(Updated) How much stuff is mask?

[Detector]

Originally Posted by graybeard View post
Hey Detector why only 5"--6" with the DFX...is that because soil conditions or the settings? I have been using the DFX for over 14 years and get better depth than that. I agree the DFX will not miss much with the right settings ... but also will not claim there is nothing left.

We just have never found anything deeper at that site.

I used the DFX for many years and I know when set right it goes 8+". Dug many at our city park. In fact, the only deeper detector was the E-Trac. I still say the DFX has the best target ID system on the market. The guy I hunt with still uses only the DFX and E-Trac. E-Trac for the city park, and the DFX for everything else. Unbeatable in a tot lot in my opinion.

[Gauntlet]

Originally Posted by Dave_e View post
You should read the article "Beneath the Mask" by Tom Dankowski (NASA-Tom). You may question some of your conclusions.

http://dankowskidetectors.com/conten...-content.shtml

He is also in the business to make money. Not necessarily a bad thing, just saying.

[longbow62]

I think we leave plenty of masked stuff in the ground, but at least in my case when a say a spot is cleaned out it means you are going to have to dig very iffy signals to find anything else or very occasionally stumble on one I missed. I'm talking having to hunt hours on end multiple times to find the one you missed.

[Mikey48]

Originally Posted by longbow62 View post
I think we leave plenty of masked stuff in the ground, but at least in my case when a say a spot is cleaned out it means you are going to have to dig very iffy signals to find anything else or very occasionally stumble on one I missed. I'm talking having to hunt hours on end multiple times to find the one you missed.

Sometimes I dig trash and then find a good target that was invisible to the detector before the trash was removed. That is masking, and until all the trash is gone, you can't know what is underneath it, for sure. Maybe nothing, and maybe a really nice low conductor such as a small gold coin or ring.....

[Nekoma]

Just curious if OP has gone back out and tried digging any of the 2 direction hi tones yet? Am interested in his results.

[Country Dirt Kid]

Haven't been out since. I got a cold and then the weather has been miserable. The farmers don't care if I dig holes everywhere so I am going to dig everything and then post the results. I just absolutely cannot believe how much aluminum blows in from the highway. Flat cans make high tones and pieces of cans make mid tones so its hard but I'm going to give it hell. Stay tuned.

[Nekoma]

Yes hunting our farm fields can be challenging, especially if the house was taken down in last 60yrs. This is because if it has a basement that is deep enough, they will knock most of it into that then burn it, then push in the stone walls if possible then bury that if basement is deep enough. If no deep basement they will burn it and dig a hole beside and try to bury whats left. Which leads to so much trash its not funny, being dragged by the plow, and a lot of times the concrete or stone wall being brought up as well.

So it is challenging to say the least, i went out on Easter for a few hrs and with the wind, and all the trash i was lucky to surface find 2 bottles, a marble and a few nice shards of pottery, apparently i should have just left detector in the truck lol.
Not enough moisture this winter to really alter the soil from last fall, even saw some of my footprints from then.

But keep at it and good things should come your way(mostly relics in my experience).

P.S. I once saw a brand new detectorist get excited over a straight square nail, a monumental find to him, since then i look at most anything but those and modern trash as worthy of my time, and still a relic and of historical value to me.

[longbow62]

Originally Posted by Mikey48 View post
Sometimes I dig trash and then find a good target that was invisible to the detector before the trash was removed. That is masking, and until all the trash is gone, you can't know what is underneath it, for sure. Maybe nothing, and maybe a really nice low conductor such as a small gold coin or ring.....

Yeah I'm just saying I've hit from all directions and it's going to be a real freaky thing to find a missed target that rings up normal. Yes there is stuff that is masked by trash left in the ground.

There is a Park where I live that was hit by a couple of guys I know. They hunted it with several different detector brands. They thought it was cleaned out. The Equinox came out and I started finding more silver there. They were shocked. I found something like 15 over many hunts. Now I can't find a silver there to save my life. Sure there is probably more there masked by trash. I'm not going to clean the trash up though to find it. It would require a lot of plugs dug to do that. I'm not doing that much work or messing up the turf for a few more silver dimes.

P.S. All the silver at this park is very deep. I don't like digging a lot of deep plugs when there are people all over the place. I also don't want to be seen digging plugs constantly just to clean the junk away that might be masking a good target.

[Detector]

Originally Posted by longbow62 View post
I think we leave plenty of masked stuff in the ground, but at least in my case when a say a spot is cleaned out it means you are going to have to dig very iffy signals to find anything else or very occasionally stumble on one I missed. I'm talking having to hunt hours on end multiple times to find the one you missed.

I agree there are masked goodies, but to what extent?

For some, even one missed goody is worth 4 hours of digging everything. Not me anymore.

I'd like to see just one video of detector xxx being taken out to a well hunted site that gave up lots of oldies and have them show here is a missed one, here is another missed one, here is another, but we won't. Why? Because they don't exist. Yes, the 1 or 2 missed oldies being masked happens, heck my Simplex did that. Because the faster processor does a better job of unmasking just by its very nature of a faster recovery speed.

I don't think detector technology has advanced to the point where unmasking is being done by software and not hardware/just a faster recovery speed.

And for the doubter, all processors are upgraded as new ones come out. They don't make old CPUs, they recycle the parts. Any new detector no matter what the price range will have the newest processor, and it will be faster.

And I invite anyone to follow behind me and my cherry-picking and find much. LOL

[Gauntlet]

Originally Posted by Detector View post
For some, even one missed goody is worth 4 hours of digging everything. Not me anymore.

I'd gladly spend 4 hours for one of them gold coins

[tnsharpshooter]

As it stands right now. I would NOT deem a polluted site hunted out with detectorist doing selectable digging in search of higher conductive targets unless Deus 2 with 9” coil has been used in site by Deus 2 skilled user.
Yeah. I said it.
Based on my use of detector in some sites I frequent.
Yesterday was big time eye opener. Actually it was another eye opener. Trend continued with Deus 2.

Cheers.

[Martin_V3i]

I think the term should be "effectively hunted out." Taking hours and hours to pop a good target? That is effectively hunted out. I know. I've become regimented in hunting my same old places for years, lots of hours, and they just don't give up much goodies. I quit seeing other tectors out there hunting in these places a long time ago. I go because I need the physical exercise, and it's not impossible to get a silver few times a year. Generally though, whether you call it hunted out, or effectively hunted out, the "work ratio" to the fun ratio, is just not worth it for the optimistic tector.

Now, I have been running lower sensitivity lately, faster recovery, with the newer technology, to peel off the shallow top layer, looking for masked treasure. So far, no surprises. I need more fun per hour.

[Country Dirt Kid]

Ok so I went back out to the farm field and found these things in a field of randomized iron nails. I basically dug every signal that hit a high tone in one direction. In the past I only dug high tones that hit in 4 directions. I came up with the flip and kick technique. For example, if I heard an iron tone that jumped to a high tone, I would dig a shovel full of dirt, flip it over and kick the clod apart with a heavy boot. I then rescanned the broken-up clod. Most of the time the high tone disappeared because it was just powdery rust surrounding iron. Sometimes it was an insanely small piece of high conductor mixed with iron. Sometimes the high tone would separate out when I kicked the clod, and it was a beautiful coin signal. From now on I'm doing the flip and kick technique.

[tnsharpshooter]

Originally Posted by Country Dirt Kid View post
Ok so I went back out to the farm field and found these things in a field of randomized iron nails. I basically dug every signal that hit a high tone in one direction. In the past I only dug high tones that hit in 4 directions. I came up with the flip and kick technique. For example, if I heard an iron tone that jumped to a high tone, I would dig a shovel full of dirt, flip it over and kick the clod apart with a heavy boot. I then rescanned the broken-up clod. Most of the time the high tone disappeared because it was just powdery rust surrounding iron. Sometimes it was an insanely small piece of high conductor mixed with iron. Sometimes the high tone would separate out when I kicked the clod, and it was a beautiful coin signal. From now on I'm doing the flip and kick technique.

Nice finds.
You can many times stick a shovel in the ground nearby and just barely pry with shovel and jolt the dirt. And this will many times make iron false disappear. Some folks have even reported stomping on top of the ground. This vibration can cause iron false to disappear. I have done the stomp method. Few times. Using shovel is easier especially when ground is drier.

[maxxkatt]

Originally Posted by IDXMonster View post
What is said here about signals being “worse in worked ground” is absolutely correct, and something that needs to be considered. I have found the same, and even a silver dime in a clod in a very loose matrix can be VERY hard to detect. WHY? Not quite sure, it’s just what I’ve also experienced first hand.

When I say I think, that means just that. If I know something to be true I say I know.

I think this is the reason. a dime deeper in the soil undisturbed has built up a halo, namely metal ions flowing into the surrounding dirt maybe 1/2 - 1". Deeper dirt retains more moisture. Thus that dime has a nice detectable halo.

but plowed up in a clod, you now have broken some of that halo, plus clods dry out more than deeper dirt. Thus you are now kind of detecting an air dime, not a deeper dime with a halo that is very beneficial to a detectorists. I think this may be the answer or part of the answer. Also in the clod, the dime might be moved to a vertical angle making it harder to detect than laying flat.

[Pete e]

Interesting thread! I wonder how many times the detector is just wrong, and gives an iron signal instead of recognising a good target?

In the UK, on the Nox, most people don't bother digging -1 or -2 signals as "they are iron"....However one well known and respected detectorist advises he sometimes gets small Roman coins giving those TDI and has done so at multiple sites...

Personally, I think you have to draw the line somewhere and, I ask myself the question do I want to dig 200 scrap signals to unearth one small Roman coin? For me the reward verses effort is not worth it, but others may disagree...

[metaladdict]

I keep returning to iron beach but now it is hunted out.
I found one wheat because I formerly rejected pennies.
Maybe a deus can find something there? Idk?
I won't buy a Deus.

[metaladdict]

BTW your AT pro is not too hot in iron.

[Detector]

Originally Posted by Pete e View post
Personally, I think you have to draw the line somewhere and, I ask myself the question do I want to dig 200 scrap signals to unearth one small Roman coin? For me the reward verses effort is not worth it, but others may disagree...

Well put. THere can always be some great finds missed from the sound not meeting your expectations. The million dollar question for me is, how many? You've got to weigh the potential. At a site that has, or has the potential, to give up some really, really good stuff, then I will be more likely to check out those one way signals.

For me, I have pretty much already done that in the half a century I've been hunting Dodge City LOL.

[Digalicious]

There are 2 very important reasons a coin can give a high tone and high ID in one direction, and a low tone / low ID when swept at 90°.

One, the coin is on edge or edged...and most coins in the ground are on edge or edged.

Two, the coin is right beside a low conductor.

Both of those reasons is why you hunt, then hunt again at 90°. In other words, a high ID and tone usually means a high conductor, and it doesn't matter that you only get it in one direction. If you ignore targets that only have a high tone and high ID in one direction, then you're missing a significant amount of coins.

A good cherry picker will leave little behind. Sure, someone else can hunt the site at a later time and might find a coin or two, but that's going to require digging a massive amount of junk. Some might find that acceptable, but I sure the heck don't.

If you take a good cherry picker and more of a "dig all" detectorist and put them in a park like setting for a few hours, then the good cherry picker will walk out with mainly a bagful of coins, and the other will walk out with mainly a bagful of junk.