Wish I could have had some of you more experienced guys with me yesterday!

[SteveM70]

Went to a permission yesterday that was a dream setting. Farm house built in 1911 with the original log home pre-1900 still standing near it. Several log built outbuildings with rock foundations, two barns, a root cellar and a known location of where the outhouse sat.

There was just so much stuff in the ground it was information overload for me. Literally, every sweep of the coil provided several hits, the majority being from foil to tab range.

I quickly realized I needed to put the 5" coil on the F-75 and that made a difference but I basically struck out! Found some clad, one 1926 wheat penny and an interesting small badge with the words Harding Memorial, Marion, Ohio.

Didn't get too hunt long but got invited back. I think I'll put this place on hold until I can gain some more experience. I can't help but think there's a got to be a lot of good stuff hiding from me in all that trash.

 

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[xr7ator]

Actually, if it is wide open ground and you don't need to worry about messing up a pristine lawn, this sounds like a perfect place to dig a ton of targets and learn the machine. Good luck to you!

 

[SteveM70]

Actually, if it is wide open ground and you don't need to worry about messing up a pristine lawn, this sounds like a perfect place to dig a ton of targets and learn the machine. Good luck to you!

Thanks and Agreed! I really felt like doing just that but since I never really made it out of the main yard around the house I decided it would be best not too. Actually it took a little over two hours to do little more than circle around the house just once wading through all the signals and trying too cherry pick some of the better ones out of there.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Sounds like a great permission, since you were invited back, I'd grid that yard in a couple directions. I believe the front and side yards should contain less trash and the stock coil should suffice. I am glad to hear you have the 5"DD and that you know when to use it. You just know there are a few silvers there waiting for you. I wouldn't doubt if you pull a Walker from that site.

GL & HH

 

[steve1357]

Thanks and Agreed! I really felt like doing just that but since I never really made it out of the main yard around the house I decided it would be best not too. Actually it took a little over two hours to do little more than circle around the house just once wading through all the signals and trying too cherry pick some of the better ones out of there.

Steve,
is the F75 the only detector you have? I use a Compadre or something similar to clear out the trash over several visits. Then and only then can you keep your sanity trying to find the silver, older, and deeper targets.

If the F75 is your only detector, turn that sucker down to 20 or 40 sensitivity (nothing deeper than 5 or 6 inches) and clean out the trash first. Imho the trash, shallower targets are getting in your way. I use a shoulder bag and remove all the trash. You can't ignore it....

 

[SteveM70]

Sounds like a great permission, since you were invited back, I'd grid that yard in a couple directions. I believe the front and side yards should contain less trash and the stock coil should suffice. I am glad to hear you have the 5"DD and that you know when to use it. You just know there are a few silvers there waiting for you. I wouldn't doubt if you pull a Walker from that site.

GL & HH

I actually have two detectors and my other happens too be a Compadre but...... After telling my dad stories of my new hobbie he decided he wanted to tag along about a month ago. He had an old Bounty Hunter hanging on the wall in his garage that I think he had gotten for Christmas around the same year Ralphy got that BB gun Well, he pulled it down, put batteries in it and low and behold it came alive! He used it on a couple hunts until I got the F-75 and let him borrow my Compadre. Now his Bounty Hunter is hanging back up in the garage and I have for all intent and purposes lost my Compadre AND pinpointer

I'm not bashing Bounty Hunter, just saying he bonded quickly with the simple, lightweight Compadre.

 

[steve1357]

I actually have two detectors and my other happens too be a Compadre but...... After telling my dad stories of my new hobbie he decided he wanted to tag along about a month ago. He had an old Bounty Hunter hanging on the wall in his garage that I think he had gotten for Christmas around the same year Ralphy got that BB gun Well, he pulled it down, put batteries in it and low and behold it came alive! He used it on a couple hunts until I got the F-75 and let him borrow my Compadre. Now his Bounty Hunter is hanging back up in the garage and I have for all intent and purposes lost my Compadre AND pinpointer

I'm not bashing Bounty Hunter, just saying he bonded quickly with the simple, lightweight Compadre.

I'm an old fart too lol. While I enjoyed my hitech display machines, something about a beep and dig detector that weighs half is the attraction for me these days. Don't get buried in the process, get results. I've watched guys resweep, turn knobs, play with the display on a target when I would have already dug it, filled in the hole, and moved on. But everyone enjoys the hobby in different ways, takes all kinds.

 

[digger27]

In heavy trash gotta go slow, good signals can come and go quick and I don't rely on just the tones but I watch the screen for good numbers and when I see some I stop and examine them further.
The small coil is a good choice, makes things much easier, but still there is the possibility of getting more than one target under the coil at the same time.
Also this thing is so powerful you can get signals from metal that is near the coil but not even under it.
This causes jumpy behavior, hard to tell when you are swinging over something good because it takes practice to notice just a hint when it happens but just give it time.

Some things I do or some that you might try in sites like this...

I use pretty high settings most of the time but I worked up to that over time I got my brain trained to notice the more decent solid tones AND the more repeatable numbers on the screen.
Sometimes the good numbers flash by fast but if the tone sounds solid, (false tones are usually a tiny bit more "squeaky" in all tone choices for lack of a better word), and I see some decent numbers that seem to repeat with some short side to side swipes I examine those further from at least two directions trying to get more repeatable numbers by trying to get the center of the coil over the suspected target area.

I never go fast in heavy trash or iron.
It is true a fast sweep over deep targets can ID them better but in bad mineralized soil or dense trash or iron you need to crawl slow...really slow.
FA can probably be an asset in sites like this but I don't have that so I just deal.

Lower the sense down to the 30-40 level...30 is more recommended.
You can still get deep, even with the sniper, but lowering the sense in his way seems to have the effect of tightening that scanning field into a laser-like sharp and more accurate scalpel.
This is pretty amazing when you experience this with the big DD coil but it even works on the sniper coil too.
I think what might be happening here is signals from those surrounding targets not exactly under the coil affecting our signals are now not picked up at all so targets under the coil show up better...but just a theory so don't quote me.
All I can tell you in areas I hit so many times before and loaded with trash like around picnic pavilions and once in a waiting and spectator area around some very old tennis courts I did this with the big DD coil and so many good targets showed up that were noticed so easily that I had missed before I was shocked.
Still easily dug targets this way up to the 5-6" level and I believe I could get further than that but that is where most of my deeper targets usually hang out most of the time so I never came across targets deeper than this at the time.

I use 1 tone, monotone, sometimes 1F if I want to get that depth modulation info.
2F for me is great for woods, 3H and 4H is for quick brooming less trashy open parks for clad, older coins and jewelry but monotone seems to me to be the most responsive in iron and heavy trash.
Less EMI effects in the lower tone ranges compared to the higher ones from what I have experienced, and I don't have DST but it may well be that even DST units might have the possibility of a little more stability on signals using lower tones especially monotone.
I have used all my tone choices for many hours and I could be wrong but it is something I sense.
I have found more hidden and masked targets in difficult sites after I switched to monotone than the other tone choices I have used.
That and all metal.

All metal is actually and probably my most successful way to hunt in crowded sites which might sound opposite of the more logical ways, plus the way I do it is with sense and thresh turned up to max most of the time, but for me it works.
This takes tons of practice to get good at using all metal like this, you get so many signals on everything in the ground surrounding and under that coil and at first it was all an unintelligible mess I could not understand but after much time and practice my brain was trained to notice the better signals that flashed by so fast even with slow coil movements.
This is advanced stuff, I call it my blast through method and I am not saying you should do it this way now or ever or that anyone should do it in my strange way but I can tell you after trying this on and off for a bit on every hunt one day something clicked and I was able to start picking out better and very masked targets easier and easier.
In time this became a normal and comfortable way to hunt most everywhere...if you walk up to me at any site and ask to see my settings you would probably notice I would be in either all metal or monotone...and other monotone settings are usually pretty high also.
Again this takes much practice, don't think you have to do it this way now or ever, just something I do.

Yesterday on a hunt with a friend hunting some curb strips and a couple sites with a ton of trash, (a ton!), where homes were torn down I used both these settings or a variation on that monotone disc setting anyway.
All metal and sense and thresh maxed for a bit, disc with these settings that I am trying out and seem to be working well lately at unmasking.
Pure coin shooting settings when on the hunt for older coins.
1 monotone.
Disc up to 65 but the entire nickel area notched back in.
Sense high, I was at 85 and even pushed it up to 95 but again I am used to this and those lower sense settings would probably would have worked as well and probably much easier to deal with for those with less experience but again...I got used to using high sense.

I came across a ton of garbage using the big DD coil but I have much experience using that coil in heavy trash and iron...plus I was just to lazy to switch back to my sniper which I should have done...logically.

I was moving slowly around this old home site similar to yours switching between all metal and disc, covering most areas with both because I didn't want to miss anything good in an old site like this.
Wasn't digging any of the iron I rolled over in AM, avoided most of the jumpy trash that didn't sound good to me either, I did stop and dig two wheaties that sounded good but I quit digging it all a long time ago.
Then I came across an area that jumped all over from nickels and up to the 70's.
Usually I would consider this as trash and move on but as I mentioned I heard something in some of those tones that was a bit more solid and I kept seeing 31-33 numbers repeat here and there with small movements of the coil over parts of this area.
I switched over to disc and monotone and got the same thing but the good tones sounded even better and more solid and I kept seeing those nickel numbers flash by and somewhat repeat here and there.
Finally I zeroed in on one signal that was near the end of this busy area that was about 8-10" square and did the wiggle and pull back the coil thing over it and those nickel numbers stayed solid and repeated the whole way.
As the front edge of the coil passed over this target the numbers and tones dropped out so I dug a little hole and about 2-3" deep I extracted a buffalo nickel.
I stood up and swung the coil over the entire area again and got pretty much that same jumpy signal as the first one from nickels on up.
I found one more I could home in on and a silver war nickel showed up.
I was happy but once again I swung over the area and got still more signals.
The next one I dug was another silver war nickel and then I just moved my Propointer around the whole area and found another buff.
I was thrilled and I stood up one more time and on this one I only got one good solid signal at the other end of the area where I dug that first buff and this time it was a solid dime signal all by its lonesome.
About 3" down up from the depths came a merc!
I was hoping this would never end but that was the last signal from this area so I called my friend over to show him the best pocket spill I had ever found.
All were between 2-3" deep and spread out over that 8-10" spot and even though it at first seemed like a jumpy trash signal the more solid tones I heard and the few repeating nickel numbers that flashed by made me curious so I stopped to see what was happening...and now I am sure glad I did.
I can do the same thing using my regular disc settings of monotone and the disc all the way down to 1 or 0 which I do because I hate to miss anything good especially gold but this high disc just made it all a bit less mentally fatiguing and at sites like this I switch into coin mode.
I will go back and look for gold here some other time.

The small coil might have made this a bit easier, in multi tones and especially 3H or 4H I might have had even better clues and some solid tones that would have triggered my digging instincts but that I will never know.
I can say in multi tones in trash and around iron I do get many false high tones that most times I can tell what they are but in this case using all metal and monotone that forced me to look closely at the behavior on the screen and those mono tones do seem to give me a better feel of solid targets vs. falsing now...after many hours of experience.

There might be a whole lot more at this site that you don't know about...yet.
You are smart to understand that with experience will come more skill and the maturity to have the patience to take the time to learn those skills.
In time and in even the most difficult sites with any coils this is an example of what can be achieved.
I know I couldn't do this when I was a newbie with my F70 but now I can.
You are doing well so far, very well but trust me the best is yet to come.

 

[SteveM70]

Thanks Digger27. I'm using 4 tone, disc at 15 and still playing with sensitivity. I keep going back and forth with sensitivity trying too figure out what works best for me. On one hand, lower sensitivity seems to quiet it down some and offers better seperation in trashy areas. On the other hand, higher sensitivity leaves no stone unturned so if I can train my brain too sync up with the busy detector it should, theoretically, offer a more complete picture.

I've had no luck with using the high tone settings like 3H and 4H. So many items ring in around the nickel range that it's just too much. I find it easier for me to watch the screen and if I get a consistent, steady number in the nickel range or above I may dig it. I'm liking disc set low so far because so much of the trash can throw a high tone in it just seems to make it quicker to realize what's going on when I can here the lower tones.

I'm digging plenty of clad and some older stuff so I'm developing confidents in the signals I do dig. It's those signals that come in one way and not the other. The ones that move or disappear. The quick high tone amongst the trash signals. Those signals that I don't dig always leave me to second guess myself later knowing my coil most definitely swept over some good stuff that I didn't key in on.

 

[digger27]

Rome wasn't built in a day.
Train your brain...doable, just takes practice.

Sensitivity... not like a stereo volume knob where 99 is maxed and 1 is almost mute.
99 is maxed but everything under is using way more gain than you might think.
I have hit deep stuff at under 40, a 5" dime once at 19 and probably could have hit that dime if it was deeper.

Don't know about yours but on mine the higher the disc the quieter it gets.
There is a relationship between the thresh and the gain but I believe there probably is also when you add disc into the mix.

Those odd signals...one ways could be something good but most times for me they haven't...mostly iron when I do dig them.
As are signals that act one way with high numbers on a swing in one direction and different behavior on the back swing.
In bad soil or around trash and iron there is a slightly better chance masking could cause this behavior so I always hit these from at least two directions to see if they change.
Complete changes with no repeatable behavior again for me are usually things I should have ignored when I dug them.
Everything isn't in stone out there but you do gain confidence when you dig enough bad targets with these behavior patterns.

Those false quick high tones are usually just that...falsing and usually caused by iron in the vicinity, in my iron heavy sites anyway.
On shallow stuff I rarely have found anything good but on deep ones you need to check a few of those out because behavior could change with depth.

Signals that move, again rarely anything good but you learn and can deal with all these things way better with experience.

You are actually doing extremely well at this point, I know some that several months in still couldn't get a handle on signal and target behavior so you have a flair for this.

 

[SteveM70]

So, went back to the farm house today and struck out again.

Between me and my dad we have about 12 hours total swinging at this place now. Him with my Compadre and me with the Fisher. We've pulled a handful of clad and one wheat penny out of there.

I inquired and found out the guy that gave us permission is a new owner of the farm so I'm thinking that someone has just beat us to it!

 

[Loco-Digger]

So, went back to the farm house today and struck out again.

Between me and my dad we have about 12 hours total swinging at this place now. Him with my Compadre and me with the Fisher. We've pulled a handful of clad and one wheat penny out of there.

I inquired and found out the guy that gave us permission is a new owner of the farm so I'm thinking that someone has just beat us to it!

Go back some time after a drenching rain and see if you can hear any deep targets. You never know what's there unless you swing your coil over it. I got a permission a week ago (1880's house) and pulled a silver quarter, but not many coins there. It has been hit before I presume.

 

[HighVDI]

Not much experience here, but what I have found out doing this is you NEVER know! I hunted a late 1800's farm house today and dug 11 wheat pennies! Not one silver coin. Still got tons of yard to check though.

 

[SteveM70]

Go back some time after a drenching rain and see if you can hear any deep targets. You never know what's there unless you swing your coil over it. I got a permission a week ago (1880's house) and pulled a silver quarter, but not many coins there. It has been hit before I presume.

O'l yeah! I'm going back. I have a hard time believing that anybody could have picked this place clean but it's beginning to look like they did a pretty dang good job lol! We've searched many of what I would think are the hot spots (sidewalks, entrance ways, walkways to garage/barns etc.) and some twice so far.

Unfortunately, the ground here is good and wet right now so I'm not sure that I'll gain much after a rain.

I did go back over the trashier parts that I had previously searched but this time I turned the sensitivity down to 60 and the disc up to 25. Had a much quieter detector and found some more clad that I had missed so there is that.