11/22/19 Report - Comparison of Equinox and ATX Metal Detectors. Tropical Storm Sebastien.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Tropical Storm Sebastian

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Almost December and there was a tropical storm in the Atlantic named Sebastian.  It is heading away from us and won't do much of anything for our beaches.

I found out yesterday that some of those formless beaches have a lot of scattered modern coins and maybe an occasional surprise.

The ring I picked up yesterday was a fancy ring with lots of stones - one big red one and numerous clear smaller stones.  Turned out it is junk though. 

The coin count was high, but mostly pennies.

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I feel like I have enough experience with the Minelab Equinox 600 now to compare it to the Garrett ATX.  I'm just talking about general impressions.  I don't have as much experience with the Equinox yet.

First, the biggest difference to me is that the Equinox is a quick starter.  It doesn't take a long time to learn how to use it.  It seemed like it took me a really long time to get comfortable with the ATX.  They are very different types of detectors.

One thing that I like about the Equinox, and found surprising, is the effectiveness of the different detecting modes.  It has modes for Park, Field, Beach and Gold.  Each of those has two settings or sub-modes.  For example in the Beach mode there is a mode for detecting on the beach and one for detecting in the water.  You can easily select a mode and it will do a pretty good job for you.  At least that is my experience.  I was surprised, for example, how well the beach mode handled the black sand that you find on some Treasure Coast beaches.

The ATX has no preset modes but you can ground balance the detector for any type of ground.  Nothing wrong with that.  You can use either discrimination or all-metals modes.  Discrimination mode works well, but I prefer all-metals when going for the absolute maximum depth in wet salt sand.

If you aren't accustomed to ground-balancing a detector, you might find doing that tricky at first.

You can rebalance as you move to different areas of the beach.

One of the biggest differences between the two detectors is the weight.  The ATX is a heavy detector and the Equinox is light.  I'm sure there are people who would not want to lug around the ATX.

The ATX uses up battery power fairly quickly, while a fully recharged Equinox will run for a long time.

When you get a detector that like the Equinox has a meter readout, you might expect it to help you identify the type of target that is producing a signal.  I've found that very little help, and have in the past shown why.  Gold rings, for example, produce a wide range of numbers.  That makes no-dig decisions risky.

I believe you can learn to extract as much information from audio signals as you will get from a meter readout, although a meter readout can provide some useful additional information when used in conjunction with the audio and a good analysis of the site.

I didn't expect the Equinox to detect very small piece of metal like the ATX does, but it detects small pieces as well as the ATX as  long as they aren't iron.  The Equinox gives a barely audible signal on some pieces of iron that the ATX would scream.   That is the case even if you are not discriminating iron.  Sometimes you won't want to be bothered by barely visible pieces of iron or other metals.  The sensitivity of the ATX to small pieces of iron can be either a problem or a benefit, depending upon what you are trying to do.  I think most beach detectorists would not like that characteristic of the ATX.

The Equinox is a easy to use metal detector that in my opinion is very satisfactory for the vast majority of situations.  There are however still situations when I would select the ATX.  That would be especially true when I want to make extra-sure I'm not missing anything.  That is how I see it at this point.  I would use other detectors at times too, but for this discussion I'm just talking about the Equinox and ATX.

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We are still getting some fairly high tides, but the surf is down to around two or three feet.  The surf will continue to decrease for the next several days.

The weather is beautiful now.  I like it much better than those nearly 100 degree days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/28/18 Report - Metal Detectors I've Used Over The Years And My Impressions of Them.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

 Today I'll give my history and progression with metal detecting, including my impression of the various detectors that I've used.  

The first metal detector I used was a Radio Shack metal detector that my grandmother bought a long time ago.  I would guess it was in the 1950s or something.  I can't remember how old I was, but she got it and we went out to her childhood home where not much more than the stone chimney was left standing.  I recall finding some relics - but only iron and bigger things.  As I recall, correctly or not, that metal detector wouldn't detect a coin.  Maybe we didn't know how to use it.  I'm very vague about all of that now.

Years passed and I moved to Florida and bought a White's metal detector out of a Sears Roebuck catalog.  I took it to Hollywood beach and found coins.  For some reason I returned it.  I thought, again correctly or incorrectly, that something was wrong with it, but I had found enough that I was hooked.

I think my next metal detector was a Fisher Aquanaut 1280.  I found a lot with that metal detector and eventually moved from targeting coins to targeting jewelry.  I found my first ring at Hollywood Beach in the wet sand with that detector.  My parents were visiting and I took them out to show them the metal detector and quickly found that ring.  They were amazed.

That was the metal detector that got me into shallow water detecting.  It was also the metal detector that I was using when I learned the down side of discrimination.  I turned down the discrimination and started finding more small gold rings.  Discrimination on that metal detector was set by using a single knob.  There was no notch or target ID.

My impressions of the 1280 are very favorable.  I found a lot with it.  It was very reliable.  I sold it years later for almost what I paid for it new.  It paid for itself in face value coin finds in the first year.

I did have trouble with one thing on it at first.  The arm rest holder was plastic.  I broke the plastic arm rest about three times in short order and then they replaced it with a metal one.

Around this time I tried a Garrett pulse induction metal detector.  I used it a few times and noticed how hot it was to iron.  I didn't find much gold with it and thought it wasn't working well.  After getting it looked at, they said there was nothing wrong with it, and I decided to sell it.   Now I think I just didn't understand pulse induction metal detectors back then.

I got a Tesoro Royal Sabre while I was still using the 1280.  It had some interesting new features.  One was notch discrimination.  Another was what they called surface blanking.

I used the Royal Sabre mostly as a backup and on junky dry sand sites.  It was not water proof and didn't work very well in wet sand.  It worked well for years, and they had what they advertised as a life-time guarantee, so it was repaired a couple of times under warranty.  However, as I've said before, the advertised Tesoro life-time warranty is not really a life-time warranty.   When they declare a detector obsolete, they no longer will repair it.

Somewhere around that I got a two-box metal detector.   It was a Fisher Gemini something or other.  I used it some, but not much.  The best thing it did for me was find my septic tank.

At some time I got a Tesoro Stingray as a back-up for water detecting.  They didn't have it grounded right and I sent it back to them about three times without being fixed.  They eventually sent me one that had a fix.  They said it was "Jack's detector."  It worked right, so I kept it, but the fix eventually came back to bite me.  After a few years, when I sent it for warranty repairs they said it had been modified so was out of warranty, even though they were the ones that modified it.   The Stingray that one that they originally sent me never did work right.

My impression of the Tesoro detectors is that when they were right they worked ok.  They were good on small gold and I liked the notch and other features, but I wouldn't buy one today considering the type of detecting I do, and the fact that they did not honor their advertised "life-time" warranty.

My Tesoro detectors were always more of a back-up or special situation detector for me anyhow.  My wife used the Royal Sabre occasionally.  It was light and had a fast response.

I basically transitioned from the 1280 to a modified Nautilus that was modified and put in a Nikolite case and sold by Steve Noga.  That was my favorite metal detector and I found a lot with it.  That was also the time when I did my most intense and productive metal detecting, mostly in South Florida.  That was sometime in the 1980s and 1990s.  I was hitting it heavy then and doing very well.

After I got my first modified Nautilus from Steve, I used it about two or three days and called him up and asked me if he'd give me a deal on a second one.  If anything went wrong with that one, I wanted to have another one ready as a back-up.  That was a great detector for what I was doing.  It nulled on iron, so you could tell that an iron object was there, but you didn't really get a signal from iron.  Really good and deep on small gold.

I found a small hollow gold bead at Turtle Trail one day that I could barely see in the course brown sand even after I threw it onto my coil.  I moved it around on the coil and the detector would respond, but I still had a hard time seeing it.

I don't know what happened to Steve, but Herb McDonald then made a very similar home-made detector that I used after that.  Very similar, but involved more tuning.  Herb is deceased.

After that I used Excaliburs and a Minelab Sovereign detectors.  They were decent.

I also tried a White's Pulse, but was never impressed by it and didn't use it much.  The plastic parts broke down a lot.  I don't think they were made to stand up to Florida heat and sun.

My most recent detectors are a Garrett Ace 250 and a Garrett ATX.  They are at opposite ends of the spectrum.  The Ace is a light little inexpensive detector with some discrimination and target ID.  For the price, very good.  The ATX is more expensive, but very good sensitivity.  It is not for most people.  It is heavy, detects deep, including on small iron, and takes a good while to master.  It took me a long time to learn to use it well.

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The surf this weekend is down around two feet.  It will just be a foot or two higher next week.  Not much change.

Enjoy the Treasure Hunter's Cookout today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/18/17 Report - Developing Storm Headed Our Way. Metal Detecting and Electrical Interference. Sand Transport Prediction Model.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Harvey is now a tropical storm.  It is headed towards Yucatan and Mexico.  There was another one not long ago that took about the same track.

The one behind Harvey (red) is the one that looks to be headed towards Florida.  At this point it has a 70% chance of developing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

As you can see, the third will probably head north and out into the North Atlantic.

There is a good chance that the one behind Harvey will affect out beaches.  We haven't had much of anything to stir up the beaches all year.

MagicSeaWeed predicts an increase in the surf up to three or four feet by Tuesday.  We'll see.

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If you've done much detecting around the Treasure Coast, you might have noticed that there are some places where your detector becomes very erratic or noisy.  There is a place like that south of Turtle Trail.  There is another south of the Rio Mar beach access.  There is another north of Amber Sands beach access.  And there are times when Pepper Park can produce some electrical interference, but not as consistently or as much as the other sites that I mentioned.

Wikipedia says, Electromagnetic interference (EMI), also called radio-frequency interference (RFI) when in the radio frequency spectrum, is a disturbance generated by an external source that affects an electrical circuit by electromagnetic induction, electrostatic coupling, or conduction. The disturbance may degrade the performance of the circuit or even stop it from functioning. In the case of a data path, these effects can range from an increase in error rate to a total loss of the data.  Both man-made and natural sources generate changing electrical currents and voltages that can cause EMI: automobile ignition systems, mobile phones, thunderstorms, the sun and the Northern Lights. EMI frequently affects AM radios.  It can also affect mobile phones, FM radios and televisions, as well as observations for radio astronomy.

You can also get electrical interference from electrical lines, underground utility cables and train engines.  The interference can be significant enough that you won't be able to detect some locations. Some metal detectors will be more sensitive to a specific source of interference than other detectors. Some detectors will allow you to detect much closer to overhead electrical lines or other sources of electrical interference than others.  That can be an advantage.

Some detectors have adjustments you can make that will allow you to work around various sources of interference.  Just the other day I took my Ace 250 and ATX to a yard that had overhead electrical lines as well as underground cables that caused interference.  Without making adjustments, the Ace could work much closer to the cables than the ATX, however the ATX has a Frequency Scan function that helped with that situation.

When working in the middle of the yard, the ATX was very noisy and sensitivity was severely reduced, but he ATX Frequency Scan function was able to find a frequency that eliminated much of the noise.  It then worked very well where there was previously way too much interference.

On the ATX you hold the searchcoil steady and away from any metal, and push the button to activate the Frequency Scan function.  It takes 35 seconds for the ATX to complete the scan and select a quiet operating frequency.  It worked well.

At the beach I've seldom used the Frequency Scan function, except a few times at some of the locations mentioned above.  There aren't as many sources of interference at the beach, but you'll find a good number in urban areas or residential neighborhoods.

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Darrel S. said the weight found by Grant of the Capitana a few days ago, Matches the weight found on Green Cabin Wreck several years, ago. It had 6M on it, and this one 4M.  

Thanks Darrel.  I didn't remember that.

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I noticed that in my videos and previous posts I kept typing Ace 150 when it should have been Ace 250.  I made those corrections.

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Here is a scientific article on cross-shore suspended sand and bed load transport on beaches.  It is very technical and difficult to read.

Here is the link.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2007JC004203/full

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Keep watching for weather news and a possible change in beach detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/20/15 Report - Reveiw Of The Garrett ATX Extreme Part II. Gold Markings and Possible Confusion.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

ATX In Folded Position.

This is a continuation of the review of the Garrett ATX that I began yesterday.

As I said, the ATX does have discrimination.  It is simple linear discrimination with 25 incremental positions.   Low conductivity targets are the first to be discriminated.

There are 13 sensitivity settings.

For maximum detection of small and deep targets, use maximum sensitivity and zero discrimination when you can.  If there is electrical interference in the area, you can do a frequency scan to select the best operating frequency.

I mentioned yesterday that pinpointing is not easy with the ATX unless you use the pinpoint mode.   That is true of the motion mode, which is what a lot of people will use.  In non-motion mode you can sweep slowly and will not need to use the pinpoint button.

There is another pinpointing trick that I might describe some other time.

I find the visual signal strength indicator most helpful for pinpointing. I can see the peak signal strength much better than I can hear it from the auditory signal.

The ATX is a heavy detector.  That will be a problem for many people, but I find it surprisingly easy to swing considering its weight.  It comes with a harness, so that might be a solution for some.

The controls and settings are easily accessed, for the most part with one finger while you detect.

You will dig deep targets with the ATX, both good and junk.  It can get a bit tiring.

It is good on gold.  It responds to small gold very well as compared to clad coins.  It can detect small gold and chains that would be missed by many detectors, however you must use it well to get maximum performance.

I use a test target to determine how well I have the detector tuned.  I talked about that before.

For some situations, such as dry sand, the default settings might be all you need.  Just turn it on and go.  If you don't want to miss a thing, turn up the sensitivity to the max.

However if you are in the wet sand or salt water, or highly mineralized soil, you might want to make some adjustments.   If using motion mode you might want to ground balance as you move from one area to another.  That is not necessary in dry Treasure Coast beach sand.  Again, I like using a test target to make sure I am getting near peak performance.

Once you learn to use non-motion mode in salt water, that will give you the best performance.  It takes practice though, and the threshold setting is very important.  Also expect to retune frequently when using non-motion is salt water.   You may encounter audio drift.

There are some cases when you might not want to detect everything, such as on a beach cluttered with small pieces of iron.  In that case you can decrease sensitivity.

To sum it up, the ATX is a very good detector that will detect small and deep targets and is very good on gold.  It is a bit heavy and requires some practice and skill for optimal peformance.  It can beat most of the detectors being used on the beach if used well.  Like I said yesterday, if you are a person that likes to use discrimination, I'd select another detector.  You can discriminate with the ATX, but then you are minimizing the power that you paid extra money to get.

In many ways the ATX is just the opposite of the Ace 250 that I once reviewed.  I would use the Ace when I don't need maximum depth and want a detector that is easy to use.   The ATX costs nearly ten times as much as the Ace.  Of course the ATX is more rugged than the Ace.

I've heard of problems with the ATX rod freezing but I have not had that problem.  The ATX eats up batteries, but comes with rechargable batteries and a recharger.

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Often wedding rings will be inscribed with a date.  Did you know that 8-10-11 does not always indicate August 10, 2011?   It sometimes indicates the 8th day of October.  Some countries put the day before the month.

So if you see something like 20-10-2011 and are wondering how the month can be the twentieth month, it is probably the day rather than the month and your ring is from another country.

Gold purity is often given in either K (karat) or as a three digit decimal.

Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass, or in other words 24 times the mass of gold divided by the total mass of the item.   24-Karat gold is fine (99.9% Au w/w), 18-Karat gold is 18 parts gold 6 parts another metal (forming an alloy), 12-Karat gold is 12 parts gold (12 parts another metal), etc.

14k is approximately .5833% gold, but jewelers increase it to .585% for easier mixing.

Back in the old days there was a time when I used to see KP stamped on an item and thought it meant the object was gold plated.  That was a big mistake.  KP stands for Karat Plumb, where "plumb" indicates "exact."   So the KP mark is a good thing instead of a bad thing.

Look for and make good use of any markings but don't blindly accept them.  There are times when they are wrong.  Sometimes intentionally.

A lot of rings these days are 9K.   That might lead to some confusion if you do an acid test.  Normally the first container of test acid will be for 10K.

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Expect more days of calm surf on the Treasure Coast.  This is getting old.  We do still have a good negative tide.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/15/15 Report - Different Detectors For Different Beach Hunting Jobs. Rosie and Merc.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

Two Silver Dimes With Different Patinas.

Before I start my main topic for today, here are two dimes with different patinas.  The Rosie is a 1963 that was graded by a coin dealer as proof.  The Merc is a 1944 and was graded AU.

The Rosie has a lot of lustre.  The Merc is more the color that you might expect, but the surface is duller.

Under magnification you can see that the bluish color on the Rosie is a very thin coating that has not affected the sharpness of the coin's details.   Both have been stored in a plastic coin holder for a good twenty plus years.

Just an example.  Now on with my main topic for today.

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Yesterday I began a comparison of three different types of metal detectors that could be used for beach hunting, but I only got the first done.  Today I'll get to the other two.

The purpose of talking about these three detectors isn't so much about the three specific detectors, it is more about how different types of detectors have different strengths and weaknesses and about how strategic decisions of detector selection should be made.  This discussion is therefore not a detailed analysis of each of the detectors or a analysis of depth or performance, but rather more of a discussion of features and how those features help determine how different types of detectors might be used strategically.

I started with the Ace 250 yesterday, which is a detector that would be a decent choice if and when the strategy is to quickly sift through dry sand for modern coins and jewelry, especially when there is some junk.  The disadvantage of the small stock coil on the Ace is compensated by the ability to quickly pinpoint and identify targets and the ability to hunt close to metal obstacles such as beach chairs.

The Excalibur is used by many Treasure Coast beach hunters who tend to be more oriented to old shipwreck items.  Treasure Coast beach hunters, as contrasted with South Florida beach hunters, tend to focus more on targeting old shipwreck items and generally hunt less crowded beaches that are visited by more conservative beach-goers.

The Excalibur, of course, costs about four or five times what the Ace costs.  The Excalibur is water proof and can be submerged for water hunting.   That makes it more versatile.  If you want similar performance at half the price and don't need a waterproof detector, the Minelab Sovereign would do about the same job while costing less.

Unlike the Ace, the Excalibur has simple linear discrimination.  One discrimination knob is used for discrimination and another for sensitivity.

The Excalibur is simple to operate.  There is no ground balancing.  It performs about equally well in dry sand, wet sand and under water.  It will do a good job almost anywhere on a Florida beach.  You can start in wet sand and decide to scan a little dry sand or go into the water and dive with it. That is all good and easy.  You can discriminate but even with no discrimination, the Excalibur is not as hot for iron as some detectors.

The biggest difficulty that I see with the Excalibur is with the casual detectorist who tries to use the Excalibur in the wet sand in motion mode.  The less experienced detectorists can find detecting difficult where the water is coming and going.

I once had a guy come up to me and ask me what settings I was using because he saw me working the wet sand where the water was moving in and out and he was trying to do the same and was having trouble.   The main difference was that he was working in the motion mode and hadn't made any other adjustments, while I was using the pinpoint mode, as I almost always do with the Excalibur.

Anyhow, the Excalibur is a good sturdy general-purpose detector with some discrimination that has a good response to gold and small targets such as small cobs or small gold rings.  If you are hunting shipwreck items in wet sand, it is an easy choice over the Ace, whereas if you are hunting the dry sand, the Ace might be the best choice in some situations.  The Ace is also much lighter to swing on dry land.

While the Excalibur is used by many on the Treasure Coast, the Minelab CTX 3030 is very prominent on South Florida beaches.  The CTX costs about twice as much as an Excalibur.

The CTX has a lot more features and settings than the Excalibur, including a screen for target ID, various program selection, GPS, etc.  Instead of a few knobs, the CTX provides a lot of flexibility and options.

South Florida beaches have a lot more valuable modern jewelry and that is what the hard-core guys down there focus on most of the time.   It is also easier to justify the additional cost of a more expensive detector in South Florida where you can hunt in the water more of the year and where there is a lot more expensive jewelry to be found.  The additional expense can often be paid off by a single find.

I mention the relative prominence of the Excalibur on the Treasure Coast as compared to the CTX in South Florida only to point out how situations affect detector selection.

The third detector that I want to discuss is the Garrett ATX.  The ATX is often used in the gold fields and has good sensitivity to small gold.  The cost of the Garrett ATX (just over $2000) is close to that of the Minelab CTX.

The ATX is very different from the Ace, the Excalibur and the CTX, which I just discussed in passing.

I've discussed the ATX some in recent posts.  The keep it short, the ATX is a not the easiest detector to use straight out of the box - at least not if you want to be absolutely sure that you are getting good performance from it.

The ATX is a Pulse Induction detector and is very sensitive to small iron.  If you are someone who likes using a lot of discrimination, the ATX is not for you. The Excalibur is not overly sensitive to iron, but the ATX is very sensitive to iron.  Yes the ATX offers discrimination, but if you use much of it, you will really reduce sensitivity to good low conductive targets and negate the very features you paid for.

The ATX has both a non-motion and motion mode.  The non-motion mode is the most sensitive, but also the most difficult to use.  Even the manual states that the non-motion mode is not for beginners.

To get near optimal performance out of an ATX requires experience and skill.  If you want maximum sensitivity and depth, which is considerable with the ATX, you need to get the settings right.

So when would you use the ATX on a beach or in the shallow water?  My answer is, When you want the best depth on small valuable targets and have the patience and skill to deal with junk.  

The ATX will detect near microscopic pieces of iron, but it also gives you good sensitivity to small gold.  It will detect a small gold ring deeper than it will detect a clad dime. You will get good depth on small gold IF you use the ATX well.

There are a lot of options and settings on the ATX.   Careful adjustment and proper use will pay off in good performance.

There are times when the ACE, costing around $250, would be the better choice than the ATX, which costs about ten times as much.  The ACE might well be the choice in dry sand when you want to quickly skim for modern finds, as one example.

This post is not about three or four detectors.  It is about making calculated strategic decisions based upon how features of different detectors match the circumstances and your goals.

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Odyssey Marine Explorations stock has really fallen off as they are being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

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On the Treasure Coast we have another couple of days of smooth surf and South winds.  Nothing new or exciting about that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

4/3/15 Report - Concentric and DD Metal Detector Search Coil Test Comparisons. Ace 250 & ATX. Easter Surf.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

The few days ago I talked about determining the shape and size of the area of sensitivity of detector coils.  Someone asked me about DD coils.

DD search coils are said to provide better performance in highly mineralized soil, provide better target ID separation, better accuracy or pinpointing and greater depth in hot soil.

As an example, Garrett's DD coil design has a broad area of target sensitivity - what they call "detection field." 

In two recent posts I used diagrams showing a detection field like what you would expect from a concentric coil.  The detection field for a concentric search coil would have a shape something like that shown in the left diagram in yellow, extending from the edge of the coil and narrowing as you get farther away from the coil.



Illustration of detection fields for concentric and DD coil.
Yellow represents the detection field for a
concentric search coil and green, that of a DD search coil.
 

I found this illustration showing the detection field for a Garrett DD coil as compared to the detection field for a concentric search coil.  The Garrett DD is said to produce a narrow field in the center of the coil that runs from the front of the coil to the back of the coil.  That is represented by the green area in the diagram on the left.

Looking from the side (illustration on the right), the detection field of the DD extends almost straight down from the edge of the coil and then has a more rounded bottom.  It therefore would be expected to detect targets deeper near the edge of the coil.  Using the term I introduced a few days ago, it has more peripheral sensitivity.

Notice the shape of the detection field for the concentric coil and how it is more narrow.

The DD field as shown in this illustration is more narrow when viewed from the front, but broader than the field for the concentric coil when viewed from the side.

I already had some general impressions of the DD as compared to a concentric coil but did a few tests before writing this. 

I used the Ace 250 with the standard concentric coil (7 by 9 inch) and the standard ATX  DD search coil (10 by 12 inch) for these tests.

I often use these two detectors for tests of various types simply because they are so different.  Ideally to test coils, everything else would be the same except for the coil, but even that would require many tests to compare the two coils while using various settings and different conditions.

First I used the Ace on four different coins, including a penny, nickel, and two foreign coins, one of which was magnetic.  I put them in a line with each just a couple of inches from each other.  The Ace didn't respond with four distinct separate IDs when the coins were that close.  I then moved the coins farther apart.  At about six to eight inches apart and using a relatively slow sweep speed, the Ace then could give a correct ID for each of the coins separately on a single slow sweep.  The magnetic coin was identified as iron and the others were correctly identified too.

The ATX in motion mode (with the 10 inch DD) coil did not provide separate signals for the different coins even at eight inches or more apart.  I did not get the improved target separation that would be expected from the narrower front to back detection field illustrated in the above diagram.   In fact it was much worse. 

As I pointed out above, I can not blame the coil exclusively since many other factors were different in this test, yet the results were not just different from what I would expect from seeing the diagram, but remarkably different.  I wondered if the DD coil diagram shown above might have been for a different type of DD coil than what I had.  I guess that is possible.

I also have to acknowledge the hugely different types of detectors being used.

In non-motion mode the same ATX did not give a good auditory distinction between the four different coins even when they were a foot apart, however I could see that there were four different peaks in target strength indicating four different targets by watching the visual target strength display.  If I was depending upon the auditory signal alone, I would not have noticed any indication of target separation.   Going on auditory signal alone, I could not identify and indication of target separation with the DD coil even when the coins were a good distance apart.  Maybe I'm not good at auditory discrimination or maybe I should lower the threshold or something.

I did another test using a piece of iron shipwreck spike and a nickel (see picture at left).

The Ace showed more target separation on those  objects too.

The ATX with the DD coil that I used in these tests, has a large detection field left to right.  That large detection field is even larger when the target is an iron object.  In fact if you watch the ATX coil as it moves towards, over and away from the targets, the signal begins before the edge of the coil is over the target and doesn't end until the trailing edge is from under the coil.

That is something that you might actually like.  The detection field is bigger than the coil.  However, it makes pinpointing more difficult.  And it does not provide what I would call good target separation.  You can, however, go into pinpoint mode to do your pinpointing.

These simple tests confirmed what I previously noticed in actual field use.  The ATX standard DD coil has a broad area of peripheral sensitivity.  That can be a good thing because you cover more ground, but it does not make for easy pinpointing. 

There are times when you might want good target separation and times when that is not so important.

When working in non-motion mode, there were times when I could not sense an auditory indication of multiple targets but could get an indication of multiple targets from the visual display.  The signal strength would show a peak over each of the four coins on the visual display.  That visual indication can be improved for shallow targets by lifting the coil to diminish overall signal strength.  That is a trick that I just learned that I will adopt in the field when I want to see if a large area giving off a signal might be a cluster of smaller targets.

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There will be a little bump in the Treasure Coast surf on Easter - up to three to five feet, and an additional foot or so on Monday.

The weather couldn't be more beautiful.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

3/1/15 Report - Saturday's Wind Did Nothng Good For the Treasure Coast Beaches. Neat Shell Gorget.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

Yesterday was a rainy windy day from beginning to end.  Unfortunately the wind was from the East.  I went out this morning to check out the beaches.  The wind didn't do anything good.

One beach (shown in the photo) had some rounded scallops.

Some beaches showed the remains of old cuts.  Some of those types of beaches had wide flat front beaches but were filling.  

There are very few targets out there along the Treasure Coast now.  The beaches are as clean and over-hunted as I've ever seen.  There are very few easy targets.  I suspect a lot of people will get discouraged.

I saw a few guys wandering around with detectors.

One beach had only shredded aluminum junk.  As I've said before, many beaches have only one or two types of junk.  This one had only shredded aluminum - no iron, bottle caps or pull tabs.  That tells you that some one has been detecting that site heavily and only discriminated thin aluminum.

Take notice of that type of thing.  If you do find anything at a beach like that, except for things just dropped, the best chance is for small gold that might be discriminated out with the aluminum.

Like I said, you can tell what others have been doing or not doing at a beach, and you can adjust accordingly.

One thing I'd say today is that instead of sticking to the same old over-hunted beaches and doing the same thing over and over with no success, you might want to spread out and try some different sites and strategies.

When will we ever get some good erosion?  It has been a very slow winter season, and it is nearly over.  Then we'll have to wait for some summer storms.

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Shell Gorget
Photo source: wvxu.org link.

Contractors digging a trench for a fiber optics box found human remains and a neat carved shell gorget.

Here is that link.

http://wvxu.org/post/rare-native-american-artifact-discovered-newtown

On the Treasure Coast from time to time people looking for shells on the beach find arrow heads or shell tools or artifacts.  Keep your eyes open.

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I mentioned the ATX detector a few days ago.  One reader who does a lot of water hunting down South gave up on the ATX because the stem locks kept getting filled with sand and froze.   Seems to be a weak spot on that detector.

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That's all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

2/24/15 Report - Mystery Object Quiz. Comparison Of Two Very Different Detectors - One Cost $200 Plus, The Other $2000 Plus.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

First a little quiz.   These are some items I picked up when looking for bottles the other day.

Do you know what the square box like object is?  I got it wrong when I first saw it.

It has some markings on the bottom but they are hard to make out.

Do you see anything in the picture that goes with the box?  I didn't know they went together until a few days later.

See if you can figure out what it is.  I'll give the answer at the bottom of the post.
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I've used a variety of detectors over the years including detectors made by most of the major manufacturers, including Whites, Fisher, Tesoro, Garrett and Minelab.  I've used custom made detectors even more than the detectors made by those companies.

I often get emails asking about what detector to buy.  As you probably know, that is a tough decision,  I can't make that decision for anyone without knowing a lot of details, such as where they want to hunt, what they want to find, and even knowing something about them.

I can say I wouldn't choose Tesoro for wet sand or water hunting, and you should not be fooled by their advertising a lifetime warranty.  It is not a lifetime warranty at all.  They will not honor the warranty when they determine that the detector is obsolete.  They also have other ways to get out of their "lifetime" warranty.

Anyhow, today I thought I'd compare two very different types of detectors made by the same manufacturer.   I chose the Garrett Ace 250 and the Garrett ATX.  Those are two very different detectors.

The Ace costs just over $200, while the ATX costs over $2000.  On the basis of that alone you might think that the ATX will be the far superior detector, and in some ways it is, but there are times when the Ace might be the best choice, and price isn't the only factor, there are times and places where the Ace will actually perform better.

The Ace has basic target ID.  The ATX does not.  The ATX does have a feature called "iron check" but as the manufacturer says, iron check is conservative.  It does not always identify iron.

Both have discrimination.  You probably know how I feel about discrimination.  There is nothing wrong with using discrimination, but use it discriminatingly.  That means don't use it too much.

If I were to describe those two detectors in a few words, here is what I would say.

First the Ace 250.  Inexpensive -  Easy-  Productive - Limited
Now the ATX.         Expensive - Challenging - Powerful - Rugged

The Ace 250 would be a good beginner's detector.  The ATX would probably be very frustrating for a beginner.

There are other times I would choose the Ace.  It is excellent for quickly scanning an area.

The ATX, on the other hand could drive you crazy in a junky area where there is a lot of small trash unless you learn how to effectively deal with that.  It will detect nearly invisible small pieces of iron and it takes a while to learn to effectively deal with that.  Many people would not have the patience.

Don't get me wrong.  I think the ATX is a great detector.  It is just not for everyone or every situation. 

Like I often say, "Detectors are something like golf clubs. Select the one that is right for the situation." 

If you hunt for different things at different types of sites and can afford it, you might want to have more than one type of detector in your arsenal.

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Answer to quiz.

Picture clipped from a web site selling vintage items.

Here is a picture of an item like the mystery object that I asked you about.  I found it online.

The object is a vintage letter and stamp moistener.  Water was put in the container and the wheel had an axle that fit into the slots.  When the wheel was turned stamps or whatever could be moistened by the wet wheel.

Picture of the found container
with wheel inside.

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No significant change in beach detecting conditions yet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/2/15 Report - Finding More With Your Detector: Balancing Noise & Sensitivity. Important Caution For Cleaning With Acid.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

That was an exciting Super Bowl!  The winner of the whole thing was determined by a few inches.  First there was that pass that was caught after the guy laying on his back bobbled the ball and finally caught it.  Then it looked like the Seahawks would definitely score and win.  But then there was the decision to pass instead of run it in and the interception right at the goal line that won it for the Patriots.  That could have gone the other way very easily.  Just a matter of inches.

I'm temped to get into how a silly game of ball played on a chalk marked field has been elevated to one of the biggest events in the world, but I'll try to avoid that.  What I will talk about is winning and losing and how small things can make a big difference.

Have you ever wondered if you just missed that dream find by an inch, or maybe less?  Maybe you just missed it with your coil by a fraction of an inch.  Or it was just an inch too deep.  Or worse yet, you heard that faint signal but thought it was nothing good and passed it by.  It can happen.

Small things can make a big difference.  Through much experimentation I've been proving to myself how a small turn of a knob or small difference in a setting can make a big and critical difference.

Many detectorists think that a detector's response should be binary and they try to get their detector to repspond that way. (What I mean by binary is a something in which there are only two states, for example Yes/No or On/Off.)  They want to hear a good unmistakable signal if there is a good target no signal or noise at all if there is no target.  That would be the ideal, but things are seldom that simple. The world is noisy and information most often is transmitted in a background or context of noise. 

Noise is not always noise though.  Sometimes it is actually information that is not perceived, interpreted or appreciated.

One day I was using an Excalibur in the wet sand and in and out of shallow moving water, and there was another fellow up the beach a ways also using an Excalibur.  The other fellow was up away from the wet sand.  When I was putting my detector in the car after leaving the beach, the fellow came up  wanted to see what settings I was using.  He saw me detecting in the wet sand and moving water and didn't know how to do that without getting a lot of false signals.

The main difference was that he was working in discrimination mode while I was using pinpoint mode.  He was getting a lot of what we call "falsing."   I wasn't getting falsing - at least none that was bothering me.   I'm not saying that I wasn't hearing salt mineralization and other things.  I was.  But I knew what it was, and I could still hear the good signals caused by actual targets.  I can often tell the difference. 

I'm not just talking about the Excalibur here.  That is just one of many examples.  Many other detectors act very similarly.   You get something very similar, for example, between the motion and non-motion modes when using an ATX.  Yes you can ground balance etc. in motion mode, but in non-motion mode you hear more, both what you might consider noise and good targets.  That is not for beginners, but when you are ready, you might want to try learning to really use non-motion mode.

My primary message today is that if you try to get your detector operating in a binary state, giving only good signals and eliminating all noise, you're bound to loose some good targets along with the noise.  Don't be afraid of noise.  Learn to identify the sources of noise.  And, of course, learn the difference between real noise and good but marginal signals.

There are many techniques that people use to eliminate noise.  They include ground balancing, reducing sensitivity, discrimination, etc, but remember that not all noise needs to be eliminated, especially when you learn to identify the differences and what your detector is trying to tell you.

Many people do not think their detector works well in black sand.  They think they can't detect in black sand and avoid it.   Methods such as ground balancing or discriminating black sand can work o some extent but can also dramatically reduce detection of good targets.

For me, the objective is not to eliminate all noise, the objective is to hear more good signals that indicate a good target.  Yes noise will hide good signals, but many methods of reducing noise will eliminate good signals too.  My approach is to try to reduce the noise to signal ratio, but only so much.  There is a fine line between reducing noise and working with noise.  In my opinion, many people make the mistake of trying to eliminate too much noise rather than learning what the noise might be saying and learning how different sources of noise sound different. 

To some extent it is a personal matter.  Different people like to do things differently.  I'm not saying one way is right and the others wrong, but for me I prefer to work with noise rather than eliminate it along with many good signals.

That is all I'll say about that today.  Maybe I'll get more specific some other day.

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I mentioned Bill P's method of cleaning silver coins the other day.  Since I lost the original post on that, I gave you a link to a similar procedure.  Thanks to Bill's original instructions, I often use his method rather many of the other common methods.

Bill was kind enough to write in with an important reminder for using Muriatic acid.  Here it is

The method you just blogged is accurate. The most important thing to remember when diluting ANY acid is: ALWAYS ADD ACID to the water or diluting agent NEVER add the water or diluting agent to the acid. A violent reaction could occur splashing acid everywhere. Remember it this way: AAA (always add acid). Hope this helps. -Bill P.

Thanks much Bill for our continued help!

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On the Treasure Coast today I'm seeing a stiff South wind and small surf.  That is supposed to change later this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net