BarnacleBill
New member
I happened to be working from home today when I received a telephone call from an elementary school nurse that I know. She asked if I would lend the Fire Department a metal detector, or be willing to assist them in locating a syringe at the school. Within 15 minutes I had loaded up my equipment and was headed for the school wondering why I would be looking for a syringe.
Upon arrival I was greeted by a fire and police official that explained the situation. Several children had found a syringe on a grassy hill, and of course it had to happen, three of them ended up getting stuck by it.:angry: They wanted me to check the same area to make sure there weren't other syringes still remaining. Before leaving I had mounted the HF & MF large DD's on both of my X70's and brought along the Fisher Edge for good measure. Just to get an idea of the target density, I went over the area quickly with the HF DD, as I feared it was loaded with targets up & down the ID scale. OK plan B.
I asked the two officials if they still had the syringe that was found. The police officer went to his vehicle and retrieved the syringe which was in a thick walled paper coffee cup, covered with Saran wrap. My first reaction upon seeing it was "Oh Boy, this is not good". The needle portion looked to be about 20 thou in diameter and half an inch long. I swept it over the coil in All Metal and it gave not a peep. I boosted sensitivity up to 28 and tried again, no luck. I changed to Prospecting mode with no Iron Mask and gave her a whirl.....nothing. All righty then, off to get the Fisher Edge with small coil, sensitivity at 8, All Metal, nada....dead silence.
I said OK men, hold on, I'm going to change to a prospecting coil and I'll be right back. Went back to the car and put the HF 6 inch DD on the X70. Went back for another go at the syringe, in All Metal coin mode, once again nothing. Switched to Prospecting mode, just a slight murmur. So slight that attempting to hunt an area loaded with strong targets would be futile.
Talk about frustrated! I was madder than h@ll! This was one situation where the technology is just not up to the task. At that point I told them since the area is only about 6x20ft, that their best bet was to take a leaf rake and rake it down, gather it up, then dig a hole & bury it.
Therefore a forewarning, don't be over confident, detectors are not going to alert to some syringes even at or just below the surface.
HH
BarnacleBill
Upon arrival I was greeted by a fire and police official that explained the situation. Several children had found a syringe on a grassy hill, and of course it had to happen, three of them ended up getting stuck by it.:angry: They wanted me to check the same area to make sure there weren't other syringes still remaining. Before leaving I had mounted the HF & MF large DD's on both of my X70's and brought along the Fisher Edge for good measure. Just to get an idea of the target density, I went over the area quickly with the HF DD, as I feared it was loaded with targets up & down the ID scale. OK plan B.
I asked the two officials if they still had the syringe that was found. The police officer went to his vehicle and retrieved the syringe which was in a thick walled paper coffee cup, covered with Saran wrap. My first reaction upon seeing it was "Oh Boy, this is not good". The needle portion looked to be about 20 thou in diameter and half an inch long. I swept it over the coil in All Metal and it gave not a peep. I boosted sensitivity up to 28 and tried again, no luck. I changed to Prospecting mode with no Iron Mask and gave her a whirl.....nothing. All righty then, off to get the Fisher Edge with small coil, sensitivity at 8, All Metal, nada....dead silence.
I said OK men, hold on, I'm going to change to a prospecting coil and I'll be right back. Went back to the car and put the HF 6 inch DD on the X70. Went back for another go at the syringe, in All Metal coin mode, once again nothing. Switched to Prospecting mode, just a slight murmur. So slight that attempting to hunt an area loaded with strong targets would be futile.
Talk about frustrated! I was madder than h@ll! This was one situation where the technology is just not up to the task. At that point I told them since the area is only about 6x20ft, that their best bet was to take a leaf rake and rake it down, gather it up, then dig a hole & bury it.Therefore a forewarning, don't be over confident, detectors are not going to alert to some syringes even at or just below the surface.
HH
BarnacleBill
