mwaynebennett
New member
I have purchased products from this company in the past and have no financial interest in it at all.
http://stores.ebay.com/imagetrader
They sell USGS topo maps as well as satellite imagery of entire counties on CDs. What makes these products so useful is that all the topo maps are electronically stitched together into one large map and if you also buy the photos, you can overlay the two. This is helpful in comparing old town sites etc to present conditions. This software can be loaded into a notebook computer and taken into the field and used as reference to pin point locations. In order to get maps and photo, two disks must be bought and cost about $24 delivered to your door.
On a related note, I found an old topo map of my neighborhood on line and it showed that there was an old trail of some sort, not a road but a trail going one block north of the small lake near where I live. I got excited because I live one block north of the lake and the map showed the trail going through my backyard. When I aligned various references/landmarks on the old map with a modern topo map, I saw that the old map had the lake about 1/3 mile farther north than it actually is. I was disappointed to see this but then realized that perhaps the trail too had been mis-positioned on the map. I am now going to search my backyard despite there being some fill in it. There are 100+ year old trees in my yard, so they must not have been filled around.
Regarding not having to dig too much junk, in really trashy areas, it doesn't make sense to dig everything unless one expects to live to be 300 years old. Just crank up the discrimination and try to find the pennies, dimes and quarters etc. digging 50 million pull tabs cannot be justified by finding one gold ring worth $200.
Lastly, if you get a signal saying there is a coin close to the surface, try moving the search coil up to 6"-8" above the surface and swing. If you still get a reading, it is more than likely a large piece of junk, for most BHs are close to their detecting limits for a quarter at about 8". If the signal persists, that indicates the target is larger than a quarter, most likely an aluminum can.
Mark
Elite 2200
WA St.
http://stores.ebay.com/imagetrader
They sell USGS topo maps as well as satellite imagery of entire counties on CDs. What makes these products so useful is that all the topo maps are electronically stitched together into one large map and if you also buy the photos, you can overlay the two. This is helpful in comparing old town sites etc to present conditions. This software can be loaded into a notebook computer and taken into the field and used as reference to pin point locations. In order to get maps and photo, two disks must be bought and cost about $24 delivered to your door.
On a related note, I found an old topo map of my neighborhood on line and it showed that there was an old trail of some sort, not a road but a trail going one block north of the small lake near where I live. I got excited because I live one block north of the lake and the map showed the trail going through my backyard. When I aligned various references/landmarks on the old map with a modern topo map, I saw that the old map had the lake about 1/3 mile farther north than it actually is. I was disappointed to see this but then realized that perhaps the trail too had been mis-positioned on the map. I am now going to search my backyard despite there being some fill in it. There are 100+ year old trees in my yard, so they must not have been filled around.
Regarding not having to dig too much junk, in really trashy areas, it doesn't make sense to dig everything unless one expects to live to be 300 years old. Just crank up the discrimination and try to find the pennies, dimes and quarters etc. digging 50 million pull tabs cannot be justified by finding one gold ring worth $200.
Lastly, if you get a signal saying there is a coin close to the surface, try moving the search coil up to 6"-8" above the surface and swing. If you still get a reading, it is more than likely a large piece of junk, for most BHs are close to their detecting limits for a quarter at about 8". If the signal persists, that indicates the target is larger than a quarter, most likely an aluminum can.
Mark
Elite 2200
WA St.