Still a Newbee.

Well after a trip to Ophir i realize im still a newbee. I dug a massive hole and couldnt pinpoint to signal with the NF 17in coil, i changed to the DD but the signal was all over the place, i think it must have been mineralization i think, took me half an hr to dig it too, looks like i need more time to get used to the SD2200 and its squealing.

Just a suggestion, check out posts on how others set them up , Positive thoughts in at least you have relatively easy access to muck about and experiment close to home. I have spent weeks for zero far from home as nearest fields at least 300 K's . I'm sure you will master the machine given time' chow Phil

JeffH, I am very surprised that you said that your 2200 with a DD was "squeeling". I can fully understand it being noise with the 17mono as I personally can't tolerate the noise from the mono coil, but the DD is sooooooo quiet. I can only put it down to, that maybe you didn't ground balance properly. There is a LARGE variance between the ground balance of the mono and the DD coils and you must re-balance extensively between coil changes. Check the manual to see if you performed the steps correctly and if still confussed, let me know and I can guide you through the procedure.
Cheers

When i changed to the DD coil it was definately quieter than the mono for sure, ill probably go back to the hole as i was sure something was there, i just buggered from digging such a big hole, i was pulling slate and layers of quartz so i got excited for a whlie. Just need more practice.

JeffH, I did a very similar thing a while ago. I got a signal and started to dig. 45 minutes later I was still digging and both my 2200d and my Garrett pinpointer where going burseck. I was surprised that I hadn't reached the target yet. It then occurred to me that the soil I was pulling out was very red and certainly mineralised. I regroundbalanced on the mullock heap and guess what, all of a sudden the signal in the hole all but disappeared. I was very frustrated and quite upset with myself that I had done this earlier. On another outing, this time with TheGoldenChild, I once again came across this "spot" and once again got a signal. I called TGC over and asked him to test the signal with his 4500. He too received a signal but once he flicked it to enhanced, the signal was totally gone.
Moral of the story: With the machine prior to the enhanced feature of the 4500 onwards, you may and probably dig some very mineralised ground because it will give you a good signal, but be smart and don't forget to regroundblance on the mullock heap fairly early, and you may save yourself many minutes/hours of useless digging.
Cheers

It was only a faint signal to start with. On 1 of the video's ive got it said to be carefull on faint signals that the tracking doesnt eliminate it so thats why i dug.