DISCRIMINATION

Number 1 on the treasure hunter's wishlist would be a detector with a screen which shows exactly what is under the ground. Let us say right now that is not possible and will not be possible within any of our lifetimes! Some of our competitors offer regular metal detectors with little pictures of rings and coins which light up on a screen when a target is detected. This is little more than a gimmick. The pictures that light up are wrong most of the time, because it is just not technically possible to identify an object precisely from the limited amount of electronic information contained in the metal detector signal. Some other metal detectors, from America, have discrimination systems designed to distinguish between various pieces of US coinage. We say, "What's the use of that?". The PLAIN TRUTH is that metal detectors can distinguish between certain types of metal according to their magnetic and conductive characteristics, that is how susceptible it is to the signal sent out by the transmit coil of the metal detector. Unfortunately, ferrous material, being the most conductive and magnetic metal, is the easiest target to detect but most likely to be a worthless nail or rusty old bit of farm machinery. Most non ferrous metals are similar in their characteristics and it is not possible to separate gold or silver from other non ferrous metals like copper. Some treasure hunters ask us for a detector which only picks up gold or is attracted to gold in some way. Watch out for detector companies who tell you that this is possible, because it's not ! It's a sure fact that the first person to invent a detector which reacts only to gold is going to make a fortune just using the detector. He's not going to waste his time sharing the secret with anybody else! Thin section aluminium alloys can be separated as a specific category of material because they have some unique characteristics and this does enable some of the more expensive discriminators to ignore signals from targets such as silver paper or even ring pulls from soft drink cans. (not so much of a problem these days because ring pulls are generally designed to stay attached to the can). However, the use of high discrimination levels to ignore aluminium trash has two big dangers. First, using such a high level of discrimination is going to cut down the depth performance of the detector quite considerably. Second, the conductive characteristics of some aluminium alloys cross over with some thin section valuable items like thin gold chains and rings, so use too high a level of discrimination and you're going to miss some worthwhile targets, and we say that's a benefit not worth the risk!

There are 2 main ways in which C.Scope machines discriminate between targets. CS660, CS1M, CS2MP, CS2MXP and CS5MXP use a system where, depending on the level of discrimination you set, signals from unwanted targets are simply ignored and you don't hear them at all. The CS990XD and advanced discriminators like CS1220R and R1 give the user much more target information. The CS990XD has a meter which will swing to the left on 'bad' targets and to the right on 'good'. A high audio tone will sound on 'good' targets, and a low tone on 'bad'. The CS1220R has meter discrimination and a legendary audio discrimination facility which is much favoured by experienced (and very successful ) detectorists. The audio discrimination side of the CS1220R has a very wide range of responses so that generally, the higher the pitch of the tone, the more likely is the object to be worth digging!Low tones are generally signals from rubbish and can be ignored. Enthusiasts like this because all signals can be heard but the operator uses his experience to make the decisions on whether to dig or not. The R1 has a system of numbering by which all signals bring up a number, and the user learns, again with experience, the groups of numbers which are likely to be valuable and which ones are likely to be worthless. C.SCOPE DISCRIMINATION SYSTEMS WORK WITH THE OPERATOR, GIVE USEFUL INFORMATION FROM UNDERGROUND.