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View Full Version : Hunting old urban school, plus new pointer



Digger_O'Dell
09-14-2015, 09:48 PM
Hi all,
Not much has been going on lately. The hunts at the local park has not turned up anything exciting lately other than hair clips and clad. The biggest thing was receiving my 10.5" Minelabs DD coil. What a difference that makes over the stock concentric-like night and day!

Yesterday I made a discovery by accident while comparing aerial photos and a somewhat recent google earth view. I found that a local elementary school complex was razed sometime in the past year and a soccer field put in it's place. But, the perimeter along the 2 sides is still completely intact and untouched as can be told by the trees still being there. Research shows the school was built around 1940-ish, so I had hopes it could produce some "older" coins. Old here means the 1930 to 1960 range since most of the area was undeveloped farm, swamp and woods until that time, although there is a spattering of homesteads dating back to the 1850's range when the area was settled by a few adventurous and possibly antisocial people getting away from the more established regions. :lol:

First signal I got was only a few steps from putting the coil to the ground. From about 6" down out pops a 1944 wheatie! Soon after I popped out several older memorial pennies, a few nickles, and then 2 more wheaties in a row-a '52 and '57! Most of this time I was wondering if I might get into some kind of trouble because I had 2 school grounds crew in a golf cart watching me, but eventually they just drove away. I was a bit nervous about detecting on a school day, even though it was a couple hours before the kids would arrive and I was a long way off from the new building.

Since I only had about 30 minutes I obviously didn't get to cover much area, but I will be back in the morning again to hopefully find some silver this time. It's been a long dry spell in that department since I haven't seen one since maybe early June.

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Also the past month or so I have been having issues with my Garrett Pro-pointer AT. The beeper seems to work on and off, sometimes so quiet it's inaudible from the hole. Another issue has been that it sometimes goes gonzo and signals with nothing near, or keeps signalling well after being removed from the target. The sensitivity is all over the board without changing anything. Lastly, I have issues with trying to find the target in the hole quite often due to the side scan feature-I don't know if the target is at the tip, or maybe in the side of the hole. So I figure I will probably have to send it in and have it gone through. In the mean time I decided to see what else was available in the pointer department and found rave reviews of the Whites Bullseye TRX. Ordered it Saturday and it was delivered today, so can't wait to try it out in the morning!
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On a final note, I dated some other older urban schools and found one that dates back to 1029 that actually has a good section of grass on 2 sides of the building. I'll just have to wait to hit that until a weekend early morning. In the 'hood I think it should be safer then as there is nobody on the streets to give any trouble until much later in the day.

GL and HH everyone, and be safe!

groundhog53946
09-14-2015, 11:32 PM
Sounds like you've found something good! Hope silver isn't far off for you

Sent from my XT830C using Tapatalk

MangoAve
09-15-2015, 08:37 AM
Yeah. My vibraprobe actually seems to get less sensitive the more the battery has run down. And seems to shut off quicker after non-use when the battery is worn. I like the fact the tip is where the action is. The Vulcan is really sensitive but it was a little hard for me to use with the side scan when I am used to tip scan.

MIKE54
09-15-2015, 10:14 PM
I had a Garrett and upgraded to the TRX and you will definitely see a few more inches in range using the TRX, but sometimes it gets a little "chatty" and has to be ratcheted down a notch. I still use and like both but I lean on the TRX a bit more.

Digger_O'Dell
09-15-2015, 10:37 PM
I used the TRX today for the first time, and it's amazing! I see what you mean about being chatty as I ran into that almost right away. Really like the exact pinpointing down maybe 3 inches before I dig, though I noticed it's a bit temperamental on small objects at close range unless it's directly under the tip.

BTV Digger
09-16-2015, 05:32 PM
I've had similar problems with my Garrett pinpointer from time to time. A quick shut off and back on usually does the trick.

John

ducktrapper
09-16-2015, 11:33 PM
I have used a TRX this season and am somewhat frustrated by how chatty it gets (and then stays chatty even after you remove it from the hole). Great on stuff 1-3 inches directly under the tip, but definitely miss the side-finding capability at times. Let us know how it goes.

Digger_O'Dell
09-16-2015, 11:57 PM
Been using the TRX heavily the past 2 days and I love it! Yes, it can get "chatty" at times, but one re-calibration and it's all good. Really the cat's arse in my opinion!