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Newbie level question re signals

jamiefind

New Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Messages
4
Sorry for the newbie level question. I have an ACE 350: It pings one of three audio signals when it finds a target, and then it lets me use the pinpoint button to zero in on the spot where the signal is strongest. I have noticed that the audio feedback in the pinpoint mode is really helpful...it's like the difference between analog and digital...I get a lot more information as I move the coil around and listen to the strength of the audio signal go in and out. It's almost like the detector is letting me hear the "raw" target signal.

As a former engineer, I've tried to roll my sleeves up and learn the science behind metal detecting. I know the 350 is a vlf machine, and I know that it is constantly trying to sense the ferrous magnetism and the eddy currents exhibited by the targets all while trying to tune out the ground signals (colloquially termed mineralization).

So what am I hearing when I press the pinpoint button? I imagine I am hearing only one single type of signal feedback "live," while ignoring other types of feedback, since the unit probably gets to relax and stop processing and deciphering so much.

I feel like I'm missing stuff when I DON'T use the pinpoint button. There have been times when I have discovered other signals using pinpoint function that did not register as any audio beeps otherwise. Make sense?

Thanks
 
I feel like I'm missing stuff when I DON'T use the pinpoint button. There have been times when I have discovered other signals using pinpoint function that did not register as any audio beeps otherwise. Make sense?

Thanks

The pinpointer function on most detectors operates in an all metal mode. If you are running any discrimination to reject some iron signals you will experience what you described, ie: the pinpoint function indicating a target while sweeping the detector in discrimination mode does not. If you turn off all discrimination and run in all metal mode your Ace should indicate most if not all of the signals you hear in the pinpoint mode.
 
The pinpointer function on most detectors operates in an all metal mode. If you are running any discrimination to reject some iron signals you will experience what you described, ie: the pinpoint function indicating a target while sweeping the detector in discrimination mode does not. If you turn off all discrimination and run in all metal mode your Ace should indicate most if not all of the signals you hear in the pinpoint mode.


Thanks. That confirms what I thought. But I am referring to really faint signals that I can hear in pinpoint mode but did not set off a tone or any notch even in zero discrimination mode. Maybe there is a threshold?
 
Thanks. That confirms what I thought. But I am referring to really faint signals that I can hear in pinpoint mode but did not set off a tone or any notch even in zero discrimination mode. Maybe there is a threshold?

It could be threshold, falses, or actual targets (if all metal/pinpoint is deeper)
 
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