A Mercury Day

[angellionel]

Today afternoon I completed the grid I did not get to finish during yesterday's hunt. I also meandered quite a bit after that. This time the park yielded eight silver coins, a 1952-D Washington quarter, a 1950 Roosevelt dime, and six mercury dimes, dated 1919, 1924, 1929,1935-D, 1939, and 1942.

Here are several mercury dimes while still encased in soil.

http://www.angellionel.com/myfinds/2010/March/mercinsoil01_031210.jpg

http://www.angellionel.com/myfinds/2010/March/mercinsoil02_031210.jpg

http://www.angellionel.com/myfinds/2010/March/mercinsoil03_031210.jpg

http://www.angellionel.com/myfinds/2010/March/mercinsoil04_031210.jpg


A silver group shot.

http://www.angellionel.com/myfinds/2010/March/silvercoins_031210.jpg


And ten wheat cents, plus a copper ring.

http://www.angellionel.com/myfinds/2010/March/wheatcents_031210.jpg


HH!

[Epi-hunter]

Definitely a mercury day. I'm glad you were able to pull still more silvers from that place! I'm sure there is still more there.

[coinnut]

Not giving up yet are you? :lol: There has got to be a Standing Liberty Quarter out there, with a date of course, :lol: for you to find. Nice hall and nice totals so far this year. :thumbsup01:

[tanacat]

Woo Hoo! Congrats on another good haul... :thumbsup01:

[kevinslack]

very nice hall, what does your screen look like that you use. i discriminat co 123 and 50 and on the fe 27 to 35 after about 3 hours of hunting its all i can take from all the sounds coming in.

[angellionel]

Definitely a mercury day. I'm glad you were able to pull still more silvers from that place! I'm sure there is still more there.


I will try to get back to that park again. I'm sure there is more silver to be found under the abundance of thrash that litters many sections of that park. :yes:



Not giving up yet are you? :lol: There has got to be a Standing Liberty Quarter out there, with a date of course, :lol: for you to find. Nice hall and nice totals so far this year. :thumbsup01:


I can't help it. :lol: Those Standing Liberty quarters sure are elusive though! :bangahead02: I will get another before the year is over. :cheesysmile:



Woo Hoo! Congrats on another good haul... :thumbsup01:


Thanks, Tana. :)



very nice hall, what does your screen look like that you use. i discriminat co 123 and 50 and on the fe 27 to 35 after about 3 hours of hunting its all i can take from all the sounds coming in.


I use multi-tones all the time, even in the trashiest of grounds. But I am used to it. I do know what you mean about hearing those tones for many hours though.

Below is a screen shot of the discrimination pattern I am using. It's just a slightly modified version of Andy Sabish's coin pattern. The settings that go along with them are ones I settled on after doing much field testing the first few weeks I had the E-Trac. You can see them here (http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/showthread.php?686-E-Trac-User-Settings-And-Programs).

[tanacat]

I think the tones program themselves in our minds-our subconscious? It's pretty neat... I'm getting to know many of them without looking -291 tones w/XLT- hard to believe actually, that's a lot of tones!!! :confused: How many with ETrac?

[angellionel]

I think the tones program themselves in our minds-our subconscious? It's pretty neat... I'm getting to know many of them without looking -291 tones w/XLT- hard to believe actually, that's a lot of tones!!! :confused: How many with ETrac?


The DFX, which I have used for several years, also has the 291 tone range. I always used ToneID with that machine, and loved it. :yes: I'm not really sure about the E-Trac. :confused: It does have 30 adjustable steps for tone variability, which gradually increases the tonal range as the setting goes higher. Working a highly trashy area with a high tone variability and with Multi-Tones on can make even a deaf person cringe. I have mine set at 29. It works well for me.

[SeabeeRon]

Like the way you take pix of the coins still in soil or with dirt on them. Another great haul Angel! :twirlingeyes:

[RickO]

Nice hunt Angel... the Mercs, WLH's and Buffs signified the last of the attractive US coins. RickO

[toehead]

Wow, look at all those Merc's. The 39 sure came out of the ground purdy!! And I have yet to find one. I think this year will be my merc year.----I hope.

[hoser]

Another super day my friend. I too love the way you take your pics. It tells it all. Well done. :thumbsup01:

[Beefcake]

I can't wait to take vids and stuff of my digs and finds, but for now I'm kinda out of sorts with just getting the feel of the pinpoint and target ID. Your pics are great!

[Beefcake]

OK... I'm pretty sure I got everything loaded correctly and gave my best effort at copying your pattern on the screen above. The questions are coming as a know nothing, so they are only out of curiosity...obviously, you are doing quite well with the pattern and settings..so here goes
Questions:
This is a bit of a noisy setting, which is not a problem, I hunt by sound, what is the reasoning behind having so much of the lower end not discriminated?

I noticed that you opened up the right corner on the coin program...does this allow for the large silvers to be heard?

Is there any way you could put up your cut off points on the pattern where you closed and opened up to be sure I'm in the right pattern? As in block the Fe's 01's up to Co 38 or where ever... block open complete Fe rows for all of 11's thru 18's. I'm just making up numbers without looking.

Do you dig the signals that are solid and may fall in the higher number end of the Fe's that were usually blocked out? If so, what normally falls in that area and do you dig alot of Iron objects?

These are just a few... Thanks for the info!

[angellionel]

OK... I'm pretty sure I got everything loaded correctly and gave my best effort at copying your pattern on the screen above. The questions are coming as a know nothing, so they are only out of curiosity...obviously, you are doing quite well with the pattern and settings..so here goes
Questions:
This is a bit of a noisy setting, which is not a problem, I hunt by sound, what is the reasoning behind having so much of the lower end not discriminated?


You don't want to discriminate too much of the lower region because you will risk missing very deep targets. Deeply buried coins will have the Fe bouncing quite a bit, hitting as high as 27 at times. Rejecting any more of that region would cause such signals to be ignored, especially when the target is near iron. You can elect to accept more of that region, but be prepared to deal with more iron.



I noticed that you opened up the right corner on the coin program...does this allow for the large silvers to be heard?


Yes. You don't want to reject that area, else you risk missing the larger silver coins.



Is there any way you could put up your cut off points on the pattern where you closed and opened up to be sure I'm in the right pattern? As in block the Fe's 01's up to Co 38 or where ever... block open complete Fe rows for all of 11's thru 18's. I'm just making up numbers without looking.


The discrimination pattern is just a slightly modified version of the one Andy Sabisch has posted elsewhere. Here are the numbers rejected within the pattern:

Left hand side: Reject Co values 00 to 03 top to bottom. I opened up the foil area on the pattern I'm using, though, as you can see from the image I had included above.

Bottom: Reject everything from Fe 28 on.

Right: Reject Co 50 top to bottom to eliminate hot rocks if they are a problem in your area. Otherwise you can leave it as accepted.

Top: Reject from FE 00 to FE 08 up to CO 32. The smaller rejected region is FE 03, up to CO 37. You can play with this area to see what works for you. I elected to leave it as is, though I am working on another pattern where some of the area is opened up.



Do you dig the signals that are solid and may fall in the higher number end of the Fe's that were usually blocked out? If so, what normally falls in that area and do you dig alot of Iron objects?


If you are seeking very deep targets and expecting solid signals, then you are in for a rude awakening. :shocked02: For the most part silver will sound off quite nicely, but the very deep ones can be tricky at times, especially when you are also dealing with surface trash. I rely on the tones to help me identify such targets, using the Fe and Co numbers as a second means of determining what may be under the coil. I dig a minimal amount of iron, but I do dig some.

I hope that helps. :yes:

[Beefcake]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all that! That will help greatly... I don't have Andy's book and don't care to hunt him down on some other forum... You're every bit of an expert as he is and I know right where to find you! Thanks Angel!

[angellionel]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all that! That will help greatly... I don't have Andy's book and don't care to hunt him down on some other forum... You're every bit of an expert as he is and I know right where to find you! Thanks Angel!


Thank you for the compliment, BC. :)

[Beefcake]

I tried your setup tonight in my yard... After 20 or so hunts... I guess I've about got it all! LOL Oh my is that a noisy program. I'm getting tones nearly every half step. I dug a total of 9 rusty nails and one modern nickel. If you were to open up the right corner on the coins program and continue to discriminate out the high # Fe's the way the coin program does... What is the best way to get good depth and still keep the discrimination of iron and maybe quiet the program? Any suggestions. I noticed that in air test, that the basic coin program tends to poop out at about 8. What adjustments would you recommend to get to the ~10-12 range with the coin program? If you are in a trashy area...wouldn't that program just sing constantly?

[cliff490]

Could these patterns or settings that BC is asking about be copied to his detector with the Xchange software?
So that there would be no guessing or mistakes?

[Beefcake]

Does anyone ever even use the exchange software??? Just curious?

[hoser]

Well its loaded on my computer but thats as far as I got with it. :embarrassed:

[angellionel]

I tried your setup tonight in my yard... After 20 or so hunts... I guess I've about got it all! LOL Oh my is that a noisy program. I'm getting tones nearly every half step. I dug a total of 9 rusty nails and one modern nickel. If you were to open up the right corner on the coins program and continue to discriminate out the high # Fe's the way the coin program does... What is the best way to get good depth and still keep the discrimination of iron and maybe quiet the program? Any suggestions. I noticed that in air test, that the basic coin program tends to poop out at about 8. What adjustments would you recommend to get to the ~10-12 range with the coin program?


Where you using manual sensitivity? You shouldn't be getting any falsing at most park. Try auto sensitivity +3. It will take a bit of time, but you should be able to identify the tones nails produce. :yes: They also tend to not pinpoint on the same spot when switching to pinpoint mode from discrimination mode.

The stock coin program is a good start, but there is too much area discriminated out for my taste. I would open it up at least to Fe 24. The discrimination pattern I'm using is opened up to Fe 27. Have Deep On too. Once you have the discrimination pattern set experiment with the settings until you have something you like, then use it as a base making changes out in the field as needed.



If you are in a trashy area...wouldn't that program just sing constantly?


Like a canary. :lol: I'm used to it though. It has helped me retrieve many silver coins from such trashy areas. :thumbsup01:



Could these patterns or settings that BC is asking about be copied to his detector with the Xchange software?
So that there would be no guessing or mistakes?


They can, but the setting themselves are very easy to change. The Xchange software can come in handy when exchanging discrimination patterns with others though. :yes:



Does anyone ever even use the exchange software??? Just curious?


I don't have it installed on my computer. It's actually fairly easy to make changes via the menu.



Well its loaded on my computer but thats as far as I got with it. :embarrassed:


Go get 'em, Bill! :thumbsup01:

[Epi-hunter]

If you are in a trashy area...wouldn't that program just sing constantly?


It is very noisy in a trashy area. What Angel has learned to do is to identify the high pitch of silver through the trashy sounds. He just tunes everything else out. It's like autopilot for him. He moves extremely slowly through these areas and when he hears the high pitch chirp of silver among the other sounds, he stops and hovers very slowly, very short passes over the area until it locks on to the good target... and it does. I have seen him do it many times. I have done it also, but it's not so much autopilot for me yet :lol:

The coil is fantastic for separating good targets from trash. That is where he is picking up most of his silver now... the trashy areas where other detectors have not been able to perform. In areas that have been detected over and over for decades. He called me this afternoon from an trashy area that he had hit last year very well (and found silver) with my Explorer SE,.... but today, going over that same small area with the E-Trac, he pulled two more nice silvers from the trash that he had not been able to pick up with the SE. And the coins weren't that deep... just masked by trash.