Brendan Picha started metal detecting in his teens, swinging a cheap Radio Shack metal detector with an analog display. Since then, Brendan has continued with the hobby and has been metal detecting for over 25 years. Originally from New Hampshire, in 2018 Brendan and his family moved to Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was excited to explore and detect such a historically significant area and would take a new approach to the hobby. Brendan leveraged his tech skills to find new permissions, connect with local detectorists, and help detectorists learn as much as possible about the hobby. He went on to launch the Chester County Metal Detecting website and Facebook group. Through these channels, he met new detecting friends, secured new permissions, partnered with local historical societies, and found some great coins and relics. In 2023, Brendan launched the Metal Detecting Academy to scale networking amongst metal detectorists and to help detectorists of all levels learn about metal detecting.