BH Pioneer 202. I'm new, but learning fast. Need some pointers please!

[Formula1BMW]

Hello. I am new to this hobby but I am starting to get the bug for it...bad! So my girlfriend bought me the 202 for Christmas. I really have just started with it in the last two months. I'm currently searching my yard.

Now when I first turned this detector on, I just set auto notch, turned up the sensitivity and went at it! I thought it was junk because i kept getting signals, and digging...nothing!! I was ready to throw it away...so I took the time to LEARN how to work it. WOW!! Nothing like reading instructions huh?!? So now I have found a lot of coins, pennies, dimes, quarters, nickels, of course a bunch of trash, and a couple of weeks ago...A silver ring! Sweet! OK, so now I'm really hooked right, I keep finding pennies though...Well over the holiday weekend the best find yet...A 1897 Barber quarter about three inches down!!! I am going to post a pic of it, as it is in very nice condition. I freaked out, my yard has never been checked!

OK, now to the question. I have been using the detector in all metal mode, with no discrimination, picking up everything. I keep finding plenty of zinc to copper penny tones. I have also turned the sensitivity way up, then added just a bit of discrimination, trying to knock out some of the trash. But all I can seem to come across is pennies. Is this because I need to adjust setting further, or is the yard just really full of pennies, and very little else? Is my 202 missing more of the silver tones? I just don't think that is true, especially after finding the Barber in such a shallow depth. Any suggestions. Thanks.

[Formula1BMW]

No one has any tips for me here

[blue2824]

Wow, I'm surprised that nobody has helped you out with your question. I know there are Bounty Hunter users on the forum. Anyway, I'm not a expert with mine. Have really only used it a handfull of times over the past couple of years. But to try and help you I will ask, have you tested your BH to make sure it is working? To do that I find a place in the yard that my detector says is clear. Then I lay several different coins (or other objects) on the ground one at a time and test the detector on each. That way you will know that it is working on each item, on the same ground that you are finding all the pennies. Also, this way the ground balance will be the same. If it checks out fine, then your yard might not have much else in it. Let me know what happens, I'm getting mine out and dusting it off and try to really get some good use out of it before I upgrade.

[wormwhisperer]

I use a Tracker IV and I would say that since you have found silver there is nothing wrong with your machine. Personal experience has shown the same results for me. I am pretty new to this also but have logged about 24 hours now in a lot of different spots and the penny to other denomination ratio is deffinately pretty high. My daughter hunts with me and has taken to calling them "stinkin' Lincolns". If I am going to hunt a park with lots of trash I will run it in tone mode and can tell when its trash and usually wont dig those signals but at the beach I run it in all metal and dig everything. Try going to a busy "tot lot" and dig all signals and you will get a pretty good idea of the ratio of pennies to other things.It's also a good spot to learn to hear the different sounds your machine will make and the digging doesnt get much easier or faster.

[Slingshot]

I agree with wormwhisperer, the best way to learn your machine is to go dig a lot of new coins! I've been digging with a 202 since July and am impressed with many of it's features. It seems especially hot on dimes, and reminds me a little of the old TEK 9000 I had about 20 years ago, but of course it isn't nearly as sophisticated. I have had a tough time pinpointing with mine, but have finally mastered a technique that works for me. Once I get a signal I back the coil up to where I don't have a signal, then using small micro sweeps of about 1-2 inches, I approach the signal area again and when I first receive a signal the coin is right below the top of the inner loop on the coil. These are really great machines, good luck digging!

[SC_hunter]

I'm sure your machine is working fine. If you find pennies you will find silver. You just have to figure, when folks drop change, they either don't care about bending over and picking up the penny, whereas if they see they dropped the dime or quarter they will pick it up. Just keep practicing and you won't have any problems. If your detector goes over silver, it will pick it up.

[MD Dog]

BHs are tuned to be very hot on metals in the copper to silver range. If your finding the coppers then your right on track. Once you've dug up most of the coppers, then go back over the same areas and see if you find silver. The coppers are usually just later drops that mask the older drops underneath. Also likely to find gold after you've cleaned this second layer because gold will usually sink deeper into most soils. I make it a point to hunt my yard every spring as the freeze thaw action can move stuf around and a coin that was too deep last year might now give a signal. I say this to encourage you to continue hunting your yard, time and again, getting the shallower masking materials out of the way and exposing older deeper targets.

[sniffer]

I've got BH Time Ranger, A White's DFX and a Prizm V. It doen't matter which one I'm using if I'm in all metal mode and I get a solid signal I'm digging it.
If all you're finding is pennies then chances are that's what you have. All areas are different just keep looking,
and continue to learn what your MD is telling you

Sniffer

[ZINCLID]

I've used many makes and models of detectors--probably owned over 2o of them----I now use a pioneer 202 with standard 8 inch and a 4 inch coil---little 4 inch is better than the 8 inch especially in trashy ground---I bought the pioneer 202 in a local pawn shop---actually traded a Bounty Hunter pilot and 50 bucks for 202----and I've had much luck with it but it doesn't get that much depth--maybe 5 inches to six inches on coins with * inch coil and 3.5 inches with 4 inch coil on coins. It isn't a detector for relic hunting if you intend to hunt minie balls or relics that typically range from 5 to 12 inches deep----for that you'll need a more capable detector than the 202---I don't use the notch feature because typically notch will help you lose important finds such as some gold rings and chains,etc. I just set my disc at just above foil level and under the nickel level and set the sensitivity level high as I can without the chattering--and hunt hunt hunt! Remember that when you are in or near wet saltwater beach sand you may need to turn your sensitivity level way down to stabilize the detector--my 202 ain't worth a crap in saltwater or in wet salt sand--no matter what adjustment I use--but it works well in dry sand areas of a beach or on dirt---don't expect a lot of depth from this detector--be glad if it finds coins at 5 or 6 inches on a quarter or a penny/dime,etc. I find bookoodles of pennies in the local park along with dimes,quarters and nickels---the unit is a pretty good little coins finder---GOOD LUCK AND HOPE YOU FIND YOUR SHARE OF THE BOUNTY WITH YOUR BOUNTY HUNTER!

[cherrypicker]

I, too, have a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202. It's a great coin finder if you prefer to "cherry pick" but it has yet to find jewelry or older silver coins. What am I doing wrong? Oh it finds what I call "junque" -- not really trash -- toy cars, items from earlier days (metal lids from canning jars), etc.

[cherrypicker]

Update on my BH Pioneer 202 -- I've since found 3 silvers (two different hunts). My first silver was at an empty lot in the town I live in and it was a 1916 Barber Dime! Then just recently I went detecting with a friend and found two silver dimes -- 1935 Mercury and a 1964 Roosevelt! I was never more excited!!! Really pleased.

[ivan salis]

take your "pocket"change out - look at it bet you got a lot of "cents" in there ( ps the british use penny's - although many americans say "penny" and they are even marked inciorrectly pennies on the boxes at the bank ----- they are properly called 'cents" not pennies ) funny thing the brits who do actually use the penny --use pence for more than 1 penny

copper is at the high end of the metal scale ( alomg with silver) and thus tends to ring up well signal wize * and with a large % of the coins in "adverage' bit of change in ones pockets being "cents"guess whats going to be lost the most --that right --cents --- and coin wize speaking what is lost the most, is highly likely to be what is found the most by us coin hunters ---logically speaking

clad dimes due to their copper core will often come in under the "cent"/ penny icon -- if the zinc cent is "notched out * but be warbed * if you notch out the zinc cents , you might miss the indain head cents --because they ring up similar to a modern zinc cent - due to hqving a similar "electrical conductivity level" -- pull tabs and gold rings are also very close to one another "electrical conductivity wize" as well --so they are hard to tell them apart from each other --the key is using the discrimation levels properly -- a pulltab should sound --"crackly or unclear" while the gold item should sound 'sharp" / or clear. --one needs tro listen closely .

ps--- when hunting in all metal and your digging and the signal just disappears * look closely at the soil for "rust" colored soil -- often a small iron item will completyely rust away to nothing but it will leave a "ghost" behind in the soil where it dissolved at --its metal make up -- as you dig this soil up the ghost "image" in the soil will break up and be not longer detectible -- poof disappearing signals -- look for the rust color in the soil --its a tip off.