NIGHTMARE ON MINELAB STREET

[jcamaro]

I am a newbie at this but man am I disgusted with this hobby. After sending all this money on a top notch machine I am about to give up. I wish I could pay to go to a class or some kind of school on this.I understand it takes practice but I am getting sick over this! I have watched DVD's, bought and read books and been on line and I can't seem to get it. Does anyone live in the Brooksville area of Florida that would like to make some money to teach? I have asked around about a club and can not find one. Does any of our members know of any?
1. A problem I am having is after the machine passes over a unwanted target and blanks it takes forever for the threshold to come back, I have changed the recovery to fast but it does not matter. I have to swing it around until it gets another target.
2. What does Iron Mask really do? I don't see the big deal other then changing the Discrimination Patterns look.
3. I get so many False signals I get a hit with a good reading and dig and dig and not find nothing. I have dug five foot holes and the machine is still saying something is there, but nothing. I fill in ditch's. I am here in Florida and am on the beach most of the time I make sure there is no metal around like my watch
I am at my wits end, do you have any ideas? The best is my friend bought the setup all the same equipment and he has the same problems. I did build a test garden and don't even ask about pinpointing!! Can anyone help me with any of this?

 

[bill67]

The best thing for you to do is put in a new post that says " HELP!! Dewcon, Bryce, Bayrat , Steve, Neal ....... any body Help !!...... " and pose your questions. ....
There are a lot of good guys on this forum that can give you some good advice....
It takes a while ..... believe me ..... I'm still in learning mode myself. Don't give up ..... there is plenty of help here from the best.....

 

[captn_se]

"forever" is an awful long time. I know hunting with "Normal" response setting, you do not have to move your coil over another target to get your threshold back. Make sure you're machine's "response" setting is in Normal. And swing your coil slowly....no quicker than 2 seconds from your furthest ends of your sweep.

You're right. It's nothing more than a discrimination pattern. By the way, what pattern are you using to detect your beach? It should be a simple iron mask pattern(just a little masking, 22-28 on an SE), since at the beach, the digging is easy.

"]

Beach detecting is real easy. Certainly nowhere close to a trash infested, 100+ year old park or an old homesite. Most areas of a beach will be completely void of all signals. If you're in an area of the beach where there are fire pits, then you could run into a lot of melted aluminum and nails. I've heard that the beaches in Florida don't have any black sand (iron). Out where I'm at (west coast), the beaches are just full of black sand, which will affect the stability of almost any machine aside from a pulse induction unit. Falsing can be caused by too high a sensitivity for your ground conditions, or it could be EMI (Electro Magnetic interference). If it's EMI, noise canceling should resolve the problem. And make sure if your friend is detecting close to you with a similar setup, that you two are on different channels, or you will cross-talk with each other. Keep your sensitivity around 20-23, manual, if you can. If not, then try auto sensitivity in the mid-upper twenties.

Good luck. Don't give up. These machines, once you get used to them, are the best out there!!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Gilly in Illinois]

Hunt with the factory settings. The only thing to make sure of is that your sens is set at 26 auto and your IM at -22. That should do it bud!

Gilly

 

[Gilly in Illinois]

I agree with bill67 ! Ask away bud. It ain't gonna happen over nite. I'm still learn'in myself after 6 years !

Gilly

 

[dewcon4414]

Ill try and make it simple for you if you are on the beach. Just change to Ferr sounds and AM or 31 disc if you are getting tons of mineral or iron tones. I just got back from Florida this last month and i found that to be a very effective way just because like Cptn_SE said you arent hunting in some of the trashy areas we are. In Ferr basically you will be hearing 3 maybe 4 tones... dig everything but the iron which you WILL know. I could use 28 manual sensitivity and gain 9 anything heigher made no difference in depth not that i couldnt use higher... it just didnt make a difference. Personally i prefer Cond sounds, but Ferr may be your ticket to success. I didnt notice many HOT ROCKS and bottle caps really werent a problem to ID. Trainsistion from wet to dry sand shouldnt be a problem if there isnt a lot of big pieces of iron in the sand at the waters edge...in Ferr you should know if there is iron. Keep you coil ON the sand and clean your coil cover a couple times when you are out there. I cant stress cleaning under your coil cover enough... it will false if you dont. Run some coins across your coil so you know what you are looking for out there. You can tell cans by that high pitch. Raise your coil about a foot up and you will still hear them ifs it a can. You should be able to size the target in pinpoint and tell as well. Use your smartscreen and learn where targets fall... the digital screen will drive you nuts especially of deep targets. See if this dont help some of that frustration.

 

[dewcon4414]

oooops ... pinpointing. Once you find a target, wiggle your coil toward you until the target tone gets weak or disappears. The targets should be at the tip of your coil. It will be an inch or 2 closer to you on really deep targets just because the footprint will be reduced some. If you need to compare targets, the best way ive found is to buy a splitter and the two of you can just plug in and hear the same thing on a given setting. Play with your THRESHOLD TONE... i have mine set at 8 it tends to give me a more pronounced reading on deep silver, but since you have a test garden play with it. It may make a difference in how you hear targets. To be honest i saw so many people detecting when i was there that most of the jewerly just isnt going to be that deep. Hunt at low tide if you can it gives you a greater chance at more lanes. You have an advantage... if others arent using a water machine they cant hunt the wet sand or they have to GB when they transition.

 

[GunnarMN]

Dude i know what its like to get discouraged , but know this thear are answers bro be patient, sounds like you have a very trashy spot you may need a small coil and the members of this fourum will get things ironed out for you comon edison did not succseed on his light bulb the 1st time i think he tried over 100 times befor he got it your going to get it comon you are no quiter

 

[Bayrat76]

If your hunting in a really trashy area, you just creep along. Play with the sens. start at 26 and work down, it will steady out. find a target start adjusting the sens till it levels out. you might do this a couple times in a trashes area. Get a small coil like a 5" in these areas too. I have had my SE nun out for a good 10 seconds, but sing out when it hits a good target. Slow down your swing and it will give you better result. Don't be scared to jack with the settings and see what is best in your hunting area. I hope this helps. Good hunting

 

[JW]

New Port Richey

Weeki Wachee Metal Detecting Club
Donald, Margaret & Erik Bing,
3537 Glenburn Ct.
New Port Richey, FL 34655

 

[edjcox]

Wow registered 4 years back?

Sell me your machine cheap and yu'll have piece of mind....


Actually try harder to get into a club. Try and meet a fellow dectectr jockey and ask for help.

Never give up the ship or the detector. There's a gold ring waiting for you. You do have a sand scoop I presume?

 

[grumpyolman]

I experienced the same frustration with an SE and the slimline that was on it. I knew Minelabs were good so I sold it and got an E-Trac. There's a world of difference in the ease in which you can learn the E-Trac. Both machines are killer machines in the hand of an experienced user. But...if you are a beginner, I think the frustration level will be a lot lower with an E-Trac. Don't quit. It will really be fun...but that being said, no reason to force yourself to like the hobby. That's sort of like I'll learn to like going to the dentist! Not! jim