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Why I Don’t use Patterns
(Discrimination Patterns / Park Programs etc)
A Pattern is a pre-programmed level of discrimination that is set up in theory to reject certain items and allow the searcher to search for specific items.
I believe it is site specific, hence pointless sharing with friends unless they are detecting on the same site with you on the same day with the same ground conditions.
It does work in a fashion but only on the site it was programmed for with known targets retrieved from that specific site at specific depths and common ground moisture and mineralisation levels.
The variations experienced in the LCD readings (and audio tones in multi tone mode) obtained from targets at different depths and differing ground conditions, are discriminated out when using Pre-programmed Patterns from others, hence valuable targets could be missed completely.
Someone may have created a specific pattern for the “Park” they search on, then they give it to their friends who get excited and think it is the best for them, in my opinion and belief that same pattern may not be suitable for other park detecting sites, the ground conditions maybe different, good targets at different depths and the differing ground moisture and ground mineralisation levels could be discriminated out if such Patterns from others are used.
Even if someone creates a pattern using a test object “in air” at known depths, the ID readings obtained in the field for buried objects at various depths vary significantly to the “In Air Readings”, to such an extent that valuable detecting finds could be missed as they are discriminated out.
Certainly I encourage you to read the manual that came with your detector and experiment; I have already spent many hours regarding Patterns and have given up on them.
SEARCH SLOWLY IN HIGH TRASH AREAS
When Searching in High Trash areas always detect slowly, make sure you swing the coil slowly to give the detector a chance to pick out the good stuff, also make sure Recovery is set to FAST.
