Detecting Activities; Coinshooting; Relic Hunting - Fisher Labs F75 User Manual

Detecting Activities

Coinshooting

Coinshooting is searching for coins, usually in places like parks, schoolyards, church
lawns, and people's yards. In most places where coins are likely to be found, there is also a
lot of aluminum trash like pull-tabs and bottle caps, as well as steel bottle caps and often
nails. Sometimes there is jewelry present. You will usually search using discrimination to
get rid of the iron and the aluminum trash, even though this mode will cause you to miss
some of the jewelry.
Much coinshooting is done in lawn areas, where digging holes would cause damage to the
grass. We recommend use of an accessory hand-held pinpointer in such cases. Recovering
targets is usually done by first accurately pinpointing the target, then carefully cutting a slit
in the turf with a knife, and tamping it firmly when you are finished. In these situations,
you cannot recover deep targets for fear of damaging the turf, so you can cut down on
nuisance signals by reducing the sensitivity.
When searching on private property, first get the permission of the property owner. Most
of the public places where one is likely to do coinshooting are city, county, or school
district property. There is usually no ordinance prohibiting use of a metal detector as long
as you are not causing damage. Sometimes such ordinances do exist. Administrators and
security personnel often have the legal authority to prohibit any activity they do not like
even if there is no ordinance against it. If there is a metal detecting club in your area,
someone will usually know what areas can and cannot be searched.
Be prepared to always put your best foot forward when using a metal detector in a public
place. Pick up any trash you recover; put it in a pouch or pocketed apron. This way you
can explain that you are performing a public service by helping keep the place free of trash,
especially pieces of metal or glass that could endanger a child at play. Be proficient at
recovering targets without causing damage to the lawn. Explain that whenever you find
jewelry which has personal identification marks, such as a class ring, you make an attempt
to determine the owner and to return it. When someone who questions what you are doing
understands that you are causing no damage and are actually performing a public service,
you will usually be welcome.

Relic Hunting

Relic hunting is searching for historical artifacts. The most common desired objects are
battlefield debris, coins, jewelry, harness hardware, metal buttons, trade tokens, metal toys,
household items, and tools used by workmen and trades people. The most common
unwanted metal is iron (nails, fence wire, rusted cans, etc.), but some iron and steel objects
such as weapons may be valuable. If you are at a site where you may encounter
unexploded ordinance, use caution.
Most relic hunting locations are in fields, forested areas and vacant lots where digging
holes will not damage turf grass, so having a detector with good depth sensitivity is
important. Some places are so littered with iron that it is necessary to discriminate out iron
in order to be able to search, even though you may miss some potentially valuable artifacts.
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