frustrated

[akajester]

I got my new BH tracker IV and spent about an hour in the back yard tonight. I've gone over the manual a few times and I think I'm pretty familiar with the operation. I start on "all metal" and when I find something I'm switching to "tone" or "disc" just to get an idea of what it is. I dug about 3 holes in my back yard and found nothing but stones (no it's not gold, hehe). Am I doing something wrong? I'm thinking maybe I should get something a little more informative, like the sharp shooter II or the quick draw II. Amazon has some good prices. I see the quick draw has a depth meter. Anyone have any suggestions here? I'm a little discouraged.

Or should I get an ace 250? Thanks everyone!

[EBCIII]

It sounds like you are getting "hot rocks"? How high is your sense turned up? Might wanna back off just a hair. Good luck to you, Beale.

[Zman]

AKAJESTER, Welcome to TQ.
You may be possibly picking up "hot rocks" and they will register on your machine. Keep at it and you will soon be finding coins. I was experiencing similar problems when I first started out. As for the Ace 250, I'm not real familar with it, but I know there are several people who rave about it and I'm sure they'll chime in shortly. Good and and hang in there.

[akajester]

Originally Posted by Zman

AKAJESTER, Welcome to TQ.
You may be possibly picking up "hot rocks" and they will register on your machine. Keep at it and you will soon be finding coins. I was experiencing similar problems when I first started out. As for the Ace 250, I'm not real familar with it, but I know there are several people who rave about it and I'm sure they'll chime in shortly. Good and and hang in there.

EBCIII and Zman, thanks for the tips. I've never heard of hot rocks. I started with the sensitivity at full then backed down to 3/4 and still registered. One area of the yard was faintly beeping in like a 4ft x 10ft area. Like maybe it was littered with scrap or something. Turning down the sensitivity helped that. I wonder if the ground has some funky stuff in it. I'd bet I'd get better results in older ground, rather than this new subdivision stuff. I'm still thinking about getting a MD with depth and pinpointing though. I spent most of my time Xing and prodding my screwdriver around.

I'm sure when I hit my first real object I'll be on cloud nine!

Thanks again for the tips!

[King Bee]

Welcome aboard.
I'm actually retiring my BH TIV after a few years. It is a great dirt machine, it only lacks power and its pinpointing can be sketchy. My coil likes to hover around the right of center for pinpointing. But that being said, it has paid for itself a few times over in coins and jewelry just a few inches deep. I pretty much know the tones on the BH like a favorite song. Here's how I use it:

1. Tone mode
2. Sensitivity maxed.
3. Discrimination 1/4 turn. (9 o'clock)

These settings will still hit on pieces of foil, but they will also turn up gold. Turning your discrimination up any further negates gold unless it's right under the surface.

Now, pump the coil up and down a few times on the ground you're going to be hunting. I do this as a precaution or when I get erratic signals (jumpy signals that are not solid tones, or have no real explanation). To understand what an erratic signal sounds like on the tracker, go into all metal in an area where you know there are lots of old iron pieces in the ground. The machine will go crazy. If that doesn't help tame your machine, then you may have to turn down the sensitivity until it stops. But, it works for me in my soil conditions.

Second, make sure your swing is around an inch off the ground and slow and constant. I usually spend about 4-6 seconds per swing. Do not flip it up at the end of the swing or you will get a false signal.

When you get a hit, pinpoint it as best you can and start raising the coil up as you sweep it. If you are several inches off the ground and you're still getting a loud solid hit, chances are good that it's a large piece of metal, like a can or piece of iron, deep in the ground. Dig a few of these up to see what I mean.

Last thing are the tones, gold and nickels will be a slightly broken, but still good and loud. Alas, so will can-slaw, pull tabs and foil. Dimes like to double beep. Quarters are a solid tone. You will only learn these with experience. But, I basically dig everything anyways.

The BH is a good machine. It doesn't have great depth, but the dicrimination is excellent. I learned on a PI machine, where you pick up everything (try spending 20 minutes digging up a bobby pin in the surf! ). So the value of good discrim is not lost on me.

In closing, before you give up on the tracker take some time to learn it. IMHO once you get a feel/ear for tones, the learning curve on a higher end machine will go waaayyyy down.

I'm getting a new machine soon and expect to spend at least 40 detecting hours learning it. That's just the name of the game!

Good luck and happy hunting! Post pics!

[The TINMAN]

Great advice from everyone. It can be Frustrating but like King Bee said.. Just keep at it and learn the tones as even with a visual ID, it does not mean that what you see is what is gonna be there. It helps but the tones are what is gonna help dial Ya in on if Ya want to dig or not. Got a BH Pioneer 202 and just went out for about an hour. When it read a Quarter..3 out of 5 times it was but the other 2 times were old bottle caps. Sooo nothing is 100%. I pretty much dig everything as Ya can get fooled and I'd hate to miss something reall great cuz I wasn't sure if it would be worth diggin a hole for a piece of trash. Keep the Sens. down, swing slow and Listen to the tones. You'll get Better and the good finds WILL Come. Remember, ya got to control boxes... One on the detector and the other sitin right on your shoulders, Let your ears be the conduit between them and once they are in sync your good to go.
Good Luck & HH !!!

[akajester]

Thanks for the info everyone. I decided to send back my BHiv and i'll be ordering an ace 250. I'm hoping that with a little better MD my learning curve won't be as steep. I'm just trying to have as much fun as I can and find some booty in the process! Thanks for the encouragement!

[alabamaslim]

Find some Booty,LMAO!!!

[prizm-pal]

Jester all great advice...have you tried burying targets then going over them to learn there sounds...like penny nickle dime even pulltab another way to learn the sounds of you're machine...good luck!

[coinhunter]

Hello,
See you have gotten some good advice here. As for the ACE 250 I don't know much about it other than what I've read. I have two Fishers and one is the F2. What I like about the F2 is the VDI and it comes with a 4" coil that is fantastic for trashy areas.
Whichever way you go you can't go wrong, both are great detectors and so is the Tracker I hear. It takes time to learn your machine but it will pay off in the long run.
Enjoy and have fun finding those treasures.