Strange ?

[Philip764]

Hi again all :-)

On saturday I went out and picked up a few nice little bits.  On Sunday I decided to go back to the same area and try again but, had some 'strange' moments........lol.

I am using a Garrett EuroAce and on a few 'sweeps' it was picking up a really good top end non-ferrous signals.  I then used the pinpointing aid to get spot on target, again very good signals at 20cm (same as my finds on saturday). 

I then cut out a divot, making sure that my target area was smack bang in the centre and re-swept just for confirmation.  Nothing. No signal, no indication.  I then left the area alone for a coffee break and then re-swept, walking in from different angles....... again, nothing.

This happened on about two or three times.  Any suggestions ? Thanks, Phil.

[david995]

yes that happens a lot , the target will still be there ,  a target in the ground develops a halo around it making it a bigger target , when you dig you break that halo and your machine is not picking it up , just dig more out of the hole and you will find it , with your pinpointer

anothet thing that can happen is you disturb the target and it ends up on edge and you machine cant pick up that thinner profile 

[Philip764]

Thanks for that David.

[Chef Geoff]

  OK well there are a couple of things that can and do cause this firstly it could be a deep odd shaped piece of iron giving a phantom signal which becomes easier for the machine to discriminate once some soil has been removed, try switching in to all metal and rescan.
Next it could be something very small in the turf, try scanning the divot right way up (yes I know it said 20cm but detectors only ever give a "best guess").
And last as David says some deep targets rely on the surrounding soil to help conduct a signal and once this soil is removed the signal can disappear generally if you remove another small spade of soil from the hole the signal comes back

[Philip764]

Thanks for that Geoff.

[Dungbeetle]

Always check the loose soil in the bottom of the hole, things drop into this out of the clod and out of range of the detector.

[Resurgam]

                                       Had this problem some time ago whilst out with the NWDD club. Target disappeared, reappeared, and disappeared again several times before I eventually captured an Elizabeth II silver sixpence that was playing hide and seek with me. Recently played the same game on the beach but it turned out to be a .22 airgun pellet that was playing silly beggars. Despite trying to be meticulous over my pin pointing I sometimes find my self digging deeper and deeper, whilst the blooming target is hiding in the side of the hole. 

                                        Keep at it m8, you are getting there.   

[raistlain]

Ditto often get what I call good ghost signals only to find an airgun pellet or tiny dot of aluminium laying on the surface beside the 14 inch hole I've just excavated ...my pinpointing is that bad I may as well hire a JCB 

[Chainsaw Bampy]

all good replies there, but your targets signal could also have been a target such as a small piece of foil etc stuck in the mud on your spade, happened to me b4  lol

[wittsy1]

I can lose a signal after digging but still pick up a tone in pin point mode which should tell me something is there somewhere. How deep will pin point mode generally go.

[Chainsaw Bampy]

[depends how deep pinpointing will go] i suppose it all depends on different soils and the difference in metal targets.  maybe wrong but sure someone will be along to confirm or correct me.