What a result! but Where would you start?

[dreamsville]

Hi Guys,

a question for you experienced ones...

Ive a wealthy friend who owns a property set in 32 acres of farm land but he's not a farmer and its just rough farmland unworked... its's also in a place called Hexham in Northumberland right next to Hadrians wall built in Roman times.

He used to detect years ago himself before he became wealthy ( not from detecting) he even said he will get a local farmer to plough his land for me to loosen up the ground for me to detect..

now i,m just a rookie here but this all sounds good to me armed with me x70 with DD 10.5 15hz i,m good to go....

any serious advise, where, how to start? tips advice would be greatly appreciated, setting on my detector to be used? as ive come straight from an ace 150! and i,m right in the middle of that learning curve!!! but exciting or what!

thanks Guys

Peter

 

[TURNMASTER]

Does the X70 have automatic ground tracking? Get ya some good headphones straight away. You could start with your sensitivity around 22 to 25 and play with it from there depends on how much falsing you get in your part of the world. Run your Threashhold just audible, although there valid reasons to run it lower or higher than that. Man I'd hunt the wall first. Then hit it again after learning the machine.

Jeff

 

[Digger]

by sending me an airline ticket to come help you hunt! Seriously, it's only 32 acres. I hunt fields that are 40, 80 160 acres all the time. Before I hit the fields, I pull the site up on Google Earth and get a feel for the lay of the land. Sometimes, you will actually see an outline of old building sites, from the satellite view. If I don't get any tips from Google Earth, with detector in hand, I start working a grid pattern of the field. Up and down, back and forth. All the time I am looking for anything mankind may have left behind. Metal, glass, pottery etc. If there are old trees on the perimeter, see if there may have been a house there years ago by recognizing cellar holes, foundation stone or simply a cleaning in the trees. You have to use more than just the detector to find the right spots as the X-TERRA will only beep when you pass the coil over the targets. Anyway, I've attached a copy of the Google Earth Map, based on the coordiates of Hexham in Northumberland. You can do the same for the exact location you are going to be hunting. By using this information, and thinking outside the box, you should be well on your way to a very exciting hunt. Keep us posted! HH Randy

 

[dreamsville]

Hi Jeff,

thanks for coming back so quickly, ive got KOSS headphones and it says UR30 on the side? yes my machine has auto and manual ground ballance, i dunno how close the wall is to the fields exactly but if its reasonably close settlements and activity will hopefully have reached into surrounding area,s really excited, mad that i practically dont even know how to use this machine if ya know what i mean... learn quick with an opportunity like this has to me my mantra..will keeep you guys informed , hope to get up this weekend for sure even if he's not managed to get farmer to plough land right away, just wanna getr started.

thanks for your help. Peter

 

[dreamsville]

Randy that sound like SUPERB advice to me, about the tickets to fly you over...hahah seriously though SUPERB advice TOP MAN and thanks for going to sop much effort with the google earth thing.... what an amazing bunch of lads the way everyone helps each other its really blown me away...

will of course be keeping you guys informed and no doubt shouting help now and then with re my machine whats going on!! etc etc have a great day Peter

 

[utmike]

When I hunt areas like you have described, I do exactly what Randy describes, constantly visually scan for broken glass, bricks, etc... to identify where buildings and activity were centered. I also like to use ALL METAL to narrow down high traffic areas. Start finding a bunch of nails, pipes, and the like and you may have the location of an old structure. Once I've narrowed down my primary area of interest, I often switch over to my 6" coil especially if it has been plowed and I want to get the coil between the rows. Just a thought. Good luck!

HH
Mike

 

[Beale]

Good luck to you. Hope yuo find a ton of good stuff! Beale.

 

[Mobius]

Wow! Sounds like a fantastic area! On our next UK trip, we are planning on visiting the Northumberland National Park, and of course, Hadrian's Wall and Roman War Museum.

Do the museums in the below link have surveys/maps that may be of use? Also, Time Team excavated a portion of the wall (Jan 30th, 2000 episode). Perhaps the show might provide insight?

http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/ArchRev/rev95_6/hwmuseum.htm#Housesteads%20Museum

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/archive/2000bird.html