What Sovereign/Excal targets do you dig?

Crumble · Apr 4, 2014

On the Sovereign there are 3 distinct type of signals that you often hear. The 2 obvious ones are the clean solid tones, and the solid nulls.

The ones that I am not sure if I should dig are the targets that are half null and half tone. It will kind of start to null, then give a quick tone. Any Sovereign/Excal users know what I'm talking about.

Normally I skip these targets, figuring they are rusty iron, or bottlecaps... but yesterday I decided to dig them, and most of them were rusty iron but a few turned out to be deep quarters and other coins. Which makes me wonder what goodies I have passed over thinking it was trash...

So... do you guys dig all of those half null half tone targets? Or skip them?

I'm digging them all from now on...

bottlecaps · Apr 4, 2014

I have been digging those 99% are rusted Bottlecaps but I did get a deepish dime once, I only have maybe 6 hours of gt time under my belt.

merchunter · Apr 4, 2014

I mention this in my post. I called it a chirp null. If it's repeatable I dig it, late
in day it's depends on the chirp. I'm finding the chirp gives one a lot more info
about the target then I first thought. A re-swing at 90% angle can answer the
question, to dig or not to dig a lot of the times.

Mostly strange shaped iron like bent nails but have found bracelets, chains, mostly odd stuff, deep stuff. but coins as well. And mixed multi-target stuff.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=184049

OBN · Apr 4, 2014

Reverse discriminate hunting, if I get that blip of a good target then the null, I will check in PP to see if there are two targets next to each other, if there are, I dig. With the small coil you can really separate. Using the bigger coil you can do the same but with less agility. If I get a single hit more then likely I will pass unless it is a slow day. But I have found coins encrusted in iron...with just the single blip.

SeabeeRon · Apr 4, 2014

Since I am new to the GT, this is just the stuff I like reading about!! Thanks guys! :cool:

Cfmct · Apr 4, 2014

I dig everything that bleeds through a null... if you don't you are missing a lot of good targets... metal detecting is really easy if one doesn't think too much... beep, dig.

The silver chain I found today sounded like junk... it was ragged.

ScubaDetective · Apr 4, 2014

I don't own one of your machines but I am wondering what a ring with a broken shank would do?

I have dug plenty with the CZ that gave a rotten signal that wasn't repeatable BUT they have been rings. Also a lot of junk but it's been worth it. The last nice gold ring I dug last year was a broken scratchy signal not repeatable BUT I was searching for a lady that had lost it about an hour earlier and I just started digging anything that gave any signal.

Maybe your GT would have hit solid on it anyway? Thin womans ring with a 3/4 solitare diamond. Couldn't have weighed over 2 grams.

Gerry1 · Apr 4, 2014

Yes I will dig

Guys, my experience has been that what you are describing will in fact be a coin. The Mexican pesos have two different types of metal in the coin, if they have been in the sand for a while they set up electrollosys between the two metals, hence the initial grunt then nulling.
I have also found old American coins with the same signal.
PS pardon my spelling :~)
Gerry

jtb2017 · Apr 4, 2014

Dig them if u can. sometimes time or tierdness wont allow it. i try to always dig them. its usually iron next to a legit target. Hh an gl -Joe

Crumble said:
On the Sovereign there are 3 distinct type of signals that you often hear. The 2 obvious ones are the clean solid tones, and the solid nulls.

The ones that I am not sure if I should dig are the targets that are half null and half tone. It will kind of start to null, then give a quick tone. Any Sovereign/Excal users know what I'm talking about.

Normally I skip these targets, figuring they are rusty iron, or bottlecaps... but yesterday I decided to dig them, and most of them were rusty iron but a few turned out to be deep quarters and other coins. Which makes me wonder what goodies I have passed over thinking it was trash...

So... do you guys dig all of those half null half tone targets? Or skip them?

I'm digging them all from now on...

trsrseeker · Apr 4, 2014

In my experience on the excal those are usually deep targets that would not null if they were shallower. Often coins - perhaps on edge or corroded into the surrounding environment? - unfortunately most often insanely deep zinc pennies in the places I hunt. So using the Excal 11 with the 10 inch coil I dig them and would expect to find deeper low carat gold giving the same signal.

FoiledAgain · Apr 4, 2014

Good thread! Here are some further questions/observations from a GT newbie.

I get a lot of high-pitch scratchy, broken signals that are hard to hang on to (quasi-repeatable). So far they seem to be mostly iron bits of one kind or another, but some are corroded pennies. Is this what other GTers find to be true?

These kinds of signals appear to be toned down/eliminated by turning the sensitivity down to around 12 o'clock or lower, but is it better to keep the sensitivity higher and dig those signals?

It seems that deeper targets are higher pitch, irrespective of the composition of the target. I rarely get high-pitch, solid, repeatable signals for deep targets. Is this normal, or is it that I haven't come across many good deep targets, given my limited time with the GT thus far? The good strong signals have mostly been 6" or less.

Thanks for all the help guys!

-Foiled

SalemScott · Apr 4, 2014

While I don't have a ton of hours on the GT I'm becoming a bit more proficient with it. I've been digging alot more of these null/tone signals with surprising results, oftentimes being a deep coin. One of the deciding factors whether to dig or not is when the threshold comes back on, is it the low iron threshold or the higher pitched threshold. I skip the low thresholds and dig the high ones. They have almost all been non-ferrous targets. In my experience this broken signal is very different from most of the bottle cap signals that I've dug, which are generally pretty recognizable. I'm coming to the conclusion that if it's not an obvious iron null with the low threshold, just dig it.

Cfmct · Apr 4, 2014

FoiledAgain said:
Good thread! Here are some further questions/observations from a GT newbie.

I get a lot of high-pitch scratchy, broken signals that are hard to hang on to (quasi-repeatable). So far they seem to be mostly iron bits of one kind or another, but some are corroded pennies. Is this what other GTers find to be true?

These kinds of signals appear to be toned down/eliminated by turning the sensitivity down to around 12 o'clock or lower, but is it better to keep the sensitivity higher and dig those signals?

It seems that deeper targets are higher pitch, irrespective of the composition of the target. I rarely get high-pitch, solid, repeatable signals for deep targets. Is this normal, or is it that I haven't come across many good deep targets, given my limited time with the GT thus far? The good strong signals have mostly been 6" or less.

Thanks for all the help guys!

-Foiled

Small rusty screws and bolts can and do fool the GT.. its part of the game

Most of my gold sounds like foil but smooth and round even the deeper stuff... it might start off higher in tone but lowers as you start digging...

Cfmct · Apr 4, 2014

SalemScott said:
While I don't have a ton of hours on the GT I'm becoming a bit more proficient with it. I've been digging alot more of these null/tone signals with surprising results, oftentimes being a deep coin. One of the deciding factors whether to dig or not is when the threshold comes back on, is it the low iron threshold or the higher pitched threshold. I skip the low thresholds and dig the high ones. They have almost all been non-ferrous targets. In my experience this broken signal is very different from most of the bottle cap signals that I've dug, which are generally pretty recognizable. I'm coming to the conclusion that if it's not an obvious iron null with the low threshold, just dig it.

Green corroded coins sound like this quite a bit they are ragged... its a pulling type of tone best way to describe it is a rubber band letting go :lol:

stewart73 · Apr 4, 2014

For me on the Excal those grunt/chirp signals are sometimes really grungy green coins, usually deep. Most of the time they are junk but not always. As somebody else said, usually depends how exhausted I am (and how much junk I'm hitting in an area) whether I dig them or not.

Charly-in-CT-RI · Apr 4, 2014

I will start to dig them all and many times the object is deep. As I get closer and I get a complete null, then I'll stop but that is rare. I do use a 15 inch coil and sometimes as someone else posted there are two objects next to each other.

As Craig said, you can be missing out. I pulled at least two gold rings with the dig everything policy.

S1u2r3f4 · Apr 4, 2014

What really surprised me is the bad signal a deep quarter gives. I continually get faked out so I dig everything.

meggie · Apr 4, 2014

Found with my GT last year, split 9ct ring weight 15.5 grams.
A very faint deep scrambled signal,nearly didn't dig it .. glad I did.

Now I dig just about everything .. you can never be sure. :grin:

Crumble · Apr 5, 2014

Yeah it makes me sad knowing I probably passed up deep gold sometimes... just goes to show, the Sovereign/Excal disc isn't perfect either. Pretty much every detector has trouble iding deep targets, guess I had too much faith in the BBS.

Going to start digging every target that isn't a solid null in every direction...

Tilton · Apr 5, 2014

Need to go back and dig those scratchy/null signals at my main beach. Might find some more gold there yet! The ones I have dug though are usually bigger pieces of junk.

What Sovereign/Excal targets do you dig?

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