keeping coil level or not is my question..

[maipenrai]

I seen a guy on the news today, I think he was in Afghanistan, anyway, he was searching for mines. Coil was about 5 inches off the ground. I was thinking, "I sure wouldnt want to walk behind him, and expect all the mines to be found!"

On the beach, I sometimes try to do a good tight search, but it tires out my legs, so then I just swing and walk at a normal pace. I can actually cover more beach that way, but of course miss anything that is in between sweeps. The beach is 6km long, so I know I cannot cover everything in one night.

 

[lookindown]

I swing in an arc and keep the coil level with the ground, I don't overlap my sweeps and I walk at a brisk pace and cover a lot of ground...that's just the way I like to hunt...that's wet sand beach hunting...when I find targets, I slow down. When Im land hunting for oldies or water hunting, I go slower.

 

[DDancer]

U.K Brian,
Your correct in that however I've also seen little old men racing their detector and even though they were going fast they kept it level, kept it tight and kept it balanced. *grin* and got the good stuff. If you've ever checked out video's on organized detector hunts you can really get an appreciation for that person who can blaze a trail, pop their probe in the ground and flip the target 5 times before the next speed racer even gets close. Hahh!

 

[Frankn]

OK, I try to keep the coil level with the ground, but we all know that there is a slight tilt up at the end of the swing. We all swing U patterns in a constant 'zigzag'. No one truly swings back and forth unless they stop on each swing and i have not noticed anyone doing that.

I usually have my coil about an inch or two above the ground as I swing. My detector goes deep enough that I never worry about that distance. Hay if you are worried about an inch or two, it is time to upgrade.

I swing fast. The Whites like fast. I have calibrated the XLT for a fast reset.
Here's a tip on something I noticed on my Surfmaster PI. It picks up fine gold chains better on the right to left swing. Why, I haven't figured that out yet, but it does. Frank...

 

[Boatlode]

he rarely wound the coil cable tight up the detector shaft so that would flap with every sweep.

I never heard of this before. Does it make any difference whether the cable is wound or not? I always keep mine wound around the shaft.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I never heard of this before. Does it make any difference whether the cable is wound or not? I always keep mine wound around the shaft.

You get false signals in surf when not wound...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[DDancer]

As Treasure Hunter said in surf if your coil lead is not tight or taped to the shaft it can cause false signals. This can also happen if your hunting in heavy brush as the cable gets knocked around. Think of it this way... the cable does two things to the detector. One is that it relays the signals from the coil and if bounced around can alter that information *usually only happens with older worn out cables*. Second the cable is metal and as it moves around sharply this causes the coil to see it as a target... a false target. As a false target it can get pretty annoying.

A tight wrap or taping the cable to the lower shaft will eliminate the problem and also help prevent damage due to vibration to the cable. Caution should be used to allow for slack at the base of the shaft to the coil so that one does not stress the cable/coil junction and inadvertently break the wires. You will know if you have enough slack if you can rock the coil thru its full pivot and the cable does not become taunt.

On a side note something I consider when I wrap or tape a cable to at least the lower shaft is whether its going to affect my detectors sensitivity or balance. Reason for this is that, as I pointed out, the cable itself contains metal. This metal is taken into account when the detector is balanced. Smaller coils are more affected by this than larger I've found but generally its pretty minimal. To counter the possible issue of the cable affecting the detector I will run the cable directly up the lower shaft and tape it thereby minimizing the amount of cable in the coils search field.

VLF's are pretty forgiving when the cable is in the search field or if its a bit loose down near the coil, PI detector's are not. If your lead is not tight on a PI it will false, also if to much of the cable is in the search field it will reduce the detectors sensitivity.

Long winded enough? Hehh hehh. Just my observations over the years.