How Did You Get Started Detecting?

[UtahRich]

Back in the 70's, when I was a Boy Scout, our scoutmaster would take us camping at an old ghost town called Mercur. As scouts, we had a blast exploring around the old buildings, tailings piles, and such. He'd tell stories about all the silver and gold that was mined out of there back in the day.

Well, my birthday was approaching and my dad asked if there was anything special that I wanted. I told him I wanted a metal detector. A couple days before my birthday, he took me down to a business called Littlefield's Hearing Aids, they had a sideline of White's metal detectors and I picked out a very basic Whites Coinmaster. It had a ferrous/non-ferrous adjustment on it and an intensity meter and an 8" TR-2D coil. That was back in the mid-70's. I had a lot of fun with that old detector.

In the early 80's, the mother of one of my best friends moved into a old house that was built in 1885 and while I was helping her move, I mentioned to my friend that it would be fun to look for old coins in the yard. I went home and got the detector and actually found a few old pennies and a buffalo nickel. I thought I would do much better with a newer detector and ended up buying a Teknetics Mark I and found all sorts of old coins in that yard and all over the neighborhood.

I've had a number of detectors since then and have enjoyed meeting new friends and lots of interesting people. And I found a lot of cool things along the way.


Looking forward to reading how others got started.


Rich -

 

[gear box]

1976 I was at Vo-Tech studying appliance repair when a fellow student started talking about finding old coin's with a metal detector. I've alway's had a interest in coin's and stamps so my ear's really perked up when he told a story about finding a seated dime with that thing. I talked to him about how to get one of those metal detector's and I'm not sure anymore what model it was. But I tell everyone that it was a coinmaster from White's. The one that had the kinda scrolly writing on the side. I had a lot of fun with that machine and found hundred's of old coin's. Of course nothing was deep maybe only 4 inches at the most. But very few people had detector's back then and almost all the places you went were virgin spots.
Good hunting Gary

 

[Willee - Texas]

Late 60's Early 70's with a MetroTech 220A.
That detector had a threshold adjustment and a strength meter.
Iron would null the threshold and a coin would give you a tone.

Had my eyes on a White's CoinMaster but could never afford it.

Most coins were not very deep but back then there were a LOT of silver coins to be found in every park in the city.
Indian head pennies were always a popular target to find.
Boy ... do I remember some old swimming beaches I would love to hunt today ... but now there is no water and apartments are there.

Things have changed a lot since then.
Detectors have improved but parks have just about been cleaned out of their silver and gold coins.
Every now and then some lucky fells will find an old school or church, or picknic ground that was used long ago.
That is when this hobby really gets to be fun.

 

[Fire Fighter 43]

I started collecting coins at a young age and found it interesting that you could use a machine to find them in the ground. I purchased a kit detector at a garage sale in the mid 70's, it worked with a transistor radio you had to listen for a change in the pitch. It was great for large pieces of iron and the occasional coin. I played with it on and off in my parents yard for a year or two. My grandmother gave me my first real detector for my 13 birthday in 1976. It was a Whites beachcomber ( I still have the original brochure). I had a lot of fun with that machine and it got me hooked for life. I worked my way up the Whites line over the past 34 years and just recently bought my first nonwhites detector, the Etrac. I also have the V3i. Oh, the memories!!

 

[NebTrac]

I'm probably one of the newest members on the block. You can read my very first post here of how I was allowed my E-Trac. http://www.findmall.com/read.php?63,1132990,1132990#msg-1132990


Probably about a year ago last July I started watching detecting videos on Youtube. Guys like Vidslayer, LaDigger, Crunch, Neswiper, GibsonDan (OhioCoinHunter), Yulelah. The ones using the E-Trac were kickin' it. I was simply fascinated what old coins these guys were finding. Got to learning a little more about it and borrowed a detector. 1st time out, at an old schoolhouse you couldn't find if you knew it was there in the Sandhills on a ranch my grandpa owned I found a 1919 wheat about an inch down. I've been hooked eversince.

I probably do not deserve many of the finds I've gotten. I just have a good area and some virgin grounds. I will have to say a lot of ground is basically unhunted until an E-Trac steps onto the playing field. I mean it seems like and my finds will attest to this that the Rosies and Washingtons are basically gone. The deeper stuff is what I'm finding, hence the reason my Barber quarters outnumber my silver washintons probably 2 or 3 to 1. That is why I got the E-Trac. I will confess even though I do have 1 silver dollar under my belt, its ones like Ray-Mo that has been looking for 35 years and finally unearths one that DESERVE their dollar. I just got lucky and had the right spot.

I love the history tied to each find and also the research and the possibility of cleaning up a wheat or an IH and finding a key date coin. I have to say this forum is my favorite because of the "laid" back atmosphere and the attention paid specifically to this fine detector.

NebTrac

 

[Nick A]

Back in the 70s! Y'all are a bunch of old timers! I collected coins as a kid and read every book in the library about coins, including Charles Garrett's Successful Coin Hunting. That was what got me wanting a detector. When I was about 10, my parents got me a horrible Radio Shack detector that didn't find a thing. I still wanted a real detector, but middle school and high school came and went and then I went off to college.

One of my first purchases that year, 1990, was a White's Classic II. Wow! I had a great old college campus to search, and I learned that machine well making some very good finds. It was never easy, the place had been hunted before and I had to learn to be good. I then got involved with a local club, and back then the Fisher CZs were the bees knees, so I found a used one and started doing even better. I went on with CZs for a while, tried a few different brands and models but always came back to the CZs until I (and others) got spanked by an experienced Explorer user at a forum hunt at a local park and I realized it was time for a new machine.

I got the Explorer and then not long after the E-Trac, and here we are 20 years later. I found more silver coins in my first year with Minelab than I had found in the previous 17 years! Who would have guessed all these parks and schools would still be giving up goodies to me after all this time? I'm afraid though that this time when I have hunted out a site with the E-Trac, it may just be very nearly hunted out for real. Let's hope Minelab has another new and fantastic detector coming soon that will, like the old ads said, "make those hunted out sites come alive again."

 

[wvrick]

Started detecting in the late 70's with my Father, and with my Uncle in Florida in the mid-60's with a vintage modified mine detector. That was my first taste of treasure hunting, I still remember with my uncle his old army mine detector and the home made coils. It had electrical tape that wrapped the coil. He lived near Vero Beach FL. and he would drive up the beach in his old jeep, I spent a few summers with him and always looked forward to hunting. He would find it and we ( my brother and I ) would dig. Then I hunted with my father in the 70's that carried on thru the rest of his life until 2001.

 

[sugar]

i love this site guys it is so informative how lovely to read the stories of our way to this great pastime well i have had three detectos and detected very little with my first two as there was a lack of good finds you sort of lose interest .i live in the uk and have some land there that has alot of history right through the ages bronze age iron age roman and medieval with a tiler working a kiln for the cistercian monks, i have done alot of studying of pottery but never got into metal finds which was a shame as this would provide me with the full picture of the site. and then one day for no reason at all about three months ago i went into a shop and bought an etrac oh my god it was the most amazing experience i went down my land and discoverd finds in heavily infested areas i came back with my finds and reserched them i have a metal badge with a cross and four fleur de lys that could be from the crusades and then i was hooked cant get enough of it i use my bakl light when it gets dusk keeps me fit as i am retired more fun than walking and i am glad to be able to share my experience with like minded people happy hunting all of you and a very merry christmas and a happy new year to all my detecting friends on this site

 

[tippyhound]

My father- in - law got me started back in 1968. We went looking for a Mine detector at a army surplus stores, but after handling one we quickly gave up that as they weighed a ton.

Our first detector was a Heath Kit you put together your self. Wasn't a bad detector but you couldn't keep the loop in balance and it wasn't water proof. In 1969 I heard about a barber over in Occonee IL that had a Fisher M-scope for sale so I bought it from him for $75.00, not a bad machine for a (TR) Transmit Receive unit (three inch's was a deep find for that machine) but again a machine with a loop that wasn't water proof. Next purchased a Whites 66 TR, water proof Loop but poor depth and was that machine ever heavy.

To shorten this story I have owned since those days , 4 Whites, a A.H. Pro, one Bounty Hunter, 4 Teknetics (first Ground Balance discriminator, Visual Target ID machines to come out), and very good machines, one Garrett, one Big Bud Pro (good machine), three different Fisher CZ, machines (including a under water detector) (my son still uses my CZ-6), a Tesoro Sting Ray II under water machine, and two Mine Lab detectors, The E-Trac is the best detector I've ever owned.

The under water detectors have probably been the only machines that have more then paid for them selves as I've really found some good Gold and Silver items in the water.

Covered a lot of ground in those 42 years and found my fair share of goodies. It's gave me some great memories and some good stories to tell. Never got rich, but shared this hobby with some really good people, and those people and the memories has bin my biggest reward. Hope you all get to enjoy it as much as I have.

Rick (IL)

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

I've always wanted to get a high end metal detector but I was involved in other interests.
Spent over 25 years diving on shipwrecks. Used underwater machines while diving on the 1715 Spainish gold fleet with Mel Fisher years ago. Messed around with a few "garage sale" detectors over the years.

I spent three months reading about the hobby on findmall, other forums - and a few books - in July of 2009 I bought a new Minelab Safari - really liked the Safari - but I decided to upgrade to an E-Trac a month later.
I've only been in the hobby for 16 months now - dug over (3200) coins and (59) pieces of jewelry ( mostly costume) - lots of nice old relics and other misc. finds.
It's a great hobby and you get to meet a lot of real nice people as you go along !

Happy Hunting & Happy Holidays ! ---- Mark

 

[Idaho PRB]

I remember as a kid, my Dad had a White's Coinmaster. I was disappointed that he didn't use it much as I was always intrigued with treasure hunting. I got involved with a neighbor, hunting Indian Artifacts to quench my desire for treasure. In 1978, the Antiquity's Act was enacted and put a stop to digging for arrowheads but my desire to "Treasure Hunt" never went away. Years later I asked my Dad if he still had the old White's Coinmaster and he told me he had left the battery's in it all those years and ruined it. I guess that my interest was piqued enough that I just wasn't going to drop it that easily so I talked to a friend of mine who has a ranch just south of us that had some old homesites on it and he and I went halves on my first detector in 2005, an Ace 250. I used the 250 pretty effectively for 3 years and then moved up to the Minelab X-Terra 70. I remember reading stories about Explorer hunters with WOT coils digging up old silver in "hunted out" areas and always wanted to have a Minelab machine. I used that XT-70 for the last 2 years pretty consistently and found a lot of really cool stuff. I added up my old coin values and clad totals in November and convinced my wife that this hobby is actually paying for itself and upgraded to the E-Trac. Since I have had the E-Trac, it has been snowing and cold so I haven't had much time to use it. I am looking forward to this coming season with my new machine and the possibility's that exist. This Forum has really helped to keep my interest up, since it makes me feel like I have friends that share the same interest that I can communicate with on a regular basis. The wealth of knowledge here keeps me driving forward with new inspiration and faith that there really is lots of treasure left for those of us that are willing to do the research and spend the time.
Thanks Findmall

 

[Jason in ID]

I first became interested in detecting in the early 90s when I was eight. We went to visit my grandparents one summer in their rental house while my dad and his brothers built them a new house. The rental was really old. My brother and I were out playing in the dirt driveway and he found a '48 rosie sitting on top of the ground. My uncle on the other side of the family had a detector so we called him and he came over and detected their yard. The fun part about it was he would locate the coins and us kids would dig them and he let us keep what we found. We all found a few old wheat pennies and then I dug another signal in the middle of the driveway. It was hard packed with lots of gravel in it and it seemed like I dug forever to find the coin. After about two inches of chipping away with a screwdriver, I popped out a coin that looked like a penny. (I'm surprised I didn't scratch it.) I couldn't find a date on it where it normally should have been. I spit on it and rubbed the dirt off and finally found the date on the bottom of the coin. It was a 1900 injun. I was so excited that I found something that old and I wanted a detector really bad after that but never got one.

Fast forward until five years ago, I finally bought a Bounty Hunter QD II. I used it a couple of times and then it sat in the closet until last year. I finally pulled it out and learned how to use it. I was glad to finally have one but I wasn't finding very much old stuff. All I found besides clad was a rosie, a war nickle, and a handful of wheats. I wanted a detector that would go deeper so I could find old coins. I started looking on the internet at different detectors and that's when I stumbled on this forum. I was amazed at the amount of old coins you guys on here and on the explorer forum were finding so I decided to save up and buy an E-Trac. I happened to meet a couple of guys at the park that had them and after seeing them in action, I was hooked. I bought one a month later (it took me that long to talk my wife into letting me get it). I had a great season and like the rest of you who are snowed in, I'm already looking forward to next year.

 

[Bell-Two]

I had been interested in metal detectors for awhile but never pursued it, when my wife retired in July of 2009 I said getting a metal detector would give us something else to do together besides our walking and bike riding, I was a bit suprised that she was enthusiastic about the idea as well. After doing some research I determined that in our price range the Ace 250 was a good machine to start with. We went out together several times and did not have much success (sound familiar!) So she did not go out with me as much. I joined a local club the Dayton Diggers, and met some people that were very helpful and were willing to take the time to teach and help me learn. I started finding clad and was content for awhile but I had not found a silver coin until my friend Steve took me to his special "honey hole" and there I found a 1930 Merc and I was hooked. Spent the rest of the year hunting found some silver rings and interesting artifacts. I kept using the Ace at the first of the year finding some wheaties and two gold rings but decided I wanted an upgrade so I had an opportunity to go back to work part time at the bike shop so I did that this summer so I could afford an E-Trac and I am so glad I did. My friend Doug has an E-Trac and on one hunt he let me use it for awhile and I found some deep wheaties that the Ace could not even get a signal on and that is what convinced me. Doug and I started going out together and I have learned a lot from him. My wife started to hunt with me again and she is now using the Ace 250 and on only her fourth hunt she got her first silver coin, and not just any silver coin a 1908 Barber dime! So she has been going out with me as long as it is not too cold for her and I know she wants to find more silver so I hope this spring she will join us in more hunts. But the best part of metal detecting is the friendships I have formed in particular with Doug and his son Malachi, we just have a great time together. Here is the video of Diane's first silver ....and I did OK too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD4vXLybQic

 

[techtony]

I went MD'ing back in the 80s with my brother in law looking for Civil war stuff and we found LOTS of bullets with his Garretts. We used to go every Saturday and we would find 50 bullets every time we went. It was fun while it lasted... Subdivisions popped up and our fun ended. Fast forward several years and I was going through a divorce and i needed on 'out'. So I went back to Garretts. I started with a 550 and then graduated to the 2500. i was finding stuff but not like the Minelabs here on these forums. So after some serious thought i bought the E-Trac and I never looked back. When I put my head phones on I don't have any problems. This has to be the best therapy available! Anyway, dig deep!

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

Back in the late 60's and early 70's I lived up the street from the SR Highschool that I eventually would go to. Used to go there with neighborhood guys and play tennis. One day I saw a guy with a detector and hung around to watch him and see what he was doing as I was interested in coin collecting. I was intrigued and at the local supermarket found Eastern Western Treasures magazine and Lost Treasures magazine so I would monthly go and buy them and devour their ttreasure stories. Occasionally I would see other guys detecting here and there around my small town. Finally got enough money saved from earnings and birthday to get a Heath Kit and I build it from Radio Shack. Had my mother drop me off at the big local park and turned it on went maybe 10 steps and the signal rose and fell (BFO beat frequency oscillator) basically threshold sound gets louder as you pass over an object and I found a Buffalo Nickel for my first coin that I still have and I was hooked for life.
Got a Whites coinmaster later in the late 70's before going in the AirForce. Sold It when i got out in early 80's. Didn't detect again till the late 80's early 90's and owned Whites, Garret, Fischer, and an Explorer . Went out on Fathers day 2001 to that same park and tried to learn the Explorer. I left it in factory coins and hit a deep signal sounded sweet and was burrying the depth guage, dug it and got my first and only barber quarter 1909 wow. But due to the weight of the 1050 coil and slow going always went back to the Whites DFX.
Well when I read about the ETrac I bought one this June and a couple weeks later and several silvers later I traded all my 4 other detectors for another Etrac and got all the SunRay coil sizes (5,8,12) and the SEF's 8x6 and 10x12 and a Garret Pro Pin Pointer and haven't looked back. I guess you could say that machine the Etrac and I just CLICKED together and the coins have been popping out all over at all the places I have been to all these years with all those other detectors. Can't believe what I have missed or left but now I'm able to find and get them. Plus I don't ever see any more detectorists anymore around here so all the more for me I guess. Would love to have a detecting partner or 2 though so don't missunderstand me.
Best thing I ever did. Must have dug 30 or more silvers and 6 Indian pennies and now some V nickles and such. Can't wait for next year. Hurry up please!!

 

[OhioCoinHunter]

I had wanted a metal detector ever since I first saw one in a magazine back in the mid-1970's when I was a teenager. My hobby was collecting coins and I became very bored buying coins from dealers. The idea of actually finding old silver was mesmerizing. My first detector was a cheap Garrett Groundhog, a shallow clad hunter (at least that's all I found with it). It just whetted my appetite for a better detector that would come much later.

In 1985 I returned to the United States after serving in the USAF for three years at Rhein Main Ab, Germany. Deb and I took a trip back home to Ohio from the east coast where I was stationed. For old times sake, we drove to the beach at Delaware State Park. It was out of season and the place was empty - except for an older man with a metal detector. I just had to talk to him and see how he was doing. His shirt and pants pockets were full of coins. He said he was retired and all he did was travel and detect every day like it was a job. He told me, "At home I've got coffee cans filled with coins." I noticed he was using a Whites Coinmaster 5000/D. I had to have one.

Long story short, I bought a Whites 5000/D. That baby set me back about $400. Don't you wish you could still buy your favorite top-of-the-line detector for just $400 instead of $1400? With that detector I really began finding coins. A lot of clad and silver coins. It was awesome. The downside was that I didn't know even one other detectorist and there was no internet. So I was completely on my own trying to figure that detector out. Computers hadn't become mainstream yet and forums like this didn't exist. It was a lonely hobby. I eventually sold that detector but couldn't find the manual that came with it.

Well, guess what I found a few weeks ago while going through stuff:

The manual that came with my old detector!

My next detector was a Fisher CZ7a that I bought in the 90's. I really didn't use it much and it sat untouched for more than a decade. Yeah, I know. Pretty sad. I sold it two years ago to help buy a Minelab E-trac after I got bit by the detecting bug again. I'm still going strong and loving it. My favorite finds this year are a 1788 Spanish silver reale, my first Seated quarter & dime, and a semi-key date 1894o Barber dime. What a great hobby!

 

[onemore]

In the mid to late 90's, I was a volunteer restoring county land areas - removing the invasive plants and planting the native plant seeds. One day these guys were walking by swinging metal detectors along the edges of the path near an old abandoned farm. I stopped and asked them what they were doing. They explained, and one of them swung his detector for about 2 minutes in front of me and got a signal. He dug a 1919 cent right there in front of me - WHOA! This is cool! I said I gotta try this, and they pointed me to where I could get a detector and gave me info on the local club.

From doing the research into the lands to understand how it should be restored, I had tons of historical information about this area dating back to when it was first surveyed - and had copies of the plat maps. So I did some research, built my list of places to go and bought a detector. Just sorry I didn't get into this sooner!

 

[banditicey]

Iv been detecting just over two years, started with the DFX went to the minelab explore se and recently the minelab e trac, my husband has been detecting on and off since he was 11 years old and I picked up the detector after my husband had purchased a detector for my son who was age twelve at the time and was no longer interested in detecting. We had been scuba divers for twenty years and were now living in WNY near 1812 sites which included a destroyed 1812 fort in shallow waters which promted the purchase of an underwater detector. He was able to recover assorted items which included cannon balls and buttons but no coins(as yet). This prompted a new phase of land detecting and we have never looked back. We joined a local MD club which we found out about when members had set up with coin information at a boy scout event, our son is a boy scout and proudly has just became an Eagle Scout. We have slowly been able to learn the best ways to locate old sites for detecting and met some wonderful people who we appreciate detecting with. The reason we both have e tracs now is because after we went "combat detecting" with a group of MD members we were convinced at the superior depth that the minelab detectors had over the dfx's we were then using. I initially ended up with the explorer se because my husband had purchased it previously but was unable to use it, at that time we did not know anyone who had a minelab and the learning curve was difficult without some guidance, we were unaware of this forum or any source at that time. Although I was able to find silver and other amazing coins with the explorer se I requested and was gifted with the e trac and Im thrilled. After uing the explorer se I was very comfortable using the e trac and because I need reading glasses the e trac is so much easier to see and use. I have alot to learn and cant wait till spring, in the mean time ill be reading Andy's book and using this forum for review and learning.

 

[Jesse W. McComas]

June 11, 1968 My Father bought me a Metrotec 220-A Metal Detector for my 15th Birthday. I have never stopped to this day. I have used several different makes & Models of Detectors over the years and still have the first detector, an old Relco, & a 1987 Tesoro Tolteck hanging on my wall as a reemergence of my roots in this great avocation of mine. Today, I have a Fisher 1266X, A Troy Shadow X-5, & an E-Trac. Every time I find a silver Coin, I still get the thrill as I did when I found my first Silver Coin, 1916-D Mercury Dime. I will probably die in a field somewhere swinging my coil over my next Civil War Relic. man---What a way to go!!!! Jesse.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

Actually I got started following my dad around as he was digging tons of silver in 1969 at 4 years old.Been detecting ever since,Ray.