Setting Up Your Detector *

FINDING A DETECTORS DEPTH AND SENSITIVITY CAPABILITIES

For this exercise you will need a small silver coin (preferably a small hammered penny), a piece of cloth, several books of differing thickness - use ones with a binding and not those with staples holding them together, or you will pick up the staples.
Find a small area in the house, patio or garden where you will be able to ground balance your detector if needed, and enough room to allow a metre swing of the loop. If your detector has an All Metal Mode or Pinpointing facility, use it to check the spot for metal, if not, turn your Discrim to zero and check the area for metal.
Whatever detector you are using, set your detector up as you would for a normal days detecting, i.e. Sensitivity, Discrim, Threshold Tone, etc. at your average settings, or the settings you use the most.
If you are outdoors, put the cloth on the ground, this will keep your books clean. Place the coin on top of the cloth and cover it with some books (10 cm, or 4 inches). Go over the books with your loop at normal sweep speed and make sure that you are getting a signal from the coin. Add another book and sweep again, checking that you are still getting a signal.  Keep adding books, use thinner ones as the signal gets weaker, until you just get a weak signal from the coin.