Sweeping a signal?

[hollARDog]

So I read and read for noobs to dig every signal.
Now let me ask this........
Is that literally every signal? Or every single you can duplicate in a X pattern over target?
It's really hard diggin round here and that seems to be all I do is dig a little hole to find nothing🤔
I'm going on my 1st of many permissions I've recently been stacking up and want to do my best this morning.
I do have a couple cheapie pinpointers and they help on real targets but mainly just get poked in ghost holes and never beep. So I get a little heated, cover the hole, take a few giant steps away and start sweeping again.
So dig every signal or every confirmed signal? Thanks y'all🤘

 

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[DigToChina]

So I read and read for noobs to dig every signal.
Now let me ask this........
Is that literally every signal? Or every single you can duplicate in a X pattern over target?
It's really hard diggin round here and that seems to be all I do is dig a little hole to find nothing🤔
I'm going on my 1st of many permissions I've recently been stacking up and want to do my best this morning.
I do have a couple cheapie pinpointers and they help on real targets but mainly just get poked in ghost holes and never beep. So I get a little heated, cover the hole, take a few giant steps away and start sweeping again.
So dig every signal or every confirmed signal? Thanks y'all🤘

I think the question is a bit loaded perhaps. I dig most signals that have a bit of repeat if if jumpy but there’s just no way I can dig them all so I try to rely on the art of it. Do I miss some? Probably. Do I get some others miss? Definitely.

Regarding your ghost hole problem, maybe the problem is the cheapie pinpointers 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[KSDirtfisher77]

It depends on the site for me, whether I dig all or not. If I'm on real old site i dig all repeatable non-ferrous targets. I start by digging all the strong repeatable type signals first, then I go back thru site & dig all iffy/jumpy signals. Its them iffy/jumpy signals that usually results in a nice piece of treasure/relic. Happy hunting!!!

 

[nagant]

If you dug it all 1 permission would last a long time. I like to start out cherry picking the good easy targets. That gives you the lay of the land. Then do sections that produced the best and take your time. If a yard look for old clothesline pole bases and hit the area between good. In older parks sometimes you can see where picnic areas were by level spot for tables or small over grown concrete slabs .

 

[hollARDog]

Thank you guys for the replies and excellent points.
I guess it really comes down to time with that stick in your hand. I just got back. Nothing special but I found things in the middle of nowhere 😃
I may also be fighting setup too or just plain not knowing what I'm doing yet. The weather is finally cooled off enough so this isn't like work, so I'll be getting out more now. I hope🫣
I'll be watching the bay for a good used pinpointers.

And guess I'ma need a better finds bag, lost 2 .22 leads today.

 

[RTR]

Metal detecting is not much different than hunting for Gold ...Probably a thousand people have walked pass this boulder w/o giving it a second look (OR the time to move it,just a few inches )

 

[hollARDog]

Metal detecting is not much different than hunting for Gold ...Probably a thousand people have walked pass this boulder w/o giving it a second look (OR the time to move it,just a few inches ) View attachment 2049692 View attachment 2049691

Damn that's cool👍 I've haven't got to hunt for gold but when I'm out and about I hardly leave a rock unturned, or box in a corner, door unopened 🤘

 

[hollARDog]

Brings up a customer clue/tip I got the other day. Said back in the day when they was building cabins around here,people that had it would hide $20 gold pieces in the joints before mudding in. Thought was interesting and what else did they stick I'm those joints? Tons of old cabins and burns out to explore🤘

 

[gunsil]

Thank you guys for the replies and excellent points.
I guess it really comes down to time with that stick in your hand. I just got back. Nothing special but I found things in the middle of nowhere 😃
I may also be fighting setup too or just plain not knowing what I'm doing yet. The weather is finally cooled off enough so this isn't like work, so I'll be getting out more now. I hope🫣
I'll be watching the bay for a good used pinpointers.

And guess I'ma need a better finds bag, lost 2 .22 leads today.

Don't worry, if you're finding that stuff you show you are learning and only have to get your coil over a cool coin or relic, maybe a piece of jewelry and you will know it's there and find it. I started a long time ago where detectors had no discrimination or target ID and we dug all targets so I don't really mind digging a lot of junk at a really old site but if I'm silver sniffing a school yard or park I turn the discrimination up a bit and only dig solid repeatable silver range targets. I don't know what machine you have, some take longer to learn what they are telling you than others. Some sophisticated machines are said to take a hundred hours to learn so don't get impatient, patience is the detector user's best friend and will treat you well over time. Good luck and find some goodies!! Oh yeah, he who makes the most holes finds the most good stuff!!

If you get a lot of "ghost signals" try turning your sensitivity or power down a bit. Most machines do very well below max sensitivity. I cannot run a couple of mine above 75-80% sensitivity in many areas or I get too much falsing or ghost signals. If you swing up at either end of your swing it will give a false signal on many machines, have to keep the coil level with the ground. Pinpointers are for finding an object close to the surface or deeper in a hole, your machine shoiuld be able to pinpoint pretty well on many targets, you just have to learn what it is telling you. Hope this helps.

 

[hollARDog]

If you swing up at either end of your swing it will give a false signal on many machines,


That! Boy I was turning circles yesterday chasing high pitch signals I could never find. Bet it was that☝️
I'ma get out after the animals and try this.

 

[ARC]

Nice smooth swings... think of it like your smoothing concrete... or a drink is sitting on your coil and you cant spill it.
keep your sweeps slow low level and smooth.
Dont dip swing.

When you read a target... slow focus X.

 

[hollARDog]

Thanks ARC, it's definitely gonna take practice. All good, I'm in no hurry.
I thought my height would be an advantage, nice wide swings. But going to left and right lock might be to far. This morning I will narrow my swing. I will say I do swing slow, maybe to slow, idk.
I definitely overlap and use my arms to move forward before my feet.

 

[hollARDog]

Our ponds are really low right now. I know I use to swim in grandmas ole nasty cow ponds😎
So maybe someone lost something in these ponds for me🤘
I'm going to see if I can sneak down there this morning for "practice"

 

[pepperj]

Thank you guys for the replies and excellent points.
I guess it really comes down to time with that stick in your hand. I just got back. Nothing special but I found things in the middle of nowhere 😃
I may also be fighting setup too or just plain not knowing what I'm doing yet. The weather is finally cooled off enough so this isn't like work, so I'll be getting out more now. I hope🫣
I'll be watching the bay for a good used pinpointers.

And guess I'ma need a better finds bag, lost 2 .22 leads today.

You're digging small items so that is a big bonus.
If it were all large items then I would be thinking you were swinging too fast, or only listening to huge targets.

Query: What machine and pinpointer are you using?

No signal in the hole issue:
Pinpointer could be an issue-buy something good from a dealer-not a knock off the bay.

The other reason for no target is this:
We get a target signal-dig-target disappeared-wtf-grrr.
The target could be in the plug-so flipping it over it's on the bottom (shallow target)
Now the pinpointer won't pick it up as it's out of detectable range.

Many times we dig a target-it disappears-air between the coil and the target is the reason.
So we take the PP shove it around the hole-nothing.
Reason is the target can be small, and just out of the range of the PP.
Digging a little deeper usually solves this issue.

Digging every target is a mind sucking endeavour that would turn off most folks quick. Maybe 50 yrs ago when the mind was young-the machines had no discrimination.

Some sites warrant digging lots of iron, some it's not, as the nails from a building can be in the thousands.

Next question: What type of sites are you detecting in?

 

[ARC]

Thanks ARC, it's definitely gonna take practice. All good, I'm in no hurry.
I thought my height would be an advantage, nice wide swings. But going to left and right lock might be to far. This morning I will narrow my swing. I will say I do swing slow, maybe to slow, idk.
I definitely overlap and use my arms to move forward before my feet.

No... wide swings are fine... and better... I actually use my hips a lot... I swing my upper half of my body.
I swath from far extreme left to far extreme right... very wide.
My shaft on my detectors is usually extended out to the almost uncomfortable position.
Many just use their arm to swing... my arm many times is in a "fixed position" and my upper half moves with my arm only moving at ends of the swing.
Just practice keeping your coil absolutely level as much as possible and low.

I tell people... "i swing so low that ants duck"... :P

 

[pepperj]

Thanks ARC, it's definitely gonna take practice. All good, I'm in no hurry.
I thought my height would be an advantage, nice wide swings. But going to left and right lock might be to far. This morning I will narrow my swing. I will say I do swing slow, maybe to slow, idk.
I definitely overlap and use my arms to move forward before my feet.

I'm 6'2" (lost an inch)
Wide swings not really 9:30-2:30 about type swings
Time the speed left to right and back 20 full swings should be about 40 seconds.
My timing was 37 seconds just practising in the air.

 

[hollARDog]

No... wide swings are fine... i actually use my hips alot... i swing my upper half of my body.
I swath from far left to right... very wide.
Many just use their arm to swing... my arm many times is "fixed position" and my upper half moves with my arm moving at ends of the swing.
Just practice keeping your coil absolutely level as much as possible and low.

I tell people... "i swing so low that ants duck"... :P

Gotcha👍 practice practice practice and I see terrain being an issue.
Yesterday's site like 90% of my area is rocky, or locally "shallie", something like that.

 

[ARC]

When i detect i am covering a roughly 8+ foot wide path.

 

[hollARDog]

You're digging small items so that is a big bonus.
If it were all large items then I would be thinking you were swinging too fast, or only listening to huge targets.

Query: What machine and pinpointer are you using?

No signal in the hole issue:
Pinpointer could be an issue-buy something good from a dealer-not a knock off the bay.

The other reason for no target is this:
We get a target signal-dig-target disappeared-wtf-grrr.
The target could be in the plug-so flipping it over it's on the bottom (shallow target)
Now the pinpointer won't pick it up as it's out of detectable range.

Many times we dig a target-it disappears-air between the coil and the target is the reason.
So we take the PP shove it around the hole-nothing.
Reason is the target can be small, and just out of the range of the PP.
Digging a little deeper usually solves this issue.

Digging every target is a mind sucking endeavour that would turn off most folks quick. Maybe 50 yrs ago when the mind was young-the machines had no discrimination.

Some sites warrant digging lots of iron, some it's not, as the nails from a building can be in the thousands.

Next question: What type of sites are you detecting in?

Machine.......New old style fisher f5. PP, you called it. I'm trying to work on that but at 45 with a 2mo now. Funds have shifted 🫣
Sites for now.......old farm land and home sites. Honestly have only been out 8-10 times since getting the new machine. And at only 1-2 hours at a time I really can't expect much at this point.
I do have a bucket full of randomness I've found just didn't post. Having the ground balance really helped me a lot here.
Future sites are in city limits of old country towns. People are cool and I'm getting permissions left and right. Just really want to know what I'm doing before I venture out to far😉
Really excited to share with y'all one site I'm itching to get in. Been dreaming about it for a couple years now. It's just on the corner of our property but has a kickbooty story I think y'all will dig.

 

[pepperj]

When i detect i am covering a roughly 8- 10 foot wide path.

But your on a beach probably
Wand extended fully
Wide after a while causes fatigue
I shortened the swing a few years ago
Now it's a 6-7ft sweep
Just a factor in getting old