x-terra 70 fun

Hi all, im off out to have a bash with a little x-terra70 tomorrow morn, and was wondering if anybody here has had any settings or advice for using one with the 10x5 gold coil..... pete

The Elliptical is a great coil for Prospecting with the X-Terra 70. Obviously, Prospecting Mode is preferred because it's more sensitive than Coin & Relic mode. I understand that the Beach Mode can be made active when in the Prospecting setting and this apparently helps penetrate the iron in the soil a little better.

Mode: Prospecting (switch the Coin & Relic mode to ID target if possible)
Start in Default Settings: (5 Iron Discrimination Bars should be visible)
Ground Balance: Tracking Mode (Active)
Sensitivity: 22 (approx)
Beach Mode: ON (suggestion only) - helps with mineralization apparently

Remember to turn Ground Tracking OFF when a target is found or the detector (if in Tracking Mode) will balance the target out.
*Flickering numbers that vary wildly (non-sequentially) during each pass of the coil usually mean junk (Iron based like horse-shoes etc)

Good targets (both coins and nuggets etc) should give you a repeatable result OR a sequential series of numbers with each pass.
If you find the numbers are in the MINUS rage (eg: -12) then the target is 95% likely to be junk. If the numbers flicker wildly in a non-sequential manner (eg -12, 4, -6 etc), then again, the wildly flickering numbers out of sequence seems to often indicate a junk target (often iron). The iron discrimination works well but any target at depth will confuse ANY detector. Obviously, changing your approach to the target will sometimes give you very different results. Note the image below for a Gold Specimen sitting on mixed gravel soil. Especially note that from one direction, the numbers read 0 each time!



If you're like me and forget the process of setting up the X-Terra 70 each time you take it out, I've made a printable card which you can download below.
Just fold it over and keep it in your pocket to guide you with the routine Ground Balance and Noise Cancel procedure.

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE CARD-SIZED QUICK-REF X-TERRA 70 CARD


I find that most gold seems to be fainter in audio response with this coil unless the nugget is close to the surface or is larger in size. If you only dig "large" sounding and loud targets, then the results seem to always involve plenty of junk etc. The smaller the targets you find, the more you tend to be listening for fainter sounds. The gold is usually quiet or just barely audible unless the nugget is close to the ground. If you have the 6" DD HF coil as well, don't be tempted to use it when working on larger areas or when you're exploring new ground because the tiny coil is too sensitive and will suffer from the ground noise. The larger Elliptical coil isn't prone to it nearly as much. The little 6" coil is better used in shallow ground where the bedrock is close to the surface or in creeks etc. Tape your coil cable tightly near where it first wraps onto the shaft near the end. Otherwise, the coil shifts when you hit a rock or something and the movement of the coil cable then sets off a bit of a ghost-signal.

Good Luck!

Marco

Thanks for the GREAT post Marco. You did not mention if the round 10.5" HF 18.75 kHz DD has any use for prospecting for gold nuggets and specimens?? Does it outperform the 5"x10" HF??

Thank you.

Beer Beeper wrote:You did not mention if the round 10.5" HF 18.75 kHz DD has any use for prospecting for gold nuggets and specimens?? Does it outperform the 5"x10" HF??

Thank you.

Hey there Beer Beeper!
This is just my personal opinion but I think many users find the 10.5" DD HF coil (not to be confused with the Elliptical 10x5" DD HF coil) to be less sensitive to smaller nuggets and better suited to large items at depth. Hence it would be a good coil to find farm relics with. Some say it's a little too "nose heavy" although I have seen some users flip this coil around to change the center of gravity by mounting it on the shaft - as if it were pointing back towards the user. I think if anyone were using this larger coil, then the targets found would be of the larger, less numerous variety. Since the most common sized nuggets tend to be sub-gram, the user of the 10.5" coil would probably not detect anything at all (most of the time) except junk targets and iron scrap 99% of the time.... unless they were looking for relics etc or on 'virgin' ground. The shape of the 10.5" coil means it is heavier to wield, gets caught on scrub and is harder to slip into and between crock crevices. The 10x5" Elliptical, by comparison, is lighter, narrower and therefore easier to poke into narrow spaces or into spinefex and scrub without getting caught as easily. So I suppose it's more useful to Prospectors who want to use a VLF detector. The processor on the X-Terra 70 seems to give much more stability on the hotter soils by stabilizing and cleaning up the signal from the coil itself than most other VLFs out there. I know it outperforms the high-end Whites & Garrett VLF detectors on similar ground ...as they've been designed for use in neutral North American soils and don't handle our dirt nearly as well.

6" DD HF COIL: - sensitive to VERY small nuggets in the subgram range. WAY too sensitive to ground noise in deeper soils.
10x5" DD HF Elliptical COIL: - best suited for general use & exploring. Sensitive to small-to-medium nuggets near the surface and larger, deeper nuggets.
10.5" DD HF COIL: - suitable for larger nuggets at depth. Less prone to ground noise. Not good for smaller nuggets.

Whilst I choose not to use this coil myself, I think a lot of people like using it for beach hunting and also for nugget bearing areas that haven't been flogged. If you were on good ground (for example), I suspect you might find deeper nuggets of the larger variety with this coil... if there's any to be found. The Elliptical is therefore probably the best "all round" nuggeting coil for most users with the 6" HF DD coming into play only for specialist use where the soil is thinner near bedrock or on creek beds. From my examination of the writings about early Goldfield exploration in Australia in the 1800's, the larger (2 ounce plus) sized nuggets were almost always found to be 2 feet down or deeper, which is below the depth that any of these coils can reach. This was the case in NSW, Victoria & Queensland. But smaller nuggets of 8 grams or so were and are often found close to the surface (statistically speaking). I suspect that larger (2 ounce plus) nuggets would more likely be found closer to the surface in Western Australia, in which case the 10.5" DD HF coil might be of considerable use. Something to do with the rocky soil there allows for more surface-located nuggets to exist where they can't sink into the ground as readily. There's plenty of deeper nuggets out there too (in WA) for those with PI detectors and they're often harder to extract without crowbars etc.

Cheers!

Marco

Nero, All
Nero, Greg from the old jacksgold site. that was a great post on the x-terra 70 it is good to see you still helping people. my x-terra 70 is playing up a bit, the first depth indicator has gone missing so I will see how much longer it will last. ( it is nearly 2 years old). Nero, do you know if these detectors are fixable?
Greg

Greg wrote:Nero, do you know if these detectors are fixable?
Greg

They usually are. Haven't come across more than one other X-Terra 70 with a problem but saw one recently where the Audio cut out. The only thing you can't replace is the control box but that should be repairable. You've done the Factory Preset routine? Often that fixes a glitch. Just send the control box directly to Minelab in SA. All the best Greg!

Nero, you must be getting your info from comic books mate, seriously what a load of rubbish. Nuggets in all those states of 2 ounces from only 2 feet or deeper!
We get gold in Oz from surface to any depth, from any size too. My mate got a 50oz slug from just 2 inches deep in Dunolly.
Your info is the craziest I have ever seen
ps: did you know that almost all the gold detected in Vic comes from surface down to 2 feet, past here the PI,s punch on gold starts to fizzle out, and there has been millions of ounces found over the years with detectors from within the first foot!
Mate, your a crack up

Nero, All.
Thanks nero, I did the factory reset & I got my first depth indicator back.
Greg.

Greg wrote:Nero, All.
Thanks nero, I did the factory reset & I got my first depth indicator back.
Greg.

Hi Greg,
If you only got the one indicator back (just one of the little triangle/arrows), then it may be time to send it down to Minelab. They'll be able to sort it out for you and the turnaround ought to be fairly quick. If it's more convenient to stop by the dealer's store where you purchased it, they may be able to send it in on your behalf if you need them to.

..well put Marco...there are alot of people who enjoy reading your posts as you take the time to explain and to question... I have learnt alot from yourself and JP. I hope you keep posting these interesting threads which are clear, concise and to the point.

Well done

Ray

Nero, All
nero, I only lost the very first depth indicator & I did the factory preset & now it is back. it is a bit hard to take it back to the dealer who sold it to me, as I got it off Jack Lange. anyway it is working again so I will keep using it for now.
Thanks Greg.

Greg: That's great. Sometimes a detector needs a reset to clear the memory of any glitchy presets and I suspect that this might have been your issue. I'll be using my own X-Terra 70 this weekend with the 6" HF DD coil for some creek work on virgin ground. The volumes I've been finding on such areas recently have been the source of a lot of excitement around here and I'm not going to bother with a GPX using a mini-coil when the 6" on the X-Terra gives me more information at the same depth.


Marco
Next Gen Prospector - USA (Nevada, AZ), NZ (Queenstown), AUSTRALIA (NSW, QLD, ACT), CANADA (Rockies & Yukon)

Nero, All.
I'm behind you 100%, on all the forums that I have seen you correspond on you have only helped others (especially us learners) so don't stop using this forum.
Greg.

"I'll be using my own X-Terra 70 this weekend with the 6" HF DD coil for some creek work on virgin ground. The volumes I've been finding on such areas recently have been the source of a lot of excitement around here and I'm not going to bother with a GPX using a mini-coil when the 6" on the X-Terra gives me more information at the same depth." by nero-design(Marco)


How did it go Marco?

For anyone, why would a person use a SD, GP, or GPX with a 5x10" mono, 6" GoldStalker, or 8" Commander coil, when a high frequency VLF is MUCH better for searching for micro small gold on shallow bedrock??

I have a GP 3000 with a NF 5x10" mono and also an X-Terra 70(I want to buy the round 6" 18.75 kHz DD for it).

I would use my X-Terra 70 with a 6" 18.75 kHz DD instead of and rather than my GP 3000 with 5x10" mono for shallow bedrock hunting as it is a MUCH better choice because my X-Terra 70 will beep on micro tiny gold and fine gold specimens that my GP 3000 will not even beep on.

Any feedback and comments on this please?

I got off of another Forum:

"I have an X-terra 70 and a GPX-4500. I own the 6" HF DD coil. The problem with the X-terra is that it cannot handle the extreme mineralization in my area of prospecting. (Washington State) There are a ton of hot rocks that the GPX-4500 can ignore (most of them) but the X-terra sees each one as an iron target. I can't even use the prospecting mode on the X-terra in this high mineralization and run it in coin/relic mode instead to discriminate out all the hot rocks. Try this experiment, take an ironstone hot rock and put a gold nugget underneath it. The GPX-4500 will ignore the hot rock (most of the time) and see the target but the X-terra sees a ferrous target because the hot rock is concealing the nugget from the detector. And unless I want to listen to hundreds of hot rock signals I would be discriminating out all those ferrous targets with nuggets under them.
Also, depth on the VLF machine is terrible under these conditions while the GPX unit goes down deep.
So, if you are in mild or maybe medium ground there shouldn't be a problem but if you get out where
there is high mineralization then the GPX works much better than a VLF.

In addition, I have tried the 8" Mono Round Commander coil but found that it doesn't ignore hot rocks
as well as a 14" Elliptical Mono coil or above. If the 6" Round Goldstalker coil for some reason ignores hot rocks better then I would like to hear from somebody with that experience. I hate digging hot rocks!

Best Regards,
Don"