False signals

[Powmill]

Hi

I'm new to metal detecting but have been very fortunate to receive a Minelab GPZ 7000. I've only been out 5 times and had some beginners luck along the way. However, one thing I have noticed is something I think the experienced would call 'false signals'. I expect its been much discussed on this forum before. Nevertheless, some advice about avoiding these would be appreciated. Yesterday at Heathcote we spent over half an hour digging an almighty hole to no avail. It goes something like this: I get a faint, but nice sounding, low to high signal on the detector. I scrape a bit and the signal gets a bit louder. Dig a bit more and the signal is still there. Dig a bit more and it kind of sounds the same. Dig a bit more and the signal is not really getting louder. If it was gold it would be starting to scream by now. Dig a bit more and the signal is just not going anywhere at all. Dig a bit more and the signal is the same or getting lower and indiscernible as to where it is. What on earth is this? Can these signals be avoided?

 

[Rockhunter62]

Make sure that there is no dirt etc between the coil and coil cover. That has got me a few times.
Pays to clean it out occassionally.
Cheers

Doug

 

[Ded Driver]

hi Powmill & welcome.
Its good to jump into the 'Introduce Yourself' thread & give a quick intro on yourself & your gear

DED

 

[Guest]

Hi

I'm new to metal detecting but have been very fortunate to receive a Minelab GPZ 7000. I've only been out 5 times and had some beginners luck along the way. However, one thing I have noticed is something I think the experienced would call 'false signals'. I expect its been much discussed on this forum before. Nevertheless, some advice about avoiding these would be appreciated. Yesterday at Heathcote we spent over half an hour digging an almighty hole to no avail. It goes something like this: I get a faint, but nice sounding, low to high signal on the detector. I scrape a bit and the signal gets a bit louder. Dig a bit more and the signal is still there. Dig a bit more and it kind of sounds the same. Dig a bit more and the signal is not really getting louder. If it was gold it would be starting to scream by now. Dig a bit more and the signal is just not going anywhere at all. Dig a bit more and the signal is the same or getting lower and indiscernible as to where it is. What on earth is this? Can these signals be avoided?

Gday

False signals are part and parcel of detecting for gold, there is no way to avoid them really but following the correct procedure for ground balancing and settings on your detector can help to minimise the effects, some areas are very prone to having highly mineralised pockets and some responses you get from your detector will make you think you are on to a nugget but as you say you dig away the pocket and then the signal will disappear, care must be taken the always investigate these sounds just in case, as a deep large nugget can also give you a broad iffy response, but as you dig down if its a metallic target it will become more defined and solid as you get closer to it, ground noise will start to fade or the hot spot can also seem to move about in the hole as you dig, but either way its better to at least know what it is rather than walk away from it.

Some of the common ground noises can be from charcoal, ant nests, clusters of hot rocks, buried tin foil that disintegrates as you dig it out, clay pockets, and also when the ground is very wet, some areas are more prone to these hot spots than others, I know many places where it is like this and you get used to recognizing what you think is worth digging and what is not, but until you are more practiced its like I said better to just dig everything just in case.

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[Anniegee]

Thanks StayyerAU...wondered why charcoal gave me such a loud signal :lol:

 

[Ded Driver]

When hunting on the beach its always easy to locate someones buried campfire, with a VLF or PI,
because its full of charcoal & aluminium. Its then an easy task of working in a circle around the campfire to find whats been dropped or slipped out of pockets

 

[Martin]

Mining sites are also known for false readings, I have come across a number of false readings with my 3030 and when I dug the hole the signal is completely gone and nothing is there at all. The original signal was decent more on the trash side.

I think there may have been something there many moons ago but it has broken down over time and the pocket is holding the material together to give a signal. Once dug it crumbles and spreads so fine the signal can't be detected again.

 

[Moneybox]

There's a site not too far from here that kept us busy for weeks on and off. We found hundreds of nuggets but most of them very small SDC2300 stuff. This is a wide spread patch covering several hectares and we only got there after others took everything they could.

Anyway back to the current subject. Most of this gold was right near the surface in very soft soil with very few stones. One particular patch is perhaps 10m x 50m and consists of more compact rich red soil. All the detectors we saw on this patch, SDC2300, GPX4500, GPX5000 and GPZ7000 picked up false signals scattered across it. Most of us left those holes open so the next person didn't have to dig it again. In the end it was easy to see a distinct patch of unfilled holes. We all had a go at it thinking that we'd finally found a nugget amongst it but the result was always the same. At around 300mm down the signal would fade out.

These are convincing signals for experienced prospectors with good detectors. There's no option other than digging until you either find a target of dig out the offending soil. If you choose to walk on you could easily leave some very good gold behind.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/G6lu3QfMhcE[/video]

 

[just starting]

Do you ever collect those hot rocks and crush them in the dolly pot later on ,incase there is gold in them ? I have never thrown away a hot rock ,just incase i got lucky.

I haven`t been lucky ,yet ,but you never know.

 

[Moneybox]

Do you ever collect those hot rocks and crush them in the dolly pot later on ,incase there is gold in them ? I have never thrown away a hot rock ,just incase i got lucky.

I haven`t been lucky ,yet ,but you never know.

I've collected a few but and tossed them in the dolly pot with no success. I've collected a lot more but not gone through with the crushing and panning, but I will soon :lol: If they have and amount of gold then there's a lot of easy pickings
Some might have gold but many of them are really dense and are almost like picking up a chunk of steel.