Quick troubleshooting table

Short on time? Look up your symptom and start with the first check.

1. I don't know where I'm allowed to detect or how to get permission

Short answer: in the Netherlands you may only detect with the landowner's permission, and within the rules of the municipality and the site manager. You may never detect on protected archaeological monuments.

For beginners this is often the biggest hurdle. The hobby is legal, but "detecting anywhere" is not. Fortunately it is often easier than expected if you approach it the right way.

How to go about it

1. Check the rules first. Look up the local bylaw (APV) of the municipality (via lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl) and check whether the site is an archaeological monument.
2. Find the owner. Don't know who owns a field? Ask at the nearest farm. Neighbours often know who the owner or tenant is.
3. Ask in person and be specific. Say who you are, when you'd like to detect, that you fill holes neatly and take rubbish away. Offer to show your finds.
4. Put agreements in writing. Especially if you come back to the same land: a short message prevents misunderstandings about what is and isn't allowed.

Detect tip: farmers appreciate it when you take scrap metal away. Clearing wire, nails and tin is reason enough for many landowners to say yes.

Read where you can and can't go detecting →

2. I hardly ever find anything interesting

Short answer: the location matters far more than the detector. Where people never came, there is little to find. Research in advance where people used to live, travel and gather.

Many detectorists search the same easy-to-reach spot for months and get frustrated. A more expensive detector usually won't fix that. What does help:

How to find more promising sites

• Use old maps. On Topotijdreis you can see what an area in the Netherlands looked like since 1815. Look for vanished farms, old roads, crossroads, fords and church paths.
• Check the elevation model. The AHN viewer shows small differences in height. Higher, dry spots in a wet landscape were often inhabited early on.
• Look at the soil itself. Pottery sherds, rubble or discolouration in the topsoil point to human activity.
• Search thoroughly rather than widely. Better to search one promising field slowly and systematically than to rush across five.
• Search together. Through a club or an organised detecting day you get access to land you'd never get permission for on your own, and you learn quickly from experienced detectorists.

Adjust your expectations too: an afternoon without special finds is normal. Experienced detectorists often measure success per season, not per day.

This is what an organised detecting day looks like (video in Dutch).

3. I go detecting at the wrong time or in bad weather

Short answer: fields are most interesting after harvest and ploughing, beaches around low tide and after a strong storm. During the growing season crops are in the field and detecting there is usually not possible.

What to look out for

• Fields: ploughing brings new material to the surface. A field that has been "rained out" a few times often shows more. Never walk through crops.
• Pasture: possible all year with permission. In a dry summer the ground is hard and digging neatly is harder.
• Beach: search around low tide; tide times for the Dutch coast are available from Rijkswaterstaat (waterinfo.rws.nl). After a storm, waves can strip sand away and expose older layers.
• Weather: in frost you damage turf and finds. In a thunderstorm, stop immediately.

Does your detector get noisier after a rain shower? Wet, mineralised ground can give more ground signal. A new ground balance often fixes it (see problem 4).

4. My detector keeps beeping or gives false signals

Short answer: a detector that beeps for no reason is usually not broken. The sensitivity is too high, there is electronic interference nearby (power lines, electric fences, phones, another detector) or the ground is playing up.

Try these three steps

1. Lower the sensitivity a few steps. A stable detector finds more than one that is hissing at maximum.
2. Run a noise cancel or frequency scan. Hold the coil still, in the air and away from metal. Put your phone at a distance.
3. Redo the ground balance. Especially after rain or on a different piece of land the ground can react differently.

Does it only beep while swinging? Then the coil may be touching the ground or vegetation, there may be metal on your shoes or shovel, or the cable may be loose. Does the problem persist after these steps, even at a quiet spot? Then further troubleshooting is needed.

How to deal with electronic interference (EMI) on the XP DEUS II (video in Dutch).

See the complete troubleshooting guide →

5. I don't know which settings to use

Short answer: start with your detector's default or factory program and change one setting at a time. Settings from a video won't automatically work on your ground.

Every field, beach and meadow is different. What works perfectly for a YouTuber in England may be unstable on your sandy or clay soil. Build it up step by step:

1. Choose a default program that suits your terrain (general, beach, park).
2. Run the ground balance as described in the manual.
3. Set the sensitivity as high as remains stable, and no higher.
4. Use little discrimination. Rather hear iron as a low tone than filter it out completely.
5. Change one thing, search for fifteen minutes and judge the result.

Detect tip: place a few known objects in your garden (coin, nail, ring pull) and listen to how your detector reacts. You'll get to know your detector faster this way than from any table.

Read the explanation of all basic settings →
Using an XP DEUS II? See the guide to every setting →

6. My Target ID numbers keep jumping

Short answer: a jumping number does not mean your detector is broken. Depth, position, shape, the ground and other metal nearby all affect the number.

• Swing from another direction. If the number and tone stay the same from two directions, the signal is more reliable.
• Swing slower and lower. A deep or small target gives a weak signal and therefore a changing number.
• Listen as well. A clear, repeatable tone often tells you more than the display.

Don't compare numbers between brands: an 80 on one detector is not the same as an 80 on another. A stable, high number is no guarantee either: aluminium can read just as high as a coin.

Read what Target ID numbers do and don't mean →

7. My detector doesn't get enough depth

Short answer: detection depth depends mainly on the size of the object, the ground and the search coil. Maximum sensitivity often makes your detector noisier, not deeper.

• Stability before sensitivity. Set the sensitivity as high as your detector stays quiet.
• Keep the coil low. Every centimetre between coil and ground costs depth.
• Choose the right coil. On clean, open ground a larger coil can find larger objects deeper. On contaminated or mineralised ground a smaller coil often works better.
• Do a proper ground balance. On mineral-rich ground this makes a noticeable difference.

Note: an air test says little about depth in the field. In the ground, minerals, moisture and the position of the object all play a part.

Everything about detection depth →
Which coil suits your terrain? →

8. My detector is unstable on wet beach sand

Short answer: wet salty sand conducts electricity, and many detectors react to it. A beach program, a good ground balance and slightly less sensitivity help. Multi-frequency detectors are often clearly more stable here.

How to search more steadily on the beach

1. Select the beach program on your detector if it has one.
2. Ground balance on the wet sand itself, not on the dry sand.
3. Lower the sensitivity step by step until the noise is acceptable.
4. Swing parallel to the waterline. This keeps the moisture under your coil more even.
5. Work around low tide and keep an eye on the tide. Never go further into the water than is safe.

A single-frequency detector on a low frequency can work fine on dry sand but often struggles in wet sand. Do you regularly search wet sand or the surf? Then a waterproof multi-frequency detector is worth considering.

Which detector suits the beach or the field? →
Single frequency or multi-frequency? →

9. I only find iron, nails, ring pulls and trash

Short answer: finding trash is part of the hobby, and sites with lots of iron often hold something good too. The real problem is that iron can "mask" good signals. With a smaller coil, slower swing and higher recovery speed you'll hear good targets between the iron more often.

Why does this happen?

When a coin and a nail are under your coil at the same time, the detector hears a mixed signal. Often the iron wins. If you then use a lot of discrimination, the whole signal is filtered out and you walk past the coin.

How to find more good targets between the iron

1. Swing slower and with short sweeps in iron-heavy spots.
2. Use a smaller coil. A smaller detection field "separates" targets more often.
3. Increase the recovery speed (reactivity) if your detector has this setting.
4. Use less discrimination and rather hear iron as a low tone.
5. Check doubtful signals from another direction. A good target next to a nail often sounds better from one direction.
6. Take trash with you. Every nail you remove makes the next search at that spot quieter.

Do you really only find modern trash, such as cans and ring pulls? That tells you something about the site: it is usually a recently used spot with little older history. See problem 2 on how to choose a more promising site.

Read how to set recovery speed and discrimination →
View smaller coils for trashy ground →

10. I swing the wrong way and miss targets

Short answer: keep the coil level and low over the ground, swing steadily and let your sweeps overlap. The most common mistake is letting the coil rise at the end of each swing.

• Keep it level: the coil stays parallel to the ground throughout the swing.
• Keep it low: a few centimetres above the ground, without scraping.
• Overlap: take a short step after each swing so you don't skip strips.
• Steady pace: swinging too fast can miss weak signals, especially with older or single-frequency detectors.
• Shaft length: adjust the shaft so you can stand upright with the coil level in front of you.

More about swing technique →

11. I hear a signal but can't find the object

Short answer: pinpoint the spot accurately with the cross method, use a pinpointer and put the soil you dig out on a mat. Is the signal gone after digging? Then the object is almost always in the soil you've already dug out.

How to find the object faster

1. Pinpoint using the cross method or your detector's pinpoint function.
2. Dig a generous hole, just off centre, so you don't hit the object.
3. Check the dug-out soil first with your pinpointer.
4. Then the walls and bottom of the hole. Small objects often stick to the side.
5. Still nothing? Sweep the hole and soil again with your detector. Sometimes the object is deeper or slightly further away than you thought.

Detect tip: for many detectorists a pinpointer is the accessory that saves the most time. You dig less and damage fewer finds.

How a pinpointer works in practice, shown with the XP MI-4 and MI-6 (video in Dutch).

View pinpointers at Detect →

12. I don't know how deep I may dig or how to dig neatly

Short answer: as a hobby detectorist in the Netherlands you may dig to a maximum of 30 centimetres, provided you have permission and the site isn't protected. In grassland, dig with a U-shaped plug and leave the spot as you found it.

Digging neatly isn't just good manners. It is the main reason landowners let you come back.

• Grassland: cut a plug on three sides and fold it open. Afterwards, put it back and press it down.
• Field: dig a compact hole and fill it in straight away.
• Tools: a narrow, sturdy shovel with a sharp edge works better than a garden spade. In grassland a turf knife is handy for a clean plug.
• Deeper than 30 cm? Then it falls outside the exemption. With a large or unusual signal, stop and get in touch (see problem 15).

Read the metal detecting rules in the Netherlands →
View shovels for metal detecting →

13. My wireless coil or headphones aren't working

Short answer: first check the batteries of all components, restart everything and check that the right coil or headphones are paired. Only then look at re-pairing or software updates.

Check in this order

1. Batteries: fully charge the remote, coil and headphones.
2. Restart: switch all components off and on again.
3. Pairing: is the right coil or headphone selected? Is the volume not set to zero or muted?
4. Test with a known object: does the display show a signal but you hear nothing? Then the problem is the audio, not the detection.
5. Software versions: with XP, the detector, coil and headphones must have compatible versions. Only use official updates for your model.

Does the connection keep dropping at the same spot, or after a fall or rain shower? Then get in touch to have it checked, and never open a coil yourself.

Clearing paired coils on your XP detector (video in Dutch).

Step by step: pairing XP wireless components →
Safely updating the XP DEUS II and ICON →
Detailed help with connection problems →

14. My find is dirty or corroded: how do I clean it?

Short answer: don't clean an old or possibly archaeological find yourself. Patina and corrosion are part of the object, and cleaning can permanently damage detail and value. Take photos first and ask for advice.

• Do: let loose soil dry and remove it carefully. Store the find dry in a bag or small box, with a note of where you found it.
• Don't: use sanding, steel wool, polishes, acids or a hard brush on old coins and metal objects.
• Unsure how old it is? Treat the find as old and report it (see problem 15).

Identifying and caring for your finds →

15. I've made a special or dangerous find

Short answer: with possible munitions, stop immediately, touch nothing and call 112. In the Netherlands you are legally required to report archaeological finds, for example via Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands (PAN).

A special archaeological find

1. Record the find spot with your phone (GPS location) and photograph the find.
2. Don't clean anything and store the find dry and safe.
3. Report the find to PAN or the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).
4. Several coins together? Stop digging, leave the rest in place and contact the municipal archaeologist or the RCE.

Reporting helps archaeology, and you often get more information about your own find in return.

Read how to report an archaeological find →
What to do with unusual and dangerous finds →