Newbie Question - Nox 800

You can sorta get closer if you swing parallel to them, not towards them. Also, lowering sensitivity can help get closer. Smaller 6” coil helps too. However, a big metal object is always going to interrupt the electrical field being generated by the coil regardless because the field isn’t exactly linear. Experiment with different sweep patterns and sensitivity settings. There are often good targets near posts and chain link fences that reward the clever.

JP

JohnnyPhoenix said:

You can sorta get closer if you swing parallel to them, not towards them. Also, lowering sensitivity can help get closer. Smaller 6” coil helps too. However, a big metal object is always going to interrupt the electrical field being generated by the coil regardless because the field isn’t exactly linear. Experiment with different sweep patterns and sensitivity settings. There are often good targets near posts and chain link fences that reward the clever.

JP

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Thank you very much for the concise answer and furthering my education... that totally makes sense. Glad to know I wasn't just crazy! :-)

WalkInH2o said:

I was under the belief that a metal detector could only detect something that was directly beneath the coil and not necessarily something simply in relatively close proximity ...am I misinformed?

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As you’ve seen, the detection field extends out in all directions around a search coil, it’s just designed to be most efficient in the downward direction. For example, you can wave a coin above the coil and get a good response also. It’s also the reason why you shouldn’t wear steel toed boots detecting I also learned early that I needed to shoulder my 36” shovel like a rifle while detecting farm fields - the detector was picking the shovel up periodically while I had it dragging along at my side or hanging from my hip.

Anyways, pictures might be worth a thousand words for the coil detection field. I imagine it varies slightly depending on the type of coil (concentric vs DD, etc), but the overall idea is the same:

AirmetTango said:

Anyways, pictures might be worth a thousand words for the coil detection field. I imagine it varies slightly depending on the type of coil (concentric vs DD, etc), but the overall idea is the same:

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Perfect... the illustrations really help explain it. I had no idea metal detectors threw out a field that far. Definitely good to know. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my question!

Yep, your coil will detect metal all around; the bigger the metal, the stronger the signal. As mentioned, lower the sensitivity(to maybe 12 to 15), and sweep alongside the big metal. Then, you just work through the noise. You may be surprised at how clearly a dime or quarter will sound off while your hearing a lot of noise from the big metal obstruction. Some target sounds will likely blend in with the noise, but the higher tones stand out.