Need some advice on modern trash.

[KurtB]

I would like to hear how you guys are setting up your machines in city parks and yards where there is a ton of tabs, foil and bottle caps. I know this thing is killer in old sites with iron nails and the like, but I sure have struggled in the areas mentioned above.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Hillis]

In the high trash areas with lots of aluminum trash the first thing I do is turn down the sensitivity. I'm talking like down below 50. A lower setting allows the coil to act like a smaller one and gives better separation and id. The stock coil works very well in high trash areas when you learn to turn it down. Second,I don't use the 3H and 4H modes in high alum trash sites. Stay with 3 or 4 tone mode. I normally only use the 3 mode in modern parks, and 4 tone in city parks where I have a chance for wheats or maybe an indian head. Third, I use the notches. If I get tired of a particular type of trash target I notch it out. Lastly I focus. If the age, location and history of a park marks it as modern, then it's only good for clad and jewelry and there is no need to waste time hunting it like it could give up older coins so I sweep it for clad and then go back and focus on the likely jewelry areas with a jewelry setting. If the parks age, location and history mark it as an old coin park, then I put it into 4 tone and focus on those two top tones and let the alum become background noise. Once I find a hot spot I'll try various other settings to see what else I can turn up.

As far as those steel bottle caps many of them will give a bouncing id number and a FE meter spike. Those that are too deep to give a Fe spike and give stable id number you can also check out in pinpoint mode. Many will give a broader response in pinpoint mode than a coin will. Some times you just have to retrieve them.

Probably not enough is mentioned about the pinpoint mode. Pinpoint will help id canslaw and flatten cans as well as the steel bottle caps and rusty iron spiking a high tone. I use it a lot and find it to be a big help. Most canslaw is irregular in shape and the pinpoint mode will show that. All the rusty stuff will give very broad responses and coins will stay small. Remember that you can adjust the pinpoint sensitivity to where you like it best and that you can also raise the coil to get a better feel of a target. You can also detune the target, and when you detune the target out, by pressing the coil down on the ground you can still pick it up. Lot going on in pinpoint mode that can be a big help.

Good luck,

Mike

 

[alton]

Try gridding off a section at a time of say 10'x 10'. Dig everything and see just what is in the ground and how deep. Note how deep the tabs were, what TID they had, and how they pinpointed.

Next do another 10' x 10' grid and try your luck at eliminating them based on what you learned in the first grid. Try to notch, but even better is to train your ears to ID them. Lift the coil to see if they are coin size. See if they have a wide pinpoint. Notice if they are deeper than the tabs you dug in the first grid, and if they are - dig.

In time you will be able to pretty much know when you hit a coin by knowing what you are listening for. It sound simple to say, but you will.

I always like to remember that there is cash in the trash. The trash indicates that there was people activity in that area and people drop coins, rings, etc. along with the trash. I also like to look at digging tabs as a game of numbers. You dig about 200 or so for every ring you find. So every one you dig gets you that much closer.

And to make tabs an even more positive experience, you can donate them to the Ronald McDonald house. They use them as a fund raiser.

HH Alton