5000 Depth question.

Im just starting out detecting and have been reading and learning alot in forums. And the other day i read a few recommended setting that some members use for the 11 mono coil and the large nugget stalker coils (I think thats what there called, its made by coilteck), off the top of my head the one we have in 22inch or 24inch x 12 or 14inch elliptical.

So the other day i went out for a hunt with these setting on paper and tried both coils on the setting i had, as i still learning i could balance the coils (basic), and found a few bits of junk, old nails and specks of rust. while i was out i wanted to see how far away the detector would pick up the signals. I found that when i put the target on the surface of the ground and tryed to see how far away in the air the detector would pick it up from with the 11inch mono coil it would work from about a foot max, and with the large coilteck nugget stalker it would only get the signal withing a few inches.

My question is that with the 5000, i read on all these sites that guys are digging holes 2 foot deep and getting 1gram nuggets, yet my 5000 was struggling to pick up a pretty large rust flake on the surface of the ground let alone in the ground.

Is this to do with gold being obviously alot denser thus the detector will get the smaller targets of gold deeper, rather then smaller target of rust deeper. (i think thats a pretty basic question but just double checking)

just want to double check because surely the large coilteck which performed pretty bald would work better then it did for me, as i have read a fair bit about them and everyone rates them.

and if anyone has some more setting they use for the coils i mention could you throw them in.

thanks

Hi AlexfromDarwin
Just got back from two weeks detecting and read your question with interest. In response I will try to explain to ease your concern over the larger coils.

Firstly your test target stated a flaky piece of rust?, well not a good sample to use as rust is the reminant of metal after oxidisation so there would be very little metal left, but will still sound of your detector.

Secondly coil size the smaller the coil the small denser the magetic field it creates, which is more sensitive to smaller targets, however there is a loss of depth. Larger coils have a larger magnetic field (go deeper) however because of this there is some loss of sensitivity to smaller targets as a trade off.

Thirdly gold that has been in the ground for a long time has a halo effect which makes it appear larger to the coil than it actually is and it is this halo effect that allows the larger coils to pick up some smaller peices of gold a reasonable depths, but once dug they can be hard to find as the halo will be lost.

You have some good coils and machine that will get gold and at depth, what it takes will be practice getting to know what they can do. By the way on my trip I was using the 15x12 commander coil by ML and got this nice signal. After 3+ hours of digging through some very hard dirt I ended up with a old soda bottle screw cap at around 24 inches. Reg who helped me dig could not believe it and was very disappointed as he really thought I was on a winner. Myself disappointed it being a soda bottle screw cap but elated that I did pick it up as I know for sure the coils go deep on there detection.

Regards Ian

Ian, A very good explantion reply & may your next deep target be golden.
Cheers
Ashley

So you read on all these sites that others are getting 2 foot depths on 1gm size gold Would I be to rude in asking who on this site is scoring 1gm nuggets at 2 foot depths? Forget about the dense gold theory,for many variables exist which affect depth on gold.The people who claim that,they're getting 2 foot+ depths on 1gramers,are either dense in mentality themselves or trying to justify the cost of their gear.Alex,try to understand Ians post,for it makes damn good sense.No matter what settings/Timings/coil combinations anyone here gives you,it will be prone to changes due to changing ground conditions.Experiment with the different modes/timings/coils you have on buried or even better untouched buried targets in the ground you intend searching over,to get a good understanding of what will best suit you for the type of gold encountered in the area and at what depths.
Ian,anything aluminium,like pull tabs or screw top bottle caps,will always punch incredible depths to a PI detector,because of the metals conductivity,not alone its surface area,but you'll find real gold nuggets,buried undisturbed,for who knows how long,could go either way.Degree of mineralization,halo surrounding the nugget,type of gold nugget,density of gold nugget,orientation of nugget to coil field etc,etc,all play a role in determining depth on a particular type gold nugget.

Cheers guys. kon61.

well spoken Kon61 dead right mate

Alex a couple of days ago I picked up a 0.8g small bean shaped nugget in classic type alluvial ground.Dug down 6" clay then hit the hard quartz base about 2" thick then the dark red clay under it say another 1".Thats 9" with a 5000 in "Fine gold" using a small coil.Your 11"mono would give the same result.You may get 12" on a 1g solid on a good day.
If I was to use a 14" round it would give a similar result with the 5000.For smaller gold like 0.2 or 0.1g a smaller coil would give a better depth.On deep large gold in the multiounce range the 14" gives a better result.Remember the target needs to be exponentially bigger as depth increases.

If you have a 11" coil that can just pick a round target at 11", the 22" coil will pick up a target 4 times the area ( or twice the Diameter ) of the first target at 22" but this might mean it can not pick up the first target at 14". Remember the deep nuggets are the last found, but easy nuggets are the majority in new patches. Horses for courses.