Question for those who have test plots/beds...

[abcoin]

I planted a test bed with about a dozen different targets this past March. As a part the test bed, I burried bronze (pre-1982) pennies at various depths (1,3,5,7, and 9 inches). Now, three months later, I took my Lone Star out to see what it could do. Currently, only the 1 inch penny gives off a solid coin tone, the one at 3 inches responds with mostly iron signals, and the other three don't show up at all. What I'm wondering is whether I need to give the deeper coins some more time to develop a halo, or is this as deep as I'll be able to detect these targets? How long do those of you who maintain test beds give the coins to develop this halo? If three months is long enough, could ground mineralization be keeping the deeper coins hidden? Thanks in advance, abcoin.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

For starters the unit you are using is no depth demon but surely should get coins up to 5 inches.As far as halos would imagine they take years not months to develop depending on the coin makeup and silver coins develop little or no halo as the coins leach into the ground. I made a test garden with a variety of targets 18 years ago and if I dug up some of the copper ones doubt if they even have built up much of a halo. personally I would call a coin buried 3months ago a recently buried coin and those planning a garden make sure it has a variety of coins at various depth with even foil and tabs to get the feeling of actual hunting. Seems like you are getting very poor depth and whether it is operator error or perhaps a faulty unit I have no clue..Perhaps another read of the manual or a tuneup is in order for the unit itself..