The problem, it seems to me, is that one can't dig them by ear---by learning the subtle differences from pull tabs and foil---until you dig a lot of them
How do you dig a lot of them without digging "everything"?
Every machine has a learning curve. Personally, I believe it took about 20 hours just to learn the machine and about 100 to become proficient enough to determine what is in the ground. I only dug everything in the first 20 hours, though. After that it was a matter of learning what to weed out. By 100 hours, it's all "clicking" nicely. This is my third machine, though. I've got some things figured out. Probably triple that on my first machine, and double on my second.
Still though, I dig everything for the first 20 signals in every hunt, just to learn the nuances of the field I'm digging. The purpose here, isn't to re-learn my machine, it's to understand what subtle nuances the soil conditions have on the machine for that particular day. Some fields will consistently produce 69-71 signals for zinc pennies in summer and then in winter, that'll drop to 68-69, for example. The same field might produce quarters at the 84-85 range, but then the drop will adjust to 82-83. It's weird, and I haven't figured out WHY it happens, only that it does. Some fields soil will adjust that downward to 81. The purpose of the 20 signal "dig it all" is to re-learn how that field behaves, not my machine, though.
That being said, I absolutely do NOT dig everything after the learning curve. If people don't know their machines well enough to figure out the difference between crumpled foil and a ring, that's not my problem. It's easy enough to figure out by tossing a couple rings on the ground from previous digs. If people want some, I've got hundreds of garbage rings, and I'll be happy to send them.
Coin gardens ought to include jewelry! Learn your machine, folks. :0)
How many rings do you think a fairly observant, above average learner would need to dig to even begin to hear the subtle differences by ear? We're talking about rings that don't sound like coins since those are being dug anyway. We're talking about rings that come in various shapes and sizes.
Is 5 rings over the course of a few months enough to be able to noticeably reduce how much trash one digs while finding rings? 20 in a year? Maybe 100?
Depends on the machine. I can tell you that I average more than one ring a hunt. Usually 3-5 pieces of jewelry or broken parts of jewelry total. It's ALWAYS there, even if I've been to a park just a few weeks before. Heavily used parks will have stuff to find.
Many, many dirt hunters are not just cherry picking the highest conductors. They dig lots of signals, including trash, to find relics and older coppers and nickels. Yet, they dig very, very few rings. Nowhere enough to learn the subtle differences you're describing.
Yes, but as already noted, many of those dirt hunters are specifically EXCLUDING 60-69 and anything lower than 50. Guess what? that's where 60-70% of my ring finds are. We can't play the game of assuming everyone who reads the thread is actually NOT discriminating things out. We also can't assume that people who are digging for relics are anywhere close to where rings are being dropped. I've consistently noted that I'm a ring hunter and I detect
parks and schools nearly exclusively (more than 99% of my hunts). If a dirt digger is digging in house lots, or fields, OBVIOUSLY there are fewer rings to find.
But, if someone is out in the parks and schools and purposefully excluding signals because of the trash volume, I can certainly point out they're very very very likely to be missing the most valuable things in the park. People who do that are NEVER going to learn their machines well enough to find the rings. Why? They aren't even digging the signals at all! My last 22K gold ring, came from a park close to my house, this year. Rang up at 69. Last year, the gold ring from that park rang up at a solid 48. The 48 was a Diamonds International Ring that sold for $1999.00. I gave that to my brother for his wife for spot gold price only (had 3/4 carat of diamonds in it). The 22K ring was worth $230 in melt, when I sent it in. Had I only detected for clad those days, I would have come home with approximately $2. (I only ever hunt this park for 45 minutes at a time, and always pull about that much). I've found 7 silver/gold rings in that park this year (plus another 12-15 costume), 2 watches, a phone, silver bracelets, and a silver necklace. Silver Bracelets and necklace were also in the 40s. The rings were in the 60's.
Note: this is a park I detect weekly in the summer and about every 2-3 weeks the rest of the year. I've probably hit that park about 30 times this year. More often than not, I come home with jewelry of some kind. Often, in off-season, I move to elementary schools after that park, and will end up finding rings there, too. (hence my average of more than one per day hunted).
I'm not saying park and school hunters HAVE to detect this way.
People should hunt how they love to hunt! But I am saying,
if they think there aren't rings there, because they're not finding them... I'm absolutely CERTAIN they're wrong. I find too many of the dang things, too regularly, in parks I regularly hunt, to believe otherwise. If you're finding $5 in change at a school, there are rings. If you're finding $20 in change at a ball field, there are rings... If you're finding $5 at a park, there are rings... Rings are EVERYWHERE. Once you dial them in, it's only a matter of time before the gold shows up. I average about 8% in gold. Yeah, that's one out of 12 rings, but I also average about 17% in silver. So, that means 1/4 rings is going to be gold or silver. And that's has stayed stable for the last 4 years. No matter if I hunt locally, in outer cities, or in other states on business. I find them.
If a person's goal is to hit $1000 a year, they're more likely to hit that in a field that they're finding $20 in quarters if they go dig up all the nice solid signals in the 39-75 range. Once they dial in the pop tabs (such as always signaling at 52 with a drooop tone), they can exclude them. But if they're not trying, they'll never learn their machines, and they'll leave the gold for us happy blokes who are looking for it.
Here's something someone can do to learn their machine.
Put down a gold ring that rings up at 55, a pop tab, and various types of can slaw. Separate them by a good distance. Go over them repeatedly. My machine will sound ever-so-slightly different on them when they're flat on the ground. Turn them at different angles. The signal and VDI might change on you. Learn the sounds, practice. Then you might... just might end up with 3x-4x the money value in gold as you do clad. Then you might.. just might discover that digging those signals is FAR more worth your time than ONLY digging clad signals.
For my AT Max, I can HEAR can slaw. It doesn't break into a short boop, like a ring does. It goes BOOOP. or Wooo. It's a longer sound. Go SLOWLY over the signal..> you'll discover that rings still break short. Slaw doesn't. Or rather, I should say,
"SOME slaw doesn't. And SOME pop tabs don't." You've still got to dig some, because you can't tell... But if someone isn't willing to learn their machine well enough to exclude trash... That ain't my problem (or yours, my friend!).
Speaking rhetorically, of course.. "you" being anyone who reads this.
Let's say you only went after rings, but not those that sound like coins. What would your trash to ring ratio be?
If I was TRULY hunting rings only (not other jewelry), I'd say probably 20:1 to 30:1. I say this, because I commonly bring home less than 30 pieces of trash and a couple rings, when I'm hunting for all of it (including clad). It might be a little worse, though, because many "penny" signals are rings, and I'd have to count pennies as trash.. So... maybe as high as 40:1? (with 10-15 pennies found)
Cheers!
Skippy
