February 2008 Newsletter
BCDC FEBRUARY 2008 NEWSLETTER
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ESTABLISHED |
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Beaver County Detecting Club
OFFICERS
President – Red Craft
Vice President - to be named later
Secretary – Harry Niemeyer
Treasurer – Gary Waddell
Temporary Board of Directors are;
Bob (Boobie) Hromika – 724-846-0107
Harry Niemeyer – 724 – 457 - 0720
Gary Waddell – 724 - 773 - 0327
Red Craft – 724 - 869-3199
COMMITTEES
Web Site – Bob (Boobie) Hromika
News letter Editor. Harry Niemeyer
NEWSLETTER
Any submissions for the newsletters are to be sent to:
724-457-0720
WE WELCOME NEW MEMBER
George Merulli,JR.
Monaca,PA
We share a love of Metal Detecting and, most importantly,
we share good friendship.
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Minutes of the January 2008 Meeting
The meeting commenced somewhat promptly at 7:00pm.
Members present were Bob Hromika, Gary Waddell and Harry Niemeyer and Red Craft.
The minutes of the previous months meeting were read and approved.
Treasurer’s report by Gary Waddell: $45.00 in the cash box. Harry Niemeyer paid his dues of $10.00
Boobie discussed the website and the server fees.
The spring hunt will be on the 2nd Saturday in March.
Different sites were discussed , Harry is to bring in maps of the boy scout jamboree at Moraine State park.
Boobie will work on the club Business cards.
There was a lengthy discussion on the club logo and patch. Some small suggestions were considered and adopted.
Gary is doing a heck of a good job on this project.
Next Meeting : Thursday, February 7th @ 7:00pm at the Penn Bistro restaurant in New Brighton,PA
Meeting adjourned @ 8:30pm
The Deeper Beeper
More false information has clouded the issue of detection depth than any other topic since the first beeper and there are some good reasons why. The depth that a detector will find a metal object will change drastically due to the differences in soil moisture and type. Benchmark field tests are just not possible because of the wide number of variables. You can start an argument faster over this topic than any other thing in metal detecting. Differences in mineralization, hot rocks, iron ore, or other environmental factors will always affect the outcome of a test but the one thing that we want our detector to do is detect deeper, ever deeper.
Probably over 80% of all objects we want to dig are only a few inches deep but many believe that just a little deeper and they can find the "really old" coins. In some areas it’s true but many areas just don't have many old targets to find anywhere or any depth. If we take a hard look at deeper coins then we should ask ourselves do we really want to dig holes over a foot deep in the nice lawn. Do we desire greater bragging rights or are we really ready to dedicate ourselves to the effort of extracting deep finds? If we are wanting a deeper detector just because we are not finding much then it will be a disappointment because what we really need is more experience with the detector we are using. More whistles and bells cannot replace detecting experience. The manufacturers could get rich fast if that were true.
Deep targets are often not identified by the detector because target ID detectors generally drop out of target identification range at about 7-9 inches. Better detectors may give "some" indication of depth but this feature needs to be improved if it is to be useful. If you are walking through a moderately trashy park and picking up several objects every step, will you take the time to test each one to see how deep it is? You might, but I won't. My experience has told me that I look at the depth after I have a coin acquired on the meter and when I am walking through many targets I just don't take the time to measure each one because the most effective use of my time is to move fast and collect the shallow coins. If your meter will not identify a deep object will you dig all of them? The answer is only if you are detecting in an area with a high expectation of valuable finds like relic hunters or hunting where very old coins are found regularly. Other than that you may do it for a while out of curiosity but you will tire of it when your targets turn out to be rusty nails and tin cans.
Most of the time if you are searching clean areas for deep signals you can use a no motion detector set on maximum sensitivity and using a large coil and headphones. Digging everything is quite a job if you are digging deeper objects but all part of the game. Some detectors claim different tone ID's or meter recognition but most of the really deep objects in my experience are just a whisper of a tone. I find that sometimes I find objects deeper in wet sand than heavy clay or dry sand. The gold prospector who uses a detector certainly needs all available depth and sensitivity to tiny nuggets he can get, and many of the areas that he will want to prospect are highly mineralized which reduce the depth on most detectors. New technologies appear to improve the detection depth in heavy mineralization and as always it depends on where you want to hunt for the choice of detector.
Controversy continues over air tests for depth comparison, and obviously mineralization is not a factor but benchmark air tests provide a quick comparison of detectors that you can perform at the store, in the field, or at the club. There is also another air test that I do and that is to determine what the detector is tuned for, gold or silver. I take my gold ring and check the depth on it and then checkout silver coins. It is obvious that it will be stronger at one end of the spectrum or the other.
Next meeting date
March 6th,2008
