Sovereign, no signal means target in next scoop behaviour

[OBX Franz]

The thread on sweep speed and a mention of air testing in it made me think of this. I know I'm not the only one who experiences this because I've heard others talk of it. 100% of my hunting is at ocean (salt) beach, so I don't know if this occurs elsewhere. Very often I will be digging (w/ sand scoop) a target. I'll scoop, scan the hole, and if the signal is still there, I then dump my sand to the side and repeat the process. Once I scan the hole and get no signal (suggesting the target is in the scoop), I dump and spread my scoop full. Usually the target is in the spread and all I do is scoop up the signalling section, sift to retrieve the target, fill the hole and move along my way. Many times though, I will dump, spread, and scan but get no signal. One more scoop out of the hole and the target is usually there. It happens like this so often I can almost expect it to be in this next scoop, with little to no doubt. The only thing I can guess is that everytime this happens it is because the target is on edge. I've never air tested targets on edge, but I find it hard to believe that the coil wouldn't pick up, for example, a zinc penny on edge 1-2" deep? Does anyone have any insight into this mystery?

 

[rick5224]

I had this happen 2 or 3 times sunday at the beach I feel like you if you loose the signal it will be in the next scoop.I don't try to figure it out I just scoop again and there it is.

 

[Neil]

my guess is when you first scooped, you missed the target by a small amount(meaning completely, not depth wise) and then when you pulled the scoop out of the ground notice how some sand falls down in the hole. that is the sand(if you had a strong signal) that had the target and now its at the bottom of the hole of your first scoop and out of range of your detector. Then one more scoop and youve got it. Ive seen coins/rings fall like this many times. Also sometimes in the pile your creating the coin will be on edge and you have to flatten out the sand to get another signal(thats if its not in the hole but in the pile of sand you have piled up from digging. Coins/rings on edge are harder to detector for sure.
luckily the beach sand is fairly easy to dig in.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

its happened to me many times too.....both inland and at the beach.....may be some truth about the ground being a better conductor than the air....i dont own a pinpionter either ,, but i almost always find the target....seems to happen mostly on deep coins that are at the outer detectable limit...but i know exactly what you are talking about...

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

BBS Detectors don't like items that have resonantly been disturbed.(wet/moist sand/dirt) While the detector will still sound off on the disturbed target it requires a very slow sweep to obtain this! Dry sand not a factor. But bulldozed or dug dirt or sand some targets do this. I have dug gold earrings and lost them on the beach in the pile. Only the wave action shown the earring lying on the beach. The detector would NOT sound off on it in either PP or Discriminate. At home only one of many detectors made a chirp with these earring's and that was a Compass XP Pro. All these earring's were marked 14k and tested good! Coins that are in the bottom of a dug hole will do the same but always sound when retrieved from the hole. If you had a good signal and can't find it keep digging, widen the hole or spread the sand and flatten it out with your feet. It's one of those anomalies?

 

[Tin Fin]

I had this happen this past weekend on a cent - had good signal, dug it, lost it, found it with the pinpointer - it was on edge, with just a small bit of rim exposed above the soil. I have lost a few coins this way I think, but I'm learning to approach it a little different. I guess I need to do some testing of coins on edge. I have not had this happen to silver, but to copper, yes, on edge, I couldn't find it.

 

[OBX Franz]

BBS Detectors don't like items that have resonantly been disturbed.(wet/moist sand/dirt) While the detector will still sound off on the disturbed target it requires a very slow sweep to obtain this! Dry sand not a factor. But bulldozed or dug dirt or sand some targets do this. I have dug gold earrings and lost them on the beach in the pile. Only the wave action shown the earring lying on the beach. The detector would NOT sound off on it in either PP or Discriminate. At home only one of many detectors made a chirp with these earring's and that was a Compass XP Pro. All these earring's were marked 14k and tested good! Coins that are in the bottom of a dug hole will do the same but always sound when retrieved from the hole. If you had a good signal and can't find it keep digging, widen the hole or spread the sand and flatten it out with your feet. It's one of those anomalies?

Well, since I originally posted this thread, it hasn't happened to me once, go figure. I am going to go with your statement that the bbs units don't like recently dug targets, and possibly a combination of the targets being pushed on edge as well. One of these days I will take my propointer along so that when I know this is happening, I can carefully (like an archeological dig, one little scrape at a time) find the target in the bottom of the hole and verify it's orientation. It's unlikely I'll do this tho, out there hunting is a different mind set than at the keyboard, hunting zen...!