CTX 3030 Settings

I had been having problems with the CTX because of the way it was not doing what I thought it was capable. So I contacted a CTX tester and got a lot of advice. So I have been hunting quite a bit since the advice and was asked what settings I was using.

First I picked the coin mode and heavily modified it. Don’t worry because you can save it to a new mode when finished. I then took out all of the discrimination, much like what you would do to set up two tone ferrous on the E-Trac. I then went to Tone ID profile and switched to Combined. My frequencies are my own preference the Ferrous line I moved to 24. The first conductive box I made it 310 khz and the sized it from 1 to 14, to cover nickels and lower targets. The Second box 495khz from 15 to 33, for aluminum, gold and some older Indian heads. The 3rd box 66khz from 34 to 42 to try and cover the most copper coins. The last box at 88khz from 43 to 50. to be my silver tones.. Now these might not be the best but it is what I have been using and I like.. The good thing about the CTX is you can set it up just like you want it..

Now some are saying set it up with auto sensitivity +3. In my hunts +2 was enough anything higher and it was a little unstable for my tastes. Now every so often I would quickly switch to manual and run it up to around 24 just to see if I could strengthen the iffy signals but it didn’t help. I have learned that iffy tones on the CTX almost 99% of the time are no good... Checking it from different angles will confirm this.

I have the response on normal, Recovery Fast off because it seemed a little unstable in some trashy spots. Recovery Deep on, again a matter of preference.. Deepest coin was a buffalo nickel at a true 9 inches and it sounded and responded like it was 5 inches.

Now I think the most important setting is the Target Separation, I have it on Ferrous-Coin. You will notice when using it the Conductive targets will be red yellow and the ferrous targets blue.. Pinpoint on normal. At first I was having issues using the DD wiggle back to pinpoint, the reason was because I was trying to dig trash.. and I will explain what I mean later.

Once you have set it up like you want instead of saving it to the original mode and overwriting it, go down to Save as new.

One thing that I am seeing is if the CTX gives an iffy signal, good tone/target/bad signal or a good signal only on one side then it is usually bad. I tested this thought yesterday and documented 32 iffy tones, where there was only a good signal on one side of the target. Now I scanned a full 360 around the target, and still only could get a half signal. Out of the 32, 0 were good.. I quit writing down the results at 27 and counted five more nails and trash when I was done. I made sure that there wasn’t any good targets in the holes by digging extra large plugs and pulled every piece of metal out of the plug and hole before moving on.. the biggest resulting target of the half good tones where very large rusty nails, that once out of the hole would hit low iron. I did notice that the half tones were only on the conductive 38 and up targets id’s. The lower signals 37 down to 03 were almost never iffy.

What I have now been noticing that even at 9 to 11 inches the good targets hit very solid and they most of the time sound like they are only a few inches deep. This even in very trashy plugs..

Now I was having problems pinpointing using the wiggle back method. Now with these settings and knowing what to listen for, it is much easier. I have noticed that sometimes, I am guessing because of heavy trash, when pinpointing using wiggleback that I have to double check by backing up an additional 11 inches (size of coil) to make sure the target isn’t hitting on the back of the coil.. I occasionally had that problem with the E-Trac but not like on the CTX. It really isn’t a problem once you get used to checking it.. Its just as easy as coming in at 90degrees and checking it that way too.

Since changing to this setting my success rate has gone through the roof, especially in hunted out spots. Now this is probably not the best setting or even worth reading, but I have had really good success since changing to the combined. I haven’t even messed with any of the other extras, I want to get settled on the basics before moving on to the others. I know there is more to this machine, but I wanted to get the basic of the machine down and become proficient before trying any changes to the modes.. I hope this helps. As soon as I move on with this detector I will post what I am doing.

CTX 3030 Target ID's

I have had numerous requests on Target ID numbers for different targets.. Here is a list of targets some are from my videos and some are air tests.. Numbers in red are from actual digs, blue are air tests, and green is from other hunters. Anything with a question mark is a little off.. Notice how the Larger silver coins hit in 50 tone(coin)/ low trash and Combined/Ferrous coin, In Combined/Ferrous Coin the Dollars actually hit lower than the Half dollars. 50 Tone/Low Trash    

RED ACTUAL DIG  BLUE AIR TESTED GREEN FROM OTHER HUNTERS

Large Cent  09-47 10-47 08-48

1889 to 1909 Indian Head   10-35,10-36, 10-38?      12-35 1910 Wheat  10-36 11-37        12-36

1918 Wheat 11-39 12-39      12-40

1930 to 1958 Wheats  12-43 11-43          12-43

3 cent piece 1870 12-02(taken from an actual hunt from another CTX user)

3 cent silver  12-30

Half Dime 1853 and 54 thin  12-33 and 12-34

V-Nickel                    09-10 11-11 12-12 12-13 12-11  12-11

Buffalo Nickel    09-11, 12-11 12-12     12-13

Seated Dime thin 09-40, 10-40    12-43

Seated Dime good condition 12-43 12-44 12-45   12-45

Barber dime thin 10-40 10-32    12-43,44

Barber Dime good condition 12-44 12-45 12-46   12-45

Mercury dime 11-42 12-43   12-43

Roosevelt 12-45 11-45 12-46      12-46

Barber Quarter thin 11-45 12-46     12-46

Barber Quarter good condition 11-46 12-47 12-48    12-47

Standing Liberty Quarter 11-46 12-46 12-47     12-47

Washington Quarter  12-45 12-46   12-47

Barber Half 01-44 01-45       01-46

Walker Half  01-42 01-43    01-45

Franklin Half  02-42 01-41     01-44

Kennedy Half   01-46

Morgan Dollar 01-38 01-39  01-39

Peace Dollar 01-39 02-38    01-38

Combined/Ferrous Coin

RED ACTUAL DIG  BLUE AIR TESTED GREEN FROM OTHER HUNTERS

Large Cent 12-46

Indian Head 1889-1909  10-35 11-36 12-33? 12-35

Wheat Cent 1910 11-38 12-36 12-37    12-36

Wheat Cent 1918  12-40 12-42     12-43

Wheat Cent 1935 to 1958 12-40 12-41    12-41

1852 3 cent piece 12-29

1853 Half Dime  11-34

V(Liberty) Nickel 10-10 10-12 12-12       12-12

Buffalo Nickel 11-13 12-12 13-13   12-12,13

Seated Dime Thin   12-39 12-40 11-42      12-43

Seated Dime Good condition 12-42 12-43    12-44

Barber Dime 12-43 12-44 12-45     12-44

Mercury dime 12-41 11-42 12-43     12-42

Barber Quarter 12-45 12-46     13-45

Standing Liberty Quarter  12-45 12-46    13-46

Washington 11-46 12-45 12-46  13-46

Barber Half 12-43 12-44 12-45    12-44

Walking Liberty Half dollar 11-44 12-45   12-44

Franklin Half 12-43 12-44    12-44

Kennedy Half 12-44

Morgan Dollar 12-41 12-42    12-42

Peace Dollar 12-40 12-41     12-43

How to download to EXchange 2

Here is an instructional video on how to download User Modes from different media’s, like email, forums, etc..

How to create the settings

I have had a couple of CTX users asking “how to create” the mode that I have been using. It has been extremely successful for me. Here is a the video on how I do it. 

Video on how to create CTX Settings

BBH Custom Settings

This is a zipped file that has several of my Combined/Ferrous Coin Settings, including a 50 tone for coin Iding. There are four programs. Each with a description in Exchange 2.

Download our custom settings here