Sunday, October 11, 2009

Metal Detector Challenge Day (night) 1


First night of the challenge and I am some what excited and optimistic. I packed the car with my dog Wilson, and my Metal Detecting equipment. I arrive at the beach around 9pm, and I basically have the entire place to myself :) The Whites DFX detector would be the work horse of the night, although I did start off with the Minelab Excalibur II. When I arrived at the local beach, I noticed it was low tide and decided to do some wet sand and shallow water hunting. For those of you who are not familiar with Metal Detecting, the Excal II is a water proof metal detector. Although debatable, most of the good treasures are found in the shallow water/wet sand at low tide. Wouldn't it be great to start the first day of the challenge finding a nice heavy gold ring :P I put on my head phones and head straight to the water line. Before I even get to my starting point I hear a nice clean signal. A quick dig with my long handled scoop reveals a nice shining $2 coin. I was thinking to myself this is a great start! Yet, over the next hour or so things would not be so great...I was digging up pull tab after pull tab, and the random 5c & 10c coins. So far, an hours plus work and not even $3! Time to change tactic.

I return the Excal back to the car for a rest, and grab the Whites DFX with a small 6 inch DD coil attached. It is time to work along the beach wall. This is where lots of people sit, so there are usually lots of coins dropped. The only problem being, the weather here in Sydney has been horrible for the past week or 2, raining and winter like temperatures. Anyway, I begin my hunt along the wall, trying to get as close as possible without the metal detector going crazy. Metal Detectors do not like the steel reinforcements in concrete walls, so the only way to detect effectively is with a small sized coil, and by turning the AC (sensitivity settings) right down. Working the wall proved to be more lucrative than the wet sand. I am not sure exactly much I found in coins, but my pocket was starting to get heavy. After a quick drink for both myself and Wilson, I decide to see how I go hunting the towel line in the dry sand. I try this for about an hour, and notice things are going very slow. Time to change tactics once again. I decide to leave the sand area, and give the picnic area a try. The surface of this area is mainly wood chips, dirt and some grass. The first thing I notice with the picnic area is non stop signals. There is rubbish everywhere...but thankfully between this rubbish is many many coins. Those of us who have been Metal Detecting for some time know which signals are good, and which are bad. Although I still sometimes get tricked by those pesky flattened bottle caps. I basically spent the rest of the night searching the picnic area. A quick check of my iPhone and it is already 3am! Wow time flies when you are having fun. I ended the night with 87 coins totalling $55.75.

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