Disappearing Signal Tip for Newbie Beach Hunters

[Sand Swinger]

Here's a tip for those new to hunting beaches, especially on dry sand. I started hunting beaches probably about 14 or 15 years ago, and in my first year, I was primarily hunting dry sand. There was 1 thing that first year that would drive me nuts. I'd get a good signal, take my first scoop of sand, and dump it out. I'd scan the dumped sand with my detector, no signal, then I'd rescan the hole and the signal was still there. So, I'd take a 2nd scoop, dump it out, run the coil over the sand, no signal, so back to checking the hole, signal was still there. So, I'd take a 3rd scoop, dump it out, run the coil over the pile, no signal. Then, I'd run the coil back over the hole and there was no signal. What?? Where did the target go??

I'd recheck the sand I pulled from the hole, move it around with my feet, nothing. Rescanned the hole, nothing. Was this a ghost signal of some type? Where the heck did the target go? It was such a good, solid, repeating signal, but it just seemed to vanish into thin air. This happened trip after trip, until one time when I got another vanishing target, out of sheer frustration, I angrily shoved my scoop back in the hole, grabbed some more sand, dumped it, scanned that sand, and what do ya know, the target was in that last scoop of sand. After looking at the target, and thinking about it for a bit, I was finally able to solve the mystery, so here's the answer for any of you who may be new to detecting on the beach.

If you get a good/solid tone, you start digging, then the tone seems to vanish after digging a few scoop fulls of sand, put your scoop back in the hole, grab another scoop full of sand, dump it out, run your coil over the dumped sand, and 99% of the time, the target will be there and I bet it will be a coin. What was happening was the coin was lying flat buried in the sand, so you received a good initial signal. After you removed a scoop or two of sand, you were still getting a good signal over the hole because the coin was still lying flat, but it was still deeper down, your scoop just hadn't reached it yet. But at some point, your scoop will get down to the right depth.

But sometimes, the coin may not wind up in the scoop. Sometimes, the scoop pushes the coin aside and instead of lying flat, it may now be standing upright on its edge. Your detector coil had no problem detecting the larger surface area when the coin was lying flat, but now that it's standing on edge, it's much more difficult for the detector to see it, because it would have to be able to detect metal with a surface area that's only the width of a coin. There's not enough surface area left for the coil to see, especially when the coin is deep down in the sand, so you lose your signal and think that the target just vanished. But 99% of the time, it's still down there in the hole, it's just standing upright, so it's much harder to detect, especially since it's now probably deeper than it was to start.

So, when your target seems to vanish in the hole, stick your scoop back in, grab more sand, dump it and check that pile. I can't believe how many times I've done that, and the coin was in the last scoop full of sand.

 

[TORRERO]

Here's a tip for those new to hunting beaches, especially on dry sand. I started hunting beaches probably about 14 or 15 years ago, and in my first year, I was primarily hunting dry sand. There was 1 thing that first year that would drive me nuts. I'd get a good signal, take my first scoop of sand, and dump it out. I'd scan the dumped sand with my detector, no signal, then I'd rescan the hole and the signal was still there. So, I'd take a 2nd scoop, dump it out, run the coil over the sand, no signal, so back to checking the hole, signal was still there. So, I'd take a 3rd scoop, dump it out, run the coil over the pile, no signal. Then, I'd run the coil back over the hole and there was no signal. What?? Where did the target go??

I'd recheck the sand I pulled from the hole, move it around with my feet, nothing. Rescanned the hole, nothing. Was this a ghost signal of some type? Where the heck did the target go? It was such a good, solid, repeating signal, but it just seemed to vanish into thin air. This happened trip after trip, until one time when I got another vanishing target, out of sheer frustration, I angrily shoved my scoop back in the hole, grabbed some more sand, dumped it, scanned that sand, and what do ya know, the target was in that last scoop of sand. After looking at the target, and thinking about it for a bit, I was finally able to solve the mystery, so here's the answer for any of you who may be new to detecting on the beach.

If you get a good/solid tone, you start digging, then the tone seems to vanish after digging a few scoop fulls of sand, put your scoop back in the hole, grab another scoop full of sand, dump it out, run your coil over the dumped sand, and 99% of the time, the target will be there and I bet it will be a coin. What was happening was the coin was lying flat buried in the sand, so you received a good initial signal. After you removed a scoop or two of sand, you were still getting a good signal over the hole because the coin was still lying flat, but it was still deeper down, your scoop just hadn't reached it yet. But at some point, your scoop will get down to the right depth.

But sometimes, the coin may not wind up in the scoop. Sometimes, the scoop pushes the coin aside and instead of lying flat, it may now be standing upright on its edge. Your detector coil had no problem detecting the larger surface area when the coin was lying flat, but now that it's standing on edge, it's much more difficult for the detector to see it, because it would have to be able to detect metal with a surface area that's only the width of a coin. There's not enough surface area left for the coil to see, especially when the coin is deep down in the sand, so you lose your signal and think that the target just vanished. But 99% of the time, it's still down there in the hole, it's just standing upright, so it's much harder to detect, especially since it's now probably deeper than it was to start.

So, when your target seems to vanish in the hole, stick your scoop back in, grab more sand, dump it and check that pile. I can't believe how many times I've done that, and the coin was in the last scoop full of sand.

A pinpointer might help also,

I remember being on the beach 3 weeks ago and seeing a newby and two others continue to dig in this one area, I was watching from a distance, I had my DEUS II, they were using some kind of Radio Shack or Walmart something..
I finally walked over and asked what they were looking for... and he said... I don;t know, but we keep getting a signal in this hole (they were on dry sand but near the high tide mark) I said let me swing over the hole, sure he said...
and ... NOTHING, my DEUS II did not even indicate Iron or anything..
I told him that it was actually kinda common to get Ghost signals in salt water beach sand sometimes, (my old whites would do this) I simply said that if you spend more than 5 minutes trying to find something... its probably not worth it.. and to leave it alone...

 

[TORRERO]

Ghost signals on WET SALT WATER SAND are common on beaches using single frequency detectors, and if you can't find something in 10 minutes of trying maybe its time to move on...

 

[pepperj]

Here's a tip for those new to hunting beaches, especially on dry sand. I started hunting beaches probably about 14 or 15 years ago, and in my first year, I was primarily hunting dry sand. There was 1 thing that first year that would drive me nuts. I'd get a good signal, take my first scoop of sand, and dump it out. I'd scan the dumped sand with my detector, no signal, then I'd rescan the hole and the signal was still there. So, I'd take a 2nd scoop, dump it out, run the coil over the sand, no signal, so back to checking the hole, signal was still there. So, I'd take a 3rd scoop, dump it out, run the coil over the pile, no signal. Then, I'd run the coil back over the hole and there was no signal. What?? Where did the target go??

I'd recheck the sand I pulled from the hole, move it around with my feet, nothing. Rescanned the hole, nothing. Was this a ghost signal of some type? Where the heck did the target go? It was such a good, solid, repeating signal, but it just seemed to vanish into thin air. This happened trip after trip, until one time when I got another vanishing target, out of sheer frustration, I angrily shoved my scoop back in the hole, grabbed some more sand, dumped it, scanned that sand, and what do ya know, the target was in that last scoop of sand. After looking at the target, and thinking about it for a bit, I was finally able to solve the mystery, so here's the answer for any of you who may be new to detecting on the beach.

If you get a good/solid tone, you start digging, then the tone seems to vanish after digging a few scoop fulls of sand, put your scoop back in the hole, grab another scoop full of sand, dump it out, run your coil over the dumped sand, and 99% of the time, the target will be there and I bet it will be a coin. What was happening was the coin was lying flat buried in the sand, so you received a good initial signal. After you removed a scoop or two of sand, you were still getting a good signal over the hole because the coin was still lying flat, but it was still deeper down, your scoop just hadn't reached it yet. But at some point, your scoop will get down to the right depth.

But sometimes, the coin may not wind up in the scoop. Sometimes, the scoop pushes the coin aside and instead of lying flat, it may now be standing upright on its edge. Your detector coil had no problem detecting the larger surface area when the coin was lying flat, but now that it's standing on edge, it's much more difficult for the detector to see it, because it would have to be able to detect metal with a surface area that's only the width of a coin. There's not enough surface area left for the coil to see, especially when the coin is deep down in the sand, so you lose your signal and think that the target just vanished. But 99% of the time, it's still down there in the hole, it's just standing upright, so it's much harder to detect, especially since it's now probably deeper than it was to start.

So, when your target seems to vanish in the hole, stick your scoop back in, grab more sand, dump it and check that pile. I can't believe how many times I've done that, and the coin was in the last scoop full of sand.

This happens on dry land also.
Dig a hole and the target disappears.
Not in the plug, not in the hole.
Even using the pinpointer nothing in the hole.
Air between the coil and the target creates a barrier.
Dig down a little more and the target is there.
It was out of the pinpointer range.

Minelabs were bad for this happening often. Even with the Deus it has happen.

 

[TORRERO]

Dig a hole and the target disappears.
Not in the plug, not in the hole.
Even using the pinpointer nothing in the hole.

I have found that when my targets disappear they are usually in the bottom of the hole, now too far for my machine to detect, a little scavenging around usually turns something up..

 

[pepperj]

I find that when my target disappears its usually in the bottom of my hole, too far away for my machine to pick up, so a little scavenging around normally turns it up..

That's when a pinpointer comes in handy.
You know those long pointy items that vibrate on certain modes.
Some resemble a 🥕

 

[TORRERO]

That's when a pinpointer comes in handy.
You know those long pointy items that vibrate on certain modes.
Some resemble a 🥕

Yeah my wife has one 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[Sand Swinger]

If you’d like to see my disappearing signals tip in action, I just came across a video you can watch that shows exactly what I was talking about. The guy encounters the same situation I described and gives the same advice as well.

Spoiler Alert: Check out the target he recovered that caused the issue. Yep, just like I mentioned in my post, it was a coin, lol.

The video is entitled “Gold and Silver on the River with the Minelab Equinox 900”, which is from the Seek and Detect channel on YouTube. He took a NOX 900 to a beach by the side of a river and was hunting shallow water then started moving up to wet/dry sand. BTW, one of his first finds was a very sweet 14K gold ring.

If you don’t feel like watching the entire video, fast forward to 8:20 and you’ll get to watch him encounter the exact same problem I described in my post. I think he even took the same number of scoopfuls of sand, lol.

Here’s the link:

 

[OBXmetalDet]

now too far for my machine to detect

How could it be too far to detect after digging? It would still be at the same depth as when you got the 1st signal. Since some sand has been removed, I would think it's easier for the detector to pick up the target since sand has been removed.

 

[Sand Swinger]

How could it be too far to detect after digging? It would still be at the same depth as when you got the 1st signal. Since some sand has been removed, I would think it's easier for the detector to pick up the target since sand has been removed.

3 possibilities come to my mind.

1. Let's say that the target is 6" or 8" down in the sand. You start digging but your scoop might be just off to the side of the target. You keep digging down and now you're down to 12", or 15", you keep digging, the scoop bumps the target in the sidewall of the sand loose, and it falls down to the bottom of a much deeper hole. The target started off 6" or 8" down, where your detector could detect it. But now that you've dug say a 15" hole and the target has fallen to the bottom of the hole, it may now be out of reach of your detector, depending on what detector you have. That's why it's important when you suddenly lose a signal in the sand, to take another scoopful of sand. 99% of the time the target will be in that last scoopful of sand, and more than likely, it will be a coin.

2. As I mentioned in my Disappearing Signals thread, if the target is a coin, if may initially be lying flat, which gives your detector a much bigger surface area to detect. There have been countless times where my scoop has hit a coin and upended it, so instead of lying flat, it's now standing vertically. The surface area of a coin lying flat is much bigger than the surface area of the edge of the coin when standing vertically, as it may only be 1mm wide, possibly less. It's harder for your detector to hit the rim of a coin than the entire surface area of the coin when it's lying flat. For instance, a lot of detectorists have trouble finding small gold/silver bracelets or chains with tiny loops, most likely due to the smaller surface area of the tiny loops. But if the bracelet/chain has a lobster claw, or some type of larger metal fastener, they might be able to hit on that.

3. Halo effect: Depending on how long the target has been buried, there's a possibility that it's developed a "halo", where the metal interacts with minerals in the sand/soil over time and expands the area of conductivity, which presents a bigger "target" for the detector to see. Once you start breaking up sand, soil, etc., the halo can be destroyed and vanish. So, a deeper target that was able to be detected due to the increased conductivity of the halo, may not be able to be detected at that depth once the halo has been destroyed due to digging, which disrupts the sand/soil. But again, when that happens, the safe bet is to always take another scoopful of sand.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

3 possibilities come to my mind.

1. .......you keep digging, the scoop bumps the target in the sidewall of the sand loose, and it falls down to the bottom of a much deeper hole. The target started off 6" or 8" down, where your detector could detect it. But now that you've dug say a 15" hole and the target has fallen to the bottom of the hole, it may now be out of reach of your detector, depending on what detector you have.

The bold part confused me. You've dug a 15" hole, and after bumping the target in the sidewall, the target falls to the bottom. At this point the target is at the bottom of the hole. Nothing is covering it. Even if the sand around the edges falls into the hole, after sticking the detector down in the hole, it would be like an inch or two above the target which was covered a bit by the sand that fell in, therefore you would be able to detect it with no problem.

But you said after the target falls to the bottom, it may be out of reach of your detector.

I'm not sure what I'm missing here.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

3 possibilities come to my mind.

1. Let's say that the target is 6" or 8" down in the sand. You start digging but your scoop might be just off to the side of the target. You keep digging down and now you're down to 12", or 15"

At this point you caused me to realize something. Let's say you dig to the side of the target, except you don't accidentally bump it. The target still stays where it is, you just dug to the side of it and deeper by let's say 12".

Let's say the target is 5" below the surface. After digging past it, now the bottom of your hole is 17" deep. If you put the coil at the bottom of the hole (the target is now 12" above your coil), is it possible that you may not get a signal now because the target is above your coil, instead of being below your coil?

If so, this could also explain why you got a tone initially, but then after digging you can't get a tone anymore. Do you agree?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Lot of targets can disappear, small pieces of aluminum foil from people eating on shore will move from the movement of the scoop, lots of can slaw, black sand will cause false signals, any tiny metal target smaller than the holes in scoop can drive you nuts.

 

[TORRERO]

How could it be too far to detect after digging? It would still be at the same depth as when you got the 1st signal. Since some sand has been removed, I would think it's easier for the detector to pick up the target since sand has been removed.

Ok so as you take sand or dirt out of the hole your target shifts and may drop back to the bottom, (because you dug a big hole, the bottom is further away than the target was originally) or be on the side or move in such a way as to not be detectable any more..

Also ladies be CAREFUL of small gold rings pretty much.... as you can cut a band with your digger and you will no longer get a signal...
This has in fact happened to me twice in my lifetime of hunting... if in doubt, cut a small gold ring and OPEN the band and see what your machine detects after...
(And if you have to know, I moved the sand or dirt around and saw the ring with my eyes, and my digger had cut the band open, thence my machine would no longer pick it up)

 

[TORRERO]

At this point you caused me to realize something. Let's say you dig to the side of the target, except you don't accidentally bump it. The target still stays where it is, you just dug to the side of it and deeper by let's say 12".

Let's say the target is 5" below the surface. After digging past it, now the bottom of your hole is 17" deep. If you put the coil at the bottom of the hole (the target is now 12" above your coil), is it possible that you may not get a signal now because the target is above your coil, instead of being below your coil?

If so, this could also explain why you got a tone initially, but then after digging you can't get a tone anymore. Do you agree?

Your coil will pick up the target on either side of the coil.. And damn that would have to be an ass BIG hole for you to fit your coil into it...

 

[Sand Swinger]

At this point you caused me to realize something. Let's say you dig to the side of the target, except you don't accidentally bump it. The target still stays where it is, you just dug to the side of it and deeper by let's say 12".

Let's say the target is 5" below the surface. After digging past it, now the bottom of your hole is 17" deep. If you put the coil at the bottom of the hole (the target is now 12" above your coil), is it possible that you may not get a signal now because the target is above your coil, instead of being below your coil?

If so, this could also explain why you got a tone initially, but then after digging you can't get a tone anymore. Do you agree?

Anything is possible at the beach. I've gone to the beach and saw deep cuts and troughs that weren't there the day before, then the next day or two they're gone. If your detector can't detect a target at 12", it probably won't be able to detect it if the coil is 12" below the target.

That said, if the target is 5" down in the sand, just in the side wall of the hole, I would think that there would be a possibility that when you're putting the coil in the hole to check the bottom, at some point when you're lowing the coil into the hole, it will be right next to the target in the side wall of the sand, so it's possible that the coil might be able to react. Hard to say since it would be the outside edge of the coil that's closest to the target, not the center of the coil where it's most sensitive so it may or may not signal on the target.

 

[Sand Swinger]

Your coil will pick up the target on either side of the coil.. And damn that would have to be an ass BIG hole for you to fit your coil into it...

One time I was hunting the dry with my Sovereign Elite w/12X10 SEF Butterfly coil. Man, I had a really sweet & smooth high tone, so I was thinking silver. The Sovereigns, as well as Excalibur's, put out a lot of different tones depending on the conductivity of the metal.

So, I'm digging, and digging, and digging. I stopped, thought I may have missed the target, so move the scoop over a bit to start a fresh dig. Dug and dug, target still in hole, so I moved the scoop over a bit more, still thinking I may have been off a bit on pinpointing. By the time I finally reached the target, I had a very large hole. I not only could get my coil in the hole, but I actually decided to step into the hole to see how deep it was. I stepped into the hole and the top of the hole was equal to the top of my kneecap. When I got home, I measured from the floor to the top of my kneecap and it's 24", so a 2' deep hole and round enough for me to step in.

BTW, that target that gave me that sweet, smooth, high tone was one of those collapsible kid's fruity drink pouches. Parents really need to teach their kids how to clean up after themselves and throw their trash away, lol.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

Your coil will pick up the target on either side of the coil.. And damn that would have to be an ass BIG hole for you to fit your coil into it...

Yeah. I dig where the signal is. Sometimes the holes I dig on the beach are about 12" in diameter so I can fit my detector down there. As far as depth, maybe 12" deep, sometimes even more.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I have dug targets over 18 inches deep with 15 inch coil using reverse discrimination on my excal. Hole can get wide real quick in wet sand.