beach hunting gone awry...

meeulk

Jr. Member
Jan 2, 2009
20
4
Apex, NC
Detector(s) used
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Maybe you all can help me with this one...
I attempted to MD at the beach this weekend for the first time.
My entry level MD (Fisher F2) beeped non-stop.
I tried to decipher what it was trying to tell me and think I narrowed it down to "I don't like water."
I got nothing on dry sand and constant beeps on wet sand.
We dug a few beeps and all of them would either disappear after we dug and spread the sand around
or it would stay at 4-5 inches deep even if we had already dug that far.
I'm thinking it may be the sensitivity, but I tried changing that a bit with the same results.

I managed to find plenty of nails and other metal home building supplies in my friend's sandy backyard without any problem...
very frustrating....
 

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Eu_citzen

Gold Member
Sep 19, 2006
6,484
2,111
Sweden
Detector(s) used
White's V3, Minelab Explorer II & XP Deus.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
The ocean water contains salt, salt water is conductive. There for the detector can think it's a target and beep.
 

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meeulk

meeulk

Jr. Member
Jan 2, 2009
20
4
Apex, NC
Detector(s) used
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I know it is... but there's gotta be a better way. :-\
 

Monty

Gold Member
Jan 26, 2005
10,746
166
Sand Springs, OK
Detector(s) used
ACE 250, Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Not familiar with your machine but in order to hunt salt water and black sand you almost have to have a manual ground balance and work on the sensitivity to get a clear signal or to get the thing to shut up! Some detectors have a salt mode and most made for beach hunting have a special setting or a means of tuning out the undesirable noises. If your machine doesn't have any of the mentioned settings, you will just have to stick to the dry sand. I hunt an inland lake that has high salinity and it has caused me problems with some machines. If you intend to hunt beaches a lot, especially salt water I would suggest getting a water machine. That's why a lot of us use more than one type or brand of detector. Monty
 

rugratt

Jr. Member
Dec 19, 2008
74
2
Erie, Pa
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter, whites DFX
Reminds me of the time I went beach hunting. All my machine did was beep. After a few hours of digging false alarms I got frustrated and quit. When I got back to the van, I was loading my detector when I noticed the coil wire had come loose from the machine. I tightened it and tested it and it was fine.
 

TORRERO

30+ YEARS, XP DEUS I & II ARE MY GO TO MACHINES
Nov 17, 2004
1,620
1,011
NC
Detector(s) used
XP DEUS I & II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Some machines are just not designed for the "Wet Salt Sand" type of beach hunting.
I use a DFX and it does very well in the wet sand but you have to set it right.
I was outside of Charleston SC on a beach and was getting lots of coins in the wet sand and met another guy who was
hunting the dry sand, asked what he was finding he said.... not much a few zinc cents.... I told him I was finding a lot
of clad in the wet sand, and he said his machine just made lots of noise so he did not hunt there.
Here are a few things you can do..
One you turn the "Discrim" up a little and it normally take this out, somewhere around the nickel level, you will walk over some gold rings like this but it will stabalize the machine more and you can dig coins... turn and test the discrim until it stops
just enough to make the machine stable..
Something else, if you listen well, you can sometimes hear a difference between wet sand signal and metal signal, another
thing to try is not to touch the coil with the wet sand but keep it 1-2 inches above the ground, contact will signal even with
the discrim up...
hope this helps.
Richard
 

Lowbatts

Gold Member
Jul 1, 2003
6,573
67
Elgin
Detector(s) used
Fishers 1235X-8" CZ-20/21-8" F-70-11"DD GC1023
I think you'd find the F5 and up series Fishers will work better in salty wet sand. From what I've heard of the F2, it's a fine machine but maybe not hardy enough for salty wet environments.
 

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meeulk

meeulk

Jr. Member
Jan 2, 2009
20
4
Apex, NC
Detector(s) used
Fisher F2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You guys rock... thanks for all the replies. I'll try tweaking it for now... I'm not quite to the point of purchasing a second detector.
 

xXx

Hero Member
Nov 17, 2004
580
58
back in Indiana again
Detector(s) used
Multiple land, beach, underwater and specialty units
Since you are in NC, you might want to consider coming to the 2009 Treasure Expo & Trade Show and catch the free seminar on Beach Hunting by Jim Brouwer. Jim is what I would call a Pro at beach hunting. He will also have his collection on display at the show. He will be teaching alot of his tricks and settings for sand and water hunting.
Here's the show's website: www.treasureexpo.com
The show is April 4th & 5th (Sat. & Sun.) and Jim's free seminar will be on Sunday, April 5th.
Hope to see you there.
xXx
 

Keppy

Gold Member
Nov 19, 2006
8,318
2,870
N.E. Ohio on lake Erie
Detector(s) used
** WHAT ONE I FEEL LIKE ON HUNTING DAY *****
Primary Interest:
Other
Minelab Sovereign or minelab Excalibur run nice on the beach and only sound off when you get a target .
 

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SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS

Gold Member
May 22, 2005
7,205
60
Primary Interest:
Other
meeulk said:
You guys rock... thanks for all the replies. I'll try tweaking it for now... I'm not quite to the point of purchasing a second detector.

meeulk,
keep working at it.

have a good un.....
SHERMANVILLE
 

Jason in TN

Bronze Member
Oct 29, 2004
1,253
19
East Tennessee
Try turning the sensitivity down a bit and the descrimination up untill you lose the noise from the salt. Slowly go up on the discrim up until the nois goes away should be just befor you get to the nickel range as the salt reads lower than a nickel most of the time. Will lose some small gold rings by doing this but being able to hunt and still fing larger gold and coins is better than not hunting at all. Give this a try and let us know how you come out. Good luck
 

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