Metal Detecting Tips/Techs

Metal Detector Terms and Features

The following features are very easy to learn and get good using after only a few outings.  Take it from me - you don't need to be a rocket scientist to operate a metal detector.  However, you never stop learning new things about your detector and the more experienced you get, the more you'll find - I'm still learning! 

1. Discrimination.  

     a.  Function.  Enables a process of elimination to help you recover what you're interested in.  In other words, allows your detector to ignore certain types of targets. 

     b.  Example.  If you had your setting low, you will pick up all metal (everything from the tiniest staple to a large aluminum can).  At medium, you will mask out all the smaller, less active metal (highly corroded copper/brass or rusty iron/steel) and hear everything else (small pieces of copper, gold, brass, silver, lead, and aluminum to large pieces of iron).   At high discrimination, you will only pick up only larger pieces of copper, brass, gold, silver, and aluminum.

     c. Strategy.  Base your discrimination on the site.  If I am hunting a park or beach with a lot of trash, I'll set my discrimination between medium to high for coins and jewelry.  For relic hunting at an old homestead or battlefield, I'll set it slightly lower than medium since many old buttons and coins can be corroded, and there's also many valuable pieces of iron to be found (bayonets, horse bits, etc).

2. Sensitivity. 

     a.  Function.  Sets the detector to be more or less susceptible to deeper and farther targets  

     b.  Example.  Vertical and lateral search coil range are increased as you turn up the sensitivity.  

     c.  Strategy.  I normally always keep my detector set at the highest setting.  It's nice to be able to adjust it in instances when you are near power lines (electromagnetic field will make your detector go nuts unless you can make it less sensitive).

3.  Ground Balance 

     a.  Function.  Zeros out high mineralization (iron concentration such as black sand and "hot rock") and ionization (salt).   

     b.  Example.  This feature is extremely important for nugget shooting since this activity is usually done in mine dumps or riverbeds where there is often a lot of black sand and hot rock.  It is also important for beach hunting due to the black sand and high salt content.  You would likely chase a lot of ghost signals if you operated in such extreme conditions (for your detector) and didn't have this feature.

     c.  Strategy.  Detectors can have either manual or automatic ground balance.  Bottom line up front is that automatic is easier.  Manually setting your detector can increase your depth, but if you get it wrong, your results could be much worse than if you had used automatic.  With that said, if you are an experienced detectorist and like to have more control, then manual is perfect.  Otherwise, it's probably better to trust the design engineers and go with auto.

4.  Target ID

     a.  Function.  Distinguishes the target and it's depth by tone (audio) or meter (visual).

     b.  Example.  No matter which brand or model you have, this technology isn't perfect yet, but it should get you pretty close 80-90% of the time.  My friend once thought he was digging up an aluminum can based on his visual ID, but popped out a nice brass M1861 sword beltplate from the ground.

     c.  Strategy.  This technology ties together all the features described above.  Based on the discrimination, sensitivity, and the correct ground balance, you will hear very faint clicks when you pass over "junk" targets; but a crisp, clear tone over a "good" target.  For visual, the meter will be weak for "junk" targets and strong for "good" targets.  My personal preference is audio only, since I am always looking at the ground and can distinguish the target by it's tone well enough.  Both methods work just as good as each other, and they both require practice.

5. Volume control.  The only time you'll think about this is if you decide to wear headphones.  Using headphones not only extends your battery life (some say as much as 200%), but it also allows you to hear faint signals free from background noise (kids playing, barking dogs, traffic, etc).  The added benefit is that you don't draw unwanted attention to yourself (curious kids) or annoy others (causing the dogs to bark).

Did You Know?

- Metal detectors use radio waves, much like radar
- Pulse Induction is used exclusively by underwater detectors
- Very Low Frequency (VLF) detectors operate between 3-30 kHz
- Even under ideal conditions, most detectors can only get 6-12" deep.