First, I'll start by saying that I'm a complete newbie to MD'ing. I just received my White's DFX on Monday, and have only been out detecting for a total of about 4 hours. I hope that a couple of these tips will help others get started, and more importantly, keep going!
By all means, if I post something that's wrong; correct me! Also, feel free to add your own tips to this thread. Try to remember your first few days, your successes and frustrations. Anything will help!

1. Search the forums out there to help you choose the detector that's right for you. There's a lot of people out there that want to help! :)

2. A pinpointer is your friend! Your detector will only narrow the spot down so far. There's too much material to sift through. I knew I had to buy one after the first hour.

3. Start in a playground (tot lot), school play-area, beach or similar spot.

• It's easy to dig and sift through sand or bark. Digging is hard work, especially if you're new and want to dig up every little thing!
• Rewarding! (assuming it hasn't been scanned recently, you'll find a bunch of coins, and maybe more!)
• Great way to learn your machine's signals. Pay attention to the audio and visual clues you're getting. Dig everything at first. You'll quickly learn what to look/listen for. Play with the programs if your machine has them. Change settings, etc...
• You shouldn't have to worry about private property issues, etc. If you time it right, you don't have to worry about curious onlookers either.
• You're helping to clean up the area by picking up and clearing out the trash! Community service makes you feel good :)

4. On the DFX, the audio tones say a lot. Listen for strong, repeatable signals. If you think you've got something, pass over it multiple times. It should be a short beep coming from an easily-identifiable area. Longer tones (I think) are usually bigger objects, and probably not coins. It's really the quick, strong signals you're looking for. Keep focused on listening for those! It's easy to get distracted when you're new to all these beeps.

5. The DFX has pretty good visuals. I noticed that when i waved it over a strong signal, a coin would make the bar graph go to the top (consistently). Anything else would be inconsistent or broken (multiple bars). However, I did notice that pull-tabs gave the same consistent signal as a nickle. I'm guessing I'll learn to tweak my machine to discriminate those out :)

I'm so excited about my new hobby that I'm already trying to research historical sites on the web. Realistically though, I know that I'm going to be hunting EVERY tot-lot I can find, until I'm pretty familiar with my detector.

P.S. My first lot gave up about $5 in change (clad), including 2 Susan B. Anthony coins, an 18k gold heart charm, and about a dozen pull-tabs. Best of all, though, I'm learning what to look and listen for!

>>pull-tabs gave the same consistent signal as a nickle<<

Welcome Mr. C
You have a good grasp of things! I don't think you will be able to get around "pop tops". It is just something we deal with. :-(

Jerry

Hi Mr. The DFX is a good machine. Learn it well and it will give you a lot of good finds. HH,Jerry(in Madera)

Welcome,you may want to consider trying the Tone I.D. mode,it is very acurate as far as telling a good target from a bad on,and you won't have to look at the screen as much to see what the target is once you get used to the tones.However,be warned that you will most likely be overwelmed by all the different tones coming out of the machine at first,
try and hang in there to get used to the sounds,it's much easier to determine if a target is good or bad with tone I.D. on.

I'm finding that there are places where tabs read consistently above nickels, and others where they're in a range including them or right there at nickels. If you find that you're on a site where they consistently come in a tight range and that's above nickels and mid sized rings, you can notch them out but if you have any doubt, dig it all if you want the gold...

mrcollect, Sounds like you've done a lot of homework & are off to a good start. There are some days when you feel like you're "shoveling cornflakes against the wind", but persistence will win out. If you get stymied on something, there's plenty of expertise on this forum to help clear your head. I'm only speaking from my own experience; lots of confusion, plenty of answers ~ eventual sense of "I can really do this"! Wish you many miles of success.