I have heard from a good friend of mine that military have ground penetrating radars that can actually see what coin is hurried in the ground, not just if its a coin or not but tell you if its a wheat penny or an Indian. This units are still under development but if it happens as always in maybe 10 years we might see them in production...
Tom in Ca.
I think someone's pulling your leg dude.
Would have to agree. GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) systems have come a looonnggg ways in the past
20 years, but they are still limited to graphing the reflected returns from the terrain beneath. Could be that
with software they can quickly analyze the returns, and provide a mineral breakdown of the soil, where the
voids are, and an outline of any objects. When copper leaches from a penny that has been in the same soil
for years it leaves a "signature" around it as the nearby soil will show those copper traces. Still, that doesn't
say what it is, however some items can often be identified by the items shape + an analysis of the elements
in the surrounding soil.
The more powerful the GPR is, the more power it requires to transmit/receive and therefore you're also
hauling round a heavy power source + a very heavy transponder which is typically mounted on a set of
wheels so it can be rolled/pushed/pulled over the terrain.
FWIW, for me it's a hellofa lot easier just to beep the coin and dig it up and avoid all that extra work. You can
dig the hole, take the prize, refill and move on to hunting again long before the data analysis is even done on a
single object. Besides, what fun would it be knowing what it is before you dig it up?
