On the "ROCKS"

[toaster]

Hi All,
New to the Quattro and have a question regarding Pin Pointing.
The beach I have been detecting on in South Australia is made up of what you may call "River Pebbles" of various sizes and covered in fine grit and sand, very hard to dig and have to use a 3 pronged scraper as a trowel will not penetrate.
The Quattro finds coins and rings to 12inches +++ in these rocky conditions but the Pin Pointing seems to change position as the hole gets deeper, so I guess my question is "do the rocks/stones deflect the signal causing the pin point reference to change?"

 

[Sanddigger]

n/t

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Normally, I would think not. But depending on the types of rocks and the possibility of igneous or iron content, I suppose it could. If they were "hot rocks", but then I would think the Quattro would be nulling over them or possibly signaling false coin signals. And that doesn't sound like the case here...it sounds like the Quattro is detecting and signaling properly and the issue is strictly with the pinpointing accuracy. In that case I would suspect the pinpointing technique. Unless he is able to pinpoint accurately everywhere else, in which case I guess it must be the rocks.

Here's a thought. He's in Austrailia. Minelab is in Australia. Go ask them.

 

[beachguy777]

That's a great answer Mike. You scare me sometimes how smart you are. I got a new side carrer for you Mike. If you don't want to write the book, you should be a conslutant for Minelab. I'm certainly "poking at you a bit" but I'm really not kidding. They could probably use a guy like that. Your kind of the residint expert that gives them feedback on their product. I don't know, but it might work. I know we all look to you like stock martket people look to E.F. Hutton.

 

[Sand Shagger (NMB)]

n/t

 

[Cody]

A hot rock will sound like a coin and can be pinpointed just like a coin. A cold rock will sound like a coin but not found in all metal. When pinpointing first use the automatic circuit in the detector to shrink the size of the target to the exact center. Then make a first sweep to pinpoint. The first sweep gives the location of the target in the hot strip form toe to heal of the coil. Most problems from pinpointing come from the second cross sweep. Pick a fixed point on the coil, just in front of the point where the shaft connects to the coil. Sweep that fixed point down the hot strip line that was used to locate the target with the first sweep. It is very easy to pinpoint with this method.

Minelab is not clear that the second sweep is with a fixed point on the coil to fix the location of the target in the hot strip. Since a target can be in the soil at different angles we might be off a few inches at the most but should be able to hit the target pretty much dead on most of the time.

This is based on my understanding and use of the Explorer and just came by to see what is going on with the Quattro.

Hope this helps,

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Aw, jeepers man...cut it out. I'm just a poor slob trying to get a break like everybody else, with a couple too many metal detectors.

I wonder...you DO realize I don't even HAVE a Quattro anymore, right? It's been a few months. Not that I won't answer questions when I can...I like to think I learned a few things. But after mastering the Quattro I decided I was ready to face the "dreaded" Explorer II. Which it turns out was easier to learn than I thought. Though I am by no means an expert on that. I've done well with it and learned a lot but the real meat and potatoes will be when the beach season comes to a close, the ticks go into hibernation, and I get the Explorer II into the woods and fields again. I have several spots I'm anxious to hit.

So right now, I'm doing all beach and doing it with the Excalibur. The Explorer II is hanging on the rack, ready to go. Right next to it is my Fisher CZ-70. Which I am fully qualified to give tips, tricks, and pointers on. And that's what I have now. Previously owned a Minelab Sovereign Elite, a White's DFX, and my first machine...a Garrett GTAx-750. It's all good though...each machine taught me a lot and made some great finds for me. I think for right now all my "machine needs" are met with the three I have.

 

[beachguy777]

I'm sorry again, Mike. I don't mean to push you on any of this stuff. I just thought that might be kind of cool, but you know, just like you talked about, sometimes if you get in with the companies and stuff, it stops being as fun and starts to be too much of a J O B. Your doing great just how you are and we'll keep reading your posts and getting what we can out of them. I forgot about the fleas and ticks and stuff you guys have back east. I guess that's for real. I lived in Louisiana for a while and boy did they ever have some bugs down there. They had these things called red bugs, and the only reason they were red is from sucking your blood. At any rate, do you pretty much head for the inland stuff in the winter or do you still do the beaches too? I'd think the winter storms could make things pretty interesting as far as moving the sand around and stuff. I'm anxious to see how things go here in old San Diego this winter but I too want to start doing other sites like maybe some old ghost towns or old farm houses if I can find some where farmer Brown doesn't come out with a shot gun or a 30 aut 6. I'm lucky because I live fairly near Nevada where there's some pretty good old mining towns. I just don't know if it's ok to detect them or not. Need to do some checking around about it. Well have a good weekend and keep those cards and letters, or should I say emails and pictures comin. Your right, because of this forum, we don't have to work for some big company in order to talk about metal detecting.

 

[Doug[Manila]]

Hi Cody,
Good read. I will have to try your way of pinpointing. Thanks.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I do a mix of land and beach in the fall and winter. I mostly will hit the beach if there's a storm or a good amount of erosion and shifting going on. And in the rare case the ground is frozen. But I do like my land hunting. There are some around here who strictly hunt the beach. That's fine for them, but that's not me. There's another whole world out there with land hunting.

 

[beachguy777]

I totally agree. I'm even looking into some urban type hunting. I'd like to go downtown and hunt on that 3 or 4 foot piece of dirt between the curb and the sidewalk in the older areas of San Diego. Somehow I think somebody must have dropped something over the years and a lot of that really is still dirt in the funkier areas. Trouble is, that's where the "bad guys" hang out too, but I think I'm gonna try it anyway. The thing I'm more worried about is is it legal. I'm not sure?? but there's also a few abandoned looking buildings here and there, but I'm certainly concerned about the possibilities of getting in trouble with that, unless I get permission. I'm almost to the point where I might go and ask the owner of certain houses if I could just detect his yard and maybe split the finds or if it's facinating enough, just give him the loot in order to have the thrill of maybe finding something cool. I also forgot you can have that ice thing going on, over in Virginia, which would make it "pretty darn tough to dig". I guess that's why we're paying the "big bucks" just to live here in San Diego, but honestly, Mike, I'm seriously thinking of moving out, partly for that reason. It's absolutuly unbellievable what the price of housing and even rent is here. You can't even buy a one bedroom even out side of town within 60 miles for under 130 or more K dollars. Even the condo's are rediculoous. The cheapist one bedroom condo I saw on the local MLS list here a few weeks ago was $150,000 not counting the Home Owner association fees which are anywhere from about 130 to 300 dollars a month and then you have to pay property tax on top of that. I'm pretty bummed out. Trying to figure out a game plan for the near future, but, boy, I hate to give up the beach. That's a big draw for me not only with hunting, but shooting surf video. That's a big hobby and a hope to be money maker down the road maybe. Decisions, decisions, "what's a mother to do these days", just kidding, I'm not a mother. I don't know if I'd want that job.

 

[toaster]

Thanks Cody,
Just been practicing as per you reply and its made a difference.
Don't know why but I imagined the Pin Pointing was at the toe of the hot strip so I was several inches out and if I checked from another direction the target seemed to have moved. Thanks again for a valuable lesson.

 

[toaster]

Hi Mike,
It was a Pin Pointing lesson I needed so all is well now.
I live not far from Minelab and almost drove past their door on the week end.
The cost of the Quattro is $1395 AUD in Australia and at present equals $1054 US so living in the town near Minelab counts for nothing as I see the Quattro advertised in the States for about $850 US and often with an added bonus.
Wish they would have a " factory seconds/ scratch and dent sale, I would be down to the factory in a flash.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

It seems that a lot of our best hunting spots are in those "funky" areas. That's why I carry a 9MM and plenty of mace. Just kidding. But I do carry a Lesche Ground Shark that will cut a nice plug out of your face.

As for those grass strips, many have hunted them and made some finds. I saw it in a book on urban treasure hunting. It's also very likely that your trash content will be high there. But if you can sort it out...maybe worth the time.

So when are we going to start seeing some of these killer finds?

 

[beachguy777]

Thankyou for the challenge Mike!! The truth is, "I don't know bro",,, I better get movin more or find some better spots to hunt. I went to the beach yesterday and all I found was a snap off some guys swim trunks in a bout 3 inches of water. (Too scared to take the Quatro out too far), Shagger and I are workin' on a solution for that, but the best solution we've found yet is save our money and get Excaliburs. Probably the only saving grace about yesterday is that I dug a hole about half way to China, and still kept getting a strong signal and finally pulled out a piec of tin about 4 sQ. inches. I was excited because I couldn't believe how strong the signal was and I measured the depth on my sand shovel at about 18". I know you dig stuff that deep, and it still blows my mind. Well I do have a 5" coil I could use for those curb strips, maybe that's the ticket. Trouble is they cover such a smaller area, but it works great when it's trashy. I bet you read the same Urban cowboy detector guy from New York I read. Pretty neat book. Yea, I'm a little nervous about the 9mm. but maybe a good bowie knife might help. I need to get some kind of good knife just to cut some plugs in the grass, if I ever get the nerve to do that in the park. P.S. I just read your message on the grass thing. Sounds good, and I think I'll try it. I figure there has to be some lost stuff on those grassy areas in the park where people lay on blankets and play foot ball and stuff. Thanks again.

 

[beachguy777]

n/t I'm not sure how to delete a post I screwed up.

 

[beachguy777]

Wupps, I got lost.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

 

[Cody]

I understand and had to look at pinpointing all over after having problems with pinpointing when I first started off with the Explorer.

 

[Ruben]

Hello all,I have been searching the web for forums for the quattro and i found this one tonight,so i would like to say sup to all the quattro users out there.I have had my quattro now for a couple months and it took me that long to start understanding what its telling me.For me,i was having a problem with rusty nails reading 37-38 and in some cases enen a twoway signal,so i dig,and get a rusty nail where the depth bar told me there was coin ,i got an old nail.I do hunt in an old park in my town that is about a hundred years old so you can imagine how trashy the park is.I know the book tells you not to hit the high trash sites when first learning the detector,but i really didnt have a choice.so right off the bat i hunted in the most pulltab and bottle cap infested toped with a ton of old nails that pepper the old carnival site from the very early 1900s you can imagine the flute music i was getting.I wonder if any of you have run into the rusty nail having a high tone with numbers 37-38 ? I asked the guy who sold me the detector why i'm getting false readings on rusty nails and he told me that if there is a coin down there it will give a high high tone two ways high left and same high tone right.he said that i was being fooled cause i was not listening good enough cause arusty nail will give a high tone one way but a low tone coming back no matter how suttle.Going back out i started to notice what he was saying.So after a bit i could pick out a 1920 murc dime that i have been passing over many times with the sov elite,cause in the same hole there was a piece o foil and a small nail n the same hole about 4" in radious and about 8" deep.I have found that with the 8" coil,his thing will find a silver rosie dime at 9" no lie man.This is a great machine and with you having all the conectors and wires hidden in the shaft,its all good