Another "on my way back to the car" story!

[Electronic 49er]

Hello all,

Well, we saw a high of somewhere in the vacinity of 57 degrees in Denver today, so I I thought I'd pile all of my new MDing gear in the truck and see if I could find a place to check out what is in the ground around here.

I headed to the local state park and found nothing worth getting out of the truck for. The ice fishermen were out in force though! I headed down the highway to another city park and found their lakefront to be about 45% thawed and the beach exposed. With the forecast as it was, I thought I'd go for it!

I spent five hours getting acquainted with the new MXT. I immediately found a 1966 dime by the play equipment...my very first find!!! Not wanting to be too discriminatory, I used all of the presets on the machine, selected relic mode, and brought home the following:

1 shot shell brass
2 split rings
1 screw head
1 brass grommet
1 sport ball inflation needle
1 zipper "handle" (?)
27 pull tabs
12 screw caps (Corona is very popular here)

And then the "good stuff", all modern:

4 quarters
3 dimes
2 nickels
14 pennies

Now, if my math is correct, that is 69 finds. I don't know if that is good or bad, but I had a great time!

But..."on the way back to the truck", I decided to detect the first 3 feet of grass that borders the sidewalk in front of where all of the cars park in the lot. By this time I think that I can predict what a pull tab look/acts/sounds like, right?

So, I get another pull tab range signal. What I have been doing is hunting in relic mode, trigger forward and when I get a strong 18-30 signal I switch over to coin and jewelry with the trigger first forward then centered to see what kind of feedback I get. Usually very irratic and broken, but this time it is pretty solid. I pinpoint, and it the target is right near the surface in some mucky, gooey mud. So, I pull out this silver ring, literally five paces from the front of my truck!

Well, the ring is kind of dirty and all, so it is "soaking" in silver polish. It may not be a missing portion of the royal crown jewels, but I am pretty happy about it. I mean, the first thing out of my mouth was, " you gotta be bleepin' me." Five hours of walking and searching and it turns out that I nearly parked on top of my best find of the day!! Hahaha! Hey, I had a great time hunting though!

Well, I love the Vibra Probe 560 and I love the Lesche digging tool. I have to get used to having the headphone cord get tangled up on everything in it's vacinity, and I really need to figure out how to pinpoint with the Eclipse 6x10 coil. I mean, I'm digging a 7 inch diameter hole on a 2" deep target just to find a penny. That's kind of funny, actually. I'll go out and spend $185 on dinner with my wife, and then go hack through frozen tundra for a penny!!!!

Anyway, sorry this is so long. It's just that I have waited a month to get out and hunt something other than my basement carpet, so its kind of exciting for me, you know?

I will post a picture of my new ring (oops, I mean my wife's new ring) when I get it cleaned up...if Chuck will show me how to take a picture that close up, that is!

Hey, $1183.46 until I break even on my new hobby!!!!!!!!

Via con dios!

[JoAnne]

Congratulations on your first find and on the ring. I am sure you will find many many more treasures in the future.

It sure sounds like you are getting to know your MXT pretty good.
Keep it up and sooner than you think you will
break even.

[Dick from IA]

Nice going, E49R, and yes so often it pays to keep that detector to the ground all the way back to the car. In fact, parking lots can really give up some good stuff, concentrating on the area where people climb in and out of the vehicles, and also about where the vehicle's back end would be.

Lookin' forward to seeing that ring!!!!

[Coin Hunter]

Sounds like a nice day out. Good going.

[Merf]

A good hunt , Congrats

Below zero here.

.....not bad for your first day out! I was tempted to get out in this balmy weather myself, but had some pressing business to take care of.....darn, I hate it when that happens.

What kind of camera do you have? Close-ups are macro shots, and hopefully your camera and lens has a macro mode? You also "HAVE" to keep the camera TOTALLY still and steady for a good macro shot, and good lighting (usually not flash) is also important.

Put that camera on a tripod, small or large, or at a minimum rest it on a counter top or something. Get some good "sunlight" coming through a window or outdoors, and lightly squeeze the "trigger".

The macro photos below were taken with the Canon Digital Rebel on a tripod, macro 100mm lens, and macro light (not flash) attachment.

Congrats on the ring and on the other finds, and keep it up.....weather permitting of course!

[Electronic 49er]

I cleaned up the ring and it turns out to be 14K white gold. It is a touch out of round, and appears that someone did a home resizing job on it, but what the heck, the price was right.

This ring shows a +0 on the VDI. From what I've read, white gold rings can be anywhere from 0 - 30 on the scale. I should have known that this was not silver from where it showed up on the scale, I suppose. My 14K white gold wedding band shows a strong 24, but is much heavier than this one.

Chuck...I have a Pentax Optio 555 and a pretty good tripod. I will give it a try. Thanks for the advice! Let me know if you have another hankering to get out while we are experiencing this heat wave!

[Boobird]

Hey E49R...

WTG on your first day out... ....You must have been pretty pumped up finding all of those goodies...A few of the things you mentioned happened to me also, especially about finding your ring on the way back after a long day of MD'ing...It seems that when I'm on the way back to my truck, and it looks like its parked 2 miles away, being dawg tired I get these strong signals, and say I gotta try this last one, I gotta try this last one...But thats the way it goes..anyway good job, and keep up the good work...HH...



Boobird...

.....a good camera, it has both a macro, and a super macro mode. You should be able to get within a couple of inches from your subject.

Remember though, at the close range, geting the focus precise, and holding that camera still are imperative. The natural lighting is very important too!

I will give you a shout, if i can get away for a litle swinging of the MXT's.

Originally Posted by Electronic 49er

I cleaned up the ring and it turns out to be 14K white gold. It is a touch out of round, and appears that someone did a home resizing job on it, but what the heck, the price was right.

This ring shows a +0 on the VDI. From what I've read, white gold rings can be anywhere from 0 - 30 on the scale. I should have known that this was not silver from where it showed up on the scale, I suppose. My 14K white gold wedding band shows a strong 24, but is much heavier than this one.

Chuck...I have a Pentax Optio 555 and a pretty good tripod. I will give it a try. Thanks for the advice! Let me know if you have another hankering to get out while we are experiencing this heat wave!