I can remember when I was a 'newbie' too! I can even remember my very first outing with my very first detector, a Silver Sabre 2. Man, I was digging EVERYTHING I HEARD! <img src="/metal/html/biggrin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="

"> by the end of the day, I was weighted down with what felt like half a ton of iron, shotgun cartridge caps, and loads of other 'junk' stuff! I did find a musket ball and a lead bag seal though, so I was pretty pleased with myself <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> It took me a couple of months practice before I finally figured out the subtle nuances of what I was hearing through my headphones. I found that often, some bigger iron targets would get past the discrimination, and give me an audio report. By passing the coil over the target just at the edge of where it was picking it up, it would usually give a 'choppy' broken kind of signal. This method seems to have worked well with the 3 different detectors I have used over the last 10 years or so. SS2, DFX, and now the Laser Hawkeye. some big iron targets will give you a good audio response anyway, and this seems to be the case with whatever brand or model you use. Iron rings from farm machinery for instance, along with big pieces of plough and some horseshoes! big pieces of iron pipe will fool even the Explorer ... I saw a guy on one of the club digs dig a hole a good 2 foot deep, only to find a length of iron pipe! (He was hoping for a bronze age axe) <img src="/metal/html/tongue.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":b"> Another time, when I was using my SS2, I got what sounded to me like a good target, my friend came over with his Eagle spectrum and swept his coil over my target ... "IRON" he declared, and walked off. I was still curious though, as it sounded good to me. I decided to dig it anyway, just to satisfy my curiosity and see if my friend was right. It turned out to be a lovely old iron key about six inches long <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="

"> it cleaned up well, and now hangs on the wall by my back door! So I think maybe it's not so bad to dig the occasional piece of iron. Most times it will just be 'junk', but sometimes it's 'Desireable Ferrous' like my key, or a nice Medieval or Saxon horseshoe! I wonder how many 'Desireable' iron targets I have missed when the discrimination 'knocks them out' <img src="/metal/html/confused.gif" border=0 width=15 height=22 alt=":?"> I'm not advocating that we all turn our discrmination off here!, Just saying that on the odd occasion, I end up being pleased that I dug that 'iffy' signal <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="

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HH to y'all charlie(UK)