My Top 5 Metal Detecting Hacks

Hey Everybody. Welcome! To Episode 56 of the metal detecting show podcast. My Name is Ciaran and I have been Metal Detecting for nearly 30 Years. This week I My Top 5 Hacks for metal detecting and why they are important in helping you be successful in the hobby.

Music

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Content:

Hey Everyone Thanks for listening to this weeks Episode before we get into it I want to remind everyone to enter the Giveaway for an Equinox 600 plus some goodies the links are in the show note we are entering the last week of the give away with the winner being announced next Saturday the 24th of April so make sure you get in there validate your email addresses and promote the podcast.

So onto my adventures in Metal detecting this week. So I actually didn’t go out this week we decided to go on an a hunt of a different type to look for a newly discovered or rediscovered tidal swimming pool of a hotel that existed till the 1950’s I think I mentioned it previously or at least I meant to mention it anyways this spot was the pool attached to a local hotel that no longer exists now but the old pool can be accessed by climbing over several hundred meters of sea rocks I’d love to say it was worth the effort but it was only cool to see it but I won’t be going there again not even in a capacity of metal detecting the bottom which would be a great site only for that the pool is slap bank in the middle of an archaeological site a stone age midden is situated within the cliff and recorded in previous maps so it’s a no go zone for me I’m afraid and I’m not sure it would yield much in the way of treasure. Plus there is supposed to be a conger eel that lives in the pool and I love my fingers more that the prospect of an old penny.

I might adventure back again for some mud larking at some stage but lets see I’m not optimistic.

This week prompted by a previous episode well from an omission in episode 54 I decided to do a list episode and that is my Top 5 hacks to help increase your hunt time or at least increase your wins when metal detecting hopefully at least 1 or two are new to you or will help you.

1.

So to Start at number 1 on the list that would be profile switching long time listeners will remember the tech time out on profile switching but for the new or uninitiated profile switching is a technique where you switch between programs or profiles generally between your discrimination program and all metal mode. You use this technique in two ways firstly on iffy targets so on a good signal that audibly appears broken or intermittent if you switch to all metal mode the iron portion won’t be null’d out and you will hear it giving you more information for the dig no dig choice for me if I’m hunting coins or silver and get an iffy signal on a high tone, I switch to all metal mode resulting in the iron signal joining the audio party telling me that the signal may be a clad coin with an iron core, Another way to use profile switching is on a signal that is present in one swing direction but non existent in another direction when you move around it or a signal that disappears when you dig the first clod of the hole if you aren’t suffering from halo effect [does it exist] there will be a good chance if you swich to all metal mode that the signal will pop up again making it easier for you to pinpoint.

2.

Speaking of Pinpoint I did talk about how I thought pinpoint mode worked in episode 54 well I failed to say that I wouldnt invest much time in using pinpoint mode as it is quicker and more efficient to just straight up learn to pinpoint properly with just the coil and not use the pinpoint mode as a crutch believe it or not the time you save from not having to switch to pinpoint mode and back again is substantial and a lot longer than using the wiggle method or the just positioning yourself 45 degrees to the initial beep method making sure to keep a location note before you move. It’ll take some time to get the hang of it but once you do you digs per hour will increase.

3. keeping on the pinpoint trip my third hack has to do with pin pointers imagine  the  scenario you get a shallow signal you pinpoint is as per hack 2 and dig your hole flipping over the clod. The shallow find is out of the hole but now at the bottom of the clod closest the ground so technical deeper than it started out but you could of used your pin pointer to isolate the signal prior to digging anything.  all you have to do is once you have  isolated the  signal with your expertise level pinpointing alez point 2 just take your handheld pin pointer touching  the ground where you have identified the location of the  find if  the find is shallow in the ground this  will further  help you isolate and speed up your recovery of the find. I try to remember to do this when my detector indicates that the find is shallow and if my handheld pinpointer doesn’t detect it  I know that if my detector says its shallow and it’s not then it must be large Iron and sometimes this has saved me time in digging full stop.

4. Big trees

No Matter where you are in a dessert on a beach in a park on a field if there is a big old tree about then that will be a hot spot for you to search. people naturally attracted and seek shade under trees in the heat or shelter in the rain or a bit of slap and tickle govnner heheheheh bare in mind that tree may have been there for 100 150 years and could be a full size for the last 100 point of not that the warmer the climate the less likely a tree will be old and tree’s tend to be smaller in these climates. Tree have huge potential as the ground underneath is nearly always baren of grass and has never been ploughed so there is potential for old finds near the surface, But you can take this logic further and look for trees or landscape that is out of the ordinary like old fruit trees indicating potentially and orchard old beehives thing stick out and these are places to hunt.

5.

And this is one hack I am sure I am the only one that does this and that is bring a chop stick along with me wait for it….

I bring a chop stick along with me for several reasons but the main one being that wood is softer than metal and will not damage a find so if im digging a hole and my pinpointing is off or perfect for that matter but I see the find as soon as I plop out the clod, I will use my chop stick [its now a half chopstick] to pry out the find with the assurance I wont damage or scratch it. I cringe all the time when im looking at hunts online and someone inevitably find themselves in the same scenario with the find in the side of the hole and the first thing they do is attack it with the shovel of trowel to be honest I only use this when I see something good in the hole but I do also use it to lightly scrape some muck off or clean the finds mid hunt. Use it to clean connectors without fear of damaging anything. I have even been known to use a chopstick when gridding a site. Never mind catching flys with them. Dead handy.

So that’s my top 5 Hacks for metal detecting but to recap there quickly.

1. Use Profile switching switch between profiles or programs to help identify iron content.
2. Do not use pinpoint mode it cost you to much hunting time learn to pinpoint on the fly.
3. Use your handheld pinpointer to isolate a shallow find before digging the hole.
4. Look for big trees people love trees or look for something out of the ordinary or out of place.
5. Bring a chopstick the low fi multi tool.

Wrap Up 

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Once again, I hope you have enjoyed this episode and we will chat to you all again next week. 

Get out there eyes down and Happy Hunting.