Still a rookie, need some tips, using BH Platinum

[panchoveeya]

I've only had it for 2 days and practicing in my backyard. Is it me or do you have to swing in somewhat of a fast pace to get a reading (in discrimination mode) when I get a hit, i swing again but slower and nothin. But if I swing a little faster it hits again. So its a little hard to focus and locate target. Now, for the pinponting, are you supposed to hit it when the target shows up? otherwise it wont work? most of the time when i pinpont it gets real loud over a big area? hard to tell exactly where to dig. I dug up a bunch of nails and they all hit at the qrter section reading 99plus. is that all nails? if it is, thats a pain in the ass.lol. any help will do.

Thank you.

 

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[airscapes]

Don't have your machine but I think they are all basically the same. When you discriminate iron you can not hear the tone for the iron the machine is seeing. Rusty iron will also ring up as a high number but it is not repeatable in all directions. So if you swing one way and get a VDI of say 70 and when you go back you get nothing did you also get a negative number with no sound? That could be a nail and a dime or just a rusty nail.
If you have not read the instruction manual 2 times by now, get it out and read it front to back, every word. After your next time out read it again. I am not kidding you will pick up something each time you read it after you have been out with your gear.
Keep at it and keep digging.

On my White, you push the pinpoint button when the coil is away from the target and then move it back to where is it.. it gets louder and higher in pitch the closer you get to the target. refer to your owners manual for instructions on you machine.

 

[mrwilburino]

As airscapes said, iron that is being discriminated out can still give false signals, resulting in those "now you hear it - now you don't" kind of signals. If you're getting one of those readings, try turning your discrimination control all the way down and you may hear a low iron tone bouncing back and forth with a false high tone. Most of those targets are iron, but they can also be a good target next to iron. It takes practice to tell the difference with some degree of certainty. It's actually not a bad idea to use zero discrimination at first, just to get a better "picture" of what's in the ground and how your detector is reading it. I don't have a Platinum, but I do have a Teknetics Omega, which is built on the same platform. 99's are usually bottle caps or iron trash. If you are getting a reading in the "quarter+" range, pay attention to the numbers and don't dig the high 90's unless you REALLY believe you have a chance of digging a silver dollar......which is pretty rare. Also don't run the sensitivity too high; another cause of false signals.

 

[Red Snapper]

I stared withe the Platinum about 1 year ago, have about 130 hours with it. Great detector for the price! I would start with the sensitivity around 5-6 and no discrimination. Don't know if this has happened to you but sometimes it gets stuck in pinpoint mode but that is rare. Other than that it's a great machine. Hit me up if you have any questions.

 

[panchoveeya]

thank you all for your replies. ive read the manual about 3 times but i will keep reading and watching videos and researching. ive dug plenty of nails,staples,caps, but that is because my house is no more than 15 years old. no negative numbers on screen. all the nails hit in the quarter section? so am i not supposed to dig those? thats what im not getting? ill keep practicing though and keep you guys updated.

 

[mrwilburino]

There are certain nails that are made of materials that that naturally read in the upper coin range. Some roofing nails come to mind. Iron nails will read in the iron range, sounding off with a low tone and accompanied by low numbers. A lot of people will set the discrimination control to reject them, that way they don't have to hear them. What you WILL hear however, are occasional false high tone signals that these targets may produce, depending on how the machine reads them. These can be confusing and frustrating, but are part of the reason why silver and other old coins are still being pulled out of areas that have been hunted many times. There are ways of dealing with false signals, but for now, keep digging. Better results will come with experience. Pay close attention to the sound of the target, use the meter as an additional, but secondary source of information.