beach hunting gone awry...

meeulk · Feb 9, 2009

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....

Eu_citzen · Feb 9, 2009

The ocean water contains salt, salt water is conductive. There for the detector can think it's a target and beep.

meeulk · Feb 9, 2009

I know it is... but there's gotta be a better way. $:-\$

Monty · Feb 9, 2009

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 · Feb 9, 2009

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 · Feb 9, 2009

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 · Feb 10, 2009

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.

thompy · Feb 10, 2009

all you can do is hunt parallel to the water, lift the coil above the sand and turn down you sensitivity

meeulk · Feb 10, 2009

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 · Feb 11, 2009

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 · Feb 11, 2009

Minelab Sovereign or minelab Excalibur run nice on the beach and only sound off when you get a target .

SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS · Feb 11, 2009

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 · Feb 12, 2009

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