I'm going over to search the yard at the 1939 house..........

[Fisherfinder]

I had the opportunity to search the front, back, and side yard of a house built in 1939.

My friend roto-tilled all of it, the soil is fluffy, even at my body weight my steps sunk in 3" or more.
I was thinking to use my sand scoop and took two with me. My stainless one has 3/8" holes and
my old original steel one has 1/2" holes.

So what happened you ask?

I got my butt kicked.

One of the best machines ever made, a coil made by Russian rocket scientist, one of the best meters
that can be had, and 25 years of experience metal detecting,........ I was beaten like a rented mule.

Unreal.

"Now" I see why I have heard of guys actually wrapping a machine around a tree.

What a pain in the neck,..... and back, and shoulders, and legs,...................

 

[GeorgeinSC]

Its a shame that you did not get to detect the yard before they tilled it up and made it next to impossible to find any deeper targets.

 

[deepdiger60]

Are you saying because the soil was tilled and the target,s that haven't been disturbed since 1939 by a till your detector would not find them now ? or were they to deep now ? how deep did he roto-till . Iam not sure what your saying . I know your chances are much better to find deep targets in undisturbed soil . Jim

 

[Fisherfinder]

I took my XS, an SEF 12X10 coil, a DTI III meter, and a freshly charged battery...........

I get there, assemble the machine, and turn it on.......

The machine would not shut up, no matter the settings, I even stood in the middle of the back yard,
15 yards from "anything", stuck the coil up in the air, surrounded by nothing but fresh air and sunshine.

"It still wouldn't shut up", numbers jumping across the meter screen so fast only a computer could catch them.

It made sense to bring a smaller coil so I had options, I brought a BBS 800 with me, it's a coil that a member
here gave me a good deal on because when I first got the machine I had no coil at all.
The BBS 800 was pretty chatty, but I managed to find a spot here and there that were quiet and gave no signals.

I still had to deal with bouncing numbers and lots of chatter but at least I was able to do some searching.

All I found was a quarter, a few pennies, a wad of foil, a brass tag, a brass hose nozzle, & some brass sprinkler parts.

Those sprinkler parts come up on the meter a solid 180, the brass tag too, ..... I think the hose nozzle too, maybe.


I got back to my shop and did some testing......

The shop next to me has a big wooden stump sitting outside. It's over a foot tall. Many times I have put a coin
on that stump and waved a coil over it to see what's up with a machine, a coil, or both.
The coils I have here are the SEF 12X10, a 10" Tornado, and the BBS 800.

I put a quarter on the stump, waved the BBS 800 over it and got a reading of 180, I turned 90 deg. and got the same reading. I did the same with the 10" Tornado, same result.
"Same result so long as I was within 2" of the coin", when I raised the coil just a little, the number dropped to the 160's,
raised it a little more, 130's, a little more, "no signal".

It was that way with both coils, a shiny quarter will not give a signal with either coil past a distance of about 3".

So, I swept around on the blacktop and found a quiet spot, threw down a quarter, exact same result.

At a distance of about 1" everything is great, starts to get weird near abouts 2", after that you may a well use a pointed stick because as you raise the coil you get no signal at all.

I also tried the SEF, same thing, only it wouldn't shut up, even when I held it up in the air with my arm extended
it wouldn't shut up.

I am going to go back there and take my Laser B1 High Power, (12Khz) it can see a quarter on that wooden stump at over 11". Or maybe go back to basics and take my Bandido II, (10Khz), over there it can see a quarter on that stump at
over 10".

I don't like getting my butt kicked and looking like a fool.

I would have done better with a security wand like they use at the courthouse.


Here is all I found,.....and my ears will never be the same.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I know that minelab detectors do not like disturbed soil. Depth suffers greatly when the soil has been disturbed and you only get the shallow targets. I do not know why.

 

[Maxwedge]

YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR DETECTOR. I'VE HAD PINS PUSHED IN ON DTI METER AND PROBE AND IT MADE HIGH TONES ALL THE TIME. CHECK YOUR PLUGS AND LOOK AT THEM. IF YOU HAVE A PIN THAT IS LOWER THAN THE REST, PULL IT OUT WITH SMALL NEEDLENOSE OR TWEEZERS AND TRY AGAIN. IF IT IS SOMETING ELSE MAYBE RON OR RICK CAN HELP YOU. THEY ARE VERY KNOWLEDGEAGBLE ON SOVEREIGNS. HH-MARIK

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Fisherfinder,another old house in Oxford had a dog fence that produced the same reaction with my Sovereign. PS Wind Turbine or Solar panels can cause problems also.Good Luck Ron

 

[Rick(ND)]

I take it you are new to the Sovereign. Was the battery fully charged and did you use the factory rechargeable pack and try the alkaline pack with 8 alkaline batteries in it and not 8 rechargeable batteries in it as it wont work that way.
Now what was the sensitivity set at, try it in auto which is all the way counterclockwise until it clicks, then try it all the way clockwise which is the lowest sensitivity and see if that helps. Try it without the meter in case something is wrong with the wires in the meter. These are all things that can make a difference. You do know you have to sweep the coil slowly and the tones will come and go as this is the way the Sovereign works, fast swing can make a big difference in not getting much depth as you have to go slower to hear every signal that has any depth at all to it. Now if none of this make a difference try a different area and if it still does this than it is time to talk to the person that sold you the used Sovereign and ask that person how it did work for them as it may have been a problem for him too and why he sold it.
One more thing is I remember something like this on a used one I bought and found out that were the cable connected were a little corroded and cleaned them and made sure they were tight and that took care of it. I had another used one from a dealer he must not have checked out good as it too chattered bad too and he had me send it in to Minelab and it couldn't be repaired, so they sent me a used control box and the dealer paid the bill. I think it was one someone had opened up and tried to do a mod on it and didn't know what they were doing, so now I ask before I buy a used one if it has had any mods done to it, if it does I will not buy it or buy with the understanding if I don't feel it works as it should I can send it back.
A Sovereign running correctly will have tones coming and going and very little chatter if any with coil held in the air away from all metal or electrical interference and should have a slight hum of the threshold.Depth should be a good 4 inches with lock on numbers while swinging the coil over that target only back and forth and more as you get to know the Sovereign and listen close to what it is telling you. For me I have dug many coins at 10-12 inches with the tones as the ID may be ready low when past 6 inches deep on some.

Good Luck and I hope the detector is OK.

Rick

 

[Fisherfinder]

Yes Rick, I am new to the Sovereign.
But I read, studied, and asked questions for a year and a half before buying one.

I tried all the standard stuff, tried sensitivity in auto, at minimum, everywhere in between.
Discrimination at zero, notch at zero, threshold light hum,..etc, etc, etc.

I got the machine like this......
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1888576,page=1

I know about sweeping slowly and so forth.

I have another meter that I can try tomorrow, and I'll also bypass the meter all together tomorrow as well.

This machine acts like it has some problems, the clue was when I held it in the air and it just wouldn't shut up.

It's not impossible that the 12X10 SEF has a problem, I'll try in on another machine tomorrow.



I have a funny feeling that this machine needs a trip to the service department.

That means I'll be without it for a while, right in season, and I have another bill to pay.


Ain't life grand?



Thanks for the advise, all you guys are great.