ACE 250, Phantom Objects, argh!!

[Sand87]

Alright, this is starting to drive me mad.

The fields have just been ploughed and turned which makes it perfect for detecting so I went out yesterday with my Ace 250 and a new collapsable shovel.

But what happened was I kept getting phantom objects coming up. It would signal objects between ring-pull up to 10/50$ with a strong signal, I'd pinpoint it and start digging. After digging a hole more than 6 inches I'd put my detector over it again and be greeted with total silence. The object had apparantly dissapeared. I'd check all around the hole, nothing.

This happened about 5 times and so I packed up and went home thoroughly dejected.

The sensitivity was between 3 and 4.

Any ideas?

There are quite a few stones and rocks down there but I seriously doubt any have metal contents high enough to signal a 10/50$ coin and even if that were the cause why would the detector stop detecting them after I'd dug them up?

[Cfmct]

It could be the halo effect of a item once there, a piece of iron... it can happen to all of us and has so don't get down... metal detectors are not correct a 100% of the time they are giving it their best guess.. sometimes those 50 cent/1 dollar signals are just that iron.. you did scan your pile correct?

[ohiochris]

Yep, that happens. One way to avoid atleast some of it it make sure the signal repeats consistently and shows the same target with each swing without changing to something else , if it dont then you might want to pass on digging. With every target I dig , I first swing the coil over it from different angles to make sure its not junk in disguise , it can be done really quick so it costs you almost no time at all. Another thing that can cause this is 2 or more targets relatively close to each other , sometimes your signal will come in somewhere between them and not directly over one target. Usually you can determine if this is happening by scanning the area and slightly past it well with the pinpoint button pressed. It can be frustrating and the hardest part is learning how to interpret what the machine " is not " telling you just as much as what it is telling you.

[Sand87]

Thanks for the advice, I'm going out again today so I'll spend more time on pinpointing things and see if that helps. I know what you're talking about when you mention signals that jump between values and I'll try to improve on that or just not bother digging them at the moment.

[Thousandstar]

+1 I agree. I learned this the hard way, many empty holes.

QUOTE=ohiochris;578937]Yep, that happens. One way to avoid atleast some of it it make sure the signal repeats consistently and shows the same target with each swing without changing to something else , if it dont then you might want to pass on digging. With every target I dig , I first swing the coil over it from different angles to make sure its not junk in disguise , it can be done really quick so it costs you almost no time at all. Another thing that can cause this is 2 or more targets relatively close to each other , sometimes your signal will come in somewhere between them and not directly over one target. Usually you can determine if this is happening by scanning the area and slightly past it well with the pinpoint button pressed. It can be frustrating and the hardest part is learning how to interpret what the machine " is not " telling you just as much as what it is telling you.[/QUOTE]