<p><strong>I have been detecting since I was 9 years old and have owned 5 detectors over the years with number five being the E-TRAC.</strong> I had left the hobby for various reasons and at the time it was an easy choice since I was getting frustrated digging for an entire day and going home with $2 clad.</p> [split] <p>A few years back when technology started getting better, I was curious but not ready to plop down that kind of money if my heart was not really in it. last year I was watching YouTube videos and started to get the bug again and finally settled on a cheap model just to get me started again. I was not of course finding the old silvers like the experts so I started doing my online research and ended up going with the Minelab E-TRAC.</p> <p>This month makes a year that I have owned it and the first few months were rough learning for me. I finally got the E-TRAC book by Andy Sabisch and things started to make more sense.</p> <p>Fast forward to today. My goal this year was to find 30 silvers coins and as of today's find, I am at # 40. I was finding lots of silver dimes and quarters but had never found a silver half.</p> <p>Through a series of events today arising from denied permissions at several locations, I ended up at an old park that is so worked over, after 7 or 8 times there, I had never even found a wheat cent and was lucky after an entire day to come away with $1 clad.</p> <p>I set my sensitivity way up and was going real super slow when I came across a barely audible signal pegging the 12 " depth. I dug for several minutes and my hand held pinpointer got a hit. I went behind it with my shovel and there sitting on edge at 12" deep was a 1951 S Franklin Half dollar coin. My heart was pumping as I had always dreamed of finding one of those coins and what a way to end 2012. When I hear that the Minelab products truly do not even get bothered by the words "Worked out park" it really makes sense now.</p> <p>Thank you Minelab and thanks again Andy Sabisch for writing a book that helps even people like me with little patience get the hang of it.</p> <p>Good luck to everyone and fill in those holes.</p>