Rocky ground

[Dirt Hawk]

Any ideas on how to address very rocky ground? I got a strong signal today of something significant 8 inches down but was unable to reach it. I have a rock hammer, shovel and spade but all my efforts were to no avail.
On another subject I was scanning in the local park but saw several underground electrical units about. Is there some way to determine a powerline to a coin?

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

Powerline vs coin? First is where does it fall in the TDI? Second is "X" over the target from perpendicular directions. Coins beep in a well defined spot. Power lines will not have an end or be a longer reactive area. At one park I hunt I can't get within four feet of the buried stadium lighting without my detector overloading. I assume it is below the local 18" frost-line.

As far as rocky ground if I can't easily flip the rock I move on. How would something have got under it? Gold may be a different story, or recent fill rocks over old sites.

 

[controlfreq]

What kind of signal, is the area prone to hot rocks?

Have you tried a spike to break up the ground a bit? If you get too aggressive you could damage or destroy your target... maybe try a smaller spade an take your time a little.

 

[souks]

What kind of signal, is the area prone to hot rocks?

Have you tried a spike to break up the ground a bit? If you get too aggressive you could damage or destroy your target... maybe try a smaller spade an take your time a little.

Right!

 

[Trokair]

Powerline vs coin? First is where does it fall in the TDI? Second is "X" over the target from perpendicular directions. Coins beep in a well defined spot. Power lines will not have an end or be a longer reactive area. At one park I hunt I can't get within four feet of the buried stadium lighting without my detector overloading. I assume it is below the local 18" frost-line.

As far as rocky ground if I can't easily flip the rock I move on. How would something have got under it? Gold may be a different story, or recent fill rocks over old sites.

Charlie has some good advice here. Power lines or EM interference tend to present as extremely large targets. Modern detectors are really good at putting a coin or smaller object on a spot. Typically if I see a target that sounds over 6 inches on a 12 inch DD coil, I know it is something too large to be valuable (of course I am not relic hunting so if you are after more than coins and jewelry than your mileage may vary).

Earlier on in my detecting career I dug many large signals and notably was rewarded with a buried window air conditioning unit (which I was told to rebury) and multiple "burn barrels" that people in the country used to dispose of trash. If I know the area I usually dig those just to see what is there and show the land owners and pulled a 20's license plate from my mother's back yard years ago once so there is that. If it presents as a relatively huge target and I am not sure of the status of a utility or pipelines I tend to just detect out the signal and superficially mark it so I don't run over it again. Older septic tanks tend to be a big pain on this because the vessel is concrete but the handles for the access hatches are iron or a rebar setup. I hit on the handles along a 6 inch line for each hatch handle and a target that large is *normally* not a target I am interested in.