Ctx-3030 Sensitivity

[bklein]

I hunt Southern California beaches with my CTX. Have been for probably almost ten years. When I first started, I was experimenting with Sensitivity. I’d try Auto or Auto +3 and the next week or two try Manual. When running Manual I’d have to back off of 30 due to too much random noise. Over time though my brain got to ignore the noise and I could run at 30 most of the time. Now, I run at 30 all the time and am wishing it could go higher. Not because of my brain - because the detector’s quiet. In this forum I see guys saying they are running at 23. The CTX misses stuff at 23. I have a collection of 5 CTX’s I’ve bought needing repair and fixed them. I usually stick to my original machine on hunts but I have run bench depth tests on all of them and they all run the same.   So what the heck?  Anyone else notice the difference over the years?  Maybe the tx coil has integrity issues - I’ve seen this is junk older coils I took apart.  

[fogrider]

I run a 3 year old CTX. All my hunting is on dry soil.

So far I haven't noticed a reduction in sensitivity on the 11 inch coil. I tend to run Manual 22, or Auto +3.

I use Manual 22 on a custom coin ID program.

I've dug silver dimes at 10 inches on Auto +3.

If I run higher than 22 on all-metal, the falsing is often maddening. Hot rocks and mineralized soil start giving strong signals. I can do it, but it's exhausting. Sounds like you've adapted to it.

 

 

 

[Vladimir 06660]

I am hunting for sensitivity 30 with a 17" coil ..... 11" I use in the surf zone or underwater search. I use EMI detuning to compensate for the ground .... the device is quiet - if there is noise, I play detuning from electromagnetic interference.
You are moving in the right direction..... if you reduce the number of turns in TX a little, the sensitivity to small targets should increase .... if you increase the number of turns a little, the depth for larger targets will increase.
There is no time to rework the sensor - as soon as I have the opportunity , I will improve the characteristics of the detector .

[bklein]

What do you guys set the Volume Gain to? Maybe that would explain it - I think I ran that pretty high in the early days. Just checked and its at 19 so that’s pretty low.  I might have been doing tests at home and turned it down because of EMI, and then forgot.  

[bklein]

Actually it was a combination of both Volume Gain and Volume Limit that needed adjustment.  Now there is more falsing that sometimes forces a recheck of an area.  Some of those are a target right at the depth limit.  After playing with these settings I am much more confident that when I don’t hear anything there really is nothing there.  Unfortunately my beaches are still lacking targets even though some the high tides have some aggressive surges. They are coming at such fast speeds they can easily knock you over if you aren’t looking.