Introduction

Metal detectors are fascination machines. Many of the people

who use them are just as enthusiastic about extolling the virtues
of their favorite metal detector as they are about setting off in
search of buried treasure. Those of us who design and build
these instruments for a living listen carefully when one of our
customers talks about his or her experience in the field, because
this is the primary means by which we determine how well we
are doing our jobs, and what sort of things we need to do better.
Sometimes though, communication is difficult. Almost as
though we and our customers speak different languages. Which
in a sense, we do. The purpose of this page is to try to narrow
that communication gap a little. And, to resolve some of that
"typical curiosity" metal detector operators have regarding what
is going on inside their instruments.
Is it necessary to know how a metal detector works in order to
use it effectively? Absolutely not. Will knowing how it works
help someone to use it more effectively in the future? Quite
possibly yes, but only with persistence and practice. The best
metal detector available is still only as good as the person using
it.
Description
This is the circuit diagram of a low cost metal detector
using a single transistor circuit and an old pocket
radio...This is nothing but a Colpitts oscillator working in
the medium band frequency and a radio tuned to the same
frequency.First the radio and the circuit are placed
close.Then the radio is tuned so that there is no sound
from radio. In this condition the radio and the circuit will
be in same frequency and same frequencies beat off to
produce no sound.This is the set up.When the metal
detector circuit is placed near to a metal object the
inductance of its coil changes , and so do the frequency of
oscillations.Now the two frequency will be different , there
will be no canceling and radio produces a hissing
sound.The metal is
Circuit diagram:-

USES
As a hobby
There are six major types of hobbyist activities involving metal
detectors:

 Coin shooting is looking for coins after an event involving

many people, like a baseball game, or simply looking for
any old coins. Serious coin shooters will spend hours, days
and months doing historical research to locate long lost
sites that have the potential to give up historical and
collectible coins.
 Prospecting is looking for valuable metals like gold and
silver in their natural forms, such as nuggets or flakes.
 General metal detecting is very similar to coin shooting
except that the metal detectorist is after any type of
historical artifact. Metal detectorists may be dedicated to
preserving historical artifacts, and often have considerable
expertise. Coins, bullets, buttons, axe heads, and buckles
are just a few of the items that are commonly found by relic
hunters; in general the potential is far greater in Europe and
Asia than many other parts of the world. More valuable
finds in Britain alone include the Staffordshire Hoard of
Anglo-Saxon gold, sold for £3,285,000, the gold Celtic
Newark Torc, the Ringlemere Cup, West Bagborough
Hoard, Milton Keynes Hoard, Roman Crosby Garrett
Helmet, Stirling Hoard, Collette Hoard and thousands of
smaller finds.
 Beach combing is hunting for lost coins or jewelry on a
beach. Beach hunting can be as simple or as complicated as
one wishes to make it. Many dedicated beach hunters also
familiarize themselves with tide movements and beach
 erosion. There are two main techniques for beach hunting.
The first one is called "gridding", which is when you search
in a pattern. For example, you start from the beach line, and
work your way down to the shoreline, move to the side a
little, and repeat the process. The next technique is called
"Random searching". Random searching is when you walk
around the beach in no particular pattern, hoping to cover
more ground.
 Metal detecting clubs across the United States, United
Kingdom and Canada exist for hobbyists to learn from
others, show off finds from their hunts and to learn more
about the hobby.

Security screening
A series of aircraft hijackings led the Finnish company
Outokumpu to adapt mining metal detectors still housed in a
large cylindrical pipe, to the purpose of screening airline
passengers as they walked through. The development of these
systems continued in a spin off company and systems branded as
Metor Metal Detectors evolved in the form of the rectangular
gantry now standard in airports. In common with the
developments in other uses of metal detectors both alternating
current and pulse systems are used, and the design of the coils
and the electronics has moved forward to improve the
discrimination of these systems. In 1995 systems such as the
Metor 200 appeared with the ability to indicate the approximate
height of the metal object above the ground, enabling security
personnel to more rapidly locate the source of the signal.
Smaller hand held metal detectors are also used to locate a metal
object on a person more precisely.
Industrial metal detectors
Industrial metal detectors are used in the pharmaceutical, food,
beverage, textile, garment, plastics, chemicals, lumber, and
packaging industries.
Contamination of food by metal shards from broken processing
machinery during the manufacturng process is a major safety
issue in the food industry. Metal detectors for this purpose are
widely used and integrated into the production line.
Current practice at garment or apparel industry plants is to apply
metal detecting after the garments are completely sewn and
before garments are packed to check whether there is any metal
contamination (needle, broken needle, etc.) in the garments. This
needs to be done for safety reasons.

Civil engineering
In civil engineering special metal detectors (cover meters) are
used to locate rebar. Rebar detectors are less sophisticated, and
can only locate metallic objects below the surface

Applications
GPR has many applications in a number of fields. In the Earth
sciences it is used to study bedrock, soils, groundwater, and ice.
Engineering applications include nondestructive testing (NDT)
of structures and pavements, locating buried structures and
utility lines, and studying soils and bedrock. In environmental
remediation, GPR is used to define landfills, contaminant
plumes, and other remediation sites, while in archaeology it is
used for mapping archaeological features and cemeteries. GPR
is used in law enforcement for locating clandestine graves and
buried evidence. Military uses include detection of mines,
unexploded ordnance, and tunnels.
Before 1987 the Frankley Reservoir in Birmingham, England
UK was leaking 540 litres of drinking water per second. In that
year GPR was used successfully to isolate the leaks.[2]
Borehole radars utilizing GPR are used to map the structures
from a borehole in underground mining applications. Modern
directional borehole radar systems are able to produce three-
dimensional images from measurements in a single borehole.
One of the other main applications for ground penetration radars
to locate underground utilities, since GPR is able to generate 3D
underground images of pipes, power, sewage and water mains.

Three-dimensional imaging
Individual lines of GPR data represent a sectional (profile) view
of the subsurface. Multiple lines of data systematically collected
over an area may be used to construct three-dimensional or
tomographic images. Data may be presented as three-
dimensional blocks, or as horizontal or vertical slices.
Horizontal slices (known as "depth slices" or "time slices") are
essentially planview maps isolating specific depths. Time-
slicing has become standard practice in archaeological
applications, because horizontal patterning is often the most
important indicator of cultural activities.

Limitations
The most significant performance limitation of GPR is in high-
conductivity materials such as clay soils and soils that are salt
contaminated. Performance is also limited by signal scattering in
heterogeneous conditions (e.g. rocky soils).
Other disadvantages of currently available GPR systems
include:

 Interpretation of radargrams is generally non-intuitive to

the novice.
 Considerable expertise is necessary to effectively design,
conduct, and interpret GPR surveys.
 Relatively high energy consumption can be problematic for
extensive field surveys.
Recent advances in GPR hardware and software have done
much to ameliorate these disadvantages, and further
improvement can be expected with ongoing development
Disadvantage of metal detector
False Alarm
 The first disadvantage of a metal detector is that it may
give a false alarm. This may happen if someone is
carrying any sort of metal object on them (watch, phone,
toy, jewelry). This may cause panic for no reason and
cause the person to be embarrassed. This is seen as a
major inconvenience for both the person and staff.
Pacemakers and Other Devices:-
 another disadvantage is that the metal detector isn't
really helpful with people who have had to get a
pacemaker or other types of replacements such as a knee
replacement. It may also be unsafe for these people. In
most cases, these people avoid going through metal
detectors.
Interference:-
 The final disadvantage of a metal detector is that it may
interfere with certain personal devices. For example, it
may interfere with a magnetic recording device. An
example of this is a cassette or CD. It also interferes with
other things such as a cell phone, forcing people to turn it
off before walking through.