Coils, Depth, and Parks

[bottlecap]

I have been a little quiet on here since acquiring my AT Pro but have been hovering reading a post here and a post there, picking up some useful info. I have been hunting parks because of time restraints lately(they are close) and was wondering if any of you folks have noticed an actual depth difference between the 5x8 coil and the 8.5x11. I have used both on my machine and have to admit I really like the 5x8 but I get deep signals sometimes that I have a heck of a time pin pointing, just wondering if the 8.5x11 may clean these up with a little extra depth. I am not interested in digging a hole to China, just want to be able to get a little cleaner signal and better micro location on deeper targets. The parks are getting a little stale for me, seems in parks you will find one of two things...clad or trash with the slight possibility of jewelry. Since purchasing my Pro I have found three rings and they are by far my favorite finds, also found an old shot gun shell brass that said "Winchester Blue Rival", upon doing a little research I found out these shells were only produced for a brief time from 1896-1904, this tells me I at least have a shot at an old coin at that park. My goal is really old coins and I am hoping to make a find soon. I have been spending every spare minute detecting, but obviously parks are probably not the best places for old coins. I have a couple good leads on some old home sites I hope to hit soon if time allows. Maybe I can spruce this thread up tomorrow with a picture of my rings....they aren't anything special, but one was really deep and may have some age although it has rust and I am not sure what type of ring would rust. Thanks for any info. Can't wait to dig my first silver coin!

 

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[JunkShopFiddler]

Hey Mr. Bottlecap, I don't have an ATP, but I have found that bigger coils do the opposite of cleaning up a signal...They are bigger and have a bigger electric field, and more often then not they are big enough to get a second or third object under the coil at the same time, and that will really complicate your ability to pinpoint and dig the good object.

Smaller coils will clean up a signal because of their limited size. They will have a better chance of having only the good object underneath to pinpoint. This is especially true in trashy places like parks which have lots of trash items to appear under a bigger coil all at once...(A hand held pinpointer is almost a must in trashy places like parks or residences).

Smaller "sniper coils" are made for the situation you describe. Bigger coils are better for relic hunting when you want to find lots of large objects and dig all signals...My two cents anyway.

Here is a tip for hunting parks...Get old maps of your towns and see if any of your parks were something else years ago. Last year I found a few silver coins including a silver 1922 Peace dollar in a park that was once a horse corral for an old RR depot. Others don't hunt there because they think it is a modern park, (hee hee)...best of luck!

 

[steve1357]

Bottlecap,
It all depends on how "busy" the ground is.

Parks I hunt are very busy with many targets close together, a larger coil would make things worse picking up several targets at the same time, it'll get you frustrated quickly. I hunt an old homestead that was burned, the 5" Fisher coil isn't narrow enough in places, I just dig everything to remove the trash, hoping better targets are deeper.

If your targets are far enough apart, the 8.5x11 will help.

Garrett talks about it:
http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_searchcoil_tech_sheet.aspx

 

[bottlecap]

Thanks for the input guys. The park I hunted last night wasn't trashy at all and I stayed away from the playground picnic area because my goal was to successfully dig some deep targets, I was trying to stay away from the trash. I will keep all of these tips in mind and continue with the smaller coil unless I am in some wide open hunting areas with little trash. Just wanting to get at some old stuff. I have had a hard time finding old maps of my area but I will keep digging around and hopefully I can turn something up.