depth and sensitivity questions

[digging nm]

hello everyone, i was looking for some advice. today a friend and i went out to a school that dates back to about 1935. the oldest thing we found was a penny dated 1964. there has got to be older stuff here but no luck, this was our second trip here. i buried a new quarter at a measured 6 inches and packed the dirt. my discovery 2200 nor his ace 250 could pick up the coin. the dirt is quiet, does not seem mineralized and i know about the halo on older targets but 6 inches? i think both detectors schould have gotten a signal. any ideas would be helpful. thank you!

 

[JJ]

I'm not that familiar with the 2200, but you really didn't mention your hunting mode, sens/disc settings, coil size, fresh batteries, (whatever the zap button does?). any of these could be a factor and can all be altered for increased depth. The Ace 250, I cannot speak for. As for the lack of older finds-theres a good chance you're 2 decades late for the party, but i don't think the schoolyard is completely hunted out. You're right, you may need to go deeper for some older better finds. Maybe experiment with these factors in a test garden and work out all the bugs before you get to the hunting grounds.

 

[Wayne/TX]

Hi digging nm, chances are in a school that old, if it has been in use into
recent years, its grounds have been refilled with new sand/dirt several
times to depths of 6 inches or more. Makes any older coins much
deeper now. Try using the 10 inch coil available for the QD2, it might
help find those deeper beepers. Also be sure to always use a good
set of headphones for best hearing of any signals.
..W

 

[digging nm]

JJ, i guess i was really concerned as to why neither one of these detectors could pick up the quarter i buried at 6 inches. i tried discriminate mode at minimum disc and high and low sensitivity and all metal high and low sensitivity. thank you for the response!

 

[digging nm]

hi wayne, your right headphones should help, next trip i will try them. i do have a 10" bounty hunter coil i will try. thanks for the ideas!

 

[nugget]

Hi diggum nm, the 10" coil will give you between 20% to 25% extra depth (proven) However both machines should have picked up the coin at six inches easily, halo or not. Very interesting indeed. HH regards Nugget.

 

[digging nm]

hi nugget, i thought it was strange also that they would not pick up the coin. i am going to try it in different dirt and see what happens. thanks for the reply!

 

[possum]

I have read that a freshly buried coin is harder to detect than one that has been in the ground for a long time - something about the soil disturbance above the coin. I do know that sometimes when digging a target I lose the signal - I can sweep the hole and get nothing. Then when I dig a little more I find the coin or the signal will come back.

 

[digging nm]

i am hoping that is what is happening because in air tests the 2200 will pick up coins at around 9 inches with the 8 inch coil. thanks for the thoughts!

 

[JB(MS)]

A detector will get less depth where the ground matrix is disturbed than in undisturbed ground. When Fisher released the 1266 back in the early 1990's some local guys who bought them kept bragging about how deep they went. A couple of relic hunters were talking digging .58 Civil War minies at a foot. I drove to Memphis and bought one, actually two but let a friend have one of them, and to see how deep they would go we dug a hole and buried a penny at 8 inches. The 1266's wouldn't get it, not even a tick of a sound, so we dug it up and reburied it until we found the depth it could be detected. That was at 6 inches with a very weak signal we wouldn't normally dig, but a few months later it gave a solid signal and a year later the coil could be lifted 4 to 5 inches off the ground and still get a good signal.

 

[kodiakusa]

just thought I would let you know that I have a qd ll and put together a test garden this past weekend and I used a new quarter, dime, nickel, penny, beer can, beer top tab, key ring, 2 finish nails. all between 6 to 8 inches and I picked up every piece I buried no problem. and I plan to go back and re find again..
good luck.
cheers, Kodiak

 

[digging nm]

i tried the same test in another spot and the same thing happend, no signal. i was thinking about getting a different detector but i think i will keep trying this one. thank you for the info

 

[digging nm]

does your detector have some kind of ground tracking kodiak? mine is preset as far as the ground balance goes. thanks!