A question about water detectors...Sandman???

[Craig]

Hello,

I live on a small Lake in Minnesota. I would like to get a water detector. I am accustomed to using an ID meter, but I know this is not possible or usable on a water unit.

Our lake has a great deal of aluminum cans and tops, and lots of iron trash.

I see a lot of positive comments on the Excaliber. This machine emits a signal of a certain pitch for each different type of metal detected right? You decide what to dig based on the pitch.

This is an expensive detector, and I have any Minelab dealer in my area that has a Excaliber I can try out.

Can you hear the difference between a nickel and a pull tab, a penny verses a dime.

I suppose gold rings have quite a variety of pitches, and could easily sound like a pull tab.

I just do not want to dig up every aluminum can or screw cap in this lake.

Is there any advice you experienced water treasure hunters can give a novice like me.

Craig

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Craig, I'm sure Sandman will post soon.

The excal will null out on the iron but I am afraid you will still be digging the pull tabs if you want to find the gold. Sometimes you can tell when it's a pulltab, but most times you can't. For me it is easier to tell when it is a bottle cap then pull tab.

You can descriminate pull tabs out, but odds are high you are also discriminating out some gold. I would highly recommend the Excal, you will learn the tones, and it does get easier, but I can't say you can always tell when it is a pulltab.

I dig all constant tones that i get sweeping from 2 different angles, the gold comes.

 

[jopher]

Craig.....No majic in the Excal! Its a great machine, but if you want to recover the gold, youll be diggin every one of those pull tabs.The beauty of the Excal is that you wont be digging the small tin and iron. Good luck....Joe

 

[Murph]

I have been running a sovereign for about a month now which has similar tone id to the excal and IMO the tabs are not going to be the problem. With just a months ear training I can pretty much tell you when its a tab opposed to a coin.

Problem for me is the 10 to 14k stuff that I have found or tested, which is the majority for gold here in the states, has tone id grouped in with foil and low grade can shreds (low tones). This can leave me pulling my hair out in the more densely populated beach areas which are littered with can slaw right now. All that digging can ware ya out pretty quick. I think my area is in dire need of a significant erosion event which is something it has not seen in over a year. According to Al Gore this should have happened three or four times this summer but apparently not.

I spoke to some water hunters this Sunday and they were encountering the same can slaw well off the beach. For fresh water lakes this may not be as much of a problem since there are no tides to pull the stuff out into the water. Only consolation is that with the minelabs you wont have to dig the iron.

I think you will find that its a dig it all proposition other than the tell tale bottle cap grunts. When I start to ware out I often just crank up the discrimination some and call the last hour or so of the hunt a coin and silver search. From what I have heard on the net from a downloaded file containing excal tones some gold will fall in these higher tones any ways so even when doing this your not closing the window on gold completely. But then again that's just me; I could be wrong.

 

[Sandman]

I will try to cover some more info for you. By the way, welcome to the forum.

The excal will null out on the iron but I am afraid you will still be digging the pull tabs if you want to find the gold. Sometimes you can tell when it's a pulltab, but most times you can't. For me it is easier to tell when it is a bottle cap then pull tab.

The Excal and Sov GT both send out 17 frequencies at once. This helps the detector separate the signal from a target from the minerals in the ground itself. With the Iron Mask feature, both detectors can sound off on a ring under a railroad spike unlike many other detectors that will null out on the spike and never sound off on the gold ring.

There are differences in the way the tone "ramps up and down" on a target. Some are very low tones and some are loud and sharp. By laying different targets on the ground and sweeping the coil over them you'll notice the slight changes in the sound. There is a difference in the pull tab verses gold rings, BUT not all pull tabs nor gold rings are alike. So guessing the pull tab sound is really a tab, could cost you a gold ring. Then remember rings are made out of other metals beside just gold and these have different conductive properties.

But to make it easy, if it makes any sound, it is not iron an may have some value. There is all sorts of metal down there that isn't iron an some sounds like gold.

The Excal is expensive and there are many detectors that are cheaper. Time is the only thing you never get back. Why waste it swinging a detector that is not up to the task. Good Luck Craig.

By the way, tell us if any of them Minnesota Muskies try to eat your coil.

 

[IndianRiverSonrise]

I've hunted lakes in MN and did not find much trash. Lots of silver coins (with a nice blue/black petina from the nice cold water there) and religious medallions. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but junk is information. Knowing where it is and isn't tells you something important. If you can bear it at all, don't be afraid to dig a little junk for a while. In time you'll learn to identify it from the sound of your detector and you'll eventually learn to understand what the junk is telling you. But if you can't bear the junk, enjoy yourself anyhow. Some of the lakes with rocky bottoms might give you some trouble with retrieval.

 

[JOE(USA)]

Craig,

Just something I would like to add. When in a school yard and the odds are that the signal may be a pull tab or a clad coin you may not dig it . However when water hunting and the odds are the signal may be a pull tab or a FAT GOLD RING ,what do you think you will do?
In other words don't get too hung up on discrimination. (If you have $1100 that iron mask does work nice on the Excal.) Joe

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I dig all constant tones that i get sweeping from 2 different angles, the gold comes.

Some great advice there from the others. Personally, I just don't want to take a chance on missing a gold ring that sounds like a pull tab. I would rather dig 100 tabs, then take a chance and miss that one really nice gold AND diamond ring.

I know they are out there, I can't let Morris get them all....