 3.6g. Solid 10K Yellow Gold Two Finger Bar Ring 3.6gr. Size 5 | eBay

Time to rejoice everyone, because the impossible is now possible! You see, a detectorist on another forum, told other members that Target Trace on the Manticore can distinguish between aluminum trash and gold jewelry. Imagine that? No more digging any of that trash when hunting for gold jewelry! Yes, you read that right. TT on the Manti can actually defy the laws of electromagnetism. However, before you throw out all your other detectors, you probably should know that she's a Minelab Rep and also thinks TT shows the shape of the targets😁

I've primarily been a beach hunter and a coinshooter in the dirt but I'm looking to add parks and fields to hunt for rings. I'm curious where everyone finds the majority of their rings especially in park/sports field type settings. Over the years I've heard several things about where most rings are to be found in parks but never tried to prove them true. Since this is a forum dedicated to learning I'm hoping some of you ringmasters might share the best places to look. Thanks Skate

It's been a while, I also need to do a wrap up of relic season, but I went to Myrtle Beach for a week. I was hoping to score some high end stuff, but I was in the Southern campground district instead of the hotel strip. Spring break had just ended two days before we got there. The campground is enormous, more than 800 campsites and about 2,000 lease/rental houses. It also has about a mile of beach, and there are two more large campgrounds heading north as well as a couple large condo buildings. Each morning and most afternoons I got to hunt the beach at low tide, the tide is about 5 feet so it goes way out. There were 4 sections, High dry, trough as seen above, mid dry, and wet. The top 3 were all random finds, in the wet you could zigzag for a short time to the surf, and soon you would find a line of good finds. The best stuff was probably in the surf trough but I didn't go in the water, especially after seeing a kid running down the beach with a 3 foot shark in his hands to show his parents. 😀 Tried to get a good shot but all I got was this: I know, what shark? 🤔 You can see the hotel district in the background, never made it there, it was about 4 miles up the beach. Overall it was kinda disappointing, but still fun and I lost over 5 pounds over the week. I met other detectorists who were complaining instead of lying about the dearth of finds, I kinda had to laugh. I was using the Deus 2 with the 13" coil and a modified Beach Sensitive program done sort of like my Relic Reaper program. No disc, no notch, ears for discrimination. I knew from reading others' posts that there would be all kinds of crazy IDs and sometimes no ID, but I dug everything that sounded good. Thing was everything was deep for the most part. I got so I'd scoop at least 5 times not only to beat fill-in, but to get to the find which was usually in the 4th or 5th scoop, anywhere from 8-12" deep. Because using square full tones and turning on a find identifies almost all iron, I had no problem skipping it but dug some randomly either because it was close to the surface and dangerous, or just to check. I did find that low tones with IDs of 5 to 15 were usually bling jewelry. I also blessed the 'no beach tents' signs which kept stakes to a minimum. It was the only thing you couldn't legally do on the beach 🤣 Here's my Day 1 trash getting used to the place: Glad I got rid of that surface trap iron! This is my last days' trash showing that I got better but still watched for surface iron: Ok. Now for the finds: Crap finds Bling finds A small handful of junk jewelry including a tungsten ring, a stainless spinner, 3 earrings, a tiny ankle bracelet chain, and some earring parts. The best one is below, .925 with a big CZ. Big finds: A huge monster truck Hummer that was 2 feet down, a small toy car, sunglasses. An iPhone 13 and case that was about 6" under the surf and vertical, it would have been 6 feet under water at high tide so it is dead. A huge bling buckle found close to the surf about a foot down, I think it took 8 scoops to get it. It has rhinestones or CZs and is some kind of plated zinc. https://www.buckle.com/blazin-roxx-glitz-belt-buckle/prd-5491537906 Coins: 99 coins, oldest was probably 70s. The place was huge and so nice that we booked it again next year before leaving, my wife loves the local shopping and restaurants. Shame I couldn't get her a gold or silver ring. A few more gratuitous photos of the place: Cool spider crab

More than a few times, someone explained that it is not possible to balance the terrain manually in multifrequency, as it is certainly easier to do with mono. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was waiting for this feature in the new update, considering that on the Orx at the beach on wet sand, a dutiful 25/27 is ideal for quieting saline terrain. Strangely on the Deus2 I get a much more "loaded" balance, ranging between 79 and 87, when in contrast I get false signal on hot rocks and clay around 25/28... Can someone explain how to deal with this thing lowering at the best the G.B. ? I figured out to move the coil higher on the seafloor to capture a different grab, but it works relatively and never obtained a lower number than 70. What are we talking about if the proper setting is usually 25/28 for the wet/salt/sand?

Today I´m preparing for tomorrow dive in my usual and devastated gulf spot... After the shaft accident with the new toy the last week, Ive been captured by a stupid doubt... What about the use of a single frequency on the Ctx ? I know, this thing isn´t possible due to the kind of machine with an FBS range continuously at work, but somewhere I found a text related to the noise cancel channel and the different frequency in use... So In these years, I think the succesful use of a frequency among 15 and 20 Khz in salty environment it is not a secret anymore but what about this particular machine stated at 1 to 100Khz? So tomorrow morning I want to try all of the 11 channels and manual settings for sensitivity and noise cancel, adding the ground/coin separation that for sure is the more stable giving a less jumpy target ID... Feel free to laugh at this post but I feel like a child again...

Making fake rings to fake out detectorists

Was lucky enough to find an 18 k chain and pendant on my second time out with the Manticore. Chain has a silver pendant and a gold pendant , looks like there was a second gold pendant that has come off. 33 gram with the silver pendant. I have been told that the gold pendant most probably holds a portion of someone's ashes. Found in the wet sand around 25 cm deep. It was the silver pendant that I heard. My guess is that most beach detectors would have heard the silver pendant, but it was nice to get some gold with the Manticore. So far I am really enjoying the Manticore on the beach and in the water. Haven’t had it in fast moving water yet, but it is working great in tidal pools.

I was able to get out a couple times this weekend to a local soccer complex. I stayed on the sidelines and in the shaded areas. I took the Deus II with the 11" on Saturday and was able to find 121 coins in 3 hours. There were 29 quarters and 29 dimes along with mostly pennies. I have hit this place many times before with the Equinox 800, so I was a bit surprised by the number of high conductors that sounded through the machine gun sounds of bottle caps and pull tabs. I ran the fast program with a few changes. The black ring that came from behind tall netting that stops balls from going into the water, is stainless. The pendant was right in front of a team bench; there were many targets under the coil, but the 72 ID was unwaivering. The other ring is aluminum. Today, I took the Equinox out for old times sake with the 15" coil. I wanted to cover some ground and focus on numbers between 5-12. The gold helmet, the second one I have found (the first was also at this park by the basketball area), rang up a steady 8. I was in Park 1 with the horseshoe engaged and 7 recovery speed.

Tough times for me lately to edit a whole video 🥲. Shorts seem to be the only way to hold and share the memory of a session. Here, the baptism of Deus2 🔥 Happy hunting to all of You! https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrXhZHQqDpU/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I casually found this video and the results are actually confusing me...A lot🤐. Nothing to say for most of the programs but look what a difference on gold signals when in diving/beach and beach sens 😬. Not to mention the higher vdi reading (twice) when in mono 17Khz... Please, can someone explain what I'm seeing?

Had a couple of hours after work today to get out and detect in 30 mph north winds at a school playground. 10 gram .925 sterling and garnet ring, 14K gold filled 😪 ring and a POG Slammer Whammer Heavy Metal game piece that just about gave me a heart attack since it is the size of a Morgan/Peace/Ike dollar. Deus 2 is pretty fun on modern trashed sites. Using Sensitive 5 tones square wave audio. These weren't difficult/advanced targets. They were in the 4 to 6" depth range. Had time to dig over $3 in US clad too. Clad pays for gas at least for my short trips.

I had about 40 minutes to spare today before it got dark. Went to a local park which has a history of having very unfriendly fire ants in mounds hidden by the grass. I used the 10x5 on the Equinox 800 again. Last target of the day was this ring next to the parking lot about 2 feet away from a chain link fence. The TID was 27. Park 1, 7 recovery, all metal, 50 tones

Went to a local tot lot today for about 1 1/2 hours. I have detected there in the past, but this time had the 10x5 on the Equinox 800 in Park 1 with 7 reactivity as I focused along the chain link fencing. The first gold, the small butterfly, gave a strong, solid 6 TID. The other gold displayed a locked-in 8 for the TID. It's been a while since I've been detecting and these rings are the first gold of the year. They were each about 1" deep in the very sandy soil. The Smithsonian jewelry piece displayed a 34-38 TID.

Someone asked recently about finding small gold with a 15" coil at the beach. I found a little patch today and slowed down enough to find a couple of pieces of tiny jewelry. If you have a compatible detector (x-terra pro) then this 15" coil should work. Will it work on others as well?

So, been a good while since I posted anything I've found! The beaches here have been pretty lean, since our back to back hurricanes washed everything out, and redeposited virgin sand! Only an odd Spanish coin or two, by a lucky few! And "mostly" very few recent drops for the rest of us! But there's always somewhere to hunt, even if it's not your preferred areas! Today was one such day! I've been slowly following up on some historical research, as many of you do, since I moved here about a year ago! And decided to work some old sidewalk strips! I had the 5x10 Coiltek on the 800, as I knew that there is always tons of trash in these spots! And while I didn't turn up any "vintage" coins🤯, just the regular clad and such, I did get a nice repeatable 33-34, that turned out to be a nice silver ring! While it won't win any value awards, it actually fit me perfectly! So it's a keeper! I'd be very happy with at least one silver (or gold) "something" a month, and so far, I'm on track this year! Last month was a nice Mercury dime at a WW2 Barracks area! But I can't wait for the beaches to pick up, with some Spanish, or Jewelry, etc... I'm not picky!!😁 And while I wouldn't wish for any more devastating hurricanes like we just had, a few well placed, "out-to-sea beach strippers" would be ok by me!👍👍

Yesterday I went to my beach and left the 6" Equinox coil on for an extended hunt. I had used it a couple of days before on a high iron beach so that I could hear targets clearly. Yesterday's hunt turned out to be an experimentation of sorts. What could I really find on a 'tough' beach with the little coil. I've found gold jewelry on the beach with it before. When I first got the coil I wasn't able to go nugget hunting so I went to a beach. Right out of the box as they say I found 4 little gold rings many years ago. I pretty much put the little coil away over the years in favor of the 15" coil and occasionally the 11" coil. Coverage is the operating logic to that. I feel 'naked' without the big coil. Yesterday I was willing to experiment. After selecting the frequency and then ground balancing I was able to go to 25 on the sensitivity/gain. This let me hear my threshold and without chatter so it was a matter of swing speed. There weren't a whole lot of targets so each time I'd find one I would try to find a patch. I managed to find a couple of them as you can see and some interesting targets in the 1.5 hour hunt. The rack on the left is one of the largest objects I've found on this beach. It was down about 8" and it weighs about 5 lbs. Some of the quarters were down about the same depth. The knife blades were iffys I think because they are mostly stainless steel. The silver Thailand earrings were in the wave wash and are very light at 3.2 g and were found together as displayed. After a bit of learning the capabilities of the little coil again I then wondered what is best. Do you take a small coil and use it at maximum sensitivity or do you take a larger coil and turn down the gain? This would go for other types of detecting as well. This is certainly a reason to have multiple coils.

Kindly identify this mineral,

I don't know if it's the same on cellphones but on computers there are (Google?) ads at the top of each page and another interspersed among the posts to that thread. I'm not complaining as I realize they help pay the bills. I seldom click on them (don't want to targetted any more deeply than I already am) but occasionally I do. I noticed the following ad and took a screenshot: You can see on the inside of the ring it says 'S925'. OK, what gives? Does the 'S' mean 'plated' because it's hard for me to believe a solid sterling ring (with lots of blingy 'stones') is only $2.60. Or is it like those sites that tell you "so-and-so got a new iPhone for $5.95...")? I also wondered if it's fake marking. I've read you guys getting gold jewelry which was marked a certain Karat and it turning out to be plated. Tougher and tougher everyday for detectorists, beach and jewelry specialists included.

One last day of 2022, so out I went to a local ballfield next to a rec. center. As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, the drops began with distant rumblings. Sensing a deluge was not imminent, I started with the playground that is padded with wood chips. The swing set gave up some coins as did the rest of the structures. I was almost under the monkey bars when I got a softish solid 6-7 ID in 50 tones. After taking a bit of time to locate the item, even with the pinpointer, the silver, sliver moon showed its face. About 3 feet away, the same numbers displayed which turned out to be the back of the earring; the 10x5 is amazing at finding small stuff! After that, I detected a bit in the turf as the rain intensified. I hit a strange signal that was about a 17 ID. The lapel pin, along with the two backing pieces, was about 4 inches down. Happy hunting to you all in the new year!

Was out to a local basketball court the other day trying to pad my totals for 2022. I was digging whatever had good, solid sounds using the 10x5 on the Equinox. Just a short time into the hunt, I noticed that a line of shrubbery that had been along one side of the court was no longer there. I started in the middle and worked way to the right side. There were many pennies and dimes, with a few nickels. Quarters were not in the mix, so when a 32-34 ID showed up, it easily caught my attention. Down in the soft dirt, among some roots, a large silver spinner ring popped out, likely lost while someone played ball and it rolled under the shrubs. I just happened to be the first person to detect the area after the removal. The gold ring is my wedding band which looks like a a child's ring next to the silver monster. Park 1, all metal, 7 recovery, 50 tones

Went to a local soccer complex for a few hours today in cloudy and cool (68°) Florida. (Sorry to those with frozen ground right now. If it makes you feel better, I went in shorts and a t-shirt just to pretend that I was suffering in the cold. 😁) The 15" coil on the Equinox covers a bunch of ground and can still find the goods, especially quarters, of which ai got about 15 today. The signal for this, I assume one-of-a-kind, silver bracelet was sketchy and jumped around a lot between 10 and 29. The place is LITTERED with bottle caps which sound very similar at this field. It was just under the surface, so I thought I would stop and investigate; must have been something about the largeness of the signal that caught my ear using 50 tones. There is no 925 stamp, but the aluminum polish really blackened up nicely and it sounds almost like a very large silver quarter when dropped. Park 1, all metal, 7 recovery

I had about 90 minutes for this shallow water hunt - No gold this time, but did manage a pair of silver rings. The smaller is .925, the larger of the two with the opal is unmarked but appears distinctly silver and is quite a looker. The dark wedding bands are tungsten carbide, one with koa wood. My collection of the tungsten carbide / stainless steel rings is growing and growing. Ugh. It was nice to get out for a bit. Hoping to get back out with the 800 and try again later this week. rich