Had a good hunt today but the TID was giving some weird readings.:ausflag:

[Mick in Dubbo]

After organising permission a week ago, I was able to hunt in my sons' former school today. The hunt ended well with 188 coins recovered for a total of $66.25 and one silver ring.
What was concerning though, were the the numbers that were coming in on usual coins. Normally 5c reads as a 3, 10c reads as a 7, 20c=13, 50c=20, $2=26 and $1=26 or 27. Today, 5c were coming in as 2,3,13 6,7, and 14. 10c were coming in from 3 to 22, 20c were often coming in as 20 to 22, 50c were often giving off a 23 or 24 and the $1 and $2 coins were up to four numbers out too. The XS was in factory presets with the sensitivity set at 8. I was digging targets that were giving me a good audio signal. I was hunting in bark chips, the coins were flat to the coil and all shallow. In most cases, there were no other targets nearby, nor was it nulling. I even pulled off the coil cover to check for rubbish trapped inside. Could it be that the electronics are starting to break down from age, or might there be another reason? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Mick Evans.

 

[dewcon4414]

Sounds like wrap around. I tend to get higher readings on coins closer to the surface. Many time a penny might read like a dime as i run my coil on the ground. Your sensitivity might be a little high when hunting an area you know have shallow targets. Much like competition hunts where you wouldnt use sensitivity at 24 knowing you are only looking for targets 3 inches deep.... it throws off your TID. You might not think there are targets close.... but remember you are dealing with depth and moisture as well.

Dew

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Thanks Dew.
It sounds like I need to get out with it more often. I'll experiment with dropping the sens to 1 (I have had success in the past with that) I'll also try raising the coil over good sounding tones and see what happens.
I'm glad it's my ignorance that is at fault here and the detector is OK.
Mick Evans.

 

[dewcon4414]

interesting you should mention turning it down to 1. I know someone who does that then when close to swing sets ect they can get closer to them and pick up coins others miss. They say the trick is to slightly turn the coil up toward the set and move in slowly. I dont know if i would go that low tho....5 to 10 works good for me.

Dew

 

[Jason illinois]

n/t

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Interesting idea with the tilt. I was having some success with slowly bringing the coil in with the centre at 90 degrees to the play equipment.
I took the detector outside again this arvo and played around with it some more. I was still getting unstable readings, so I turned it off and held down the power button after I turned it back on again to reset it. It seems that I must have knocked something out of kilter at some point, because it's now giving stable readings again.
Thanks for your help. That's what I love about the forum. It's good to help when you can, but it's also good to be able to ask for help when needed.
Mick Evans.
P.S. !'m looking forward to getting back to the school again this week end and hunt the lawns. I expect to crack the $100 mark for the site by the time I've finished.