Help a newbie

[raptro5618]

Very new to this and even after reading a great deal I still have lots of questions that I have not seen anything written that would help me understand some things.

I had a dream opportunity this past weekend in WV. 12 acres of land where there was a revolutionary war fort as well as a battle. There also is an old mill and house that had collapsed. Even a cemetery from the 1800's.

I only had a few hours but found pretty much nothing but garbage. So many times I would get one tone with 38 or 39 that I could never get back no matter how much or in which direction I swept.

I would sweep and get a -1 or -4 with a low tone and then get the same number and a high tone.

I tried coin and coin with the crossover? Setting so it was in ferrous. I also tried all metal and relic.

There was pretty much something everywhere. Most of the signals were from iron objects but mostly what frustrated me to no end was the quick 38 and 39's that I was not able to locate.

This all is pretty vague but what should I think when I get a -1 say with a low tone then get a high tone in either setting.

What should I think or do when I get a higher number that seems to vanish?

I know I have lots to learn and how I wished I had someone experienced there to help me understand what I was experiencing.

I should be able to get back there a few times a year so I hope to be more prepared and have a better plan next time. Any help would be very appreciated

 

[arma]

Hi there
Sounds like the ground you are searching has lots of trash in it, try turning the sens down untill its more stable. If you are going to use any type of disc i would turn the threshold humm up so you can hear it good then the nulling ( when the humm goes quiet ) indicates iron under the coil adjust you speed so that you do not cover too much ground while it is nulled. Better still just run it in all metal no disc at all it will recover much quicker and turn the sens down, if it aint repeatable signals both ways dont dig it.

Arma

 

[Mirage]

Those quick 38 and 39's usually are refered to as falsing. They drive newbies crazy(and sometimes veterans too). A lot of times a deep old rust iorn object(typical at 1800's sites) will falsely give a quick 38 signal if your coil is on the edge of it's detection cone. Once you move your sweep closer to the center of the rusty iorn object you will get more of the negative numbers.

 

[raptro5618]

yep there was a lot of rusty iron there. Every time I dug it mostly was iron and some scrap alum tin or something else.

Is there any number and tone that you can be sure it is silver, a coin, jewelery or something. so far I am great at finding pennies and the square pull tabs.

At the site mentioned above I found some neat iron things but I was hoping for one good find. Well maybe next time. But Rev War fort and battle, as well as a mill I had visions of something really great. Guess that is what keeps everyone going. There was lots of land and I only covered a very small bit of it so the future might hold something to write home about.

What about the solid 38 or 39 that upon digging just dissapears. I was at a state park and had it happen several times. I checked what I dug and put the detector prob by the hole, in the hole and it was gone. What is up with that.

 

[Mirage]

The solid 38 or 39 that disappears when digging....can't say that has happen to me much. Are you able to get a good pinpoint before digging these and if so is the pinpoint area small or a little more broad? A broader pinpoint could me "hot rocks". Only time I have had good signals disappear on me was when digging 8mm metal airsoft balls. They would be on the surface so you would get a good signal. Being small they would come in at being a couple inches deep. Dig the plug and flip it over - nothing in the hole and scanning the plug would not be able to pick it up(dug the plug too deep). But i found the little bugger.

Now about that site...It takes some "maturity" to be able to search an area for hours without finding anything but a few pieces of junk. But the well seasoned veteran knows that to stike it big you will have times like this. I would not give up on that site until you have spent many, many more hours there. I find I have to be in the mood for this type of hunting. Most of the time i have a need to find something even if it is a regular penny.

Mirage