Technique Critique

[TrippinBilly]

I'd like to ask for constructive criticism of the techniques I've been using with my Fisher F75 at parks and schools with the standard coil. What do you do the same or differently for good results? Mainly, I'd like to increase my odds of digging more jewelry.

I have about 80 hours on the machine and I feel like I'm understanding it better and better each week. I've also watched countless YouTube videos and have read for hours on end on forums and online. I've been getting into a groove with the following -- my settings are usually: Sensitivity between 60-80 depending on conditions, discrimination around 19, no notch, delta pitch tones, default mode.

I typically only dig fairly consistent signals that don't jump around too much, from 25 VDI and up. I usually dig the target if the VDI variance is less than about five and especially if it's a crisp sound. Once in a while I'll dig a low twenties VDI if it's really solid. And sometimes I'll dig odd readings just out of curiosity or if there is a tone in there that sounds crisp.

I usually stick to the grass, favoring walkway edges, trees, outer perimeter area, and baseball field areas. I'll do some gridding across open areas at times. At new places, I'll give the playground sand or tanbark a quick once-over.

The average hunt is about 2 - 3 hours and my take home stash usually consists of (roughly): 30ish pennies - about 1/4 copper the rest zinc, five to ten dimes, couple nickels, four or five quarters. Trash is usually a large combination of pull tabs, screw caps, bottle caps, just a few pieces of slaw, and other odds and ends. Semi interesting items may consist of a key, spoon, lighter/vape parts, etc.

Rarely do I find jewelry. I've found three junk rings but they were all at once within about 8 inches of each other, two in the same hole. Once in a great while I'll find something like a cheapo half heart best friends type pendant. Only once have I found a chain (thicker type) and it was a cheap bracelet.

Am I performing below/at/above average? I feel like I'm below. Do you see anything that may increase my chances of finding rings and jewelry? Some of these places are pretty trashy so it'd be impossible to dig everything, as I've heard some people say. Early on I dug a lot more trash, though.

Let me know what you think I can do to improve...besides more time which I plan to consistently put in.

 

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[chub]

Ive clocked up hundreds of hours on the F75. I really love it.

1) jewellery is all about location. Where do people lose jewellery? Swing sets in tot lots, swimming etc. Unfortunately the beach tends to be the number one location. The F75 is DEEP in dry sand, however wet sand is not for the F75.

2) Delta pitch is a great mode. However it can pretty technical to master! I started off in 3 tone. Spent hundreds of hours learning the machine then became obsessed with DP...spent ALOT of time in this mode ....then moved back to 3 tone.
DP is descriptive but I feel it needs more concentration than 3 tone. I normally run 3 tone / DE / 80 - 90 Sens / no disc / no notch. I like to hear the iron grunt. Bottle caps in 3tone are also a little more broken (not always).Mostly all high numbers with iron grunt is halo/ wrap around and is generally iron. Gold rings (not that Ive found alot) ring up around 50 on the VDI (depending on purity etc). Best place for rings for me was to hit every boat ramp and camping ground lakes during our big drought a few years back. The water was so low I was actually detecting under where the boats are normally moored!
1 ring for every 200 fishing sinkers.... no Im not joking.

You may consider a small coil to help in the trashy areas. Its not my style of hunting.
It reads like you are very dedicated and thats probably the most important element of detecting!

Chub

 

[chub]

One other thing - Demographics.

Chub

 

[TrippinBilly]

Great info, thanks. It's interesting that you moved back to three tones. I'll play around with that more. Sometimes I change it up and go to all metal mode when I get out of trashy areas.

I like the zippy-type noise delta pitch gives on bottle caps -- many times, not always. I still dig them every once in a while to be sure what it is. I've not figured out how to tell pull tabs for sure. They are usually solid and steady so I don't want to pass up a ring, even if it's not a precious one. And nickels seem to be right about 32 so I probably get more nickels than the average Joe, digging all those low (and other) thirties. My gold wedding band is a solid thirty in an air test. One park I went to gave me many more nickels than dimes. I'm guessing someone before me didn't want to dig pull tabs!

I really want to start in on the beach but don't want to be left out of the wet sand with the F75. I'm looking pretty seriously at purchasing a used Equinox but I'm hesitant to start learning a new machine. I feel I'm just starting to turn a corner on the F75 and feeling pretty good about it. I'm sure there will be many more advances I can make if I keep putting in the time with it. That's what I keep reading.

Thanks again. This is a very interesting hobby.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Jewelry can give odd sounds and jump around on the VDI, especially chains. The only way to recover a lot of jewelry is to dig a lot of trash. Just the way it is (and not unique to the F-75).

Delta Pitch gets on my nerves. I like 3H for almost all of my searching.

 

[HighVDI]

I actually think if I were wanting to hunt jewelry I might run in jewelry mode with 2F. Only problem I've ran into with jewelry mode is small aluminum pieces sound (kinda) like a deep silver coin. A little washed out tone though.

 

[TrippinBilly]

I like the fine tune variance of dp, the small nuances of sound. I'll play around with 3 tone though. I've heard about the odd sounds and varying VDI of chains but no experience with it, yet. I've only found one thick chain which was hardly under the surface, so it screamed "dig me". I'll have to start digging more odd sounds.

And I have to admit I still like coins, except for pennies. Good to know about the jewelry mode difference. I used to use it and I'm not exactly sure why I stopped.

I suppose if it was easy then everyone would be doing it ;-)

 

[Loco-Digger]

I've been swinging the F75LTD for 5 years, normally hunt disc 4 to 9 depending on the site, sens 65-75 in town, 80-90 in the fields, no notch and 3H or 3 tones. I do use FA in target rich areas but mainly hunt in DE mode. I use BP (boost mode) to get a better ID on an iffy signal. I have only dug 6 gold items and they all had a tight target ID either solid or 1 number variance. Most mid tones have jumpy target ID numbers so I don't dig those. My favorite hunting grounds are century home yards in the older parts of town and old farms. Mainly a coin shooter, but do enjoy digging cool relics and the occasional bling. I have hunted almost every school and park in a 40 mile radius my 1st two years, only pulled one gold class ring from an old football field, and a few silver rings along the way, other wise all the other gold rings were dug in yards. To be a successful jewelry hunter you need to dig everything from foil up. JE mode is the hottest standard mode and is what I'd use if I was a jewelry hunter. Just know that people have been detecting since the 70's and virgin grounds can be hard to find. Good luck finding the gold & silver.

 

[SD51]

Agree with Loco about digging everything from foil on up!

Here's my take on finding more jewelry;

Last year I was working a large open field in the middle of a very large park. On my way to the restroom, I kept the coil to the ground as I walked. I got a signal that should have been an old pulltab, so I stopped to dig it and out pops a sterling bracelet. Made no sense until I realized that the signal also depends on how the target is sitting in the ground. Here's what I mean... the bracelet was sitting at about a 45 degree angle in the ground with the narrowest part of the band close to the surface. The detector doesn't sense the entire bracelet, just the portion closest to the surface. I tested this later by placing the heaviest part of the bracelet upright in my yard and the signal was completely different.

Now, here's what I decided to do in this field. I would start at one end and detect towards a particular tree on the other end of the field and cover every square foot of ground slowly. My coil is sweeping just a 4 to 5 foot width. I also decided to do what Loco suggested, dig every signal from foil on up.

Here's the results;

I found two sterling rings, two Gold class rings and two Mercury dimes sitting next to nails and pulltabs. I wish I had kept track of how many pulltabs I removed but they are now gone from the field forever. At some point, you just have to decide on a given day to dig those signals and it will pay off. I got pretty good at quickly removing the targets. When I hit the two Gold class rings, I fully expected the targets to be another pulltab and was pleasantly surprised.

This year, I am keeping track (for fun) of how many pulltabs I recover before I dig a Gold ring, so my best suggestion is to try the technique of picking a single path through an area and don't stop until you've covered that path thoroughly.

 

[HighVDI]

I've been swinging the F75LTD for 5 years, normally hunt disc 4 to 9 depending on the site, sens 65-75 in town, 80-90 in the fields, no notch and 3H or 3 tones. I do use FA in target rich areas but mainly hunt in DE mode. I use BP (boost mode) to get a better ID on an iffy signal. I have only dug 6 gold items and they all had a tight target ID either solid or 1 number variance. Most mid tones have jumpy target ID numbers so I don't dig those. My favorite hunting grounds are century home yards in the older parts of town and old farms. Mainly a coin shooter, but do enjoy digging cool relics and the occasional bling. I have hunted almost every school and park in a 40 mile radius my 1st two years, only pulled one gold class ring from an old football field, and a few silver rings along the way, other wise all the other gold rings were dug in yards. To be a successful jewelry hunter you need to dig everything from foil up. JE mode is the hottest standard mode and is what I'd use if I was a jewelry hunter. Just know that people have been detecting since the 70's and virgin grounds can be hard to find. Good luck finding the gold & silver.

Agreed. Thats why I like the 2F for dig it all sites.

 

[CASPER-2]

you want to dig more jewelry - get a CZ21 and head to beaches/waters
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/members/29748-albums.html

 

[CASPER-2]

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/605270-some-older-hunts-treasures-vid.html

 

[TrippinBilly]

Thanks for all the good advice. I've adjusted a bit and now dig solid VDI's in the high teens and up. Work has been crazy but I finally got a chance to go out to a park this evening. Dug a lot of foil, lol...and those darn twist tops filled my bag.

At one point I hit a solid mid 50's VDI and expected some garbage or a severely corroded zinc penny. Surprisingly, it was a relatively thick, 8.5 inch long chain bracelet. I thought it was junk until I got home, cleaned it up, and looked on the clasp with a magnifying glass. 925! And marked "Italy". What a surprise, my first silver item. Found at the park where I had recently dug my first, and only..so far, wheat cent. Coincidentally, I also dug a 1995 200 Lire Italian coin that rang up just about the same as the bracelet.

I'm still interested in the beach but need to pick up a sand scoop and, preferably, a Nox 800. I better keep digging that clad to save up ;-)

 

[Mike Hillis]

Nice Bracelet!

I think you are moving along the learning curve ok. Watch the confidence meter, don't pay a lot of attention to TID numbers with very low confidence readings. Size the target with your pinpoint. Make sure your ground balance is in tune so your pinpoint works correctly. Small targets should pinpoint small. If your ground balance is out of tune small targets will pinpoint larger than they really are. Solid signals that pinpoint small are good.

Read your manual some more. Lot of good stuff in there.

Good Luck,
HH
Mike