Do You Listen To The Ground Or Hear Targets?

[mn90403]

I just came back from a beach hunt with my 3030.  There was not much there (a 2g silver ring) and a few coins.  Most of the 3 hours I was out I was thinking about another thread that has brought up in my mind the difference between hearing targets or ground listening for targets.  The 3030 gives you choices of Low Trash, High Trash, Ferrous Coin and Ground Coin as examples of how you want to separate the sounds.  This would have to be a bit of a speed control choice.  The Nox has different settings of course.  I've found gold with both detectors.

I'm a fair beach hunter and reader of a beach with the 3030, SE Pro, Equinox, 5000, etc.  I swing for target sounds and dig'em.  I pretty much ignore the ground and the salt water.  Often times I go to our local gold fields and I'm not as successful as others.  I don't seem to get some of the little nuggets or the deep ones.  Most of the time I've described my nugget style as beach hunting for nuggets.  The bottom line is I want more nuggets.

I just read Steve's tips on setting up the Nox in a way that will allow it to identify nuggets.  I've got a 7000, 800 and a 2300 and some other detectors (GB Pro) that can also hear nuggets but maybe this is not what I should be doing for nugget hunting.  Maybe what I should be doing is listening to the ground!

Let me give a couple of definitions:

listen

1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to?Children don't always listen to their parents.
3. to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for?to listen for sounds of their return.

 

hear

1. to perceive by the ear:Didn't you hear the doorbell?
2. to learn by the ear or by being told; be informed of:to hear news.
3. to listen to; give or pay attention to:They refused to hear our side of the argument.

 

The reason for these definitions is to show myself that hearing is not listening unless I concentrate.

Most of the good nugget hunters that post here talk about getting a smooth threshold.  They learned their techniques back in the day when ground balance was much more difficult than it is now.  I think those guys intuitively listen to the ground even with this new technology.  I've always wanted to hear targets.  (Is this too find a difference?)

So, I could go on and on but the question becomes:  Do you listen to the ground or concentrate on target sounds?

Mitchel

 

[flakmagnet]

Hi Mitchel, that's an interesting post and I had to think about it. With the Equinox I listen to the target sounds...there is such a cool tonal language with that detector. (I also hunt the beaches in the SM area). When I'm out with the 7000 I listen to everything. The mix of the ground and the target signal-ish sounds takes a different level of concentration as you have mentioned - I have to concentrate harder. I would call that the "hearing" aspect of my hunting. I actually prefer the more complex kind of detecting but probably that's because I love desert/mountain hunting best. Wishing you luck.

[fredmason]

A difficult concept to convey...

When one is talking they are not listening-even though they can hear the other person talking.

Similarly, when one is detecting, if they have a constant internal dialog going they cannot hear the detector talking; and often whispering...you have to pay attention. 

I rarely have much success when I have other things bouncing around in my head.

fred

[Steve Herschbach]

Usually when nugget detecting I do prefer a threshold sound that is giving me constant ground feedback. This feedback varies but falls within a certain range. My ear tunes to any sound that stands out beyond that ongoing background feedback. So basically you could say I am listening to the ground, and digging everything that sounds different. Some signals are whispers so faint it is almost like I imagine them, but then go back and check and yes... something there!

[mn90403]

3 hours ago, fredmason said:

A difficult concept to convey...

When one is talking they are not listening-even though they can hear the other person talking.

Similarly, when one is detecting, if they have a constant internal dialog going they cannot hear the detector talking; and often whispering...you have to pay attention. 

I rarely have much success when I have other things bouncing around in my head.

fred

Fred,

Thanks.  It is a conceptual sort of approach to the nugget finding conundrum.  The chicken and egg argument reduced to a detector and a coil.  Maybe if I focus more on the ground and less on the target it will help me.

You reminded me of a post I made on Arizona Outback (Chris Gholson's site) years ago when I first started detecting.  I was asking the question back then of 'what do you think about' when swinging' and 'stinking thinking' if I remember correctly.  That was back in the days when I posted my beach finds and nugget finds (less than 10 certainly) every day until he took down a lot of the history from his forums.  There was a lot of good information over there.  I wonder if any of it ever got put back up or made available.  JP posted there often.

Mitchel

[fredmason]

Phrunt, I suspect most people ere on the side of too much sensitivity , rather than too little...and having the threshold too low/too high will cause erratic problems too.

Quiet your inner voice, pick a defined area and force yourself to work it from at least two directions with the same machine...good luck!

fred

[Gerry in Idaho]

Listen to the ground 1st and then the target 2nd.  If the area has no ground noise (such as some tailing piles)) then I use the sounds of targets as my indicator.  But my main concern is the ability to listen to the ground with the detector while it tells me if I can get more out of my machine or not.  I usually run my machines a little on the hot side, so I need to have a threshold.  My GM-1000 drives me nuts as a silent search, but I still find gold with it...more of a hearing of the target machine.

Interesting post.

[mn90403]

When reading some parts of this thread again I am reminded of some things my mother said to me about the time she needed a hearing aid.

She told me on several occasions that she could hear but could not understand.  Her reference was to specific words and their meanings to get a clear idea of a conversation.  I suspect a lot of us hear with the help of body language and reading lips.  If we don't have these clues then sometimes we can't understand.

I've had a hearing test and I do have hearing loss.  This IS a factor no doubt.

I'm using JP's booster with my 3030 and 7000.  I can make sounds louder but as JW has said ... maybe some of us hear but don't understand nuggets.  I thought I did for a while but just about all of those nuggets were shallow.  I need to understand the more subtle sounds it seems.

Mitchel

[flakmagnet]

Mitchel,

One of the most amazing experiences of my life...and I am lucky enough to have had more than my share...was when I made the decision to get hearing aids.

End of story.

[beatup]

I like Steve prefer a threshold sound that gives me info as what the ground sounds like and then i listen for those target sounds that are just different ,and that is the best way i know how to explain it.