from time-to-time. The challenges of hunting an ocean beach, compared to any inland location that lacks salty sand and salty water and a mix of both, can be fun to learn. A simple way I view the challenges, and have hunted them (coastal beaches) on the West Coast and in both Florida and Atlantic City New Jersey, is to first deal with any Iron-based Ground Mineralization (using the Ground Balance adjustment) and next to deal with the very low-conductive salts or wet salt.
I adjust for a 'proper' Threshold audio and then Ground Balance the detector for the strata or section I plan to hunt. That is, if I position myself about 100 yards from the surf-line, I GB the detector and then work
parallel to the surf line. I try not to hunt toward-and-away from the water. Doing so means I might GB for some different level of mineralization near the edge of the beach which can also be quite dry, then work out towards the surf-line and progressively I might get into a different amount of negative iron mineralization AND start to get into damp sand, then damper sand, then wet sand, and then into the shallow surf zone.
Adjusting for the mineralization might take a little learning because some beaches, even where it is dry down a good foot to two, or even more, can be very mineralized and require a higher GB that other beach environments. Some beaches, like much of Florida, had sand that was much closer to neutral, especially compared with the ground I usually hunt in NW Oregon, Nevada and Utah (
with one exception). Florida beaches are much easier to adjust the Ground Balance for, from my experience.
Anyway, once you adjust the GB in the All Metal mode you can determine if the conditions are favorable or not to hunt the beach in a Threshold-based All Metal mode. If so, I often will. However, you can get some falsing at the beach due to either an errant GB, which is easily heard in All Metal mode, or you can opt to search in the motion-based Discriminate mode. That is what I usually do. here is where the next important adjustment is needed.
If you adjust the GB in the All Metal mode so it sound close to correct, switch to the Discriminate mode. Hold the search coil about 6" above the sand and then briskly bob it toward the sand and back up, going to to about ½"-1". If you get a 'beep' when lifting the coil away from the sand, wet or dry, there is a likelihood that the GB is a bit too negative. You can manually increase the Ground balance and bob the coil to eliminate the 'beep' on the UPLIFT of the coil away from the sand.
Now, if you hear a 'beep' when you are briskly lowering the coil TOWARD the sand, especially when it is wet, it is usually due to the wet salt make-up. Wet salt is a low-conductive mixture. The best way to deal with that that I have used for decades is to very slowly increase the Discrimination from a minimum setting .... while still bobbing the search coil briskly .... until I have rejected (Discriminated) the very low-conductive wet salts. Once I reject the salty sand I stop the adjustments and start searching.
I haven't used the T2 at the beach much but will be doing so, I hope, in the next month as we get some improved weather with Springs arrival.
MontePS: Earlier I mentioned hunting inland desert and dry areas in a few states and included "
with one exception." That exception for hunting inland dry desert areas totally changes when I hunted around, and in, the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Florida beaches are pretty mellow, but salty. Oregon beaches are more mineralized, but salty. The Great Salt Lake area can be
very mineralized and VASTLY more salty than our ocean beaches. When it gets wet, it takes patience!
"Your Eyes, the ONLY 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"Stinkwater WellsMonte V. Berry Sr.
monte@stinkwaterwells.com(503)481-8147
My main use favorites in order by brand:
White'sMXT Pro w/6½",
VX3 w/950
Tesoro.. Replacement coming ..
TekneticsOmega w/5½x9¾
G2 w/5" DD
