A real head scracher

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI my friends: K, if you are in an area with variable iron ore concentrations, such as the familiar black sand, as you sweep you either use manual or auto ground balance. Now if you move from an area with, shall we say, a certain level of iron ore reactance to an area that may be of a lesser concentation, the sound will rise similar to a metalic reaction.

---> ( Iron say 10) --> (area of lesser iron content say a value of 3) --> (Iron of 10)

sound level/meter 0 sound level/ meter rises Sound level/meter drops to original

The above is a crude example. A simple semi check is to make a large pass one way checking level of meter/sound, then do the same at right angles. if the level remains the same both ways, dig. he he.

If it varies forget it, however, there is a possible similar reaction from a piece of metal that has an elongated shape. Sooooo dig also.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Thor.500]

Thanks Real. Is that more or less your own preferred method of ground balancing then? I do realize the importance of balancing, (fortunate for me that the GMT has an auto fast tracking setting that is supposed to help out with that). I do hope it won't be long before I get the hang of using the manual adjustments, but in the short term, I really don't think I'm quite ready for a solo just yet.
wouldn't ya know it...just as soon as I take delivery of my new MD I come down with a flu bug, so It's probably going to be at least another day or two before I can get out and try it out. Oh well. I'll just have to use the time getting more familiar with the owner's manual, and maybe hearing from some more of you folks in here with any tips for beginners you may have.
Thanks again for the pointers any help is much appreciated.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I'm brand new to MD. I just bought my first unit. It's a Whites GMT. I'm replying to this post because I live here in Laramie as well, and this subject makes me wonder if it may be possible to get alot of false positive readings in this area simply because of the high content of iron all over the region. I mean to say that there is a reason that the hills all around us here are red. Forgive me if my question seems a bit pedestrian, but being new to this, I need to hear a few things from those who've been doing it for awhile. I do have certain advantages with my own equipment. From what I do understand, it does have a good reputation for being able to discriminate between the iron and non-iron targets, but I just wonder if there may be a significant handicap when hunting in areas where iron content is so high.

High iron can be a handicap. Most detectors will mask iron well (iron reacts differently than other metals when comparing the inductance and resistance/conductivity - which is all detectors actually do). The problem is that some detectors want to not trouble you with iron to the extent that they null-out when iron is present . . . and any gold or silver, unfortunately, as well. An "iron mask" with no eyeholes. A good detector will still give a high signal for more conductive metals in the presence of iron. A great detector will pick out an item above or below iron.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Hi: Small thingie, but what if that small iron box that is eliminated was loaded with collector's Gold coins, or Diamond jewelry? Cache hunting requires that all reactions must be dug up. coin hunting does not. Your choice.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Shortstack]

Hi: Small thingie, but what if that small iron box that is eliminated was loaded with collector's Gold coins, or Diamond jewelry? Cache hunting requires that all reactions must be dug up. coin hunting does not. Your choice.

Don Jose de La Mancha

Exactly correct, and that rusted box would NOT allow the detector's detector to detect those, otherwise, detectable coins.

 

[Thor.500]

Thanks again to all of you for the helpful tips. As far as the actual hunting goes, my main purpose is prospecting, so I would prefer not to dig every target, (though I'm sure I'll dig alot of them until I get to be more familiar with the various tones), but I think that the number of holes I dig may depend upon the amount of research I've done on the area I'm searching. Like any searches I might get to make along the Oregon trail. Artifacts could easily be worth more than gold or silver, but when I'm scanning for black sand deposits along a riverbank or tracking for gold in a dry wash, I was thinking I may well want to screen out obvious iron probability, (77% or higher). Obviously, I'll alter that as I think I need to. And if I don't have much luck hitting targets other than iron. One other thing I wanted to ask is whether or not I can expect an especially distinctive tone if I were to come across a target made of zinc, (like the old mason jar lids were, or maybe some tin; for that matter), would brass be at all distinguishable from any of these other metals (based on tone)? Or am I just having unreasonable expectations? If so, then I may have to reassess and just follow the advice to just dig everything. I don't know...maybe I just answered my own question. I'd really like to find someone to go out into the field with at some point. That might thin out all of these newbie questions a bit. Will there be any upcoming events with local clubs you might direct me to?

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Thor: Generally, unless unusually large, all worthwhile metallic objects will have a short area of rapid rise and fall of the method of indication in your instrument. Normally conductive ground is indicated by a loong easy sweep with slow drop offs at the edges, if they exist.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Thor.500]

I can't believe this kind of rapid response. Thank you very much Don Jose'. I can see now that I made a good choice in joining this website. There's clearly plenty of knowledge base here. I'm growing confident that I'll learn a lot from the treasurenet forums. And I am just getting started, so I look forward to much more info from this source. I know that, in the long term, I'll need to just get out there and learn much of what there is to know from practical experience, but it's a huge advantage to learn what I can from folks like you who've already been out there for awhile. Much thanks.

 

[RPG]

BACK to your Original Question.

The OBJECT? IS large IRON, and was Off to the Side,

Your Pinpointing was Off, Because The Edge of your Coil Was Actually Getting The Signal, Not the Center of the Coil As is Normal.

IF you Can, Widen the Hole, You Will Find It.

I'v Seen this Happen MANY times to Others, They would Call me over With My Probe & I'd Find the Object 2 to 3 Inches Away from their Hole, & it's Always Rusted Iron.

Solved. A square nail off too one side will fool any detector. I don't know why but it will. Been there and done it too many times.

 

[swizzle]

Re: A real head scratcher

The same thing happened to me last night. I was using a minelab xterra 30. Different machine but same results. I got a faint signal and pinpointed it and dug my plug. I went over the hole and pinpointed a stronger signal. Dug out a bunch of sand and then back to the original signal. The deeper I went the fainter the signal got. After widening the hole just a bit I found the square nail. About 6 inches from where it was pinpointing. I've also had these mystery signals as a result of of small staples and BBs. A magnet can be very helpful with tiny annoying items such as fine rusted metal no thicker then a bread wrapper and bits of rust from a relic that was removed long ago. Swiz

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

good morning my friends: I just noticed thast it was a horse corral or pasture. May I remind you that horse's er, ahh, pee, is loaded with salts. Most of which are reactive, just like being at the sea shore.

In fact corrals are some of the best places to look for a buried treasure. Extremely easy to bury something in one, then merely run the stock over the spot and presto, it is hidden, no evidence of any digging.

Don Jose de La Mancha