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TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE Document: On How to Submit State Metal Detecting Legislation

Introduction

Metal Detecting is becoming a recognized recreational hobby and has also contributed to learning more about our past though some very important finds. Today, there are more and more battlefield projects in the U.S. that use volunteer metal detectorist. Metal Detectorist with their expertise can be a great help in locating battlefield artifacts.

England passed a Treasure Act in 1996. Since its enactment this act has provided the legal environment for many great historical and valuable metal detecting finds. Evidence of these finds are published almost on a daily bases.

It is time in the U.S. that state metal detecting laws come under review. Some states prohibit metal detecting completely, other states set rigid limitation and a few states have no regulation or law at all just internal DNR memorandum.

So with these thoughts in mind, the following document was written. The focus is on what you need to know and what to consider if you are about to seek change or create new recreational metal detecting state law.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Terry Wright, Metal Detecting Association of Washington http://www.metaldetectwa.org for taking the time to share his knowledge about working with state legislators. Terry has been involved with state officials since 1986 concerning metal detecting law. He and a team of metal detectorist from many Washington State Metal Detecting Clubs were instrumental in getting an Act passed in 1996 which is the foundation for today’s metal detecting law in Washington State.

Purpose of This Paper

The overall objective of this document is to provide an informative framework that can be used to create, change and submit state legislation for recreational metal detecting. The sole intent is to provide aid and prepare a state metal detecting association or committee as they approach the task of getting metal detecting legislation passed.

All states have direct or indirect laws, regulations, or internal memorandum that may forbid or restrict recreational metal detecting on public lands. The goal of many of these laws is not only to limit metal detecting, but to make recreational metal detecting outright unlawful on state lands, seashores and beaches.

In this document will find one example and up to seven different legislative options that could be used to create metal detecting state legislation. The document will highlight the federal and state barriers to any metal detecting legislation, list the opposed interested parties, plus provide seven appendices with reference and support materials. Finally, this document should provide a workable blueprint on how to move forward with any metal detecting legislative initiative.

Note: This main body of the article is about 26 pages long with the remaining part of the document consisting of seven appendixes' that take up another 100 pages of support material.

Read More Get The Full Article This is a 1.7 Meg. Byte File

Metal detecting buff reunites Sacramento dad with his wedding ring

A Placer County man's find on a Santa Cruz beach turned out to be a Sacramento man's treasure.

Lee Wiese said the ring he plucked from the sand was one of more than a dozen rings he and fellow members of the Sacramento Valley Detecting Buffs, a metal detecting club, discovered during a recent weekend outing.

"I didn't think much about it," Wiese said.

But two days later, a fellow club member spotted an ad for a lost ring on Craigslist that matched the description of Wiese's find. Friday, thanks to Wiese, Sacramento resident Spencer Quan was reunited with his wedding ring in a Citrus Heights parking lot.
Read More

An Opinion on Metal Detector Ergonomics
 
In the U.S. metal detecting market there are six major manufacturers of detectors and these six manufacturers offer more than 59 different models. These multi-functional detector models start at a price of $200 or less and go to a high of $1,500 or more, so choosing the right detector can be a challenging task. The intent of this article is to provide guidance on one very important aspect of metal detectors - ergonomics. Ergonomics should be one of most important elements in any decision to purchase a detector since friendly ergonomics will result in the efficient use of the operator’s energy and minimize the possibly of sore muscles or injury to the operator over time.
 
Ergonomics is defined as the science related to man and his work, embodying the anatomic, physiologic, and mechanical principles affecting the efficient use of human energy.
 
Detector ergonomics comes down to THREE major issues; the gripping of the detector with your hand, weight / balance of the detector and adjustability of the detector’s handle length. Excellent ergonomic design will result in less strain put on the wrist, arm, shoulder, and/or back during the use of the detector.
 
First there are two types of handle designs used by detector manufactures: the “L” shaped handle and “S” shaped handle. In the two photos you can see an example of each of the designs and how they are gripped.
 

“L” Shape Handle: Take a look at the “L” shaped handle in the photo (at the DOTTED RED ARROW) and note that the remaining portion of the handle for coil attachment is designed to extend outward below the hand and wrist. This design feature helps to reduce the load on the wrist during the swing of the search coil.  An additional feature of this handle’s design is that the electronics is usually mounted on top of the “L” portion of the handle placing the electronics above the hand (see the BLUE CIRCLE). Now take another look at the hand gripping the “L” shaped handle in the photo (at the SOLID RED ARROW) and you will see the angle on the hand and wrist is in a more natural position with little or no strain on the wrist. Take your own hand and hold it in that position, you will feel no strain.


“S” Shape Handle: Now take a look at the “S” shaped handle in the photo (at the DOTTED RED ARROW) note that the remaining portion of the handle extends forward and outward above the hand and wrist where the coil and electronics (see the BLUE CIRCLE) are attached. Now look at the gripping of the “S” shaped handle in the photo (see the SOLID RED ARROW) and you will see that the hand is tipped slightly downward. This slight downward tilt of the hand puts an unnatural strain on the wrist and forearm and will over time extend to the shoulder. Note: some “S” handles may have a greater vertical angle design that will bring the grip closer to the “L” design grip. The mounting of the electronics after the grip will add weight to the swing of the search coil and increase the strain on the wrist. Take your own hand and hold it in that position, you will feel a slight strain in the wrist area.
 
The second ergonomic issue is the weight of the detector and how the weight is distributed on the detector’s handle. One of the specifications of a detector is weight with and without the batteries installed but there is usually no discussion or specification on detector balance. A well balanced detector should have a fulcrum or balance point where the hand grips the handle. This is the point where there is equal weight before and after the grip, the best possible situation for swinging the search coil for a long period of time.
 
For the “L” shaped handle the electronics are ideally placed directly above the hand grip and usually the batteries are placed under the forearm for added balance to the overall assembly. This brings the balance point very close to the hand grip but still slightly forward of the grip point. This design is approaching the ideal situation.
 
The “S” shaped handle usually has the electronics placed on the handle after the hand grip position which puts more weight past the gripping position. The placement of the electronics after grip position toward the search coil end will result in a very un-balanced handle. This situation puts a greater load on the wrist and forearm because the balance point is much further forward of the grip position.
 
The third ergonomic issue of importance is the ability to extend the lower handle to the correct length for good upright posture while swinging the search coil. This adjustment will reduce the strain on the operators shoulder and back. Improper adjustment can cause the operator to bend over while swinging the coil and may result in a lower back stress during the hunt period.
 
There are a few more ergonomic issues one must be aware of with detectors. First the detector must have an audio volume control & a headphone jack. The audio output should be stereo and the volume control should cover a wide range for good operator comfort and target identification. Also if the detector has an LCD display, the display information should be very readable (Large Characters) in bright sun light and have an excellent back lighted display for night use.
 
The recommendation is that for new detector purchases there should be a review of the detector’s ergonomics before hitting the BUY button. Make sure the detector is light, well balanced, and has a good grip design that will put less strain on the wrist, the arm, shoulder and back while swinging that search coil for the treasure find of a life time.  A side note: some manufactures offer ultra light detector to enhance the ergonomics of their models and this certainly makes a huge difference during their usage. Also there are a number of after market manufactures that offer “L” shaped handles for many of the major manufacturers’ detector models. Their products can be found on the web.  Download this Article

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The vision for Metal Detecting Hobby Talk is to get viewers to post their metal detecting club & event information, local metal detecting laws, detecting tips, detecting articles, and metal detecting knowledge in general so that other detectorist may learn from those that have more experience. All the material that is sent to MDHTALK and posted will be credited with the author's name, a short bio, and email address. There are no limitations as to what written material can be posted except that it must be metal detecting related.

Metal Detecting Hobby Talk could be considered a portal into the metal detecting internet community. The website was designed to be a depository for information related to the recreational metal detecting hobby. MDHTALK offers information on: laws, national resources, state resources, metal detecting clubs, local requirements, legislation, events calendar, metal detecting articles, various training classes, and many other current news events concerning metal detecting. Metal Detecting Hobby Talk is a website dedicated to the hobby of recreation metal detecting.

The Home page design is fashion to appear much like a page of a newspaper. This webpage incorporates the use of mouse over drop down menus, a mouse over slide out menu and standard single button menu, therefore, all you need to do is select a menu topic. You will also find the use of scroll bars on the home page. Scroll bars allow more material to be available for viewing without displaying all the material at once. Just select the scroll bar down arrow on the right side of any article with your mouse pointer and pull downward to display more of the article’s content.

No one website can cover all aspects of the metal detecting hobby therefore you will find many links to other websites that provide very good HOW TO information on metal detecting. Near the site link there may be a short description of what the viewer can expect from the site.

The site will be under constant revision to keep the website inline and current with what is happening in the metal detecting community. This means new articles and links will be constantly added and in some cases material may be deleted.

On the right upper side of your display is a menu called CONTACT US. Place your mouse pointer on the menu, seven sub-menus will appear. Select one of the five sub-menus fill out the form and send to MDHTALK. Information received will be used to update the current information on the site or if the information is new it will be added to the site database. You will also find an email sub-menu where you can send an email to MDHTALK with a metal detecting article, general information, comment or a question.

So take a look and provide some feedback to MDHTALK by using the Guestbook or email. Don’t forget to provide MDHTALK with information on laws in your area, your metal detecting club profile, events or other items of interest. Consider writing an metal detecting article or offer a tip for the site.

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