Difference Between Iron False And Co-located Signals?

[Geologyhound]

I was hunting at a site yesterday.  Interference from the neighboring cell tower was much better than last week.  I was hunting a slightly different area with fewer targets, so I could run my D2 flat out.  Modified fast, sensitivity Max, reactivity zero.

I hit several good signals – at least for about 2/3 of the swing angles.  The other third of the arc gave me iron tones.  Every one I dug was a crusty old iron nail, or part of a nail.  Note that I was only digging these signals if they were small. The large ones with iron tones with a small good tone on the end I passed over.  I checked the holes again after recovering each nail and there was nothing left - not even in pinpoint mode.  The MI6 also couldn’t find anything else in the hole or plug.  These were not even that deep - generally 6 inches or less.

For these small targets, how do you tell the difference between true iron false and a good target co-located with iron?

[CPT_GhostLight]

1 hour ago, Geologyhound said:

I was hunting at a site yesterday.  Interference from the neighboring cell tower was much better than last week.  I was hunting a slightly different area with fewer targets, so I could run my D2 flat out.  Modified fast, sensitivity Max, reactivity zero.

I hit several good signals – at least for about 2/3 of the swing angles.  The other third of the arc gave me iron tones.  Every one I dug was a crusty old iron nail, or part of a nail.  Note that I was only digging these signals if they were small. The large ones with iron tones with a small good tone on the end I passed over.  I checked the holes again after recovering each nail and there was nothing left - not even in pinpoint mode.  The MI6 also couldn’t find anything else in the hole or plug.  These were not even that deep - generally 6 inches or less.

For these small targets, how do you tell the difference between true iron false and a good target co-located with iron?

That's the Million Dollar question. Iron nails, straight, broken, bent, or otherwise are the relic hunter's curse. Shallow nails can be somewhat mitigated by the Silencer or by using Relic mode with a higher IAR setting.

Also, this thread has a video from the Gary which gives tips on hunting in iron:

 

[Geologyhound]

I was also running iron volume four, B caps five, and silencer two, square, pitch.  The nails I was catching were in the medium range (around 4 to 6 inches).

I have only had my D2 for about a month. Still climbing my way up the learning curve - low gear...  I may just have to take one of those nails I recovered, drop it in a hole and stick a coin close to it and see what happens.

So far, I have experimented back-and-forth with square versus PWM.  Even with nails and can slaw, I can’t discern a difference in tone with PWM from different approach directions. So for now, I’ve been sticking with square pitch trying to build experience and trust.

In this situation with sparse iron, would a higher silencer setting help?  As I’m running off of a modified fast I don’t think I have access to IAR, do I?  I have F350 Platinum’s relic reaper program set up in the neighboring slot, so I suppose I could just switch back to that and maybe tweak the IAR for the day.  But, I don’t know how deep a zone that would help before it perhaps became counterproductive.

[TJ Jeepguy]

3 hours ago, Geologyhound said:

I was also running iron volume four, B caps five, and silencer two, square, pitch.  The nails I was catching were in the medium range (around 4 to 6 inches).

I have only had my D2 for about a month. Still climbing my way up the learning curve - low gear...  I may just have to take one of those nails I recovered, drop it in a hole and stick a coin close to it and see what happens.

So far, I have experimented back-and-forth with square versus PWM.  Even with nails and can slaw, I can’t discern a difference in tone with PWM from different approach directions. So for now, I’ve been sticking with square pitch trying to build experience and trust.

In this situation with sparse iron, would a higher silencer setting help?  As I’m running off of a modified fast I don’t think I have access to IAR, do I?  I have F350 Platinum’s relic reaper program set up in the neighboring slot, so I suppose I could just switch back to that and maybe tweak the IAR for the day.  But, I don’t know how deep a zone that would help before it perhaps became counterproductive.

Disc IAR is only available in gold and relic.  One thing that helps train the ear with the deus is the XY screen.  It for the most part displays what you’re hearing.  Not 100% but it can help.  

[CPT_GhostLight]

You mentioned that you are running Sensitivty maxed out. That can actually work against you if your soil is highly mineralized and/or if you're in high iron polluted ground. That's like trying to dig a hole in the ground with a garden hose on full blast... you get too much blow back to do any good. Also running maxed out can distort the audio signal on targets and make it harder to hear differences in target responses.  Sometimes less is more.

On relic sites, I like to run Fast unfiltered (Silencer 0, B.Caps 0), Sensitivity from 92-96, Reactivity 1.5, and adjust accordingly as conditions change. I'm in heavily mineralized ground most of the time so it may be different where you are. I know a lot of the Eastern US hunters are in mild to very low mineralization and can run maxed out with no problems.

Nails tend to be shallower than big iron, but they can be found at any level. The trick to getting past nails to non-ferrous targets is to focus the transmit power. Higher output power (Sensitivity) doesn't blow past the nails to the good stuff below, it "lights up" the nails more causing them to obscure good signals and false more. Reducing Sensitivity can reduce the response of the nails allowing non-ferrous targets to sound off.

Too much iron filtering can also mask good targets, causing everthing iron and near iron to be reported as iron.

The D2 is a sofisicated machine capable of operating in multiple environments at many levels, so it will take time to learn, but experimenting in a test garden and, more importantly, in the field will help you learn it faster.

Here's some wise words from the Master: