Strange happenings

[markg]

Went hunting to one of my usual places Saturday, (school that use coal fired boilers) that may be a factor because in the areas where cinders are visable I can't hunt at all. Just can't get my machine to quieten down so I can hunt. This area has also given me problems like, not giving a very solid, smooth repeatable beep on coins.
For the record: Using the Tejon
GB was just slightly positive, in this area a small amount of movement with the GB knob changes a lot.
I was using the stock coil with my discrimination set to about iron and sensitivity set a little above 10 (just silent without chatter)
Now here goes:
I was getting a lot of broken signals with this setting, but knowing in the past some of these broken signals could be coins so I started digging and sure enough they were coins, some less than 3" deep and laying flat to the top of the ground. Now here is where it get interesting. I turned the discrimination to min. Yes what some call all metal accept, this didn't improve the quality of the broken signals I'd been getting. I adjusted the GB 1/2 negative and positive to see if it made a difference, but neither made an improvement to the signals. I guess the only thing I can do is dig all, some what repeatable beeps and see what's there.

 

[Scully]

n/t

 

[markg]

I'm starting to realize that, but don't know what to do about it. It could have something to do with the fact they mined iron ore for many years in the area.

 

[tabdog]

Hay Mark,

Here in central Arkie Land, we have moderate soil for the most part.

But there are lots of places that are very difficult. Some because of

man's effect on the ground and some of it occurs naturally.

There are places that are almost impossible.

All I can say is that I am getting better the more I hunt.

I keep getting better at tweeking out stuff.

The prosses is learned by doing, and impossible to explain well.

It's what a lot of people talk about on this forum.

There are limitations, and we can lessen those over time

with dilligence.

I'm like you. Just learning this stuff.

Good luck,

Tabdog

 

[BarberBill]

You might try a smaller coil, use less sensitivity, more disc. and see what happens.
BB

 

[Monte]

Went hunting to one of my usual places Saturday, (school that use coal fired boilers) that may be a factor because in the areas where cinders are visable I can't hunt at all. Just can't get my machine to quieten down so I can hunt. This area has also given me problems like, not giving a very solid, smooth repeatable beep on coins.

[size=large]If it's a "usual place" then you should have known what to expect and gone prepared. By that I mean with the knowledge that you might have problems with 'clinkers' and that you need a smaller-than-stock coil.[/size]

For the record: Using the Tejon, GB was just slightly positive, in this area a small amount of movement with the GB knob changes a lot.

[size=large]The Tej

 

[tvr]

Monte's information:
"The Tej

 

[markg]

n/t

 

[markg]

Ok, I know where there's an old ball field (the infield and outfield are covered with fine coal cinders with grass on top), used as far back as the 50's. I know of 2 other detectorist (one uses the M6 and the other uses the Lobo super track and I have used a Vaquero and Tejon in this area) have tried to hunt this area on many occations. The other two guys say their machine just won't work at all. What would be your approach to such a site?

Went hunting to one of my usual places Saturday, (school that use coal fired boilers) that may be a factor because in the areas where cinders are visable I can't hunt at all. Just can't get my machine to quieten down so I can hunt. This area has also given me problems like, not giving a very solid, smooth repeatable beep on coins.

[size=large]If it's a "usual place" then you should have known what to expect and gone prepared. By that I mean with the knowledge that you might have problems with 'clinkers' and that you need a smaller-than-stock coil.[/size]

For the record: Using the Tejon, GB was just slightly positive, in this area a small amount of movement with the GB knob changes a lot.

[size=large]The Tej

 

[Monte]

Ok, I know where there's an old ball field (the infield and outfield are covered with fine coal cinders with grass on top), used as far back as the 50's. I know of 2 other detectorist (one uses the M6 and the other uses the Lobo super track and I have used a Vaquero and Tejon in this area) have tried to hunt this area on many occations. The other two guys say their machine just won't work at all. What would be your approach to such a site?

[size=large]What I would do is mount the 6" Double-D coil on my M6, set the Discrimination at the lowest 'preset' to knock out iron nails and below, use the Auto-Trac to get a functional GB adjustment and then 'Lock' that GB setting, and work the site by sweeping slowly and overlapping carefully.

If that wasn't able to deal with the site, I go somewhere else where I could enjoy the fun of the hunt and only return when I had a smaller coil, such as the 5" D-D.

Monte[/size]

 

[markg]

Ok, I know where there's an old ball field (the infield and outfield are covered with fine coal cinders with grass on top), used as far back as the 50's. I know of 2 other detectorist (one uses the M6 and the other uses the Lobo super track and I have used a Vaquero and Tejon in this area) have tried to hunt this area on many occations. The other two guys say their machine just won't work at all. What would be your approach to such a site?

[size=large]What I would do is mount the 6" Double-D coil on my M6, set the Discrimination at the lowest 'preset' to knock out iron nails and below, use the Auto-Trac to get a functional GB adjustment and then 'Lock' that GB setting, and work the site by sweeping slowly and overlapping carefully.

If that wasn't able to deal with the site, I go somewhere else where I could enjoy the fun of the hunt and only return when I had a smaller coil, such as the 5" D-D.

Monte[/size]

 

[tvr]

Markg,
If you don't have the 5.75 concentric, I'd recommend one. Can use same coil on Vaquero and Tejon. Like Monte said, go real slow and overlap.
Good luck with that area!
tvr

 

[Monte]

[size=large]using the 7" elliptical coil or the 5

 

[markg]

I have a 5 3/4" concentric coil I'll use next time.

 

[markg]

[size=large]using the 7" elliptical coil or the 5

 

[Monte]

Ok, I went back to the same place with the 5 3/4" concentric coil. I did find more coins than before,

[size=large]Just as most in -the-know would have suspected. Remember, you're hunting challenging ground and/or conditions..[/size]

but .... I was hunting very slowly, overlapping well and got a fairly good beep with the discrimination set to minimum. Now my GB was as close to dead on as I could get.

[size=large]A signal received could be 'good' (solid sounding), "fairly good" (also called a 'probable' or ''potentially-good' signal), a "poor" or "weak" signal (generally categorized as an 'iffy' signal), or no signal response at all. It's interesting because if set up as you stated, at "minimum" discrimination, you should have been accepting ALL metal targets. In short, a motion-based all metal mode.[/size]

Picked up my Tejon and ran over the hole and only got a broken signal and none in the plug. I was sure I had heard a good signal that was fairly strong. I scooped out a couple more hand fulls of dirt and rechecked both the dirt and the hole again, but still I had brokens chatter for a signal.

[size=large]Remember, once you have disturbed the ground, and removed some of the ground, you're presented with a completely different set of conditions. So, you had a broken signal over the hole and scooped out some hand-fills of dirt and re-checked with the Tej

 

[dahut]

Add to all that excellent information from Monte that it was a nickel, not the best of targets even under ideal circumstances.

 

[tabdog]

Hay Guys,

You know how people loose targets all the time.

I think this can explain some of those lost targets.

Mark said:

I dug a plug about 6" across and folded the plug
beside the hole. Picked up my Tejon and ran over
the hole and only got a broken signal and none in
the plug.

Keep in mind that the plug is disturbed now.

According to Monte:

 

[markg]

n/t