Ever learning.

[Mick in Dubbo]

I had an RDO today due to a lack of livestock, so I was able to put in a few more ours with the Ace today. I've got around 135 hours on it now since I bought it in late September last year, and in the last 10 to 15 hours of use, My confidence has increased noticeably.
The main reasons are 1) Following a piece of advice from Charles Garrett; in his book "The New Successful Coin Hunting". The advice was simple. When detecting/pinpointing a target, try and guess what it is each time, then see if you are correct. That's a paraphrase of it and not word for word. Doing this sure does help you get in tune with your detector.
I still have only read part of this terrific book, so I'm looking forward to finishing it. What surprises me a bit about the book, is the shear enthusiasm and focused intensity in which it is written. You can just see that he was on the edge of his seat with excitement, just wanting to pass on his knowledge, when he typed it. After all these years in the hobby, he hasn't lost any of his passion for it.
The second reason is, that I now leave my Pocket Uniprobe (trainer wheels) at home and only arm myself with a screw driver. This has allowed me to hone my pinpointing skills considerably. It's reached a point now, that I seem to get some sort of perverse pleasure in pulling up square tabs! They are not the easiest things to probe with a screw driver, yet every one retrieved is a successful recovery= increased confidence.
I'm still playing around with the sweep speed a fair bit, and now find that in open and not to cluttered fields, I can now cover a lot more ground quickly. You just need to be alert and not let your guard down on what the detector is telling you.
I wrapped the hunt up after 3 hours with a total of $6.10 and a heap of pull tabs. I used to hate digging those blitters.
I reckon that I've still got some things to learn about this detector. It might be simple, but it packs a punch.
Mick Evans.

 

[khouse]

I have found one more tool in trying to figure out the pull tabs. Try this and post back if your not already doing it. After I get a iffy - bouncy tab,nickel and coin hit I pinpoint. Now mark or keep your eye on that point. Then sweep the coil over the target while pulling your coil back. If you still get a beep at the front edge of the coil or better - past the coil then it's a tab or piece of aluminum. If the beep drops off at or before the inner coil then it's not a tab. The aluminum responds better than a coin usually. This has been working for me.

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

G'day Kenny.
I tried what you suggested today. I noticed that the pulltab seems to hang on for longer than a coin when tested on the surface. I'll have to try again with one of each buried, to see if I can pick it. I have noticed with a larger coin, that a coin has a harder drop off than the pull tab, but with a smaller coin, 5 cent, the fade sounds about the same. It will be interesting to keep testing, to see if I can pick them apart on the amount of time the signal hangs on for.
Thanks for the tip.
Mick Evans.

 

[awhitster]

That signal falls off fast doesn't always mean non pop top / foil. I dig all nickel hits. Yesterday I was thinking about this post when they hit. Some dropped right of, just a small boink when pinpointing but were still foil or pulltabs. This was with the 250. So, for me, dig all nickel hits. You never know when it might be gold.

 

[khouse]

Sweep the coil fast and a pulltab will beep past the coil edge sometimes 1 inch.

Here is some tips for aluminum cans.


Re: A review of the ACE 250

 

[khouse]

Awister,
I agree with you. No matter what - I dig foil and nickels. Most all my gold test rings big or small hit in those 2 segments.

 

[awhitster]

[quote khouse]

All these things can be done in 20 seconds if you suspect a can. It's not fool proof. Just some tips to digest.[/quote]Well said. The last sentence tells it all. Nothing is foolproof. Dig, dig, dig. Like my other brother told me; if they could make a detector that could tell you 100% that it was a pulltab, foil, a aluminum can or GOLD, they could sell them for 10 grand and have people lined up to buy them.

 

[khouse]

I use the "time" method. The more time I have to detect - the more junk I will dig. If I only have 20 minutes to hunt - then I cherry pick what I can. I'll even disc out everything from zinc down if it's a 20 minute one time ever hunt. If you have access to a spot where you can detect any time for as long as you want then I'll dig most everything. Anyone else do this much?

 

[GetRdone]

n/t