Ed in SoDak
Member
Irony ground, that is!
I think I may have found what seemed to be "false" signals all over my yard that only my T2 was bothered by.
It's warmed up outdoors and I've been able to dig some signals and finally check out a few "mystery" targets I've been noting and just familiarize myself more with the T2 out in the "real world". After digging a handful of bullets, airgun pellets, nails, can scraps, shell casings, iron parts and such, I came across one of the areas where I'd seen many little blips and some seemingly deep items that would read as foil, ID of 40-41, but also had an iron signature on the FE scale.
Determined to see what it was, I dug quite a hole, but couldn't find the target. At one point, I had all my main detectors out, trying each in turn. The Time Ranger would barely signal in all metal and the Gold Bug was essentially indifferent to whatever it was. The Falcon was totally quiet, even clawing it through the pile of dirt and the hole, now down to about 10 inches deep. Still the T2 would signal "something" was there.
Wishing I had a smaller coil (subtle hint!) to fit in the tight spaced hole between two trees and some roots, I pointed the tip of the coil into the hole and could still read several targets here and there but couldn't seem to get enough coil in the hole to pinpoint with any certainty.
The more I dug, the more the signals spread and moved around, so I eventually gave it up as a mineralization thing, put the other detectors away and continued hunting with just the T2 and my Falcon pinpointer.
I moved on up the hill to where I'd found a clay layer last year that gave similar false signals with my Time Ranger. Here, I was finally able to isolate one of the offending signals. It was a bit of native iron large enough to locate with the Falcon! This prompted me to grab my magnet, whereupon I was quickly rewarded with a gram or two of magnetic bits, gathered from the three or so different holes I'd dug on the property.
Now that I was onto this, I found I could locate little pockets of them all over the place. Every time they read with an ID of 40 or 41 and bumped the FE reading to .1 or .3, so I should be able to ignore them. If they had been gold nuggets, I'd be doing the happy dance and making plans for paying off the mortgage a few years early!
Still, I think if they were real nuggets, they woulda made a sweet signal. Even as small and as deep as they seemed to be, I'd like to think the T2 woulda found 'em!
When the T2 located a pocket of the iron bits, I attempted pinpointing by rubbing the Falcon's wand on the ground, then slowly digging into the loose topsoil and old needles with it. I had a heck of a time finding any signal and usually had to resort to pinpointing again with the T2 to narrow down the search area. It usually wasn't until I had removed a layer or two of dirt that I could get the Falcon to respond. The magnet made much quicker work of the job.
Now, bear in mind the T2 may have been seeing several bits at once, but I was impressed with how well it picked up these annoying little rocks and pinpointed where they were. I've hunted my own yard for many years on and off and never noticed these things before, so it has to be the T2 is simply more sensitive than anything I've been accustomed to hunting with.
I've found magnetic "fur" in the sediments from my home's water filter and in the bottom of a test pan, but never have I seen it make a signal on any detector I've tried here. Once I knew where to try, the Time Ranger could hit it in all metal, but I hardly ever use that mode here, due to all the manmade trash on the place. I'd just ignore it as a false signal. Now I know something's actually there!
I'm not sure how it'll affect my finding any possible nuggets among 'em, but I sure feel more confident in the T2, now that the main cause of the falses I've been seeing on my property has been explained!
-Ed
[attachment 20024 ironbits.jpg]
I think I may have found what seemed to be "false" signals all over my yard that only my T2 was bothered by.
It's warmed up outdoors and I've been able to dig some signals and finally check out a few "mystery" targets I've been noting and just familiarize myself more with the T2 out in the "real world". After digging a handful of bullets, airgun pellets, nails, can scraps, shell casings, iron parts and such, I came across one of the areas where I'd seen many little blips and some seemingly deep items that would read as foil, ID of 40-41, but also had an iron signature on the FE scale.
Determined to see what it was, I dug quite a hole, but couldn't find the target. At one point, I had all my main detectors out, trying each in turn. The Time Ranger would barely signal in all metal and the Gold Bug was essentially indifferent to whatever it was. The Falcon was totally quiet, even clawing it through the pile of dirt and the hole, now down to about 10 inches deep. Still the T2 would signal "something" was there.
Wishing I had a smaller coil (subtle hint!) to fit in the tight spaced hole between two trees and some roots, I pointed the tip of the coil into the hole and could still read several targets here and there but couldn't seem to get enough coil in the hole to pinpoint with any certainty.
The more I dug, the more the signals spread and moved around, so I eventually gave it up as a mineralization thing, put the other detectors away and continued hunting with just the T2 and my Falcon pinpointer.
I moved on up the hill to where I'd found a clay layer last year that gave similar false signals with my Time Ranger. Here, I was finally able to isolate one of the offending signals. It was a bit of native iron large enough to locate with the Falcon! This prompted me to grab my magnet, whereupon I was quickly rewarded with a gram or two of magnetic bits, gathered from the three or so different holes I'd dug on the property.
Now that I was onto this, I found I could locate little pockets of them all over the place. Every time they read with an ID of 40 or 41 and bumped the FE reading to .1 or .3, so I should be able to ignore them. If they had been gold nuggets, I'd be doing the happy dance and making plans for paying off the mortgage a few years early!
Still, I think if they were real nuggets, they woulda made a sweet signal. Even as small and as deep as they seemed to be, I'd like to think the T2 woulda found 'em!
When the T2 located a pocket of the iron bits, I attempted pinpointing by rubbing the Falcon's wand on the ground, then slowly digging into the loose topsoil and old needles with it. I had a heck of a time finding any signal and usually had to resort to pinpointing again with the T2 to narrow down the search area. It usually wasn't until I had removed a layer or two of dirt that I could get the Falcon to respond. The magnet made much quicker work of the job.
Now, bear in mind the T2 may have been seeing several bits at once, but I was impressed with how well it picked up these annoying little rocks and pinpointed where they were. I've hunted my own yard for many years on and off and never noticed these things before, so it has to be the T2 is simply more sensitive than anything I've been accustomed to hunting with.
I've found magnetic "fur" in the sediments from my home's water filter and in the bottom of a test pan, but never have I seen it make a signal on any detector I've tried here. Once I knew where to try, the Time Ranger could hit it in all metal, but I hardly ever use that mode here, due to all the manmade trash on the place. I'd just ignore it as a false signal. Now I know something's actually there!
I'm not sure how it'll affect my finding any possible nuggets among 'em, but I sure feel more confident in the T2, now that the main cause of the falses I've been seeing on my property has been explained!
-Ed
[attachment 20024 ironbits.jpg]