My First find!!!!

[Nightf10182003]

WOW! After waiting a week for the rain to stop to begin my new hobby of MDing. I unpacked my shiny new Whites Prism II, put it together...read the instructions and began my hunt. I immediatly got a strong signal for a quarter...which by the way, the salesman says the readout is VERY accurate. So I dig...and dig...and dig..and this is not soft ground..this is hard dirt and rock...so..after about 8 inches of digging, what do I find...but I nice crushed beer can! ARGH! Anyway...with all the bells and whistles, and directions, how do I tell how DEEP an object may be?

 

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[ZumbroKid]

The depth meter/reading is unimportant. I have a MXT it has a depth reading feature which i never use. I found it easier to just dig my target.

 

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[Born2Dtect]

If anyone says they do not dig up cans, pulltabs, or cut pieces of aluminum they are missing a lot of good finds. A trash/find ration of 50% is great, but you still dig 50 % trash.

Ed

 

[dudes2112]

Dig it all!

The test garden is a great idea, it will allow you to get a feel for the size of the objects at various depths and more accurate than testing in air because you have the mineral content in the soil to overcome.

If you have kids, try this out:

Take a dozen or so targets and put them in large 8 1/2 by 11 envelopes and have the kids mix them up and see if you can figure out what each one is. My kids still love to play the envelope game! You'll be able to tell a can from a coin in no time.

Dudes

 

[nevrdundetecting]

WOW!? After waiting a week for the rain to stop to begin my new hobby of MDing.? I unpacked my shiny new Whites Prism II, put it together...read the instructions and began my hunt.? I immediatly got a strong signal for a quarter...which by the way, the salesman says the readout is VERY accurate.? So I dig...and dig...and dig..and this is not soft ground..this is hard dirt and rock...so..after about 8 inches of digging, what do I find...but I nice crushed beer can!? ARGH!? Anyway...with all the bells and whistles, and directions, how do I tell how DEEP an object may be??

Welcome....I have a Prizm III and love it, I have found the target ID to be extremely accurate on coins, although sometimes other round metal objects can trick the detector....one way to approximate depth is to slowly raise the coil over the target and note where the signal disappears (distance from top of ground to where signal disappears), then subtract that distance from about 8 inches or so (approximate maximum detection depth for coin sized objects), and the answer would then be approximate depth of coin sized target. This won't be an exact measurement, but it is a good indicator and will get you close, that is how I used to approximate depth with my BH Pioneer EX (Quick Silver) which didn't have a depth meter. If the target keeps beeping over a foot above the ground or more then it is a large target. Hope this helps!!

HH

 

[Nightf10182003]

Great Tip....and so obvious...you'd think that a man with a college degree could have figured that out by himself..but alas, The obvious just slapped me upside the head and says thank you.

 

[TimmyNY]

I found a can full of silver coins and wheat cents one time gotta dig it all

TimmyNY

 

[Southcacalaky]

Dig em all, learn your detector well, HH Art...

 

[Huntin' 59er]

Welcome to the forum and to a great hobby ! As you get more practice and learn your detector your finds will get better. Trash is just a necessary evil that comes with the hobby. Good Luck and keep us posted.

Huntin' 59er

 

[Colorado2]

Welcome to this grand addiction NightF...I bought my dad a Prizm II for his birthday (85th), and spent a weekend with him teaching the finer points of MD'ing in November. Sadly, the Prizm II doesn't have any depth indicators but I did exactly what Nevrdun suggested. Raise the coil and deduct the space between the coil and ground from 8" when you lose the audio signal. Worked like a charm. You'll eventually get used to the strength of the signal and be able to give a good guess as to depth. No worries though. I don't think anyone on this site, that got a good signal from a deep can, wouldn't dig well below their depth indication just to be sure. You never know when you may be reading the lid on an old mason jar full of silver and gold coins! By the way, My dad got a 1943S war nickel his first day out. 30% silver you know. You picked a good machine. Have faith and keep swinging that thing!!!~CO2

 

[cheese]

Hello Night!

I'm not exactly in your immediate area, but not too far either. 3 hours or so...in Thomasville Ga.

All I can say is that the more you use that machine, the more you'll find with it and the better you'll understand it. Anyone can turn on a detector and find something, but the guy with experience will find that gold ring in the first guy's footstep. Fortunately, building up that experience is a lot of fun!

 

[treasures4me2find]

Congrats on your first find. I'm sure when we all started, our first finds were either beer cans or tabs. Its a start, you will soon figure it out. But like was said...DIG IT ALL...you never know whats there, or what just might be inside that can. Good luck with future digs.

Ken

 

[tsgman]

Good luck and welcome, all you need to do is become familiar with your detector. My XLT will show cans at o depth most of the time, but when in doubt you dig it!

 

[civilman1]

Be environmently friendly,get rid of the trash and the treasure will come.good luck!