Beeps & Bongs

[bruceg]

Hello to all,
I have a few questions if someone has the time.
I just received my MD today (Ace 250) so I promptly took a sick day from work and went out to find my fortune.
I'm on my way after finding a dime, 2 pennies (1 is halfway decomposed) and 6" piece of iron.
What puzzled me on my first foray was when I would get a beep and a reading on the meter with a pass in one direction, but not the other. I assumed that was some sort of anomoly.
Then there were times that I got a reading so after digging a hole, I couldn't reproduce the reading... where did it go?
Any help would be appreciated.

[PAPPY]

BBRUCE, First of all...What MODE were you searching in when these things occured? When not finding targets with the 250, switch to the ALL METAL MODE and scan the hole or the dirt you have removed from the hole.
If you are getting a reading one way and not the other, turn down your sensitivity setting and try to scan again.
It could be trash beside a target or a target on it's edge.
READ your manual and digest what it has to say. Keep it in your pocket when you are hunting and ref. to it often when you have a problem. These problems can often be solved by changing search modes or tuning your sensitivity....PAPPY

PLANT you a test garden in your yard which includes, clad, silver pulltabs,cans and whatever and practice on the test garden until you know what your 250 is telling you in all of it's different modes.
DON'T BE AFRAID to play with your detector...It's TOUGH and can take it.

[rip]

hello Bruce.when you get a signal while passing your coil in 1 direction and no sig. on the return this is probably iron.Also i have found that thouse disapering signals are quite often a nail or small bit of iron.Coins,gold etc. will most always give a solid sig.from all directions.Hope this helps and good luck !...Terry

[rip]

I agree always listen to your PAPPY !!!!!

[bruceg]

Thanks to all for the advice. It makes a lot of sense. I don't know why the idea of adjusting the sensitivity didn't occur to me. I just kept trying with the default settings.
Which brings me to another question.
The manual advises to use the DESCRIM button to "move the Target ID cursor to the left or right". How does this help?
Tks again
Bruce

[PAPPY]

BRUCE, When you move your Discm. setting...watch the icons and they will go from left to right and right to left. Move the discm. to lets say the Pull Tab and then push your ELM. button and the detector will NULL OUT from pull tabs and below. If you set it at let's say dime...It will NULL OUT from dime to everything below...When you turn your 250 off and wait for 10 seconds it will return to the factory settings. This is a GREAT use in really trashy areas BUT you must remember that MOST gold locks in on the PULL TAB setting so you may be missing some items. IF IN DOUBT...DIG. Your manual should include inst. for the 150 and the 250. Go to the section concerning the ELM. button and it will explain to you how to set your Discrim. on your detector and how to use your ELM...Hope this helps a little...PAPPY

[dave]

I had the same problem, sensitivity was too high, turned it down and now when i get a good signal both ways ,its a coin 90% of the time and the info on the beep 1 way is a big help to me too, answers that ? for me . dave in iowa " in the dirt "

[Skeeter]

Just took my new 250 to the field today and found my first dime! I noticed that almost everywhere I was getting strong signals at 8"+. Pretty sure my sensitivity was too high. The ground was way to hard for me to dig them all anyhow. Was wondering what it was seeing though. Could it have been a high mineral content in the soil? This was at a small ghost town about 20 miles from the AZ/Mex border.
Thanks
Steve

[tomkat83]

i took my new ace 250 out to my parents this weekend. i found an old horse shoe about 4 inches down. cool=) however for some reason there are alot of old pop cans and pull tabs. can anyone tell me why pop cans, pull tabs and bottle tops register as pennys, nickels and dimes on my detector? 75% of the time when i find a pop can the detector switches between penny to nickel to dime then pulltab. once in awhile it will consistantly ping penny or nickel. when i dig i find a pull tab. i make sure to scan the hole and unearthed dirt to make sure. anyway, it makes it hard to use the discrimination when pop cans show up as coins. just for grins i buried a quarter about 5 inches and the detector didn't find it. i've messed with the sensitivity. it hasn't been much help. any suggestions?

[cchughs]

You guys keep practicing. Soon you will understand what your detector is telling you. It just seems to be a learning process of getting a signal and digging. For awhile dig most signals, soon you will know junk from the good stuff. One tip I can give you is that if the signal is jumping all over it is usually junk. A pop can will for instance ring in 1.00, 50 cents, 25 cents, back up to a dollar. The depth will usually show 6"+. If I can get a steady signal back and forth and a couple different directions I will dig it. This method will get you a lot of pull tabs and foil but remember, gold will show the same as a pull tab. It is just a learning curve that everyone has to endure.