rookie

[monster]

i have been reading a while and thought i would say hello. i am very new at this and envy those of you who are pulling old coins, relics, and jewelry. i know it takes time, experience, a good (great) location and equipment. after all, in just the short time i have been doing this, i now have the largest pop tab collection in my small town....i have so many questions, but i will only list a few at a time like: opinions on the pioneer 202, how do you cut a decent plug so grass wont die and leave a brown spot, and how deep is deep enough before giving up on a target even if the tone stays the same.

 

[GRAY GHOST]

hi monster, welcome. i have a pioneer 202 as well, and have found a bunch of good stuff with it. dig all repeatable signals, and keep digging til' you find your target. brown spots are purty much the norm, and difficult to avoid. an old timer i know buys the cheap fertilizer, mixes a tbsp. or two to a gallon of water, and soaks his plugs down. it does help the grass. rain helps too.
'course now, you don't want to be detecting very many manicured lawns. the owners are just too picky. avoid them like the plague.
the 202 is a great machine. if the signal blows your headphones up, it's big and near the surface{ usually canslaw or a poptab} if the signal has broken up edges, then it's usually junk. you want small, smooth beeps. that's with any detector. you really should go on and dig all good signals, because the 202's range is limited like 99% of other machines.
i like to run my sens. at max if ground conditions allow, and disc. at 9 o'clock. that way, i'm not missing anything. you need good headphones too. if the machine starts chirping, turn your sens. down until it stops and continue hunting. just means you hit a patch of "hot" ground. dig all your whisper or faint signals too, theyr'e often deep coins or relics. good luck, and hh,

 

[monster]

thanks bunches...i don't have headphones but apparently that's the way to go. will definitely get some. i was running disc at 9 but EVERYTHING i dug was tabs so i turned it to 2-3 and started finding more coins but nothing important. guess i will have to turn my disc back to 9 and my patience up to about 100 ! i really appreciate all the help.

 

[PACK RAT]

Monster, just wanted to welcome you to a great hobby(sickness). Never owned a 202 but Gray Ghost is a person you can't go wrong getting advise from. He is very knowledgeable with m/ding as are the other posters here. Great group of people and are always willing to give good advise and help. Enjoy the hobby and have fun with it.

 

[BH-LandStar]

The 202 took me about a month to get used to....Headphones are a must with any machine...Why they put a speaker on any of them, is beyond me (just a waste of battery power, and another electromagnetic thing to mess up the machine IMHO)...Do NOT go cheap on the batteries...USE Good Alkalines (Duracell or Energizer, or use good Recharge-ables like Powerex 9.6V)...I dug more tabs trying to find gold, than I think I can count...I learned to leave certain signals alone, and dig till death on others....All Bounty Hunters like Dimes and Quarters, and the tone they produce is unmistakable...you will get to know it well in time...Welcome to the Obsession, and Happy Hunting


BH-LandStar