Newbie with a question

[frugalwitch]

Hi, I'm new to the boards and have a question. My husband bought a Pioneer 202 by BH for me on Dec. 13th. I read the manual several times and watched the instructional video twice before going out to use the detector.

So far I have used the detector in 2 yards and 3 parks. My problem is that whatever location I'm in, all I get is an iron reading, always with a depth of between 6-8 inches. I have only found 6 cents so far, by accident since my machine consistently gives the same reading.

I am using All Metals mode since I am primarily interested in finding jewelry. I set the sensitivity knob to appr. the 2 o'clock position.

What am I doing wrong? I thought the machine would automatically ground-balance for the soil iron content. I would be grateful for any advice or tips. Thank you!

 

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[red]

If your set on all metal then that's going to get you.
If there is that much metal and its all deep the bring up your threshhole dot detect so deep. or you will have to discriminate.you will still find jewelry but since your getting use to the machine start off on discriminate for a while learn your machine then start making it harder.
Red

 

[Tom_in_CA]

you are using the "all metal mode" because you are "interested in finding jewelry"? Who said that discriminate mode would stop you from finding jewelry? It is the over-use of discrimination that will knock out smaller gold rings/jewelry. Discrimination in general will not eliminate gold items, provided you have set it at it's lowest. You can simply turn the disc. down to where it will only knock out nails, but still pick up small bits of foil. Heck, I can't imagine hunting in all-metal mode, in an area that was chocked full of nails. All-metal mode is usually used only for pinpointing, or in extreme relic hunt mindsets, where they want the iron objects, or to go deeper a bit deeper than disc. mode affords.

As for tips beyond that, there is no amount of printed advice that can coach a person on the sounds, swing speed, etc.... You need to hook up with someone, and "trade off signals", hear what they're hearing, see what/how they dig, and then the lights will go on See who's coming in to club meetings with goodies, and see if they'll let you tag along to a practice zone (even if only for newer coin practice, just to work on signals, TIDs, etc...)

 

[Sandman]

Tom offered good advice. A way to learn how high to set the discrimination is to lay down some targets including a gold ring or a pull tab and sweep the coil over them to hear how they sound and then slowly advance the Disc knob a little at a time till the thing makes no sound on the gold ring or pull tab. Both these items are very close to each other in conductivity and by canceling out one, you also lose the other. You can practice pinpointing too with the coins on top of the ground. We're all stuck with digging pull tabs if we want gold rings, and some will read in the foil range too.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[frugalwitch]

Thanks for all the replies and advice

 

[rmptr]

I ALWAYS toss out a nickel.
Every single time.
It's easy !

It almost guarantees your machine is working properly.

Tie a string to a piece of jewelry such as you would hope to find and bury it a couple inches and set your machine at the location....

R M P T R

 

[Pepper2004]

frugalwitch, don't get discouraged. I was doing the same thing you where. It takes practice to learn, and I am still learning, but getting better each trip. I have a BH 505 and I don't imagine they are all that much different. Is it OK if I send you a PM?

HH,
Pepper

 

[red]

One more thing. If there is a lot of iron in your area?
Don't turn your depth all the way up. I know with my Garrett it works best by just turning the depth down 1 notch .
Garrett will tell you this also.
I don't know about BH but they most work about the same.
As far as finding more coins. I can't express how important it is to overlap every swing of your coil.
In some areas this is imposable but in clean yards DO IT. and you will start pulling coins.
Have a great hunt.
Red

 

[MR----B]

I would just discriminate out the Iron and start hunting, if you want the gold, you will dig pulltabs, and if the machine is still acting up, turn the sensitivity down. The members are a great bunch, and won't steer you wrong.

 

[sniffer]

I've got a Bounty Hunter, Turn your discrimination to rule out iron, then turn up your sensitivity to max, and then turn your sens. back down until it stops chattering and then swing away.
You might also try slowing down your swing speed to about 1.5 seconds for a complete sweep from right to left and then back

 

[EasyMoney]

OK, I almost left this alone, but I guess it's a good idea to say this:

I'll write this in lay terms so it's a bit easier to understand.

I'm going to leave the discrimination thing alone for now.

Everything SHOULD NOT make your detector read as "iron" on your meter when searching in the ground, even if you only hunt in all-metal. If it does, then you certainly have a ground balance problem, OR, a defective meter. Audibly, it should not signal "iron" if it's not iron, with very few exceptions. If you have automatic ground balance consider this;

Your detector is sending out voltage to it's coil. This voltage is from 2 volts to as much as 24 volts. Metal detectors with higher than 4 volts going to the coil are considered to be "high gain" detectors. When a high gain detector encounters ground that is highly electrically conductive (it conducts electricity more easily) it responds to the ground more like the ground is one huge, gigantic piece of iron metal, and consequently it thinks the targets are part of the $*##$^( #^ monster that it has encountered.. In turn, it has a very hard time rejecting it all, and it overdrives the metal detector. It is then on "tilt". This is what you hear or read on your meter when it reads as "iron" or responds audibly as iron when it actually is or could be something else.

You can turn the sensitivity (gain) down to zero, but in some detectors that still is not enough to make a difference. Some Bounty Hunters are CONSTANTLY running in high gain, even if you turn the sensitivity down. Certain other detectors have this problem too, even though they cost into the $thousands. High gain does not necessarily mean "high power".

Try this: Turn your detector on. Stay away from everything. Check to see if it reads things correctly in the air and away from ALL metal. If it does in air but won't in ground, then your meter is fine but your ground balance is not working properly and needs to be correctly adjusted, and internally if you have a silent ground balance.

If you have an audio ground balance, then it needs to be adjusted properly, whether you use only all-metal, or discriminate, no matter what. If you have an analog meter it should read correctly, but not if it's ground balance is incorrect. It should ALMOST ALWAYS read properly on American coins in air though. If not, then it needs to go to the factory for some repairs.

Try this if you want to. On some detectors this actually helps;

When searching in some soils and this becomes a problem, try taping a coin-sized STEEL WASHER to the top of your coil, dead center. This (can) cause the detector to not see the ground as the Monster it is, and will lower the sensitivity a bit, thereby making life a bit sweeter for you in some extreme cases. It won't hurt your detector to do this, and as I said, with some detectors it works fairly well too. Sometimes you can cut the sensivity down to 1/2 of it normal strength. We old-timers used to do this back in the late 70's to late 80's with some detectors when they were too high-gain.

BTW, your notch control may help too if there is way too much iron or steel scrap in the ground because it too cuts down on gain a bit.

Good luck and HH

EasyMoney

 

[rmptr]

Easy Money,

I enjoy your posts, and read them all.

Elsewhere, you mentioned your favorite was Compass (specific model),
but you also said that you felt the Tesoro LST was quite good for an all around detector.

I find that interesting...

Please elaborate on the LST.

And why do you feel it superior to the Tejon?

Pumped up gain? or the switchable only, groundtrak circuitry?

I presently use a silver sabre and a Pantera. my SS+ is down now.

Thank you

R M P T R