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Saturday, October 10, 2015

Mixed signals


Earlier this year I had an opportunity to go metal detecting in rural Iowa and experienced something that often happens at the beach in Florida.
I am talking about detecting multiple targets under your search coil, which can easily mask good targets you are searching for.
If you look closely you can see the two targets that gave me mixed signals, one is a common find at Florida beaches, the other is not. 


The cow pasture I was searching in Iowa used to be the site of the county fair with hay rides and other fairground type attractions. 
I decided to search towards the corner of the field close to a huge old oak tree, figuring people would have sat under the tree using it for shade back in the day. 
My CTX 3030 easily detected the low tone of the aluminum pull tab, and I heard the high tone of the silver dollar as I swept my search coil over the area to help pinpoint the stronger low tone. 
I was thinking gold ring not a stinking aluminum pull tab, but the sight of the large silver coin on edge still inside the hole made up for the disappointment. 
Some of my best jewelry finds at the beach have come out of holes that contained more than one target. 
An 1836 gold coin after first retrieving three bottle caps and an expensive diamond ring after first stopping to scoop several pennies. 
I did not even have to sweep my coil over the hole in the pasture to detect the silver coin or use my pin-pointer, but I would have. 
Double checking all your dug holes before walking away should be a natural thing, something you do all the time, so should filling your holes back in! 
I have even recovered good finds checking other peoples holes left behind in the sand. 
Anytime you see a large hole in the sand left behind by a sloppy beach or water hunter, check the area. 
Beach and water hunters who have trouble pinpointing targets and filling holes, often leave good targets behind.  
Multiple targets giving mixed signals under a search coil, double your chances of recovering something good like this 1922 silver Peace dollar. 









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