22/ CTX 3030 Big Coil Gold Hunting
The first time I took the CTX 17” coil out was both a “rude awakening” and the beginning of an important learning process. I jumped into a deep section with it, swished around for a while and heard absolutely nothing. Later when I returned with a pulse–the same section “came alive” with signals. “Wasn’t this thing supposed to be deep as “all get go?” It certainly “looked deep.” There were a few things I needed to understand in order to become an effective gold hunter with the CTX 3030’s 17” coil.
First, with any detector that processes a complex signal there is a “disconnect” between the machine and the ground. This “no man’s land” is the actual process–the electronic “work” that allows all the fancy things it does. In effect, you are not hearing the actual ground. What you are hearing is a reproduction in digital language of the ground’s electromagnetic properties. What this means is that these machines (BBS, FBS…) can lose depth but at the same time–not loose threshold. That is, they can sound stable but still be being affected greatly by the ground’s properties. A stable threshold is the default. As will be explained in more detailed below, the larger the coil you are using–the greater this ground affect will be.
Secondly, when you run a larger coil, everything is magnified. This coil is attempting to process a larger chunk of ground and this brings more work to the machine’s processor. Now, keep in mind that the CTX already has “a lot going on.” Add to this more ground noise, more targets, and more EMI from various sources. The result is that targets are now smaller by relation and take more time to respond.
It was only when I learned to become more aware of the conditions, run appropriate Sensitivity settings and focus upon coil control that this loop began to show its strengths…
From: “The Minelab CTX 3030 Gold Hunter’s Guide” (2018)
by Clive James Clynick
clivesgoldpage.com
A couple of good hunts using the 17” coil to scrub the edge with Jay’s Gold program. I used the P1 to search and P2 as a checker. The large band at left came up green from at least 18” in a section hunted almost daily with Excaliburs and other machines.