Bought a $40 ground penetrating radar rental for a backyard dig near St. Augustine, absolute waste of money for shallow soil

3 comments

3 Comments

Different tools have their place, but GPR in sandy Florida soil near the coast is a gamble. You're basically trying to see through sand that's often mixed with salt water and shells, which messes with the signal. Sounds like you needed a $40 lesson instead of a gold find.

lindal1325d ago

Had a buddy try this exact thing down near Destin last year. He spent a whole afternoon dragging that GPR across a spot he was sure had an old shipwreck signal. All he got was a screen full of noise and a sunburn. Turned out the "wreck" was just a buried concrete block from an old pier covered in shell hash and brine.

alicehernandez22d ago

Did you ever hear about that time someone tried using ground radar up near Panama City Beach to look for buried Civil War artifacts? I read a blog post about a guy who swore he found a cannon, but it turned out to be a corroded propane tank (someone's old grill, maybe). And @taylor12 is totally right about the saltwater and shells being a nightmare for GPR - it's like trying to hear a whisper in a windstorm. That whole "shipwreck" thing is just wishful thinking mixed with bad geology, honestly.