Need Some Help With My 800

[Dig It]

OK I had to reboot, went down to lake that has been giving up some beach, went to beach mode and found 1 quarter about 6 inches deep, also 2 pennies 1 about 6 inches the other about 3 inches, now I can think again I found something, now maybe I can cool my jets. Will try the differant settings as you guys suggest in trashy area.

[Dig It]

Ok been out a couple more times trying different settings. Only have a couple places that have thawed out, and that work site is now a no go area ( Heavy Machinery ) So some spots on beach have been producing coins no nickels yet. You can see from photo still pretty frozen in my next of woods. But I am getting out. Also some charm bracelet pieces.

So just wanted to thank those that gave me some hints, everything helps !!!

[Dig It]

OK how about a little update, snow is finally going away, but ground still frozen, but I take care of it with a killer rotary hammer.

The thawed beach gave up my 1st nickel, but it didn't come easy, dug a bit of small melted aluminum pc's, they were giving the same VDI reading of around the 13 /15 range, but I was happy to see the nickel. I have been going over same area of beach as the 800 and I get more familiar. And I am finding more coins, nothing dated old, but some are pretty corroded, still learning the cleaning methods as I am new to coin and relic hunting.

Took machine to one of many favorite gold hunting grounds in my back yard and found my 1st Gold picker / small nugget. I must say this was a great day, Can hardly wait to get the 6" coil, any updates on them ?

I dug approx. 60 targets this day and I was tired and very sore the next day but boy what a smile I have thinking of the next hunt. 

Time on machine is everything !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chase Goldman]

2 minutes ago, Dig It said:

Can hardly wait to get the 6" coil, any updates on them ?

 

[Dig It]

Dialing with one hand, typing with the other !!! Haha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

[Chase Goldman]

No judgements here.  Lol

Regarding aluminum and other junk, start listening closely to the audio so you become less dependent on the VDIs since reliance on the similar VDIs alone can easily fool you.  There are subtle differences in tonality between coins, jewelry, and junk that can clue you in.  Coins and other targets made of heavier metals (gold, silver, copper) and that have symmetry (e.g., are round) give off a purer, more solid sounding tone whereas junk targets made of aluminum and/or irregular in shape sound more hollow, broken, or “flutey” tones (when VDI is bouncing a lot...another junk clue) even though they may be of similar pitch.  It is subtle and by no means fool proof, and takes significant swing time and digging of trash in the mean time before committing it to your brain muscle memory.  But when it finally clicks in to your brain it can be helpful if you want to “play the odds”, especially if you have to use a jackhammer or blowtorch to get to your targets, lol.

[Dig It]

That makes perfectly good sense to me, as I think that is the next step in my learning curve for coin / relic hunting.

I was wondering if I took some trash pc's and laid them out and tried to set tone and target ID #'s for trash and coins, for I have been over same area of beach a couple of times and now it's showing pretty much same trash every hunt. Does that sound like what one would try ?

The rotary hammer was bought for my bedrock crevices on my claim, but figured why not try it to get to targets frozen in time, while I wait to get up the mountain,  ( snow avalanches )  Really don't need extra weight on back. The lake beaches are thawed and creek banks are thawing quickly so hopefully won't need to carry hammer much longer. But it does do the job !!!!!!!!! Just trying to get into spots before water comes up.

Some of my finds so far.

Thanks for thinking I have a Brain !!!!!!!! LOL !!!!!!!!!!!

[Norm S]

As others said before me sensitivity is very crucial until you know your machine. I crank mine up to high on occasion and then back it down to a point that it really runs smooth and produces well. I dug about 4 false targets this morning because I had the sensitivity maxed out. I backed it down 5 points and started hitting good solid signals instead of high iffy signals

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, Dig It said:

I was wondering if I took some trash pc's and laid them out and tried to set tone and target ID #'s for trash and coins, for I have been over same area of beach a couple of times and now it's showing pretty much same trash every hunt. Does that sound like what one would try ?

I really mostly work in all metal and let my head do the discriminating which means nearly a hundred hours of "training" on a new machine before I am dialed in.  I don't set up special tone or VDI notches/breakpoints when beach or when relic hunting.  I might try using tone and notch tricks to cherry pick at a park, contest hunt, have special noise situations (e.g., an electric dog fence) or when I have very limited time at a site, but those are fringe situations for me.  50 tones and wide open for me.  I only vary the mode depending on the majority conductivity of the targets I am after.  High frequency bias (i.e., the  Park/Field"2" modes or Gold Mode) for mid-conductive or small targets like gold/brass/small lead and lower frequency bias "1" modes (i.e., Park/Field 1 and Beach modes) when going primarily for high conductive targets like pure copper, silver, or big metal targets and of course for beach hunting in general.

[Dig It]

Been messing with Sensitivity & Auto Grnd. Bal., yesterdays Beach / Park hunt produced a ton of crap till I started listening & moving around targets and did less trash digging ( I dug what I thought was trash & it was, Yeh !!! ) Did dig out a 1999 Hot Wheels Surf Crate & some coins oldest being a 1967 Qaurter. ( Did miss my first silver coin by 2 yr's. Dam !!! )

And yes that is the 800's Instruction Manual, I did print it out and I take it with, so I can reference the info for ?'s that come up during an outing.

So thank you Steve, Chase, Norm, I believe this will be my last entry onto this thread, and will join with sharing decent finds and anything I might think would be useful info for someone else.

 

Ken