Big Boys Hobbies

Do You Dig the "Long" Signals?

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OwassoRon

Full Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
187
Location
Owasso, Oklahoma
By "Long", I mean that if you pass your MD over it in several directions and several depths that you can pinpoint the signal to a strip-say, maybe 6 to 8 inches long, or longer? Everytime I get a physically long signal like that it turns out to be a big chunk of aluminum can or today it was an arrow. I am wondering that maybe someday that same signal will produce a gold or silver necklace or chain. Am I wrong in thinking that it may be a chain? I have passed over several recent "Long" signals thinking that they were probably trash, since every "Long" signal that I've dug up has been trash.
 
I've looked at "long" signals being me doing something wrong, like starting the pinpoint too close to the hit or my ground balance needs checking. Things return to normal after I redo the PP, although a buried phone cable run at a lot threw me for a loop once. Pardon the pun.
 
Funny you mentioned it, I just dug one of those long signals in our back yard and it turned out to be a handsaw :gaah: luckily it wasn't very deep.

I think most chains I found were in a ball though, but you never know...
 
I used to dig them on the beach while detecting but I don't anymore... I'm a PI user and with a PI those long signals everytime proved to be junk... they generally were big iron... a detector like a PI sees a necklace 1 link at a time if it sees it at all.. so I know it wouldn't be a large signal..
 
I often wondered if it could be a precious metal chain also ? If I do dig the long target its usually junk.
 
Yes, I do....

I find them to be very interesting. Last one was a 13" long piece of galvanized 3/4" pipe with a fishing leader attached to one end. Junk for sure but it was interesting. Not only was it long but it gave an overload signal, one of my favorites. You just never really know. Around here it may be a knife of sorts or an old gun, ancient tool ? Everything tells a little bit about it's past.
Haven't thought about the jewelry aspect before now.
Marty
 
I get those at the beach also. Usually its a beer or soda can. I just dig everything. You never know. 1 Day it could be a chain.
 
What I do if I get a long signal is to raise the coil above the ground about 12 inches or so, If your still getting a reading it's likely gonna be a large item.. With a smaller item like a coin or jewelry piece you will lose the signal after raising the coil just a few inches..But like ewemule said you never know that large item might be a large jar of coins or something else great...
 
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The gold chain I dug was longer than a coin signal... that's part of why I dug it- to see what would give off that shape. I also found a silverplate butter knife under a tree root that pinpointed as a long object.
 
Sometimes we find 2-3 coins laying in a row that can give off a long signal. But I dig them all anyway - the treasure hunter in me thinks it might be a goodie :) Steve in so az
 
Long Treasure

Yep
Bicycle chain, farm equipment, axle, and lots of stuff that is non ferrous "or rusted so badly it reads non ferrous". A club member dug up a civil war sword a few months ago.:wow:
 
Thats for the confirmation and feedback all. ;)Yep, I've been skipping the long signals lately, as everytime I've dug them they've turned out to be a big piece of trash. I haven't had the luck to find any coins sitting so close that they give off a 'long signal'. Though my MD can help me distinguish when multiple targets are within ~3-4 inches of each other. Thank goodness for that. Just today I pulled up a bottle cap and then a penny that was a couple inches away. I do like having all these settings on this MD. For now on I'm skipping the majority of 'long signals'. I'll occassionally dig one up to verify that it's junk. :)
 
Speaking of heavy chains, here's the longest signal I ever dug up. :lol:

hugechain.jpg

Seriously, yeah sometimes I do. Once you dig enough of those long signals you learn pretty much what they are. You'll be able to tell the difference between a can and a rod/hanger/piece of metal etc. Sometimes I dig part of it to check, then if I can't get it out... there it stays.

Sometimes you can get a signal but it sounds weird, kind of breaking up, but the signals are all over the scale. I dig them just because they sound weird, and sure enough... it's a pocket spill.

So, the secret of whether to dig or not is determined by how much experience you have at listening to what your detector is saying.

Best bet is to dig it all, or as much as possible because sometimes detectors lie. :shock:
 
My long signal from last night....

It rang up around the high end of my scale and turned out to be a 26" long 3/4" diameter copper pipe. Looks to be a bit older than some as it's very thick walled and 1lb-5.2oz.. I haven't been to the scrap metal guys in a while but I'd guess copper is about $1.50/lb. So.....roughly $2.00 !
Marty
 
The two long signals I have dug recently turned out to be very long. One was a cable for a satelite dish that used to be by a house, the dish was gone but the cable was still there and only 4 inches in the ground. The other turned out to be an old water sprinkling pipe for a football field that was now a park the school is no longer there and they don't use the old sprinkler system.
 
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