Stupid things I have done

[raptro5618]

Forgot to take my wedding band (left hand) and watch (right hand) off when I go out. Yep seems to be something in everything I wave in front of the probe.

Put that first special find in a safer spot like a pocket with a hole in it.

Brush, clean, soak, mostly disolve the first coin I got that was pretty old. When I was done you could barely make out the date, 1920. Some pennies from that time are actually worth quite a bit. The condition was poor to begin with so I am sure it still was worth nothing but I made damn sure that it was.

Set the coin on the ground as a tried to pick up all my stuff. I did go back and find it later. Seems harder to find it the second time.

Scratched my ear after having my hand in damp dirt.

Imagine that every time I detect something close to a right number that this is the one that is going to be a great find. Hasn't been so far but hell I guess that is half the fun.

I am sure there are more that I forgot but if I remember I will post them too. Seems you learn better from your screw ups than when you get it right.

 

[Golden]

a couple of times I try to pinpoint and dig a target that wasn't there, I was reading my ring on my right hand, then it was the steel cap in my boot, or a metal zipper on my sleeve. Had me going there for a bit, felt pretty stupid too, 'cause I was initailly rapt at the sounds! So I guess we've all done weird things detecting when we first started. But those crazy days are long gone with experience.........

 

[raptro5618]

I think I will always do something stupid. I have made a habit of taking my ring off before I leave the house so I dont lose it, yes that would be bad, anyway yesterday I was trying to figure out where the target was and I was getting that nice tone that gold gives off in every handful and every plug I handled. Set it down scan and nothing. It took a minute then I realized and wanted to laugh at myself.

 

[JWQuattro]

Here's two really pathetic things I have done in the last two weeks.

1) I accidentally turned off the 38 signal on my Quattro. I was finding allot of trash @ 35 & 36. Somehow the 38 signal was cancelled / lost in the mix. I detected a really nice site for around an HOUR before I noticed the screwup. I was so intent on detecting I didn't notice the solid black band on 38. I finally noticed after two clad dimes I found would only show a 37. However, I did end up finding a really nice 1943 Mercury dime later on.
2) I went out to a site around 60 miles from my house. This site is very remote, & its not like you can go down to the corner store & pick something up. I had just bought some brand new Duracell rechargeable batteries & I thought they were ready to go. These are the 2650 ahm batteries that are supposed to recharge in one hour. Well guess what. The first charge takes 12+ hours. I put these into the battery holder expecting 3 solid bars to show up. There's no more depressing sound than hearing the Quattro's Battery Shutdown. I had to use my old batteries with only one bar showing for the 2+ hours I detected. Needless to say I didn't find anything.
I now have a checklist that I follow religiously. My motto is no more screw-ups!

 

[Golden]

it came with a 1500mAh size battery. Then I went and bought a 1600mAh. A few months back, I bought another, a 1800mAh sixe. So now, when I go detecting, all three are fully charged and I get heaps of detecting time in without the worry of stopping on dead batteries. I used to by re-chargeable ones, but after a while found the batteries wouldn't fully re-charge with age, and it was costing me an arm and leg. So now, with the outlay, turns out much cheaper. I always make sure I run the batteries flat, befor charging up again, so as to get a good full battery charge. It's definitely worth investing in the extra batteries for the Quattro.
Golden

 

[Quattro Tim]

Hello JW! Do you find when the battery icon gets down to one bar that the machine goes crazy? I have the 1600mAh battery pack and when mine gets to one bar the machine is so unstable I have to change batterys.
I tried the noise cancel and changed sen. but no luck.

 

[beachguy777]

Man, that was a wonderful post and a bunch of great responses. I wish I could top you guys, but I'm sure I've done everything but the ring thing, and that, only because I don't wear rings, but I do wear a watch some times while I'm detecting. I'll bet we've all done the dead battery "thing" if we're honest. I finally got a second rechargable battery pack too. Pretty good investment, only don't forget to charge them before you go to your "remote spot". Been there, done that too.
I went over to Nevada last year and was about to "whip out the old Quatro", when the ranger showed up and said: "If "they", probably meaning "her" catch you, you can have your car and metal detector confiscated, be thrown in jail, pay a 2 or 3 thousand dollar fine, and otherwise ruin your entire life, and you know what???? I felt kind of stupid too, cause I almost did it. Thank God, I didn't. I hear some of these guys spy on you with field glasses, so be careful out there.
At any rate, rapto, your're certainly not alone in the "done stupid things area". If we were that good, we'd probably be detecting on gold streets somewhere and not making any mistakes.:|
'

 

[Golden]

I reckon it's pretty pathetic when you get people spying with field glasses, as if they don't have anything better to do. I wonder if any of them ever experiences the joys of detecting and finding something special. I'm sure they'd have a change of heart.

 

[JWQuattro]

Tim,
The Quattro truly does go crazy with signals with one bar showing. A majority of these were ghost signals. When I put a set of fully charged batteries in, my Quattro seems to quickly settle on the two bar symbol. The three bar signal lasts on average 20 minutes max.
FYI, I now carry three sets of FULLY charged 2650 mah AA batteries whenever I go out. I don't care if its just for an hour. If I am not doing well, which is usually the case, I change batteries hoping it will change my luck.
I also just picked up a book called " The Urban Treasure Hunter" by Michael Chaplan. IMHO, it's a good read. Best of Luck in your detecting. JW.

 

[JWQuattro]

Angela,
I know you probably already know this, but the mAh batteries are supposed to not have a memory & fully recharge anytime you put them in your battery charger. In the States, the rechargables are up to 2650 mAh. On my Energizer brand batteries, the first charge / after you take them out of the packaging will take approximately 12+ hours. After that its supposed to be one hour per set of four. These batteries are supposed to have a minimum of 500 charges. You & your husband must detect alot! I know the days must be getting longer in your part of the world & its probably about time! Best of Luck! JW

 

[beachguy777]

Yea, Golden. That's pretty scary. That ranger told me to really watch it because there's some pretty hard core authorities out there that could do you a lot of damage. She said that in the "good old days" so to speak, like back in the sixties, people got away with it, but now, don't push your luck. I ended up sneaking down a dirt road to another ghost town near by and I did break out the detector, and I found 1 square nail, but I got so scared, I stopped and put the detector away and left. The threat was just too much for me to face. Yea, it's kind of too bad, but on the other hand, there's been a lot of pillaging of the mining town sites there, where pepole took old artifacts like broken down wagons, and such, so I can pretty much see why they're so stringent on it, but what a bummer, as far as being able to find some really great stuff. I know those old mining towns were from the 1800's and thereabouts. Imagine what those drunk miners lost near a saloon on a wild Saturday night? My mind bogles at the possibilities. If you want to check it out, just type in Nevada gold mines or something like that and you'll be able to see pictures and stuff. Well, I guess it's back to the old local park or beach now for me for now. Thanks for the post. Glad someones reading this stuff.

 

[beachguy777]

Raptro, you lost me on this one. It sounds like you took your ring off at the house, (maybe), so why would you get a gold reading later? I guess I missed something here. , anyway, this is all good natured stuff to me because it means we're all human and we all do "stupid" stuff from time to time. I think you might have got something started here: Maybe we ought to have a "stupid stuff" section, where we can all confess our dumb dumb stuff we did out in the field. I'm serious. This is a good release and pretty interesting to read this stuff, and let's face it gang, WE'RE ALL GUILTY, at least once in a while. Happy hunting, everybody, and, be careful, "The stupid stuff, spy guys, might be watching you. You never know.!!!!uke:

 

[Golden]

but we've had some really great warm days too. In fact, on listening to the media here, we're expecting to come into another drough, worse than last year, and some of our larger dams have dropped in water level to only about 35% capacity...and we do like to get out detecting as often as possible, but now that we've moved from the goldfields, and both work long hours, we only have the weekend to do anything. I also found that we have to be honme some times, moe the lawns, weed the weeds, you know, the mundaine things of life! Wouldn't it be nice to make a living out of detecting? I think so.....

 

[Golden]

Beachguy, just a question, is it that the area you'd like to detect in is covered by heritage laws? Is there any old town you could detect in freely? I'm not at all familiar with your part of the world. But I can't imagine that the authorities could cover everthing historical that's to be found. Over here, with a lot of research and hard yakka on my part, I mean physically getting out there in the scrub and exploring for new, untouched areas to play in, you can't exactly gazette an area you know nothing about, speaking of the authories, thst is. Is there a possibility of finding something new, unknown to anyone else. Your area might be different to mine, I grant you that and the opportunity might not be there. I'd really like to know.
Cheers

 

[Steveba]

Hi, Yes I can relate to all the STUPID things I did while detecting, and probably will do more.
I like to wear a wristwatch, and want to know the time, but while detecting, this is a NO-NO because the coil picks up the watch. I solved this problem by going to the dollar store and buying a cheap childs type wristwatch, (comes complete with batery) taking off the wristbands, and used double-faced tape to apply it to the side of the armcup on my Quattro. It'snot the most accurate timepiece, but it gives me an about time and no more problems by being picked up by the coil.
It,s a cheap way to go, and if it dies, no big loss, go replace it.

 

[beachguy777]

Golden, in reference to your question about Nevada gold mine towns and such, that's a pretty good question. Hmmmmm!!!!! I live in San Diego, California, and there seem to be many places that don't seem to be a problem, namely: the beach, parks, curbside areas, etc., but the stuff as far as the gold and silver mines in Nevada, I'm not absoulutly sure if any of them are safe to detect or not. All I can give you at this point is my experience with the ranger. Basicly what happened to me was: I drove into a small mining area called Rhyolite. I was thinking seriously of taking out the detector and looking around and I just happened to see a woman who looked like she worked there so I started asking questions. Out of that conversation, she basicly told me that she herself was a ranger, and it was illegal to detect on any of the mining towns, and (if I'm not mistaken) and, here, for sure, don't take this as gospel, call the real authorities in Nevada, to be sure, It (might) be illegal to use a metal detector in Nevada at all. I'm honestly not sure of that, so check it out if I don't beat you to it, but she also said if you got cought you they could impound your vehicle, your metal detector and throw you in jail and fine you a couple of grand. My only guess is it must be some kind of heritage thing about the mining towns. Nevada is famous for their silver mining towns and apparently it's a pretty big deal over there, so beyound that, I don't know, but if I ever get around to checking it out officially, I'll post my findings on this web site. You raised a very good and important question of where is it safe to detect. My understanding is it's always better to ask permission first, or do your research, otherwise you just plain take your chances. That same ranger also told me a bunch of guys in the 60's did a lot of detecting, and apparently over did it or something to where they're much more stringent nowdays. I know that's probably common knowledge to most of us, but just a reminder. I know that a lot of us want some really special, good sits to search in, and it's a constant threat, wondering if it's safe or not. My own line of thinking is just what I said before that unless you ask permission your at risk, but hey... why not go ahead and ask permission and see what happens. I wouldn't be surprised if any number of people might just say, sure take a look or (let us) take a look, which might mean you need to share the wealth with them. You could even strike a deal with a property owner to give them a percentage of the spoils if there were any. If you want to be legal, get it in writing. I think, that would hold up in a court of law.

 

[Golden]

Beachguy! Problem here is, if you ask permission to detect on private property, and get it, yet the area is designated "heritage" you have to leave in the ground any relics you find, while prospecting. I can't see the logic or sense in this. It's a stupid law, which serves no real purpose for the small time detectorist. These relics just continue to decay or rot in the ground, and our past histoy is lost with it. In my opinion, better to dig it up, clean it, and display it for all to see. I have struck deal with different property owners (not on "heritage" ground, that if I find gold, we go halves, but I get to keep all the relics and old coins. I pretty happy with this arrangement, and they get a kick out of what I've been finding on their land. Sometimes I let them have a keepsake. It keeps the things positive, and I can go back again and again, whenever I want to.
Golden

 

[beachguy777]

Right on, Steveb, more creativity in the wonderful world of detecting. I can bet, if you find a Rolex out there in the field, you "ain't gonna tape that thing" to the side of your arm rest. Good job, and keep up the good work. That's the kind of post that makes this site informative and interesting.

 

[beachguy777]

Golden, I'm really impressed here. It sounds like you've really done it and gone through with the permission thing. That sounds like a great deal to me. Even if you have to split the gold find with them, you get to keep the relics and old coins. Hey, that's what I'm after the most anyway: Relics and old coins. I guess the scary part is if it is an acutal "heritage" type site where, (even though the owner say's it's (OK), it might not be (OK) with the heritage authorities. Guess we all better do our homework and be careful, but in what your talking about, (non-heritage), hey,.... what a deal. Have you had any good luck in that area? Just the opportunity to search the site would be an upper for me? :|

 

[beachguy777]

I'm not (absolutly) sure about this, but I don't tink the Nickel Metal Hydride batteries have a memory problem like the old Ni CAd batteries did, but, if I"m wrong,.... it's definatly better to run them out before charging them. At any rate, I heartly agree, have 2 or 3 sets of good rechargables and you're gonna do OK. Just keep em' all charged up when you go out.