Coin to Trash Ratio...Am I Doing This Right??

[Bottleguy]

Well, first of all I'm new to MDing and I hit my first park today with the MXT. I was there for about an hour and managed about $1.82 in clad and pennies, along with the usual trash. I kept everything I dug. I hunted in Coin/Jewelry Mode with Gain and Disc set at the Presets, although I fiddled around with less (and more) Disc and tried locking the Ground Balance a few times, all with no better results.

I'm assuming (although we all know what happens when you "assume") that I was in a fairly normal park with an MXT. Every pass gave me multiple hits on everything from Iron to Nickle/Pulltab, coins, and everything in between. I've read much of the advice which says "with the MXT ignore the VDI and dig everything!". If I were to have done that, I wouldn't have gotten much further than 10 feet from where I started (and made a big mess of the lawn)! I dug everything which gave me solid multiple readings of either a coin (penny, penny/dime, quarter, 50-cent, and $1)or a nickel/ring. Everytime I dug something in the nickel/ring or nickel/pulltab range it turned out to be an aluminum screwcap (or a pulltab).

Also, when I checked the Ground Mineralization in Propecting Mode a few times, it consistently read between 47 to 52, so I assume the ground isn't very mineralized (or at least it's pretty consistent).

Here's some questions:

1. Are my findings about normal for an hour in a park?

2. Do multiple passes over the same target with Ground Balance on produce different VDI readings for the same object? I noticed that I'd get a solid hit on a coin, and in my attempt to decide to dig it or not I would pass the coil over the target 5 or 6 times and then the coin VDI reading would change to something else. Very frustrating!

3. All my finds were 4" deep or less. I got a few hits on coins at about 6" deep, but dug and dug and nothing. What's up with that?

4. Where are the nickels? Almost every aluminum screwtop I found was indicated to be a nickel/ring.

Thanks for listening, and any tips or advice is greatly appreciated!

Here's a picture of my finds...[attachment 31173 DSC00839.JPG]

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Mike in Tn]

Hey Rick, looks like you had a pretty normal hunt. I would have probably had even more trash items than you. As for the 6 inch coins and nothing there. You could have possibly had a coin on edge. They will usually read alittle deeper than they actually are and they will pinpoint off to one side. So, your coin was probably in the side of the hole somewhere. Get yourself a good pinpointer probe like the Vibraprobe or White's Bullseye II. They help tremendously on those hard to locate targets. As for the nickels, het yourself some nickels of various years and check what they read on your meter. That will help you dig more nickels and less trash. Some screwcaps and tabs are going to read as nickels and even pennies. So, you are always going to get more of them than you want. Only way no to is to only dig items above penny. Then you are going to miss some good finds. Hope this helps!!

 

[dirtdigginlady]

YOu'll soon learn the difference between pull tabs and nickles. Nickles just have a different sound, feel...it's hard to explain but you'll get it. It's like when you hit a nickle, it beeps strong and falls off fast and pulltab beeps just linger longer. Usually nickles for me read a solid 20 also where pull tabs read higher and bounce around more.

 

[Rob (IL)]

1.The $1.82 depends on the park.

2. Yes many times you will get different different readings. Try pinpointing and then take a pass when you know the target is under the center of the coil. That's when you get the most accurate reading.

3. I have found chunks of cans much deeper than the reading indicated. Also I have found some very, very small objects that give a coin reading. Without a pinpointer I wouldn't have seen them. The deeper the target the more my readings bounce around.

You didn't say what coil you were using. The 9.5 coil is murder in trashy areas because there are two many targets under the coil at the same time. Trashy areas need a small coil. I use a 5" excelerator. There is the whites 5.3, and 4X6 or 4.5X7 excelerator.

My nickels usally hit between 18 and 20. Usally a 22 is already a rectangle tab. I've found over 3000 coins so far this year and nickels make up 10% of my finds. Dollars and halfs less than 1%, quarters 11%, dimes 20%, and pennies 59%.

Have you tried hunting in relic mode? The chattering in C/J mode drives me nuts. Rob

 

[Bottleguy]

Thanks all for the input!

I was using the stock 9.5 coil, but I plan on returning to the park with my 4x6 DD. It might help me get around some of the trash. All in all, I think I did fairly well. It was a lot of fun! This park is particularly good for a beginner like me who still is a little "shy" about being seen MDing. There are RR Tracks on one side and the other sides back up to people's backyards with high fences.

BTW, thanks for the tip on the nickles! I just finished doing some air testing with nickles and various pulltabs and the nickles always were a solid +20 and the pulltabs +22-26.

Thanks again,

Rick

 

[Rob (IL)]

Rick, 99% of the time a solid 20 is a nickel, but if you don't dig the signal that jumps from 18 to 20 you will miss alot of nickels. Many of my jumpy penny readings turn to be wheaties. Rob