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One of the Best posts I've read about learning your detectors language.

GaryF

New member
This was written by Digger27 on another forum....

It will help everyone that reads it.....I promise you even the old pros will get a refresher by reading this.

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Here is where metals will show up on your dial.
Forget the numbers, just study their locations.

The way you figure out what you are digging before you dig it, which is never 100% by the way, is to "thumb" that disc knob and figure out where the metals in the range you see in the picture go away or "disc out".

*Tip*....It is more accurate to turn the knob way up and then turn it down slowly as you are swinging over the target and stop at the area where you hear a tone come in, than to turn it up until it fades out.

Now you have done this and lets say it was silent till you got to the zinc mark.
Now you have a clue, and this hobby is all about taking all your clues and putting them together to make an educated guess.
From studying the picture, you remember that this zinc area should sound off if you have a zinc penny or other zinc item, an Indian head penny, a screw-cap or gold.
Might be some other things like can slaw, but it could be one of the first four, too.
Maybe you want to switch to all metal, now, and run your coil around the target area and try to size the target.
Where does the tone sound loudest and then fade out?
Hit it from a different angle and try to get a picture in your mind on how big it is...coin size, maybe a little bigger?
In all metal or turning it back below zinc on the disc knob, how loud does it sound when you scan it?
Really loud, maybe medium loud or softer?
This gives you a clue on the depth.
Another depth trick is lift the coil and swing over it.
Do you lose it at 3 inches above the ground, 4-5?
If you know your limit of your detector, and subtract the height of your coil above the target where it goes silent, this can give you approximate depth.

Now you decide to whip your coil over the target real fast and see if the tones stay solid from all angles or breaks up.
If it breaks up it could be trash, if not, still might be a good target.

All of these techniques are aimed to give you clues, and those clues will lead you to an educated guess and that will lead you to digging a hole...or not.

As you put in your time, you also start to hear slight differences in that tone.
A zinc penny might sound very solid and full and the same all the way through, but a screw-cap might not sound so full.
Maybe you noticed after locating and scanning hundreds of these that a screw-cap doesn't stay full, but maybe breaks a little right at the end.
It gets a little fuzzy.
You never could tell the difference at the beginning, but now, after much practice, you can hear that difference, and so you have another good clue as to what you might have sitting in the ground below you.

Solid tone, rings true, no breaking of the signal, small like a coin, really loud tone, can raise the coil pretty high before it fades out...I think this is a zinc penny that is about 1 inch down...then you dig it...and it is.
Or maybe not, like I said, not 100% in this hobby...ever...but you cut your odds down some on digging trash, and you made a good guess.

It's a process.
As you progress, your guesses get better.

The universe must be laughing at us that do this hobby because it made so many bad things ring up in the same areas as so many good things.
Aluminum hangs out where the high tone coins do.
Nickels and gold live in the same neighborhood as pull tabs...as a matter of fact, gold seems to live in almost all the neighborhoods.
Nobody is perfect, we all dig lots of trash, but the better you get the less trash you dig and the more treasure you find.

Study the picture, know your metals and where they line up in relation to your disc knob.

Then practice, practice practice.
Really listen and try to remember that tone you hear before you dig a target, then remember what target you dug after that specific tone.
It takes time for your instincts to kick in and this stuff becomes second nature, but it will eventually happen.
Once you dig enough holes.

That's how I do it.

HH

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I urge all of you to cut and paste this into a file on your computer and read it from time to time.


Gary
 
GaryF said:
This was written by Digger27 on another forum....

It will help everyone that reads it.....I promise you even the old pros will get a refresher by reading this.

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I saw this post, too.
It was written to explain how to hunt with a Compadre to a new owner.

This is the picture that accompanied it.
 
Great description. Similar to where I've gotten over the years. When we talk about subtle, slight difference in tones I don't think there's any way to meanfully convey that to another person. It just takes hours on the detector for those things to become meaningful. I could try to describe what I hear after years of detecting, but it wouldn't mean anything to them at first, nor would it have meant much to me until I had put in the hours it takes for it to click, so to speak. IMHO this is one of the reasons that a person that really knows their detector can do so well, even with a beep and dig machine over a tid model.
BB
 
BB

I think you hit it right on the head when you said "I don't think there's any way to meanfully convey that to another person." I think not only does it do no good trying ...but each persons hearing is different and that's one of the biggest reasons why. The mental and the audio portions have to click...if the audio is different.... when then mental kicks in would be different as well.

Gary
 
..Well the best method is just to dig everything to be sure...but most of us do Not have that type of time or Luxury....if I am Coin Hunting I like to use the All Metal mode to verify that the signal is a small coin like/shape object....signals that are wider than the coil are skipped....now in saying this the coin type signals could still be pull tabs and other junk but some areas are so iron junky that eliminating digging these goes a long ways.....Now if I can am relic hunting I tend to use the all metal mode to verify that the object is larger than the coil.....and dig those since I am looking for old pistols...old iron knives and even the old pineapple grenades....the later I rebury onsite......
 
I've been an advocate of digging everything if concerned about masking. Your detector, especially in all metal, will tell you there's a target there, even if it's a nail laying across a coin. If one is using discrimination and discriminates out the nail, most likely they'll also miss the coin, whereas digging everything will produce both targets. I know how frustrating diggin tons of trash is, but that's the only sure way in the end to be sure one gets it all.
BB
 
BarberBill said:
I've been an advocate of digging everything if concerned about masking. Your detector, especially in all metal, will tell you there's a target there, even if it's a nail laying across a coin. If one is using discrimination and discriminates out the nail, most likely they'll also miss the coin, whereas digging everything will produce both targets. I know how frustrating diggin tons of trash is, but that's the only sure way in the end to be sure one gets it all.
BB

I am usually a dig-it-all kind of guy, but in the last few weeks I just can't do it anymore and I will rest up and start that again next spring.
Lately, I have been using the Compadre looking for any kind of jewelry I can find, my knob is a little below the F in foil because I am real tired of digging itsy bitsy pieces of foil, and I am trying to dig mostly just the solid signals that do not break up at all.
If I get even a small click it stays in the ground.
I return to my sites so there is plenty of time to dig the rest on future hunts.
Going pretty good, I have avoided tons of tabs and pop tops, (as far as I know), but I have still managed to dig up a good amount of clad and a nice size silver necklace plus a real nice gold ring.
Today I had only an hour at a park I have hunted before and even though this signal was solid at zinc it really broke up when I moved the disc knob to max.
Still, something in that broken tone spoke to me and said dig...so I did.
No way in the world could I explain to another person exactly what it was or why I felt this way about that signal, it was a classic large piece of can slaw all the way...but there was something about it that triggered my digging impulse.
Glad I did.
That broken signal was my first real Zippo find, and now I am a happy dude.
 
My favorite story to illustrate this point is one time I was detecting near some park swings. I got a different sounding hit that I figured was probably trash. Walked on a few steps, thought it over and went back to dig. There was something about the sound that just didn't fit in with any I was used to hearing. Anyway, just an inch or so down, I retrieved a small, 925 silver scotty dog off a charm bracelet. Anytime a target sounds off/out of the norm, dig. Often enough it will turn out to be worth the effort and when it isn't, at least you've cleaned up one more piece of trash.
BB
 
BarberBill said:
My favorite story to illustrate this point is one time I was detecting near some park swings. I got a different sounding hit that I figured was probably trash. Walked on a few steps, thought it over and went back to dig. There was something about the sound that just didn't fit in with any I was used to hearing. Anyway, just an inch or so down, I retrieved a small, 925 silver scotty dog off a charm bracelet. Anytime a target sounds off/out of the norm, dig. Often enough it will turn out to be worth the effort and when it isn't, at least you've cleaned up one more piece of trash.
BB

Basically, I believe if you use a Tesoro long enough, and learn it's language well enough, it awakens some abilities that all humans have probably had in our genetics that most of us do not use anymore do to the fact we are no longer being hunted by predators.
Most intelligent hunters learn to listen to the tones coming out of their detectors, screen or no screen, but Tesoro's have the ability to bring these abilities out in full due to the fact that on most of them the tone coveys everything that is important in our little metal detecting world.

Use a Tesoro long enough and you become a Ninja of sound.
 
REVIER said:
BarberBill said:
My favorite story to illustrate this point is one time I was detecting near some park swings. I got a different sounding hit that I figured was probably trash. Walked on a few steps, thought it over and went back to dig. There was something about the sound that just didn't fit in with any I was used to hearing. Anyway, just an inch or so down, I retrieved a small, 925 silver scotty dog off a charm bracelet. Anytime a target sounds off/out of the norm, dig. Often enough it will turn out to be worth the effort and when it isn't, at least you've cleaned up one more piece of trash.
BB

Basically, I believe if you use a Tesoro long enough, and learn it's language well enough, it awakens some abilities that all humans have probably had in our genetics that most of us do not use anymore do to the fact we are no longer being hunted by predators.
Most intelligent hunters learn to listen to the tones coming out of their detectors, screen or no screen, but Tesoro's have the ability to bring these abilities out in full due to the fact that on most of them the tone coveys everything that is important in our little metal detecting world.

Use a Tesoro long enough and you become a Ninja of sound.


REVIER....

As expressive as that was.....(Sorry am still laughing).... I didn't know Tesoro (still laughing) had an AZ Audio Ninja school.

So when you graduate...I'm willing to bet you get a brown belt right?

Believe me when I say... tho I am not near the top of said training. I do agree in your assessment of the latent genetic abilities that come into play.

Well done (golf clap)
Gary
 
REVIER said:
Basically, I believe if you use a Tesoro long enough, and learn it's language well enough, it awakens some abilities that all humans have probably had in our genetics that most of us do not use anymore do to the fact we are no longer being hunted by predators.
Most intelligent hunters learn to listen to the tones coming out of their detectors, screen or no screen, but Tesoro's have the ability to bring these abilities out in full due to the fact that on most of them the tone coveys everything that is important in our little metal detecting world.

Use a Tesoro long enough and you become a Ninja of sound.

:starwars: ...or a Jedi. :twodetecting: What a great post (not being sarcastic).

I totally agree, and one of the reasons why I think Tesoros have this ability is because they are very fast detectors (like ninjas), they have fast target recovery. (The targets do not see Tesoros approach :biggrin:) Though where the speed comes into play is how they are able to scan more of the target, giving you more information relative to your swing speed. It could also be that lower frequencies or certain frequencies are better for tone.

I have come to learn that it's all about the tones. It is also important for people to understand the difference between pitch and tone. For example, what the Goldens really have are four pitches.
 
That is some great info! I really like the idea of thumbing the disc in, instead of discing out. One thing I'm confused about, is that on my Compadre and Vaquero, gold rings (air tested, havent been that lucky yet) drop out at somewhere around foil. At zinc the gold rings don't pick up. Thanks for the info. Scott
 
Scott, some small gold will respond in the zinc range. I'm not certain of what makes the difference, but I think size and shape play a part and not all gold is exactly the same formulation.
BB
 
BarberBill said:
Scott, some small gold will respond in the zinc range. I'm not certain of what makes the difference, but I think size and shape play a part and not all gold is exactly the same formulation.
BB
That is good to know, as I was under the impression that the higher up you go on the disc, the larger the gold would have to be to register. My Compadre and Vaq pick up 1 grain lead shot at the lowest disc settings. By the time I roll a bit past 'iron' it is gone. I know lead is not the same as gold, but It does register pretty much the same way as gold. Time for me to do some more experimentation, I guess! Thanks again Bill. Scott
 
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