Nokta Makro Simplex+ Target ID Explained

Intro: 

Hey Everybody. Welcome! To Episode 50 of the metal detecting show podcast. My Name is Ciaran and I have been Metal Detecting for nearly 30 Years. This week I want to discuss VDI numbers with a focus specifically on the Nokta Makro Simplex+

 Music

Hey everyone before we start I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and I hope you enjoy the show this week  but before we begin I want to give you the following information. 

If you want to give me feedback or interact with the show, please reach out to me on twitter @detectingthe or Instagram @themetaldetectingpodcast or If you want to pop me an email to ciaran@themetaldetectingshow.com 

And now If you would like to leave me a voice mail please do so on speakpipe.com/themetaldetectingshow the link will be in the show notes.

https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMetalDetectingShow

If you would like to Support the show you can do so Now through several avenues  

Firstly If you’d like to buy me a coffee you can do so at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/metaldetecting

If that not your thing you can support the podcast over on patreon just search for the metal detecting show and now 

If you are looking to purchase any new equipment I would appreciate it if you did so via Kellycodetectors.com using the affiliate link in the show notes, it will cost you nothing but I will get a small percentage of your sale for sending you their way. This revenue gets re invested into the show and goes some way towards keeping the show alive covering hosting and equipment costs.  

And lastly and most importantly If you like this content please don’t hesitate to tell your friends and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.

Content:

Hi All I hope you are all doing great this week no major updates from my world of metal detecting. I do want to do a quick Shout out to Mervin who supplied me in coffee for the next few weeks I really appreciate you support Mervin thanks again. 

Anyways I do see the weather changing and an air of optimism creeping in globally around lock downs with a lessening of restrictions which will be welcome,

this means that we can start looking for permissions or reconnecting or re-establishing our relationships with the site owners, its always good to stay in their good books so if you haven’t dropped in a gift in a while now would be a good time to do it providing restrictions allow of course. 

My last few hunts have been with the CTX using the 6 inch coil and I love it. I have a fairly simple program that allows for a bit of discrimination of Iron but as I am only coin shooting I essentially only dig targets that have an Iron or ferrous content of 12 or as I call it Diggin 12’s and disregard the conductivity number unless its sits pretty high it’s a fairly simple process that has been successful for me when Coinshooting on beaches. 

I could go into the Ferrous/Conductivity curve of the CTX but I don’t think many people have the CTX these days so maybe the Equinox would be a good choice, however I don’t want to be another person telling you just to dig everything with the Equinox. And on a side note with that I love my Equinox I think it’s one of the best detectors money can buy however what’s the point of all this technology and discrimination if ultimately the advice from the experts is to dig everything. 

now I know if your focusing on specific targets all this technology and discrimination rocks but most people are generalists and advice to dig everything is a bit crazy. So my next default was to look to the simplex plus it’s the most popular detector of the last few years readily accessible plus I just got around to reading the manual….Plus I want you to have something similar to digging 12’s for the Simplex Plus

Now im not going to talk about Air Testing here I think everyone know how I feel about that but want to look at how the Target ID of the Simplex Might work to allow you make better decisions on dig or no dig.

So How do the VDI or Target ID numbers work on the Simplex plus well according to the manual 

“TARGET ID is the number produced by the metal detector based on the conductivity of the metals and gives an idea to the user about what the target may be. Target ID is shown with two digits on the display and ranges between 00-99. NOTE: Keep in mind, large targets will ID higher than expected, even though they may be of lower conductance.”

What this means is that Nokta have calibrated the Target ID range to match the conductivity range of metal. But also have based it on objects of a certain size most likely around 24mm diameter or the size of an American Quarter. 

So if the object is larger than a quarter it can potentially ring up as a higher conductivity target with a higher Target ID than what would be accurate to the type of metal and visa versa 

if it is smaller than a quarter it will ring up with a lower conductivity target ID and subsequently a lower Target ID.  This is why big Iron slides into the Target ID as potentially a good target 

Now Nokta wont tell us if my assumption is accurate but im assuming im close to the mark but to start what is conductivity. 

Well the simplest definition would be Conductivity is the measure of the ease at which an electric charge or heat can pass through a material. 

A conductor is a material which gives very little resistance to the flow of an electric current or thermal energy. Electrical Conductivity is measured in Seiman’s / M by 10 to the power of 6. 

If you look at the top 4 elements on a scale of the most conductive you will see that silver tops the table at 62 Siemans/M by 10 to the power of 6 with Copper at approx. 59 followed by Gold at 44 and then Aluminium at 37 Seiman’s / M by 10 to the power of 6. 

This is why a great test for Silver is to hold it in your hand and touch an ice cube with it if its silver the heat is conducted easily from your hand melting the Ice via thermal conductivity of the silver because silver is the best conductor out there and because of this a silver find will give a high Target ID. 

Do notice anything else about the top 4 in the conductivity range well you might have noticed that Gold and Aluminium sit very close to each other this is why you find that  aluminium ring pulls and gold rings can give the same Target ID as the translation of the conductivity range to the target ID range will group them a very close together and the same will happen with Copper and Silver targets they will get grouped together in the target ID calculation. With Copper and Silver target conductivity translated into the 90’s range of the Simplex Target ID rightly at the very top of the scale. 

This assumption is very clear with old coins as the alloys of metals used in the production of coins sit very neatly in the top of the scale however as the metals used to alloy in coin production specifically in later years are lower down the scale Where Zinc at approx. 17, Brass at approx. 16 and Nickel at approx. 14 sit

This means that there is a potential for coins and jewellery of silver or gold alloys being down in the midscale of the Simplex Target Id. For example with the Simplex there is a high probability that Gold or Silver Jewellery will result in a Target ID of between 20 and 40 depending on the % of Silver or Gold. 

Now don’t get me wrong this mean Jack Shit if you’re a relic hunter focused on lead and Iron but the logic is the same you will be looking for targets at the other end of the scale 0 – 20 for the simple reason that Iron or any of its Alloys has a very low electric conductivity number somewhere in the region of 1.25 to 5 Seiman’s / M by 10 to the power of 6. I love saying that. Rust or Iron Oxide is also a poor conductor in fact its more resistive with a conductivity in around 1 and will give a Target ID of 0 

So to give you some key take always. that will help you be successful in hunting with the Simplex plus.

1.    The top Tip Dig your 9’s any target in the 90’s needs to be dug any  target so with the Simplex your Diggin 9’s there is potential for larger copper here but that fine I think.

2.    Gold and all it constitute alloys will live in the 20 to 40 Target ID range. 

3.    Remember that the size of the object be it greater or smaller than a quarter or 24mm has the potential to increase/decrease the perceived conductivity resulting in  a potential for good find to sit outside these ranges.

4.    This all depends on what your hunting If your looking for Relics flip this logic on its head dig the lower tones.

Wrap Up 

That’s it for this week’s I hope you liked this episode of the metal detecting show podcast.

Check out our website www.themetaldetectingshow.com for this episode show notes. 

Check out our Patreon page if you want to help the podcast stay alive or just want to buy me a coffee. Actually if you want to buy me a coffee you can do so at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/metaldetecting also

If you would like to leave me a voice mail please do so on speakpipe.com/themetaldetectingshow the link will be in the show notes.

If you feel like taking your appreciation to the next level feel free to leave me a positive review on any podcast directory of your choice. 

If you like this content and would like more please don’t hesitate to tell your friends and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.

Once again, I hope you have enjoyed this episode and we will chat to you all again next week. 

Get out there eyes down and Happy Hunting.