Detecting Party Spots (Explorer version)

[BlackX]

I posted the following in the Sov forum a few months back--before I thought an Explorer was even on the horizon--and I'm what advantage there might be with the more selective Explorer discrimination. Slightly edited:

One of the things I've come across is that many areas of interest that I've found are now party spots for teenagers. (I live in suburban area, so any woodsy area turns into a party spot.) Given that, they are often literally carpeted in beer cans, tabs, and other trash. One spot I was recently at I couldn't see much of the trash but I could almost literally not sweep without a near continually 176 reading and every time I'd dig one of the signals just to check, it would be one or more beer cans underneath the leaves or ground. That spot in particular I probably won't go back to but, fairly near me, there is the site of an old mill that is similarly carpeted in cans and other metallic refuse. There are also some other locations near me that I think have been used by picnickers over a long period of time but they're also carpeted with modern trash as well. No settings or speeds seemed to work very well. Any suggestions for detecting spots like that other than spending days or weeks cleaning up the trash?

Can surface or near-surface aluminum cans be disced out pretty cleanly?

 

[SNOWY]

BlackX you are describing a veritable carpet of aluminum !

You won't be able to "see" through this layer of aluminum.
I can't imagine any way of detecting through this stuff....
If there was clear soil between the cans then ~ maybe.
But as you probably are aware, cans close to the surface sound off before the coil is directly over the can!
So I can't see anybody doing much good in that situation, ~ removing these cans would be the only hope.
Maybe raking ???

IMHO

 

[BlackX]

[quote SNOWY]BlackX you are describing a veritable carpet of aluminum ![/quote]

You got that right, Snowy! In spots it's certainly felt like it with my Sov anyhow and often, when I'd push leaves away, it was. And, in some locations like this, when I've thought I heard something that wasn't a can, I've ended up digging cans on top of cans.

You won't be able to "see" through this layer of aluminum.
I can't imagine any way of detecting through this stuff....
If there was clear soil between the cans then ~ maybe.
But as you probably are aware, cans close to the surface sound off before the coil is directly over the can!
So I can't see anybody doing much good in that situation, ~ removing these cans would be the only hope.
Maybe raking ???

Yeah, I've thought about raking, perhaps a patch at a time, and hauling out a garbage bag or two each time. I guess if I do that, I should try to figure out where the best spots near old foundations are. I'd guess right outside where the remaining walls are. In particular I'm thinking of a really old mill site that was around at least by the mid-1700s--which happens to be the worst of the locations I'm talking about. Haven't been able to tell figure out where the entrance is yet though. I can tell where the road led up to the mill on the opposite side of the creek but have yet to be able to trace it at all on the mill side of the creek. I wonder what aluminum's selling for these days?

Your comments get me thinking though. Turning down sensitivity quite a bit should help with the side effect of the coil (I hope anyhow). And someone was recently posting about a new technique to try on iron-infested sites--raising the coil inches above the ground--I might try that a little too.

In the meantime, I've been sitting here this evening and running the X-1 probe all around a bunch of different aluminum cans in learn mode to see if I can mostly disc them out and see if that works at all.

 

[NH Bob]

I've said in the past, that I don't hunt trashy areas. Not intentionally anyway.
When I should hit an old site and find its been a "party spot" I work around the bigger trees as these spots house old as well as new items.
Tree bases are the chair/couch/bed of the woods. Think about it.

 

[SNOWY]

Hi Bob, I Quote ~ "Tree bases are the chair/couch/bed of the woods. Think about it."

So true my friend!
I found my personal favourite coin ( an 1870 British silver florin ) by thinking exactly along these lines....
Waaay out on this huge property, I was hot, tired and needed to get out of the sun.
I sought, and found this giant ancient river gum tree...
I zoomed back to years ago ~ imagined a hot day, another tired hot man getting off his horse.
Sitting against the trunk of this ancient giant for a breather, and digging into his pocket for his tobacco and pipe, out pops something...
A few minutes later Snowy was holding his beautiful coin, last touched by someone back in the mists of time!

I love it man !!!

 

[dljones54]

Hey, BlackX, don't lose heart! Maybe if you clean up all that trash, you can let the so-called authorities know of your good deed and that could bide well for you in the future, if you know what I mean. I've got a steamboat landing just down the road from where I live and it's a popular place for the kids and drugheads to party, too. There's always a lot of trash in that area, but I'm confident that, with my Explorer SE, I might just find something great, eventually. So, don't give up hope! Keep on lookin'!