I think I need help with my T2

[Steven P]

Hello, I am new here and I was hoping to find a little help. I am brand new to the hobby of metal detecting. I bought a T2 a few weeks ago and I am having a little trouble. I just can't seem to know when to dig. I mostly have been trying to coin hunt but when I go to any local parks or schools the signals are jumping all over the place, both the tones and the numeric ID numbers. I have tried lowering the sensitivity and raising the discrimination, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. When I do seem to get a strong signal it usually has ended up either all or part of an aluminum can.

I am leaving for vacation in the morning and I am taking the T2 with me. I was hoping to have some success with it on vacation, but I feel like something is not right.

Thanks in advance and any advice would be appreciated.

 

[jim tn]

Hi Steven, I suggest leaving it in the factory pre-set modes until you get familar with the T 2. Secondly, getting a good pinpoint is important for fairly stable number i d readings. Throw some various coins on the ground, get a good pinpoint and note how they read. The T 2 is a great detector but does take a little getting used to since it is so sensitive and has such a rapid target respnse. Good luck! HH jim tn

 

[dave5710]

Alot of guys may tell you different, but try this. I started coin shooting using 80 sens., 80 disc., and three tones. You will find a few pieces of junk, but 80% or more of your targets will be coins. This will help you get familiar with sounds and display numbers of good targets. You won't find nickels or gold items, but you will find cents, dimes, quarters and larger coins. You could also run across silver rings or other silver jewelry. Now I have never hunted on a beach, but it works on sandy riverbanks and good ol black dirt.

Later you can lower your settings as you learn more about the machine.

Also double check your hole as there could be more than one coin there. And don't hunt anywhere unless you have permission.

good luck, take care, and keep us posted.

Dave

 

[Steven P]

Thanks for the advice. Let me ask this, shouldn't it be locking on to one target? With mine it seems to most often change signals between swing and back swing. Then other times it might jump to three or four numbers.

 

[dave5710]

Hard to say Steven. Is this a trashy area? How wide is your swing? A target on the surface or very shallow will produce double tones. I'm a lefty and I swing from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock. Then when I
want to check out a sound, I'll swing a much shorter swing, maybe a foot or so. You can still sometimes receive two separate signals. When I have one located I wiggle the coil over the target to pinpoint it. Try locating it from a different angle. Make sure your cable connection is tight and your cable is secured to the machine's shaft, not hanging below or flopping. 3 or 4 numbers could be the difference between a target being close to the toe of the coil and one under the center of the coil maybe. Could be a penny and dime side by side. Be patient, try lower sensitivity,

Where are you going on vacation? Maybe someone here on the forum could meet with you and give you some help.

Dave

 

[Steven P]

Thanks Dave. My guess is that the parks and school were kind of trashy. I have double checked all cables and they seem fine. I have been swinging shoulder to shoulder. I will have to try your suggestion to wiggle over target, I usually just try and pull the trigger to pinpoint. I guess I will have to just keep digging and hope I learn from it. I was kind of expecting targets to be a little more specific in order to gauge when it best to dig. I have hit a few children's play grounds and did better in the wood chips, but if I venture into the grassy area looking for coins, then I run into the multiple signals, and the ones that seem the most solid have been cans. I have dug so many cans I have lost count.

Thanks again for your help.

One thing I am curious about. Do most of you get a reasonably steady signal most often?

 

[jim tn]

What do you mean by "reasonable steady signal most of the time?" If I am in a trashy area, I will get various tones and i d readings, just like you describe when swinging. Once I have gotten a good pinpoint, unless there is a trash item very near the good target, my T 2 locks on and gives a good repeatable tone and number i d. See if you can find a clean piece of ground away from power lines and any type of interference and toss a quarter on the ground and see what happens. Are there power lines nearby where you usually hunt? If so, try a frequencey shift. Where do you live? Perhaps you have some really bad ground. Is your T 2 fairly quiet if you are away from any interference when holding it out straight in front of you and using moderate sen.? If not, then you could have a problem, most likely with the coil. Any T 2 dealers near where you are going? Good luck! HH jim tn

 

[dave5710]

Wood chips are awesome. I have even pulled silver dimes out of the mud below the wood chips with the T-2.

If you hunt with the 80 80 3 program I mentioned earlier you will get some static/chatter, but those sounds won't produce a number I D. A coin will come thur loud and clear.
81-82 cent, 82-83-84 dime, 88-89 quarter. This morning I dug one can and it was 87. Don't rely too much on the numbers, soon you will be hunting by sound. Not all coins lay flat in the ground. 87 good be a quarter easily.

My first detector wasn't a T-2. It was a Bounty Hunter 202. After 3 months I thought I knew everything about using it. After 6 months I knew I didn't know anything at 3 months.

Practice and learn. Before long you'll be posting pictures of old silver coins.

Dave

 

[Steven P]

Well, went to head out on vacation this morning and the car won't start ( having one of those days) so I guess I have another day or two to try and figure out my T2.

Thanks everyone for all of your help and encouragement. I really appreciate it.

"If I am in a trashy area, I will get various tones and i d readings, just like you describe when swinging. Once I have gotten a good pinpoint, unless there is a trash item very near the good target, my T 2 locks on and gives a good repeatable tone and number i d."

OK I know this is probably a dumb question, but this might be my trouble. When I pinpoint I pull the trigger on the T2. But this only has the audio and shows depth. How do you pinpoint to get a good repeatable tone and id number? If I am getting multiple tones and numbers once I pull the trigger to pinpoint I have no idea what it is locking on to and if I should dig or not.

 

[Steven P]

Wood chips are awesome. I have even pulled silver dimes out of the mud below the wood chips with the T-2.

If you hunt with the 80 80 3 program I mentioned earlier you will get some static/chatter, but those sounds won't produce a number I D. A coin will come thur loud and clear.
81-82 cent, 82-83-84 dime, 88-89 quarter. This morning I dug one can and it was 87. Don't rely too much on the numbers, soon you will be hunting by sound. Not all coins lay flat in the ground. 87 good be a quarter easily.

My first detector wasn't a T-2. It was a Bounty Hunter 202. After 3 months I thought I knew everything about using it. After 6 months I knew I didn't know anything at 3 months.

Practice and learn. Before long you'll be posting pictures of old silver coins.

Dave

Dave, thanks for the encouragment. I am definetly going to try your 80 80 3 suggestion.

 

[Steven P]

A coin will come thur loud and clear.
81-82 cent, 82-83-84 dime, 88-89 quarter.
Dave

Do you mean the signal will jump between those numbers or should it be one repeatable number within that range?

Thanks again, and sorry for asking what are probably dumb questions.

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

Try this...when you hear a high conductive target, pinpoint and note the depth that the display says. Also note the relative size of the target's footprint. You can usually tell by that alone. Now, while swinging the coil about 2 to 3 " back and forth over the target, start raising your coil and note how far you can get off of the ground before the target signal starts to deteriorate. A coin sized target deteriorates relatively fast whereas a can or similar type target doesn't. Now lets say the target does deteriorate relatively fast. You can start digging for it and if it's not within an inch or so of what the detector said for a depth, you know it's too big to be a coin, its signicantly deeper, and will probably be something you're not after. Most of the time the second method of "test" digging isn't necessary. Hope that helps.

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

the range of numbers that a target displays will vary and depend on its shape and composition, the type of ground, the depth of the target, the position the target is laying, presence of co-located targets, and how exactly located your swings are over it. Consider all those factors and you'll learn from experience.

 

[dave5710]

In reply to your last post... The number may jump a little but what I'm saying is 87 can be a can, 87 can be a quarter, 88 can be a quarter, 89 can be a quarter, 89 can be two dimes side by side.

Your tone should repeat, your ID number may not. Like Jim says lay a quarter on the ground and go over it a few times. go over it under the center of the coil, the toe of the coil, the heel of the coil, hold the coil at a bit of an angle, hold the coil four or five inches above it, the target is the same but I bet the ID number varies a little.

In answer to the post before that, when pinpointing I will hear a sound and it will become higher pitched as I center the coil over the target, left to right, then I slowly pull the coil back and push it forward to center the coil over the target front to back. I'm too busy looking at the ground to look at the screen, so I'm not sure what the screen shows.

This is funny, but a honestly forgot the T-2 had a pinpointer in it. I was at a club hunt and another guy there has an F 75 and I was trying to remember how to change frequency so our detectors won't interfere with one another . I pulled the trigger back while trying to remember and I got this loud blast of noise. "What the heck? Oh ya, pinpointer." Change the frequency, trigger forward. "

I only use the pinpointer now for like dirt piles and hillsides. Unlevel surfaces.

Get that car going, are't the wife and kids getting a little antsy. Hope you are able to cancel any reservations in time.

 

[dave5710]

Brad, Good tip on IDing the cans, Thanks, Dave

 

[mikezap]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHOf8RVONpY&feature=channel_page


watch this video and pay attention to what it sounds like when he is getting his repeatable signals on his target. If you are new to metal detecting first you have to know what a repeatable signal is If you are out in a park, you are going to get alot of these signals if you have an aluminum can that has been cut up by a mower or something there will be more than one piece in the area. Hunting with disc 80 is not a bad idea to coin hunt, but 80 sensitivity might be alot. I would try 80 disc, 3 tones and maybe 65 sensitivity. If you are picking up targets that are close to the surface its gona beep more than once on the same target...bury a quarter in your yard at 4 or 5 inches and go over it, get your repeatable signal down in your head, then to pinpoint move your coil about 5 inches away from where you know the quarter is and pull the trigger back...then move the coil over the quarter...if its not sharp pinpoint...try doing the exact same method on the other side ...sometimes you have to "double squeeze pinpoint" to get the location. T2 can be really noisy, especially in a park of playground..its just gona take you some time to master it. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[jim tn]

I've mentioned pinpointing in my posts as this is the most critical aspect of getting the most accurate vid and striving to get a repeatable number for determining to dig, or not. Combine this with being new to the hobby and the fact that the DD coil on the T 2 is one of the more difficult to master, well, some good pinpointing practice perhaps is in order. Take a good size piece of cardboard and on one side tape some coins several inches apart, flip it over and practice pinpointing each and determining what each are. In time, also place some tabs and a couple of bottle caps and see what they read. I have been hunting for 37 years and when I got my F 75 with its DD coil, it was like (for me) learning how to pinpoint all over again and the cardboard setup really helped. In time, you will get to the point when you won't have to even have to always pinpoint, you will be able to tell from the tone that the target is centered under the sweet spot of the coil. Good luck with your car, hope it is not serious and good luck when you get out with your T 2. It is one great detector, once mastered. HH jim tn

 

[chuck ky]

when he refered to pinpoint i believe he's talking about isolating that one target and then swinging right over it to get the number i.d.

 

[chuck ky]

no need to use 3 tones at 80 disc, since low and medium tones are disc'd out.

 

[Silverman777]

Dear Steven,
Ok Do the GC (ground Cancelling) Then push the trigger forward and then press the round button F3 will show do it again F2 will show go on till F7 shows F7 is the most sensitive setting for your machine OK then set the tone to 2+, then set the discrimnation to 5 and the Sensitivity to 70. Ok now you are set up swing fast and make sure you keep the coil less than 2 inches off the ground. A low grunt noise is metal a high sharp sound is a DIG!
Stay with these settings till you are comfortable with the machine. Once you are try these
Suggested settings for the T2
Beach: Tone 3b Sens 90 Disc 40
Relic hunting: Tone +3 Sens 90 disc 10
Iron contaminated ground Tone Dp Sens 75 Disc 18
Iron contaminated ground(2) Sens 70 Disc 15 Tone 2+
Stubble Tone: 1 Sens 60 Disc 25-35
Ancient Sites: Sens 70 Disc 15 Tone 2+
Hard Ground: Sens 75 Disc 18 Tone Dp
Coin Shooting: Sens 95 Disc 35 Tone 1
Riverbank: Sens 90 Disc 35 Tone 1
Pasture: Sens 50 Disc 40 Tone 2+
Dig everything! Sens 70 Disc 5 Tone 1
Good hunting!

Silverman