Beginner, looking for your advice

dkooys said:

Hey guys, I recently just purchased the Fisher F2 and today I decided to take it out. I spent about three hours and I came up with one clad quarter, a pull tab, and a penny (that was on the top of the soil.) Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for silver or gold at this point, I just want to learn how this thing works. But I run into a couple problems. #1 I live in Montana and the law states only "probes" such as a screwdriver no larger then 3/8 in diameter are permitted. Now does this mean I basically can't dig with anything bigger then a screwdriver? #2 It seems like my signal bounces around a lot from a small area to different tones. Even when I try to pinpoint, I still find it difficult to find the right location. Any tips? Anyways guys thanks for taking the time to read this and I am open to any advice you can give me. All I want to do is learn how to metal detect, and improve on my next outing.

Click to expand...

Lots of tips all over the forum.
X'ing or scanning side to side over a target with a good solid tone that sounds off in the same exact position will give you the precise area to dig...once you learn to look at that coil and listen for that tone.
I call this eye, coil coordination, and it is a skill that doesn't take long to master.
If you want to use the pinpoint button, the area with the loudest tone and lowest numbers will put the target under the middle of the coil.
The depth numbers on the bottom of the screen might be off an inch or so, if it says 00 in might be really one inch, but you will learn.
Jumpy numbers, (more than 2), and jumpy depth bars on the right side of the screen usually means some kind of irregular shaped junk like foil or can slaw or something with holes like a pop top.
The F2 won't lock onto these so well so all that jumping will give you a clue that it is probably trash.

The F2 is very sensitive.
Ghost signals are usually tones that sound like real signals but are not, they might come from large metal in the ground up to a foot away from where you hear that tone, and don't repeat in the exact same place every time like real targets do.
Turn down your sensitivity a little if you get too many of these ghosts at first, you will still get pretty deep and it is easier to find targets when you are just learning.

Real signals sound different from those ghost signals...good targets like coins will usually be pretty solid on your screen as far as stable numbers and depth bars, and that goes for rings and other good targets, too.

None of this is is stone, weird stuff happens to all of us just about every day, or it could.

Just get good at the basics and all this will become much easier over time.
The good thing is it is still a blast learning in this hobby, no matter what you are digging up out of the ground.
You now own a tool that can find metal objects buried in the ground and totally hidden from view of any living thing with eyes on this planet!

I still think that is so cool!

More tips here...
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930

Have fun and just keep swinging and learning.
It gets much better as you get better, and that should not take very long at all.

HH

Great!

Hey thanks a lot for the feed back, I'm sure I will get better over time. I just think my biggest problem is learning whats a ghost signal and what isn't.

dkooys said:

Hey thanks a lot for the feed back, I'm sure I will get better over time. I just think my biggest problem is learning whats a ghost signal and what isn't.

Click to expand...

We all go through this...you'll get it.

Probes such as a 3/8" screwdriver? Where did you obtain that information? Is it regarding Mt State lands? Federal? Parks etc....? Different lands will have different rules I believe. Cities, townships, possibly counties may have their own regulations. To learn your detector you may want to plant a few coins and other items in an area you know is free of other metal....at different depths and see how your detector reacts. I found it is very hard and frustrating to try to learn the "language" of your detector when there may be several different targets very close to each other. Welcome to the forum ~ montanamuzik

Read all of digger's posts, when I first got the F2 I hunted in the dime quarter area a few times and then interchanging it with zinc on as well. I liked to keep the discrim at one - two bars, i did this at the beginning

I have to repeat the directions stating to read Digger27's posts, I think it is a must read for any F2 owner.

-I Disc out Iron and run full Sens.
-Go slow, hit a target several different ways.
-Wear headphones! you will hear tell-tale signs immediatly. Trash will have a slight buzzing/fuzz on the end of the signal. Solid target will be full or round sounding.
-Utilize the cross scanning technique over a target. Look for wide jumps on the display.
-Use a Slow sweep. The F2 is sensitive and can quickly separate one target from another. Target in close proximity will sound like trash.
-Lock on the strongest possible signal and use Pinpoint mode. I will hit the strong shallow target first, then move to the next.
-I dig every Zinc. Nothing to show for it but a bunch of pennies, trash and fencing materials but statistics show that gold lies in this range.
-I am beginning to dig every nickle signal too for the above reason too. Lot of trash and a few extra nickles to show for it

Have fun That is the best tip I can give.

making a test garden is a good way to learn the machine.

bury some different coins/bottlecap/pulltab/etc at different depths and run you machine over the different spots so you can start to hear the different tones.

try putting a quarter on its edge (up/down) and see what it sounds like. etc

the bench test is ok also, but less like the real world..