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Nice.

Hope Nenad does not mind me putting this up but it may help you.

DECEMBER 22, 2015IN METAL DETECTOR OPTIMIZATION, RESOURCESBYNENAD10 COMMENTS

Getting the best from the SDC2300

Its no secret that Im a big fan of Minelabs SDC2300 gold detector. Its effectiveness and simplicity is simply unmatched. Heres how easy it can be:

Quick Set-Up

Simply turn it on, set the threshold to the 4th led, set the Sensitivity to 2/Green, and with the coil up off the ground press the Noise Cancel button. Now press and hold the green ground balance button, pump the coil a few times between 10cm and the ground surface, let go of the button and youre ready to hunt.

While the SDC2300 is pretty light on in settings, to many users this is part of the appeal, but there are a few tricks to getting the best performance and results out of the SDC2300. Here are a few things Ive learnt with the unit, and what works best for me.

Noise Cancelling

Through improvements in the general circuitry, the SDC 2300 isnt as effected by sources of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) as much as say a GPX series machine is, but due to the high sensitivity of the unit and general sharpness of the audio signals, even picking up slight amounts of EMI will result in a chattery threshold that can mask a genuine target response. In my experience with the unit in the Adelaide hills and parts of the Victorian goldfields, I have found it very critical to perform a Noise Cancel to allow the unit to select the quietest operating channel for the area you are detecting in. You should always do a Noise Cancel at the start of a session, and repeat when necessary.

Before pressing the Noise Cancel button, I find that for best results you should have the coil in the orientation that you will be swinging it. I.e. if you are detecting on flat terrain, then your coil should be kept parallel to the ground. Or, if you are about to detect a slope then keep your coil at the angle of the slope. Now, regardless of the coil angle, it is important you raise the coil up off the ground, to expose the coil to environmental noise.

TIP: If your threshold is quite stable when you raise the coil off the ground, increase the Sensitivity to 5 before pressing the Auto Tune button.Or just do this regardless.

Hold the coil steady up off the ground, at the angle you will be sweeping it, and then press the Noise Cancel button. During the tuning process, keep the coil very still. When the Noise Cancel procedure finishes, drop the coil to the ground, set Sensitivity back to 3 and listen to the threshold to see if theres any improvement in stability. If you feel that the threshold stability hasnt improved, then repeat the procedure. While it may sound like a chore, trust me, when you get the unit humming it will repay you in finds, as target signals stand out much better, and you may even be able to increase the Sensitivity.

Sensitivity

The Sensitivity of the SDC2300 is critical to getting the best performance of the unit under different conditions. Traditionally the Sensitivity or Gain setting on a gold detector needed to be set to suit the ground conditions, but on the SDC the Sensitivity level is dictated more so by the level of EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) in a location rather than the ground conditions. The SDC2300 handles ground so well, that in most areas you can have the Sensitivity on the maximum setting of 5! In simple terms, set it as high as you can before the detector becomes too erratic. Higher Sensitivity settings seem to also have a bit more volume, so this will help in hearing those faint threshold variations, so the higher the better, but dont go too far if conditions dont allow it. Some of my deepest digs have been with the Sensitivity on 1, but the signals were a faint variation in threshold tone that could only be heard through headphones.

Some SDC operators run the Sensitivity flat out all the time, i.e. never take it off Sens 5, and while this can be quite productive under certain conditions, I find it can be a handful and more of a distraction.

Bit missing off the end here ....sorry.
 
Thanks Wishful. But. Hmmm love what Nenad does. But it comes back to basics, learning your detector, what it can and cant do. Testing it in the home back yard. Before you go out, I strong suggest for those havent been lucky to find there first. Buy a nuggetlet or dust and try that at different depths. Only then those will understand what Im saying, Only trying to help those you are dishearted

Mark
 
First few hours out in a while after a fair bit of rain in the last few weeks.
Bigger bit 1.44g, screamed on the zed in Gen/diff...was almost a sunbaker. Tiny bit 0.1g just made a squeak and I just heard it :)
1563137174_1.45g_14_july_2019.jpg
 
Thanks Goody. Nice to get out for a play. Followed your adventures to WA. Australia is one hell of a paddock. My wife and I were over there for a couple of months and had a ball. Good to see you made it home safely.

Cheers

Les
 
Much appreciated Hard Luck. If you could leave a couple of kilo nuggets for me I would be in your debt for quite a while. Just send me the gps co ordinates and Ill come down and dig them up.

Cheers

Les
 

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