Non-Repeating Signals?

Coinguy19

I usually don't dig any non-repeating signals I come across when detecting. However, I started thinking about what I could be missing and what could be the cause of them. I set up a test area of sorts, with a coin surrounded by some "trash" and got the same non-repeating signal. What do you do if you come across a non-repeater? Can you lower the sensitivity or something in order to find the good target? Or do you just dig it as is? Any help is appreciated.

lordmarcovan

Nonrepeating signals? Welcome to my private hell.

I don't dig a lot of them myself, because I hate chasing phantoms halfway to China.

I am sure most of them are little iron halos around old nails or tiny bits o' rusty-crusty junk, and I probably don't miss TOO many goodies by refusing to dig nonrepeaters, but I am sure I DO miss some. Maybe more than I think.

Lowering sensitivity should help, I would think. That is a delicate balance, finding the right sensitivity setting.

I think regardless of the settings, you are going to get nonrepeaters from time to time. It's when you are getting too many of them that it should be a concern. Sometimes it happens to me more on one site than another. Ground mineralization, soil moisture, and the sheer amount of metal in the ground can all have something to do with that.

Another thing that might be causing it are your discrimination settings. If you are tuning out a certain kind of trash target, but it is right at the edge of your rejection range, you might still be getting "halfway" signals from it. Some detectors are better at discriminating trash than others, too. For example, though I am a Garrett man, I have always said that the Bounty Hunter machines I've seen and used have "cleaner" discrimination than the Garretts. On my old Bounty Hunter, if you notched out or rejected something, it was gone. But on the Garretts I can reject pulltabs and still get pulltab signals, for example. Of course this might also have something to do with the sensitivity setting.

If your machine has a true All Metal mode that is easy to hop into, hop into it and try to pinpoint with it before you dig. That helps sometimes. If it is loud and clear in All Metal but crackly and broken or nonrepeating in your discrimination mode, chances are, it is something that the machine is trying to reject, but can't quite get rid of.

Yet another reason a target could be unrepeatable is that it could have something to do with the shape of the object or its angle in the ground, and you might be hitting it at just the right angle on one sweep and not on the next. This is especially true if there is a buried trash target next to it that your machine is trying to reject. It smells the good target but it also smells the bad, and gets confused, to put it in rather simplistic terms. This is known as "masking". One thing that helps with this is to switch to a smaller "sniper" coil in trashy areas.

It's easy to fret about what one might be missing, but remember what else you might also be missing... wasted minutes and hours grubbing around on your hands and knees, chasing after some tiny piece of junk you may never recover, or chasing nothing at all.

I need a pretty clear and repeatable signal before I dig. Others have found goodies I was too lazy or too cautious to dig, but not terribly often. Your time in the field is limited, so you have to make a judgment call on what's worth the risk and what isn't. Obviously, the more chances you take and the more you dig, the better your odds. It's just a question of how much potential frustration you're willing to put up with.

lordmarcovan

Upon reading your test plot scenario a little more carefully, it sounds like you have a bit of masking going on. The best way to prevent that should be to slow down and be more deliberate in your sweep, overlapping as much as possible. That, and switch to a smaller coil in badly trashy areas. You'll sacrifice a little depth with a smaller coil, but I have found it can be worth it, and I have still dug targets 6" or so down with my little 4.5" coil.

The fact that you were patient enough to make a test plot and try it out speaks well for you. I was always too impatient to get out after the "real" stuff, and never did that. I just did air tests, but they aren't always the same.

ricko

I dig most everything... except non-repeatables.... Cheers, RickO

CROCKofCOINS

Move 90 degrees to the target! See if the target is repeatable. Move another 90 degrees and try.
I also rely on tone ID. Two or three good tones..I dig

Low tones...I may not dig...Could be gold, but most times it is foil :-(

Jerry

grip

LM good insight..I also agree with the foil,and rusty nails have the same effect.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down on the swing.And
make sure my sweeps are side to side and up and and down.

Al

millennium

I usually slow down when I get a non repeatable...But my motto..I'd rather dig it than leave it for LM to find later....He's done that to me before.

LM..I got chased off the Kut-Kwick site today....They were nice , but I can't go there any more..Private Property, and the owners don't want the hassle of a law suit....I told 'em I'd be good...But they would have none of it...

Rats....The only two gold coins I found came from that area, and now it's off limits.

lordmarcovan

Dang, Steve, that is sad news, but you keep the gold and the memories. It happens. The old houses that you and Ty and I went to are also now closed. Ty has some other sites for us but I think I will wait for cooler weather.