New Fisher F2 - Have a few questions.

[Capt. Morgan]

After spending a little more time with my new F2 (8 inch coil), I have figured out when to dig, and when not to. My coin to junk ratio is at bout 8:10 (all clad at the moment), however I find myself only digging when the depth is above 4 or 5". I live on an old farm with lots of old Iron and trash in the ground (usually below 6-8" deep) and any hit below the 6" mark is very erratic, jumping all over the scale. I am hesitant to dig these signals because I always end up with scrap iron.Will coins below the 6" mark still be a strong constant signal? Do I need to upgrade the the 11" DD for more coin depth?

Thanks Again,
Darin

[TexasPinpointer]

Did you try increasing the sensitivity ? I do not have the DD coil,so I cannot answer. I'm sure Digger will chime in and help you. He's pretty sharp with the F2.

[TexasPinpointer]

...Oops forgot to add.Try notching out iron as well. Are you hunting for just coins and jewelry type objects ?

[Capt. Morgan]

sensitivity is all the way increased, and yes, I do notch out the first few settings. I was told that large iron can still hit even when notched out.

thanks.

[Dig-on]

Large iron can hit, but not always. Best advice I can give is dig some of the erratic deeper signals to find out what they are before you write them off.

[Capt. Morgan]

but should it still be a constant before I dig them? It seems like most of my deep signals are jumping all over the place. I would get a constant 70ish (dime), then it would jump in the 30's, then back up to 80s or 90s, depending on if i switch angles.

[Dig-on]

How slow are you swinging? That might make it jump a lot. You can usually swing pretty slow and still get a solid hit. Also one thing that Digger27 noticed was when you get a bouncy signal look at the depth readout, if it is bouncing just as much it is usually junk.

[Capt. Morgan]

my bouncy signals are always below with my depth meter bar full., so i can assume that is deeper than 6" or so. I am not sure what a full bar depth meter is registering at.

[DIGGER27]

I have found coins and small targets will bounce at the extreme end of the range with that 8" coil, which for me is close to 8".
In good soil, I have picked up solid dime signals at 7 1/2"...rang true and id'd depth correctly.

Large iron and also steel will give you false readings up to a foot away from the actual target location...especially if you have moist soil.
The key is that ghost signals like that do not come in at exactly the same place.
Close but not exact with repeated side to side scanning.
Using the pinpoint button, how big are these deep signals?
Paint a picture of the size using that button...if it is huge, especially deep like that, it proably is something very big.
As mentioned, those depth bars can tell you lots.
Full solid bars that don't jump, solid target somewhere down there, usually.
Jumpy bars, might trash in the vicinity or a ghost signal from something deep and ig.

More depth with a bigger coil might help you in that iron field, but the 10" concentric will actually go a touch deeper than the more expensive DD in your soil which sounds like it's pretty good, and the field will be smaller at those depths so it might help you find smaller good targets among that huge iron.

Or pick a spot that you suspect might have coins like a walking path or near a laundry line, and clean out all the iron.
Then go back and see what was masked.

[Coin Machine]

Or...you could be like me....lol...

My F2 seems to be off about 2" in depth...I always add 2" to what it tells me and I seem to dig right to the target....sometimes deeper if the soil is wet/loose...like today will be from the good 24hr rain we just had.

But...now this is just ME...If Im getting wild jumpy signals DEEP down...I pass everytime. Im too lazy and I'll get too tired to dig that deep for a "maybe."

However..when that signal is solid (+/-2) and jumps only to another number (+/-2)....I'll try to dig it...as long as Im not going to end up in China.

Other things about my F2...Quarters, at least to me, no matter how deep, ring up as 80-82.
The hardest ones, for me, are nickels from 4+" deep..those buggers jump, range from 25-35 (33 is best) I find them....but makes me think.

Now...my silver finds....If hadn't taken the time to learn JUST coins for two weeks, idk if Id dug the silver...cause I wouldn't have known.
None of it rang solid. But..it rang solid 68-72 or so, jumped to 80-82 or so and back and forth. I kept scanning slowely and just kept thinking"Uhmmm..WHAT is that?" Surprise!

These scans, that make you think "hmmmm" can pay off....so dig some unusaly ones.
Im a 3 week nOOb, so....take it for what its worth.

My $0.02.

[LAEarl]

I'm a noob too but I get 83+ numbers around large Fe targets. Galvanized posts @ playgrounds will ring up Zinc then jump to a number at or over 83+ and yes I have to steer about a foot away as Digger said. Telephone poles too due to the copper ground wire.

I can hit buried conduit/wire pretty deep they are easy to identify as I will get a horizontal dime/qtr reading all the way to where it comes up.

I disc. out Fe. I know I may be missing stuff but my search areas are just so full with Fe I have to. When the ground has softened and I have dug every pulltab/foil I will go back and dig Fe, but not yet.

The thing that I do is I will spend a longer time scanning, side stepping and rescanning iffy targets. The big solid Zn/dime/qtr are always for sure digs.

[Diggin Funatic]

I'm a ditto on LAEarl's reply. If I work a single signal from different angles and it stays in zinc or above, I dig it. I have to notch out iron as well since it is so prolific in the parks I have been hunting. As he said, big iron can top the readings scale and give a false shallow depth indication. Someone gave the advice on another post that if you get such a high reading, keep swinging over the target but start raising the coil higher above the ground. If the target doesn't fade after a couple inches or so of height, then it is pobably a big iron target. I have not had the chance to test that advice since it has been raining for two days. And I'm on vacation this week!

[sgtwilks]

Originally Posted by broevol

After spending a little more time with my new F2 (8 inch coil), I have figured out when to dig, and when not to. My coin to junk ratio is at bout 8:10 (all clad at the moment), however I find myself only digging when the depth is above 4 or 5". I live on an old farm with lots of old Iron and trash in the ground (usually below 6-8" deep) and any hit below the 6" mark is very erratic, jumping all over the scale. I am hesitant to dig these signals because I always end up with scrap iron.Will coins below the 6" mark still be a strong constant signal? Do I need to upgrade the the 11" DD for more coin depth?

Thanks Again,
Darin

I always dig those erratic signals.On my f2 and f4 that usually means 2 targets or a good target is very close to the surface.

Sometimes you just are not in an area with pre 64 coins.

Discriminate out Iron only turn sensitivity as high as you can still being stable and dig all strong signals no matter where they fall and remove all trash.Re-scan same area later or after some rain and you will find other targets.Some trash will hide good targets.

Are you using headphones?Your digging shallow because targets close to the top are louder.Remove the trash and use headphones and you will do much better.

Sweep the coil over the target and listen for the tone on both ends of the swing.Face the target from a different direction swing the coil over the target and listen for the same tone on both ends of the swing.If you do not get the same solid tone in two directions move on.The exception is a deep weak coin signal that tones the same on many swings,I dig those.

That is my 2 and 1/2 months of knowledge of metal detecting and the f2.Good luck!!!