Abandoned a good signal

[TampaTroy]

I had a nice high tone on my atpro yesterday in a sand tot lot that read 6-8" down at medium sensitivity. The reading was 85 and sometimes flashing 90.
After I dug 10" I turned the sensitivity up and nearly blew my headphones off and now read the max of 10" deep. I dug another 6" and was hitting roots and old dirt. I had to let it go for now but the signal was still strong. I was afraid It was going to turn out to be some old utility line.
The community was only built in the 30's but was a hunting preserve back at the turn of the century.
Should I go back to it or is it probably not a coin that deep?

 

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[bighoss1975]

Could be a big piece of iron.

 

[pkb]

crushed can

 

[choppadude]

I would say it is a big piece of can or such. It is not always enough to have a good signal, you need a good REPEATABLE signal that stays within one or 2 numbers on the VDI

 

[K1DDO1979]

I went out today and passed up a for sure large cent or token. Was a perfect hit and depth for one and I got others there before but the ground was frozen solid and under a big tree root. It was rough leaving it but I would have mangled it getting it out for sure. As soon as I know the ground is ready I'm there. I think I missed it other times at that spot because there is a shallow trash hit right beside it. I sometimes can get to the soft soil under the frozen layer but this time it was like concrete the whole time.

 

[73dguard]

if it is a line, then you should be able to track it as such. sometimes those tot lots have funky "telephone tubes" what I call them that go from one end of the play center to the other. what about nearby drinking fountains? I haven't got iron that high yet copper wire and composite wire (mystery metal) yes.

 

[RustyGold]

Maybe it's a cache and not a can??

 

[BVI Hunter]

a silver ingot?

hey! until you dig it you just never know..........

 

[Normsel]

Most likely a an aluminum can, that has happened to me several times

 

[TampaTroy]

I guess it could be just about anything but I won't know till I dig it up. Just might have to bring the drain spade to get to it.

 

[crazy4coins]

I would say it is a big piece of can or such. It is not always enough to have a good signal, you need a good REPEATABLE signal that stays within one or 2 numbers on the VDI

Sorry Choppadude, but I'm going to have to disagree with you here. The chances of any good target below an inch or two staying within one or two VDI numbers is VERY slim with most VLF machines. Most of the coins I dig fluctuate up to ten VDI numbers or even more depending on the depth. The only time it stays right on is when I swing it over an unburied coin. Usually, if it spikes into the high tones, I dig it, if there aren't any other red flags. Sometimes it turns out I be a coin, other times it doesn't, but I can't leave a site knowing I could have left something behind. Just my $.02

 

[TampaTroy]

I will defiantly have to go back. It wil drive me nuts otherwise. I would rather dig up a can than not know what's down there.

 

[l2hunt]

I wonder if they back filled the lot, I would think so! So at 10 inches, maybe a can, but ya never know for sure unless ya keep on a diggin' HH

 

[choppadude]

Well my AT Stays pretty close to the VDI # on a coin or token unless it is getting toward the limit of the depth for the machine. Dimes are 81-82 95% of the time and quarters are 84-85. Pennies fluctuate a bit since you have the copper cents and the zinc cents. Also the older IH cents are different from the Lincolns.
Nothing wrong with disagreeing with me as long as we can both agree that I am right LOL!

 

[JunkDetector]

I had a similar thing happen in a playground. My guess is some sort of pipe or wire.

 

[McClod]

I've had similar thing happen to me at tot lots before too. once it was a large piece of aluminum pipe, like a chunk of the corner piece of a fence post. Another time, I never found out, dug down quite a ways, couldn't find what it was but scanned around and found it ran in a straight line towards some other play ground equipment. There was some sort of rubberized matting down there as well and I didn't want to tear things up they might have to fix so I let it go and moved on. I know how you feel, I hate leaving a good signal like that behind but it could be anything down there, odds are it is NOT what you're hoping for anyway. I'm just saying that from my own experience, you have to do what you have to do to satisfy your own curiosity.

 

[crazy4coins]

Well my AT Stays pretty close to the VDI # on a coin or token unless it is getting toward the limit of the depth for the machine. Dimes are 81-82 95% of the time and quarters are 84-85. Pennies fluctuate a bit since you have the copper cents and the zinc cents. Also the older IH cents are different from the Lincolns.
Nothing wrong with disagreeing with me as long as we can both agree that I am right LOL!

Wow! I've never heard that before. Is this in soil or in sand/wood chips though?

 

[choppadude]

Wow! I've never heard that before. Is this in soil or in sand/wood chips though?

Most of my digging is done at turn of the century parks or old homesteads. Just regular crappy NY soil LOL!

 

[Gaspipe]

My question here is; you've gone that far so why not find out what it is? It will drive you crazy wondering.

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

I have been in this situation many times over the years. Every time I go back to an abandoned signal such as this it is always junk. But I will probably continue to do it anyway, (darn it) because you never know.

I bought an older Garrett GTP for junky places because it has a size profiling feature that is fairly accurate in predicting the size of big objects so I won't have to waste time on such signals...the problem is even when the detector tells me the target is the size of an alum can or big iron junk I still stand there and agonize over whether to dig or not. At least when I do dig I already have an idea that it's going to be junk so I don't get discouraged!...good luck, hope it's a nice relic!