recent drops beyond detection limits. I wonder what your MXT shows for ground phase (readings in prospect mode only)? The MXT when used with the DD coils may do pretty good in areas of high ground minerals, but possibly another detector or a MXT concentric coil would do better if your ground minerals are low. I wonder if there is some way to find out where the nearest harder ground is? Maybe you would find such a place with shallow old coins within a reasonable distance. When you say the coins you find are not real old, are you finding only current coins, or some wheat cents & newer silver? It is pretty normal for coins from the '40s & '50s to be down 4 to 14+ inches, depending on soil hardness, fill dirt, relandscaping, etc. Often in the same area, though, a deeper coin may be new & a shallower coin could be old. Think you have a good idea to cover the areas around tree roots very thoroughly. But on the bright side, a pocketful of clad is almost always worth more than one or two silvers. I just tell myself all the clad could be used to buy a possibly deeper detector, or a bunch of silver or gold from a coin dealer. While GA is old as a state & many towns are old, some towns are new or mostly new so many areas just don't have real old coins. I started detecting in 1976 & back then found many old coins most days. But in the last 20 years of detecting mostly new places I've only found about 20 silver coins. If I went to older parks & schools I might not find any as there has been so much detecting last 30-40 years. And I've never found coins deeper than about 7 inches regardless of detector- but I only dig probable coins. If you can find other detectorists in your area- a club or individuals, it might be interesting to compare notes on depths & ages of finds. Besides around tree roots, other areas to find possibly shallow old coins would be hillsides (erosion) & any soil with big rocks in it (big rocks don't seem to sink much & may have old coins on top of them). HH, George (MN)
