Minelab Safari/Quattro Forum

Hey all...

I went out this morning to an old suburban park in Ontario, Ca.

The minute I turned my Safari on it was like a slot machine with noise up and down the scale.

I thought a noise cancel would take care of it.... nope!!

Went to sens button scaled down from 16 to auto. No change.

Turned machine off & on a few times.

Checked cable at the box and coil. All are okay.

Finally scaled sens down to 3, machine got real quiet, but only scratching the surface on targets. I'm not confident in the hunt at this level.

It was the same mess from one side of the park to the other, sidewalks and all.

No power lines that I could see.

Grass a little wet from an early morning sprinkle.

Finally left after about an hour of this stuff.

Arrived at a park in Pomona a couple of hours later. Pulled the Safari out on the spot and all was working fine.

Played around with sens & threshold buttons and everything checked out normal.

My question is..... "what the hell happened at the first park?"

Sabich described a scenario where the ground was unstable and undetectable. It was his version of the Bermuda Triangle. I think I was in it this morning.

It was a weird but learning experience.

Comments are appreciated.

Fresh batteries?
Clean coil cover?

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Minelab CTX
Minelab Excalibur II
Minelab Safari

Yep, had fresh battery (rechargeable) and coil & cover cleaned after each hunt.

In fact, I pulled the battery out a couple of times.

All was fine once I moved to a different park.

I will go back there later this week and try it again.

Is there a baseball/soccer/sports field close by with flood lights? and were they switched on? There are 2 parks close by which come to mind and there are underground cables that supply electricity both to a nearby facility and also the floodlights for the baseball field, which send my Safari into the chatter symphony. Not even lowering the sensitivity all the way down will completely eliminate the chatter. I think you'll find that there are either overhead power lines or underground cables/lines and vaults somewhere there which are triggering the chatter your experiencing.
P.s. I've yet to find a location that the ground itself was the cause of it being undetectable and that didn't have power lines either under or over the park or close by.

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Happa54


.....All was fine once I moved to a different park.

I will go back there later this week and try it again.

OK, sounds like you've narrowed it down. Great that it isn't your machine. Itll be interesting to see what your electrical source is. I'm betting underground lines.

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Minelab CTX
Minelab Excalibur II
Minelab Safari

I had a bad dose of 'cabin fever' again!!lol yesterday and so I ventured out in the heat (mid to high 90's) and went to a park which I think Happa54 was referring to, De Anza park? in Ontario. There are power lines along one nearby street and floodlights for the baseball field and underground cables and a box or 2 above ground. I experienced lots of EMI like he did and it did send my Safari into uncontrollable chattering. All I could do is wander around and pick spots where there wasn't any or little EMI and detect. I tried lowering the sens and it worked in a few places but because of the heat, got too tired and left after about 1 1/2 hrs. I did manage to get a few quarters and what's in the pic but no gold or silver. The park is big enough to have spots where you can definitely detect AND it's an old park like Happa54 mentioned so I'll be back and cover the park more thoroughly!

P.s. When I got to the park, there was already a detectorist there. He had recovered a few coins and a little later I saw from a distance that he quit after I had chatted with him. I found his headphones (Garrett's) in a trash can with the wires pulled out of them. I felt sorry for him that his headphones failed him or he accidently snagged them? and that reminded me to always carry a spare set of headphones because something like that can really ruin your day. Always carry back-up equipment! Stay hydrated my friends! lol

Hey G.S.

You're right... it's De Anza Park.

I guess at times you and I may be hunting in the same neck of the woods.

I'm located at the 10/57 fwy's so it's quite easy for me to head to Los Angeles or go the opposite direction into the Inland Empire.

I got a handful of clad the other day too, but then I got drunk on all that chatter for about an hour then got out of there.

It's too bad too because that park is surrounded by early 1900's homes, schools and business properties. No doubt there's good stuff in the ground if one can only get past all the noise.

Does anyone make a machine that can cut through all that?

The other detectorist you met there must have gone mad and ripped out his headphones and bailed out.... LOL....it's funny to think of it this way.

I'll try this place again but it won't be on my wish list any time soon now that I know that the static here is real.

I'm hoping to clear some work off my desk tomorrow so I can hunt the Elysian Park hills. I always find something interesting there.

HH

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Happa54
Hey G.S.

You're right... it's De Anza Park.

I guess at times you and I may be hunting in the same neck of the woods.

I'm located at the 10/57 fwy's so it's quite easy for me to head to Los Angeles or go the opposite direction into the Inland Empire.

I got a handful of clad the other day too, but then I got drunk on all that chatter for about an hour then got out of there.

It's too bad too because that park is surrounded by early 1900's homes, schools and business properties. No doubt there's good stuff in the ground if one can only get past all the noise.

Does anyone make a machine that can cut through all that?

The other detectorist you met there must have gone mad and ripped out his headphones and bailed out.... LOL....it's funny to think of it this way.

I'll try this place again but it won't be on my wish list any time soon now that I know that the static here is real.

I'm hoping to clear some work off my desk tomorrow so I can hunt the Elysian Park hills. I always find something interesting there.

HH

I usually ask fellow detectorist's if they belong to any M.D. forums online to figure out who they are and if they post especially on Findmall.......so we may just bump into each other sometime!!!

Yesterday, I went back to this same park even though it was hot as hades!! and confirmed again how much EMI was all around this park. There are just a few spots where you stand any kind of chance to get a few coins. Even walking so far away from any power lines and floodlights for the baseball field, the interference is incredible! Lowering the sens all the way down and ground balancing multiple times didn't help at all. While there is a chance to detect some good targets, I'll have to pass on this park and look for fresh places to detect!!!

It's a strange park G.S.

There are a couple of parks in the San Gabriel Valley with huge Edison power lines overhead and huge ball field lights, etc where I occasionally hunt and I don't have to make adjustments to my normal sens settings. Noise cancelling is always something I do every 20-30 minutes.

But this park it really too much. There must be something else that is working in conjunction with all of this that has created this area to be unhuntable.

It's too bad because it's an old park.

Oh well... we just move on to another location.

Maybe you can wait until a power outage hits and hunt it then...?

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Minelab CTX
Minelab Excalibur II
Minelab Safari

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Champ Ferguson
Maybe you can wait until a power outage hits and hunt it then...?

Great idea! Thanks! I think that's the only way you could detect the park without going insane lol!

Any of you hunt Paris Hill Park on Highland Ave. in San Bernardino?

Sod....

Never heard of it, but then I'm just starting to get familiar with IE.

I mainly hunt the older Los Angeles parks and one out here in the San Gabriel Valley just because it's close and when I'm in need of a fix to satisfy my withdrawals.