what am I doing wrong?

[artemis moon]

Found my first silver last night, ('44 Mercury Dime), so I guess I'm starting to get the hang of the machine, but I'm still having some difficulties pinpointing.

I was in a "trashy" area, and kept getting a strong signal that indicated .50, so I cut a plug and started digging, and digging. I should probably call this an excavation, and not a hole. I worked on this spot for 1/2 an hour and found absolutely nothing made of metal. I was probably down at least 11 inches. Dug under huge tree roots, kept making the hole wider, nothing..very frustrating!!!!!!! Finally called it quits after I almost got carried away by mosquitos and decided that unless I wanted to invest in spelunking equipment, I'd better start filling in the chasm and go home.

During all of this, I kept running the coil over the hole and the target seemed to move and change from .50 to a dime and back again. It also appeared to not be in the same spot twice. I kept imagining a mole with a gold collar tunneling beneath the coil I tried playing with the sensitivity, but that didn't help. Now I'm questioning if there's something wrong with the machine-do they ever need to be recalibrated?

As an aside, I did find some really cool looking old marbles

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

I will give you some examples of what the problem "may" be. But first, let me say that there is no substitute for having someone (who is proficient/experienced) actually hear what you are hearing. That is, we can only assume that, as you say, it was a bonafide signal, sounds good, etc... .yet is simply not there when you dig. Most of the time when I go out with a newbie, it is NOT as they say. They are simply confused about swing speed, false signals, re-bounds after nulls, etc....

But assuming it's a 4-star pinpointable no-doubt true signal, here's a few things I have seen fool newbies: You swing over a barrel hoop type taget. Ie.: anything large and round, like the lock rim that surrounds a hubcap, barrel hoop, etc.... Naturally, your detector will pinpoint the middle of the target. Guess what happens when you start digging? You're digging right through the middle of it! I watched a guy dig for a 1/2 hr, in rockhard dirt, down to about a foot. Finally, giving up on going deeper, he started to take the soil away from the sides of the hole - sideways, only to discover that it was a barrel hoop just barely hidden by the grass 1/2" deep.

Another time I saw a guy dig and dig and dig at the foot of a building. Everytime he'd go to swing the coil over the spot, the signal was still there! He was getting quite frustrated, assuming the machine was a piece of *$&@%. He asked me to go over it, and I heard the same thing. However, I immediately recognized the problem: Since he was at the base of a building, the lead tip of his coil was getting a signal off of a copper pipe inside the wall. The fellow didn't know that the outside front edge of the coil was also sensitive, so he assumed the signal was coming from "down" below the coil. Doh!

Another time I heard from a fellow who had sent his 6000 Di pro back to the Whites factory 2 times for "repair". He kept telling them that signals dissapeared, would not repeat, etc.... They sent it back 2x saying they could find nothing wrong with it, and suggested he was operating it wrong. He had read the instructions through and through, and was actually insulted they were telling him this (as if "what do you think?? that I'm stupid?). Turns out, each time he'd get a signal, he'd slow down to try to hear it better (thinking it was like the old TR machines) and the signal would dissapear (d/t it's a motion machine). No amount of reading the instructions about "Motion required" could convey to him what that meant. In his mind, he was thinking that meant that the coil had to be swept back and forth (hence "motion"). I mean, DUH, of course you have to move the coil. How else do you progress through the field? Duh. But when I showed him what "motion" meant, THEN he realized he hadn't been swinging it fast enough.

perhaps none of these 3 examples is what's bedevilling you, but they are for illistration only. What you really need to do is have someone who's a good hunter, and familiar with that machine, to listen to your targets, watch how you dig, etc.... Not someone who only occasionally hits sandboxes, but someone whose actually coming in with the oldies to the meetings.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Do you have a probe/pinpointer? If not I would look into getting one as it can greatly help you on times like that.

Another possible explanation is it could be you are seeing an hallo of what use to be there and it is no longer there. Just the rusted remains in the soil. (target rusted away).

I hunt with a probe when land hunting, it helps make the recoveries a lot quicker so I can cover more territory. You can turn the sensitivity up or down on the probe to help locate the target quicker.

Faster recovery means more hunting and more recoveries.

Good luck and good hunting.

 

[artemis moon]

Thanks for the advice! I didn't realize that the coil had to be moving over the target either

I keep thinking that I'd love to have someone who really knows what they are doing go with me once or twice and give me pointers. The way it is, my husband goes with me and gets me all flustered (like when he tried to teach me how to drive a stick ) and then I just hand him the machine and tell him to have at it.

I did order an inexpensive probe (Wizard Vib Probe) and it arrived this morning, so now I'm going to have to figure out how to use that as well..do you just point it in the area that you think the target is in, or do you use it to sort of dig around until the tip touches the metal?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Don't want to move coil too fast, but it has to be moving. I probably sweep mine on pinpointing about 2.5 to 3 sec total left side to right side to left side when I first start pinpointing, then narrow down length of sweep as it narrows in on target and sweep faster if that helps. I never actually timed it, but that is close.

No digging, use it to find what part of the hole the target is located. Just remember it is pulse induction and will react to any metal. Move it lightly along the soil, it will vibrate or beep when close to target.

If you have it set for maximum sensitivity and you get no response you may not be deep enough yet if your detector pinpointer says its still there.

All of this is based on fact you have a good signal (target). If it is interference, hallo effect, unstable settings or pilot error you will still not find it, but it does greatly help.

Instead of getting frustrated with your husband, get him a unit and challange him.

Don't get frustrated, and keep learning.....

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

The width of the "swipe" can be important, too. A Sovereign GT can pinpoint with just a half-coil wide wobble, but my F-75 needs a 18" fast pass to work effectively. I also get better depth if I move it fast - just the opposite of, say, an Explorer. It's all part of learning YOUR detector.

Sometimes a large target will fool the detector into displaying it as a shallow, smaller object of better conductivity (say, a tractor seat at 3 feet reading as a silver quarter at 8 inches). Usually this happens when it is just on the outside fringe of being detected and the unit seems to be groping for something to display. These times are when you have to start analyzing the audio with the display as well as the "width" of the signal (how long/wide it "beeps" whan swept) and other factors. (Does it change numbers when I lift the coil, switch to All Metal, adjust the discrimination, etc.).

I had a good dime reading in sand/silt that I dug at for way too long. Finally, I started practically sifting the area and found a 3/4" piece of bent & twisted aluminum ground wire that was pitted and near invisible to the eye. A good pinpointer will add much pleasure to your hunting in such cases. And a spare battery (D'oh!).

Another time I was getting multiple hits (with my audio-only Musky) and could find nothing Turned out to be nichrome wires from lightbulbs that had been broken at a carnival and, apparantly, the brass bases picked up. Bits of glass was my clue there or it would still probably be unsilved. Took another good chunk of my hunting time to figure that one out. Try finding 2" of black thread in the sod of your lawn some time. You can look at it without seeing it for a LONG time.

 

[luvsdux]

All the suggestions here are very good. I've dug some pretty deep holes just to find (finally) that the actual target was just inside the edge of the hole (but not actually deep)so as not to be seen. Another scenario that happens often is a target that is quite small - piece of wire, lead shot, head off a horseshoe nail etc. is in the dirt you are handling, has been in the ground long enough to pick up the color of the soil and is very difficult to see. In both these cases, a pinpointer speeds up the operation considerably. I mentioned the head from a horse
shoe nail because one time I actually did dig one from an old buggy trail. Surprisingly, my detector picked it up (even though it was quite small) at a measured 7". If it hadn't been for my pinpointer, I would have lost considerably more time picking it out of the soil.
Hunt hard, dig deep,
luvsdux

 

[jimmatt_43]

HI all ,
I am fairly new to this pass time too.I also have an ace 250 and have spent a lot of time
looking for moving or invisible targets. Thanks for the tips.
HH,
Jim
P.S. Do tree roots have any affect on your signal?

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

I'm having the same problem, Ace right? Well come to find out it reads coins, jewelery diffrently than relics. I can pinpoint pull tabs and bottle caps in a second. I'm finding out the iron is not the same pinponting technique, now you tell me :- ? I even re-read the manual this morning . Check this out I think it may help...

http://www.garrett.com/hobby/techsupport/pinpointing.htm#