tyeechinook,
Good afternoon and welcome to Tnet as well as electronic prospecting!
I would suggest that you set yourself up with a test garden if of course you have a piece of ground you can use for this. Clear the area say 8' x 8' of All Signals and do not be near any power lines. Now plant some targets at 6" down and right at one corner of the test garden make a map so you know what is planted where: a nickel and make sure it is face or back down flat at the bottom of the hole. move over ~ 4' and plant another nickel only make sure the coin is standing on end (make the dirt at the bottom of the hole a stiff mud that will hold the coin vertical) cover it. move over ~4' to the other corner and plant a ~ 1/8" diameter split shot and cover it. Move to the center line of the box and plant three more samples on the edge of the 8 line', the center and at the opposite edge(rusty nail, pull tab, brass .22 casing. now at the back edge and corner plant a real penny (not a zinc penny coated in copper so an older date 1989), in the middle of this edge a 2" x 2" piece of a tin can, at the final corner a $20 gold coin (just kidding a gum wrapper with tin foil) cover all the holes.
Get yourself a note pad and pen, set the detector up at the preset points with the threshold volume just enough so you can hear it(threshold should be at this position always during your tests), detect each item and write down the results. Reset the detector to all maximum settings and detect each item and write down the results. Set the detector settings at half way between max and set points and detect/record readings. Now really soak the ground good with water, lots and lots of water over the entire thing, let it soak in for half an hour and retest everything at the mid scale settings and record the results.
Now go into the house and digest all the readings and think about how the detector was acting (I would suggest some ice water and a PB sandwich for starters to nibble on). did it overload at any time? were the readings stronger? was the machine full of static? how strong did it react to each metal and in any special way?
The .22 casing, the nickels and the lead should mimic what the machine thinks is gold so pay special attention to these readings/reactions. The other targets will obviously be junk and you want to learn what your machine does over junk.
I gotta go now, the above will give you plenty to do and I will be back later............................63bkpkr
If you have earphones use them.
