PART II: Metal Detecting with XP Deus - Useful Practical Tips for Users, page 6

Questionable or "iffy" responses to coins may be caused by the following factors:

1) A coin is in vertical position - "standing" on its edge, in the ground: the high- tone response to the coin may be a double-beep or just a one-way signal. You can get a better coin response by tilting a search coil 20° while sweeping it over the coin spot from different directions (you may want to read my article "Search Coil Detecting Techniques: Pinpointing Coins On Edge"). When operated on the 18 kHz frequency, the Deus is super sensitive to coins positioned "on edge" in the ground, and easily detects them.

'Iffy' Signals Turned Out To Be
Thin Silver Coins Missed by Other Metal Detectors

2) A coin is buried at medium depth in highly mineralized ground or in a cluster of sporadic mineralization. The detector's high-tone response to the coin may be accompanied with weak iron buzz. This audio response is similar to a response of a "deep coin above nail" type described on page 2 of this article and, therefore, the target should be dug up. If you want to obtain a clear coin signal, remove 3-4 inches of dirt off the target spot if possible; thus, reducing an amount of mineralization between the search coil and the coin.

'Iffy' Signals Often Turn Out To Be
Tiny Silver Hammered Coins Buried in Highly Mineralized Ground

3) A coin is buried at operating depth range's limit - too deep for the Deus to obtain enough target information for visual identification: a VDI number will not appear on the remote controller's screen. However, the Deus's audio response to the coin will be either barely audible, if the Audio Response is set at a low level (see details on page 13 of Part I), or weak even if the Audio Response level is set at 4 or higher. In any case, the signal would retain a high-pitched tone and stay "two-way" repeatable no matter from which direction you pass the search coil over the coin spot.

NOTE 3: If you receive a lot of false responses to the ground mineralization, you may not recognize the coin signal among similar responses to ground falsing. In this case, it is best to increase the GRL value by adjusting the Manual Ground Balance.

To obtain a stronger response to the coin or even get its VDI reading shown on a screen, you may want to get closer to the coin by removing a few inches of dirt off the signal spot. The Deus' responses to coins at lesser depths may not be accompanied with VDI readings either but will be louder in volume and clear - they are certainly "dig me up" signals.

After you gain some experience in dealing with the ambiguous coin-signals, i.e. train your ears, you will be able to recognize the Deus' responses to the deepest coins upon receiving them and would not have to waste time investigating every iffy signal through digging.

It is always best to get to know the sounds of various questionable signals and responses to good targets before you dig the targets up at the hunt site which you are not familiar with because the ground mineral content may be radically different from your usual hunt areas or your Test Garden at home.

At the hunt site with no modern junk (like any site of former settlement that disappeared before modern times), all questionable signals should be investigated because all targets, both ferrous and non-ferrous, are sure very old. And a good majority of them, whether it would be coins, bronze artifacts or iron relics, may have collectible values.