Just wanted to share my first hunt with the CTX 3030 yesterday morning. I am a long-time Explorer user, and just recently upgraded to the CTX. I've spent the last week reading/studying, and talking with a couple of hunting partners who hunt the CTX as well as a couple of great guys/CTX users on the forums -- trying to wrap my head around the machine and all the different settings and functions.
I had a short amount of time available in the morning before church. I had put together two "modes" prior to the hunt, that I wanted to use. The first was one to emulate -- as closely as I could -- the way I always ran my Explorer -- iron disc. only (roughly the bottom third of the screen) to eliminate nails, conductive multi-tones, etc. Then, the second one I set up to roughly match the advice I'd received from all the folks I've talked to, as far as how they run the CTX -- open screen, combined, etc. I wanted to locate a few targets and listen to them in both modes, to learn the differences.
So, I set out with stock 11" coil for a short hunt, to my old standby -- but absolutely hammered into submission -- local park. I was running the 11" coil, auto +3, and three things jumped out at me right away. ONE -- I LOVE going wireless, with the WM10, TWO -- WOW, what a stable machine, and THREE -- WOW, what a nicely balance unit...just a JOY to swing compared to the Explorer.
So anyway, I had a spot in this park in mind to really check out this unit. There's a very small area that a partner and I discovered about 4 years ago, a small "hot spot" in this otherwise heavily hunted park that held a concentration of deep, old coins. In a few weeks’ time, this small area yielded DOZENS of U.S. Barber coins and Indian Head pennies, all from roughly the 7"-9" deep range. After the high conductors began to play out, we switched over to digging lower tones, and pulled another couple of dozen U.S. "V" nickels (Liberty Head nickels) out of the spot. Since then, we've hammered that small area with numerous machines and coil combinations, under every weather condition and soil condition, to the point that this concentrated area simply does NOT give up coins anymore. In the past 3 years, I have managed maybe 3 more coins from this spot, and ZERO in the past 18 months. And I try this spot, at least for a short while, nearly EVERY single time I am there. There were simply no detectable coins left to be had, with my current equipment. So this seemed like a great spot to run the CTX through.
I dug some mid-tone targets on the way to the spot, listening to each one in both of the modes I created, getting used to the sounds, to target trace, etc. I arrived at the "hot spot," and within a couple of minutes, I dug a couple-inch deep U.S. Sacagawea dollar. Clearly, it's been dropped in the last year or two, but was still surprised it was there. I haven't dug one of these in a couple of years, and it was a fun coin to have as the "first coin" for my CTX.
A few minutes later, I hit an interesting signal. There was clearly iron, but I was getting a high tone as well, and was trying to decide if there was a non-ferrous object in close proximity to the iron. I worked the signal in both modes, and decided that I thought there might be two targets. So, I pinpointed the high tone, which it said was 8" deep, and I dug. When I popped the plug and sat it upside down on the ground, this is what I saw:
(see picture #1)
Notice the coin rim in the bottom of the plug? Notice that it was a completely vertical, on-edge coin when it was in the ground?
Here's how deep it was -- note my pinpointer next to the plug, showing that it was a full 8" deep...
(see picture #2)
At this point, I was SHOCKED. 8" deep, on edge...but that's not the most amazing part. I can GUARANTEE that various machines and coils were over this VERY spot DOZENS, of times. At least. There were simply NO COINS left here to be found with any machine available (which included Explorers, E-TRACs, F-75s, Gold Bug Pros, and others).
But, to put the icing on the cake, what about that iron I heard? I switched to combined, so I could locate the iron, and then dug another plug directly adjacent to, and partially overlapping the hole where the coin was. This is what showed up:
(see picture #3)
Along with all of the other ways the CTX impressed me on its "maiden voyage," and there were MANY, I have to say that for this machine, to locate THIS target, from THIS spot, before I am even familiar with the nuances of the machine's audio and behavior, that I am THOROUGHLY impressed.
I can't WAIT to become proficient with this machine. Looks like every site I have EVER hunted, has now been "opened back up" again!
All I can say is, Minelab has done it again...they have impressed me in a way I never thought possible, just like they did when I first switched over to FBS units in the first place...
By the way, that coin was a 1920 "wheat" penny; nothing special or valuable, other than being what it represents in terms of the difficulty of the dig...
Steve - USA
