Aldi Junk

[foodgem]

Went detecting for a couple of hours in a local reserve with the Aldi special. Friendly council guy walked past twice and had a chat so clearly they don't mind.

Sadly, nothing but junk. Perhaps around the old creek is no good as there just seems to have been loads of garbage dumped there over the years.

Couple of old cans, not pictured but the rest is shown.

I think I might have to move to a more parky park or come back with a more discerning machine in the future.

Any tips on avoiding all this crap?

 

[Guest]

don't detect tip sites

 

[Wally69]

One thing is certain, crap is where crap is.

Try under trees or near bench seats. Think about where you would put your gear down to play a game of footy, soccer,cricket or horizontal rowing. Post or rails have always been kind to me.

Urban waterways are crap magnets. Some parks and reserves have been made by filling in swamps with landfill or rubbish. I like artifacts but......

 

[Dejan027]

Discriminate so that only the back 5 tabs are on the top line.

This will get rid of majority of the junk.

 

[foodgem]

Dejan,

That's exactly what I was doing. That big piece of metal was allegedly a strong 25c piece ping 3-4inches down in discriminate mode.

When I got 3-4 inches down it was just a couple of inches more, then just a couple of inches more. I had to keep going down to almost 6 or 7 and there it was.

When I ran the detector over it in all metal mode it was a giant piece of junk. So remember boys and girls, a nice solid ping of 3-4 inches on the Aldi rig might actually be a giant piece of metal 6 or 7 inches down. Always check in all metals mode.

Would have saved me a lot of digging and did later as I found more 3-4inch deep high up pings. In full metal mode they were just a low junk tone all over the shop that was quite deep - big bits of scrap metal again I would imagine.

I think my mistake was going somewhere I knew there would be "lots of old stuff" thinking I'd find relics and pre decimals and such.

I should be going to places I think people will be losing coins and jewellery.

 

[Guest]

Dejan,

That's exactly what I was doing. That big piece of metal was allegedly a strong 25c piece ping 3-4inches down in discriminate mode.

we don't have quarters (25 cents) no wonder it tricked ya :lol:

 

[Heatho]

Forget that the target id thingo is even there, it does not work properly. Get quite a few different coins and practice listening in discrim mode, notch sux use the other discrim. 5c coins and most of the time 10c coins will give a low tone, $1, $2, 50c, 20c coins give a mid tone and Silver gives a high tone.

Ringpulls generally jump between tones, not older ones though they sound like good targets. Large junk will a lot of the time give a jumpy signal or none at all.

I cherrypick a lot in trashy areas but if you want all the treasure you need to recover every target, that's what makes treasure treasure, fighting through all the junk is just part of the hobby. Generally about 20-1 junk to good target ratio around here.

 

[silver]

If you just want to find the coins that have just been dropped, keep the coil off the ground the same height that your air test just picks them up at,...that way you only get the surface targets and not much more !

 

[foodgem]

Thanks for the tips. I'll report back after I try again - Somewhere that's not a junk pit this time.

 

[foodgem]

Went out again nice and early today. Spent almost 3hrs out in total. Only finds of any value - a 2c piece and a zipper tag.

Not sure if it's me, or the machine, or the location.

First try was at a local sports ground, around the bench seats/shade trees. Unfortunately the benches were aluminium so I could never quite trust the signal when I got close to them so didn't really want to dig any of the "targets" under the benches after the first couple came up empty. Got bottle caps and such, found the zipper and the 2c piece.

After not much luck moved onto another park with a children's play area covered in woodchips. Found a button type bauble and a few caps. Under the slides pinged a bit but once again they were metal and I had a bit of a dig but din't really find much.

Wandered off around all the benches in the area. More caps.

Went down the path to the other sporting fields at park number 2. A can and a few more caps, but once again the benches there were metal.

Old timer with a dog told me to try along the edge of the field as they run a kiosk when the sports are on and everyone hangs over the short chainlink fence. Fence was metal and at ground level so as per before - I couldn't trust the signal. Old guy hung around while I dug a decent sized hole but when it came off empty he wandered off.

On the way back to the car I saw a "casual" cricket pitch. It was made out of concrete and the field was crappy so I thought I'd have a dig. Had a hunt around the end where bowlers might be. Ended up getting some good signals, not too deep and they were solid and showing silver in discrimination mode. Switched back to all metal as I had been fooled before and still showing just silver. Dug them up and 3 for 3 they were old cans. Worst thing was, once they were on the ground I ran the detector over them and they all showed up as plain junk low signals. The complete opposite of what they had shown when they were in the ground.

Ran out of steam after 3 hours of this, snapped a pic before I dumped everything in the bin and headed home.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Clearly this is old stuff as all the cans have the old style ring pulls. I have been ignoring some of the inconsistent signals that are quite deep because they end up being junk, then the "dead set silver" signals end up being cans and mysteriously show up as junk only after I've dug them up.

So is it me, the cheap Aldi detector or am I still looking in the wrong places? It can certainly find things in the ground, I just can't seem to get a break with what I end up digging up.

Pic below of the "haul"

 

[foodgem]

Also need a decent little shovel. I'm spending far to much time and energy digging with my little hand shovel. It's good, but it just doesn't move enough dirt and the clay slows me down.

I took out my little folding shovel. This style - http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/BCF-Foldable-Camp-Shovel.aspx?pid=129161#Recommendations

Ended up bending the first time I put my foot on it. I want something small that I can carry in my backpack that won't look like I'm open cut mining if I pull it out in a park.

 

[Guest]

you are ignoring signals !

dig every target

my first penny sounded like alfoil

no one can tell what is there till it is dug

 

[Willo]

I wouldnt be so hasty in giving up on the creek, I recently found a 1816 shilling in a similar spot. You never know how many old timers have camped along it when we used legs rather than wheels to get around!

 

[Horse]

Foodgem, It is not you...or the detector....you are hitting targets.

You have found one coin, you will find more.
The only problem is the location I would say.

I run an xterra 705....on some ground...lots of junk.
Another spot....no signals...quiet ground all over....I look at detector as if it is faulty.

But then I find a patch where there is decent targets...and I find them as easy as I find trash at other places.
The aldi machine has runs on the board from guys in the forum.
You just have to search out that patch that is going to make YOU believe in your gear.

 

[foodgem]

I might switch up a few different locations and see if I have more luck.

Apart from going off when it's literally under a metal bench or up against a chainlink fence, every target that pings has metal in the hole.

I do get a bit confused when something reads as a high up ping, totally silver - nothing else. Then I pull a can out of the hole, wave the detector over it and it's down the other end of the scale with the nails and screws in the junk that should be discriminated out.

Is that normal? The ground was a bit wet from rain last night so maybe that affects the signal.

Also, If I need to dig every target, I'll definitely need a better shovel.

 

[Heatho]

Sounds like you are doing everything correctly, digging junk is just part of it, I dug well over 300 bits of junk last time at Hill End hunting Gold and did not get 1 nugget.

Keep at it mate, last Gold ring I got was after about 5 days of just ringpulls and other crap, nice ring too.

Also you don't need a shovel for parks, you may cause much more mess than is needed and cop a fine if you upset a council ranger. You need a good long screwdriver (I use 3 different sized ones) for probing and a quality pinpointer and no one will see any damage at all, just a suggestion.

 

[Guest]

I might switch up a few different locations and see if I have more luck.

Apart from going off when it's literally under a metal bench or up against a chainlink fence, every target that pings has metal in the hole.

I do get a bit confused when something reads as a high up ping, totally silver - nothing else. Then I pull a can out of the hole, wave the detector over it and it's down the other end of the scale with the nails and screws in the junk that should be discriminated out.

Is that normal? The ground was a bit wet from rain last night so maybe that affects the signal.

Also, If I need to dig every target, I'll definitely need a better shovel.

i have found coins right next to a big steel boundary fence, so keep trying !

and yep moister in the ground will change your signals !

and grab yaself a pinpointer (worth more than ya detector) save lots of digging , which also makes neater holes in sensitive areas

 

[Goldpick]

Aluminium cans can ring up in the silver range, you just need a way of determining the size of the target to judge on whether to dig or not. You can do this with a pinpointer, or some of the more expensive detectors have a pinpoint mode or true all-metal mode to show the size of an in ground target.

With the Aldi, you may have no choice but to dig most targets, especially ones you are unsure of, or that have a med-high conductivity signal.

As silver mentioned, lifting the coil over some junk targets will see the signal degrade, wheras coin targets still tend to give off a good signal.

If detecting near metal objects, turn your sensitivity right down to avoid picking up unwanted signals.

Don't worry about digging junk, we all do it when unsure of what the target is - that's part and parcel of detecting I'm afraid. Sometimes you can't help but to dig a junk target, you never know but that aluminium can could be a chunky piece of silver chain, and not junk or a coin.

 

[foodgem]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I'll keep at it.

What sort of pinpointer do people recommend?

I picked up one of these shovels from Bunnings this arvo.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/cyclone-courtyard-shovel_p3360680

I'm going to drill out the rivet and put a screw with a wingnut in there so I can stash it in my backpack when not in use. It's nice and stumpy so it shouldn't scare anyone. I just wanted something I could put a foot on to get through a bit of clay if need be. I was getting blisters on my hands using just this:
http://www.bunnings.com.au/fiskars-aluminium-trowel_p3360130
And this:
http://www.bunnings.com.au/stanley-fatmax-25mm-sidestrike-chisel_p5560172

On hard ground

 

[Guest]

i would have to say Minelab pinpointer , never used an opposition unit, but my ML works for me

i do not use a shovel , just a wee pick that i got at bunnies

as for this it looks cool

http://www.bunnings.com.au/fiskars-aluminium-trowel_p3360130

i have the plastic version for obvious reasons