Two days before my first trip out I purchased my first detector. A Minelab Explorer SE from my Brother in law. It came with a large and small coil along with headphones and an old bolt on pin pointer thingy.
The night before the outing I charged it up and searched the Minelab forum for a beginners programme I followed the instructions to the best of my understanding, but I admit I got a little confused towards the end so just left those steps out. I went out to my garden to see how it sounded, my… what a racket! If this is how it works I’m never going to find anything I thought to myself.
Arriving on site I had no confidence in what I was going to do so I took my time and watched my In-law speed off towards the middle of the field. I finally got the headphone wires untangled from around my neck and figured out how the Easy swing works. All set I turned the Explorer SE on and that earlier beeping/blipping started again “oh my, it’s going to be a long day” I said to myself.
I walked literally 5mtr. and got those strange beeps/ blips again I looked at the cross hair on the screen and it was high and on the right. I remember reading that this is the area where the good targets flash so I went over it and over it several times before I started digging. I took out a spades depth clod of earth and scanned over it got the beeps so broke it down until I found my first target it turned out to be a random bit of metal. I sighed “At least I’m learning the machine”. I scanned the area again and got another good signal dug again expecting another strange metal object. After figuring out how to place the detector on the ground and still have the headphones on I began to sift through the soil (remembering not to use my left hand) I eventually got the sound I was listening for. Turned out to be a silver coin with two heads, was this an old jesters joke coin? I had no idea.
I finally caught up with my In-Law without having anymore crazy sounds (the programme does work) we paused and I showed him my finds, the strange piece of metal first then the coin. “That’s a nice coin and with two heads you don’t see many of them” chat over we went back to walking the rest of the field Keeping an eye on a very dark cloud from Hurricane Girt heading towards us, the rain came so that called an end to my first outing detecting.
Once home my In-Law took a photo and posted it on the net there was much excitement and praise for finding such a coin. I didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about to me it was just a coin I found with my Minelab Explorer SE I was just happy to find something. Turns out it’s a rare Roman coin. An issue of “Caligula” in honour of his father Germanicus. So remember Folks even first timers can find some very nice things.
Simon Carter - England, UK
