Slow and listen carefully? For what?

[Tom_in_CA]

I'm relatively new at treasure hunting and - hate to say it getting a little frustrated digging nothing but clad. I know I'm hunting good spots cause I never run into other MD'ers and my sites are generally 120 years old. I have an Explorer se pro and would like to know... what should I be listening for other than the screaming "DIG ME" signal associated with quarters and silver trinkets. I guess I really haven't found anything deeper than 6 inches... How do the tones differ.... Thanx in advance

Do-it-daily, I'm surprised no one has made this observation about your question:

The question you're asking is 100% "sound" related. Ie.: "what does deeper older coins *sound* like?", "what does a faint sound *sound* like?" type questions. Right ? Because, yes, it s*cks digging clad in parks, while you know full-well that others have pulled barbers, mercs, seateds, etc..... from those exact same park types. Doh!

But there's a big problem in trying to answer that on a forum which is limited to printed text: There is no way for anyone to describe sounds in printed text. It can't be done. It has to be heard. I mean, it would be like asking "describe for me the sound of d major in printed text". It can't be done. It has to be HEARD. No amount of describing the sound of d major will convey to the next person what that sounds like.

So the best way is either:

a) youtube videos where the audio feed of the person swinging your exact machine is played. And not just a video of someone digging a "gimmee" which wasn't deep, but specifically someone trying to pass clad, and only hone in on potential turf deepies. Very few youtube videos are done with that objective. But I've seen a few (as it's sort of a "sport-within-itself" to deep-turf strategy fans).

b) Better yet: Hook up with someone in your area, who uses the explorer, and who routinely comes in with oldies from the turf (ie.: not just a "sand-box hunter" type). Ask him to flag suspected deep silver/wheatie type signals. Watch the way he swings. Have him un-plug his jack so you can see what he's trying to isolate, sound-wise. Conversely you flag some stuff for him to listen to, and make note of his analysis. Eg.: he might say "shallow zinc that I'd pass", or "shallow dime not deep enough for my criteria", etc....

I had the same problem as you when I first got the Explorer. I watched helplessly as an Explorer user was spanking me 4x to 1 on oldies in turf! And when he'd point out a flagged spot, it was everything my hapless Whites could do *JUST* to get a whisper on it. So I ran out and bought and Explorer. Woohoo. But hit the immediate snag like you did. Everything sounded the same: Like a flock of sick geese. So I begged the exp. user to take me back to the same park and flag a few for me to listen to. In about 10 minutes, the "light went on".

So you see? No amount of printed text can answer the question. It has to be seen and heard. Especially for machines like the Explorer, which are SO sound-specific.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Good spots can also be barren. Metal detectors have been in use for over 50 years, and back in the late 1970's we hammered the silver! Hard to find virgin spots anymore, even private yards, they've been hit pretty good around here. I do know from experience, my best spots are the trashiest parks. Trashier, the better! Good luck.

Fist-full has a good point: Do NOT rush to the hard-hit hammered parks to try to learn a hard machine like the explorer (unless you are content with clad). Instead, either a) hit a park that still has prolific 4-star deepies to choose from, if one exists in your area, or b) start with 1940/50's yards, where there will be ample side-by-side targets to choose from and compare.

Because even though some old parks might still have silver for the hard-core experienced users, those won't have enough side-by-side signals to be able to teach you mentally. I mean, sure, you might hear the "textbook" deepie signal now and then, but the problem is, that if it's only every 15 or 30 min. to find something that sweet-sounding, then your brain will start to treat them as just random. They're not repetitive enough to develop the pattern in your brain, if they're infrequent and random.

Example: I just hit one of my favorite parks in my state a few days ago, d/t I was travelling through the area. Got an IH, a token and a few wheaties. But that took 2 hrs!! Fun for strategy to eak out a few more from such a place, but no, not for the faint-of-heart trying to learn a new machine.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I believe you mean swing SLOW...the OP's swinging a Minelab Explorer.

Ah. Yes. Sorry. I'm used to my F75 that is deeper with a relatively fast swing rather than a slow one.

Older is certainly fainter presuming older is deeper - unless you have a detector that is an alarm tone instead of an analog tone.

I cut my teeth on a Minelab Musketeer (no display) that had a vocabulary of all kinds of sounds. Pops, chirps, clicks, wooos (how do you spell "wooo"?) The deeper targets disappear as soon as you begin to lift the coil when "X" ing over it and those that hang on as you lift the coil while sweeping the spot are shallower.

Unless you get to the much older and then it's the faint little signals that fade quickly but repeat well when you are over them that might be the little 3¢ silver or silver dime on edge.


But like Cincinnati said - don't rely on display numbers alone. One of my best finds - a Flying Eagle Cent - was smack-dab in the middle of pull-tab territory by the display numbers and in an old town park that is full of modern trash. Since this park occasionally yields older silver, and since the confidence bar was high I dug. Every so often I dig every target just to see what my detector is telling me. But there are some areas so full of bottle caps and pulltabs you'd lose your mind unless you ignore some ranges.

 

[doitdaily]

Charlie / Tom, That makes perfect sense thanx for your input and hearing my question... I think the best way for me to *hear* the difference is to plant some of my silver dimes at 4-6-8 and 12 inches and get a feel for the tone change.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

That's what I do. I have a test garden in the yard that I have coins 6" to 12", coins under pull-tabs and nails, three kinds of pull-tabs, coins on edge and flat, bottle caps at 4" and a Bess size musket ball at 12"

I fact, I just had a mild panic because I sent my detector out for a factory upgrade and couldn't find my "map" showing the order and color of plastic golf tee that marked each target. But I did find it!

Now I have three copies. ;-)

 

[streakert]

I'm relatively new at treasure hunting and - hate to say it getting a little frustrated digging nothing but clad. I know I'm hunting good spots cause I never run into other MD'ers and my sites are generally 120 years old. I have an Explorer se pro and would like to know... what should I be listening for other than the screaming "DIG ME" signal associated with quarters and silver trinkets. I guess I really haven't found anything deeper than 6 inches... How do the tones differ.... Thanx in advance

Good morning, Doitdaily,
I have the Explorer 2, and have my settings set to...
sensitivity 29
thresh 12
noise 4
responce normal
recovery fast but often switch between fast and deep
iron mask -6 "usually set to off"
volume 8 gain 5
tones 5 variable 8
limits 10
sound, conduct
and have just recently turned on ferrous coin
these are my settings for the Maryland soil i am hunting,
now with that said i to have beeen hunting old homes farm land, i do dig lots of iron and trash, threw trial and error have learned what a shot gun shell sounds and looks like, i ofter play the game what is it, befor i dig, this will help you learn your explorers target
"older is not allways going to be deeper that is a myth all of my older finds except one have been five" or less, my deepest was 12ish but i was using a large coilteck,
i cant stress enough to learn/read your manual/ machine
i am no expert and i dont have loads of silver or gold to show for, i have only gotten serious about this hobby a year and a half ago myself, check out youtube and search explorers their are a lot of great vidios online to learn from,
good luck i hope this helps

 

[kyskinner]

Charlie / Tom, That makes perfect sense thanx for your input and hearing my question... I think the best way for me to *hear* the difference is to plant some of my silver dimes at 4-6-8 and 12 inches and get a feel for the tone change.

i have an SE PRO also took me about two years to learn it,i geuss you could call me a slow learner LOL!!! and remember if you want depth out of the explorers use the manual sensitivity because the auto sensitivity will rob you on the depth and listen to all the tones very very carfully the explorers will go deep if you use the manual sensitivity. the higher the sensitivity in manual the deeper it will go
and minelab dont do good on fresh bury targets