First time out with F-2 total bust so frustrated

hillbillydigger

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Went to a park with tot lot and can't believe I found absolutely nothing despite the detector going off like crazy. I wanna cry nearly because I thought I had done a lot of reading over past month and thought I had it figured out. The F-2 manual isn't very informative so I wasn't really sure about the notch button and I don't understand how the depth indicator reads. Please don't laugh at me :( I realized I don't understand what is probably the most basic concept which part of the coil is doing the reading? Is it the center? Well what really is even the center when its an open coil with a hole in the middle?? I thought I was hitting something with the right edge and dug several inches and nothing. The pinpointer wasn't even picking up anything though yes it did work because my trowel made it go off. That's another thing my Lesche hasn't arrived yet so all I have is the little trowel I dig in my flower pots with which I've discovered is the only thing it can dig into is potting soil. I had just gotten into the tot lot and learning for first time wood mulch is hard to dig especially when damp then 5 toddlers appeared and stood an arm length beside me staring at me like they were either Stepford children or zombies. I didn't bother speaking to them because I didn't think any of them spoke English and wasn't sure what to say anyway. If they had said "hey whatcha doing?" at least that would have given me a segway to explain why I was scraping around in the mulch on 'their' playground with that funky metal thing in my hand. So yes toddlers scared me away. Then I wasn't having any luck on the grassy areas digging anything up with my pathetic garden trowel that will not cut a plug. Course I couldn't figure out how far to dig down anyway.

To make matters worse I couldn't use the headphones I bought because the F-2 headphone jack is for a larger size plug. I purchased an adaptor on way home so hopefully that will work.(it was pouring rain later so didn't want to get detector out of trunk to try the adaptor) I realize now even though I have read a lot I still don't know what the heck I am doing. Every inch of dirt was reading something mostly iron and under 10 reading. I had a few high numbers like 73 in the quarter range and keep thinking what if that was something really good like jewelry. Epic fail in the tot lot. Hanging my head in shame now at all the money I have spent on this and couldn't even come up with a penny out of the dirt or for that matter even a pull tab. :crying:
 
Dont get frustrated. The first day with a new machine is often dissapointing. What you should be doing is practicing with your machine at home. set yourself up a test area with coins that you put down in the ground. set then in the ground flat, on their sides, near a nail, near a pull tab, etc...

practice practice practice!!

And dont get frustrated. its supposed to be a relaxing hobby :)
 
I don't have a practice ground. I live in apartment. :( My dad said I can come over to their yard, but he wants me to find his wedding band and here I can't even understand my detector and don't have a digger that will actually dig. Keep checking mailbox for Lesche to arrive. I wish I had someone local to go with.
 
First of all, parks are HORRIBLE places to take a detector for the first time. You should look for cleaner ground so you wont go into audio overload.

Take it to clean ground and listen for good solid repeatable hits till you get the hang of what machine is telling you.
 
Sorry to hear that your first hunt didn't go too well. You can stack a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor of your apartment, then practice swinging the coil over the coins to get used to how it responds. Note that you could get interference from some lights and any metal nearby. Give it a try until you can practice in a yard somewhere. The F2 is a great machine. You just need practice. Best wishes.
 
Keep in mind the F2 is a motion detector and has a very quick response. I found that I like to swing the coil at about 3ft. per second. (unless in pin-point). The first thing I notice when showing a newbie the ropes with my F2 is they always quite swinging the coil as they hone in on a target or move it way to slow. I have to constantly remind them to "Keep the coil Moving" You have to swing the coil briskly to receive a good, solid repeatable signal... Practice throwing some coins on the ground when you get a chance and if you have a fresh water beach area close by that is sandy or with loose gravel, practice there and you can dig the targets with your shoe. The beach areas are where I like to practice with a new machine. It really helps in nailing pin-pointing down without using the pin-point button and in identifying targets very quickly.

Hope this helps some
 
I don't have a practice ground. I live in apartment. :( My dad said I can come over to their yard, but he wants me to find his wedding band and here I can't even understand my detector and don't have a digger that will actually dig. Keep checking mailbox for Lesche to arrive. I wish I had someone local to go with.
Even without a practice ground right there, you can do what are called bench tests to hear what your coins sound like. set your detector up on a table ( making sure it wont fall off ), and have the coil far away from any metal. Maybe hang it over the edge of the table or a chair if u need to. Then hold a coin and start swinging it under your coil. swing at differnt speed and distances from your coil. ou could even try testing scrap items alone or combined with coins. This will help you get used to the tones and depths your detector should be able to achieve. ( ummm of course you wont be wearing a watch, ring or other metal items while doing this test right? You would be surprised how many ppl wear a wedding band and try to test their coil ).

I would def take your fathers offer and go find a piece of soil with no metal and start running real dirt tests. Just keep working at it. One day ( likely very soon ) you will start finding great finds, and look back on your first say with a smile on your face seeing how much you have progressed.
 
First of all, parks are HORRIBLE places to take a detector for the first time. You should look for cleaner ground so you wont go into audio overload.

Take it to clean ground and listen for good solid repeatable hits till you get the hang of what machine is telling you.

Is a private yard considered clean enough ground? I'm really not sure where else to go other than parks or my parent's yard. All of the river and lake areas around here are off limits to detecting. There are tons of parks though. See most of waterways are owned by TVA here which is a utility company with hydroelectric dams. Used to you could apply for a 2 year permit for their land, but just recently they are not giving out new permits or renewing old ones.

This may sound stupid but I don't understand what part of open coil is the signal coming from? It came with a 8" open coil and a 5" closed coil. Should I try the smaller coil first? Also is there iron naturally occurring in soils in east TN? I kinda wondered about that since iron went off nonstop the whole time I was out.

Thanks for your help!
 
Go to a tot lot and practice. Get you a true value digger till your new ones comes. In the tot lot dig everything. Soon you will have an idea of what the MD is telling you
 
First of all, parks are HORRIBLE places to take a detector for the first time. You should look for cleaner ground so you wont go into audio overload.

Take it to clean ground and listen for good solid repeatable hits till you get the hang of what machine is telling you.


Not to mention, if you do not yet know how to properly retrieve a target and replace a plug...You and other detectorists may not be very welcome to return to said park...
 
Near Hydro dams you will likely encounter a lot of EM interference and that could give you loads of false readings and chattering. Its best to avoid any High tension lines or locations where there are buried power lines.

I am sure that you will be able to find a small patch of land on your parents lot that you can use. Just check it over a bit first and this can be part of your lesson :)
 
Welcome to the hobby

After reading your post I can see you have been properly initiated ;)

You've no doubt head the expression "It's called fishing and not fish catching" same principal applies here

Luck will get you some good finds but practice and experience will consitently get you good finds.

What you need to do is before you go out check over your gear. If your digger isn't here yet go to homedepot and buy a digger i've seen some for 12 bucks that are smiliar (not any near as good) as the leche but it will get you by for now.

Basic gear for an outing

Pouch with belt
Digger
Head phones
Fresh batteries

Once you have that squared away its time to get back out ther find another park or playground. Dig EVERYTHING!!!!!! FORGET about the number untill you have the object in your hand then rember of jot down what the number. do this enough times and you will start to understand the machine. For a begginer a VDI machine can be as much a hinderence as it is a help. The number is a guess by you machine based on a host of assumptions by the manufacturer. Yes it can be accurate and when you get more proficient you will use it as a double check against the tone and target size also you will find yourself estimating its accuracy based on the site and type of targets you expect to find there.

To put it simply up untill recently I've been doing a lot of coinshooting in old home sites, fields and churches. When I get a solid 21-24 (which a lot of gold jwerly air tests at on my machine) in these sites 21-24 is almost always a shell casing and i find myself passing on these targets. Now a 21-24 in a tot lot out comes the digger:yes::yes: Why I figure the odds are low its a shell casing but I pulled a 9mm casing out of the local middle schools soccer field two weeks ago:(
 
If you haven't already, read through the long thread by Digger27 about F2 final impressions. I refer back to this frequently when I come up with questions after a hunt. Even though I have read the entire thread, I don't always comprehend everything that is discussed until I experience it first hand. Here is a link to the thread. http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930
 
Congrats on getting your F2 in hillbillydigger! The F2 talks a lot, and to me, until I got my 11" DD coil, it took a lot of checking and rechecking of signals until I could understand the language of what the F2 was telling me, and even still, there's no guarantee that I won't misinterpret a large piece of iron a foot or more down, that possibly has a rusted point only 6" down causing me to pick up a coinsized object when I PP. I think the main thing to realize right now, with a fresh detector, that you should take things slowly and learn that it will probably take hundreds of dug items for you to feel at home and comfortable with usuing your new toy :)

The depth meter reads as 2" per bar that shows up on the indicator when not in pinpoint mode, and the number that shows up when you pinpoint your find is the approximate depth of the item, with 00 being directly under the surface(for coin sized items). The tone also gets louder as the center of the coil centers over the item.

I'm no expert on this subject, but I'll try to explain it clearly and succinctly. Your coil is a concentric coil that transmits a signal from the outer coil, and receives the signal in the inner small circle of the coil. So when you find a coinsized object, and you pinpoint it to 00(or the smallest number you can get), the center of the object should be within the center circle of the coil.
http://metaldetectingworld.com/search_coil_types.shtml
This website explains it a LOT better. there are quite a few pages, but its great informative reading.

Familiarize yourself with the Metal Detectorist's Code of Ethics if you haven't already: http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=639
Here's a link to a previous air test post to help you get an idea of VDI numbers of some objects' readings. Note that even the good stuff comes up as a "perceived" junk(foil and such) signal sometimes.http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=84380
You probably don't want to run with iron not discriminated out, so what a lot of F2 owners do, as I've read, and i do myself, is when they turn the machine on, the pres the "disc" button + once, and that knocks out iron, and you should get a lot less chatter in your (probably) mineralized soil.
Don't be discouraged, and get back out there and tame the beast that is the F2!
GL, and HH!
 
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I haven't read all the replies, but...

The depth indicator is 2 inches per bar. Signal is strongest in direct center of coil, if it's deep it will only beep when coil center is directly over the object, where as a shallow target will give a beep even if you sweep the edge of the coil over the target, but it will still sound louder in the middle of coil. If you have a beach nearby, that makes the best place to learn pinpointing, in the dry sand.

Go in your back yard and bury a few coins and small nails in different spots at different depths (3" 6"), then swing over them a bit, and listen for how a coin will give a strong response no matter what direction you swing from (long as its flat in the ground...), etc.

When I owned the F2, I turned it on, turned sensitivity up 1 to max, and disc up one to disc out iron, and away I went.

For now, only dig signals that beep every time you pass over them, from every direction, later you can start digging the "iffy" signals.

If you don't have a backyard to make a test garden, just do some air tests listening for how coins sound closer and further from the coil.
 
Congrats on getting your F2 in hillbillydigger! The F2 talks a lot, and to me, until I got my 11" DD coil, it took a lot of checking and rechecking of signals until I could understand the language of what the F2 was telling me, and even still, there's no guarantee that I won't misinterpret a large piece of iron a foot or more down, that possibly has a rusted point only 6" down causing me to pick up a coinsized object when I PP. I think the main thing to realize right now, with a fresh detector, that you should take things slowly and learn that it will probably take hundreds of dug items for you to feel at home and comfortable with usuing your new toy :)

The depth meter reads as 2" per bar that shows up on the indicator when not in pinpoint mode, and the number that shows up when you pinpoint your find is the approximate depth of the item, with 00 being directly under the surface(for coin sized items). The tone also gets louder as the center of the coil centers over the item.

I'm no expert on this subject, but I'll try to explain it clearly and succinctly. Your coil is a concentric coil that transmits a signal from the outer coil, and receives the signal in the inner small circle of the coil. So when you find a coinsized object, and you pinpoint it to 00(or the smallest number you can get), the center of the object should be within the center circle of the coil.
http://metaldetectingworld.com/search_coil_types.shtml
This website explains it a LOT better. there are quite a few pages, but its great informative reading.

Familiarize yourself with the Metal Detectorist's Code of Ethics if you haven't already: http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=639
Here's a link to a previous air test post to help you get an idea of VDI numbers of some objects' readings. Note that even the good stuff comes up as a "perceived" junk(foil and such) signal sometimes.http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=84380
You probably don't want to run with iron not discriminated out, so what a lot of F2 owners do, as I've read, and i do myself, is when they turn the machine on, the pres the "disc" button + once, and that knocks out iron, and you should get a lot less chatter in your (probably) mineralized soil.
Don't be discouraged, and get back out there and tame the beast that is the F2!
GL, and HH!


:goodpost:
 
Thanks guys for all the help. I'm reading and thinking over all the replies even though have not responded to all. I really appreciate all the help and if I ever get good at this I will return the favor to new detectorists.

Can I ask yet another question? What digging technique do you use to get through wood mulch on tot lots? It was damp, it constantly rains here, so the mulch was really packed down. The detector seem to be reading stuff 6 inches under the mulch. How do you get down under the mulch without making a mess?
 
If you haven't already, read through the long thread by Digger27 about F2 final impressions. I refer back to this frequently when I come up with questions after a hunt. Even though I have read the entire thread, I don't always comprehend everything that is discussed until I experience it first hand. Here is a link to the thread. http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930

Thanks for the nod!
I am moving to Kansas in a couple of weeks and finally some normal soil.
Can't wait.
Since I will probably have a chance to dig some relics and other stuff much deeper than I am used to, I guess I will have to refer back to my own thread for a little refresher course myself. :D
 
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