Reverse Signals And Sometimes You Don't Want To Walk Away

[Gold Seeker]

4 hours ago, Gold Ryder said:

Here are three that went inverse. 

Just looking at your hands I can tell you didn't work very hard for those nuggets!!!  LOL 

[flakmagnet]

9 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Glad to know you are finding more than most.

Hi Gerry, not sure where you got the impression I was 'finding more than most.' To keep the scales balanced, I was saying many times - over three different detectors - I had found a reverse signal be gold. But finding more than most? Definitely nope.

[Lunk]

13 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Lunk - I know you have dug a few of those giddy Reverse Signals.  That one time we were in AZ and you found the one in the pics below, I don't recall, was it a Reverse Low to High?  Although it is a little porous in character.

It was actually a channel flipper that warbled just like the dozen or so boot tacks I had dug all that day. But as I dug closer to the targets hiding spot 18 inches below the surface, it changed to a screaming high-low response.

The 3.5-ounce AZ nugget in the photo below gave a low-high response, however.

[phrunt]

When I was pretty new to prospecting and using my 4500 I had an inverse signal, to me that meant very little, so I dug some soil out and was checking my dug out pile, a target appeared in it after a few rounds of digging, it was a .2 of a gram nugget, I even filmed a lot of the process, I quite likely put the video on here, after that I moved on, not even rechecking the hole all satisfied I found a little nugget.   It was only sometime later I was back in the same area and found the same inverse signal 🙂 I dig it up and it was an old metal match box.   I wish I had an inverse signal providing me a big deep bit of gold, but a little bit in the same hole as a bit of junk was good enough to keep me happy 😁

[Jonathan Porter]

A lot of small ferrous will give a low high, the way to tell is the width of the sweep relative to the loudness of the response. Range of motion is key, a narrow sweep from “lead-in” to “tail-out” is a sure sign its a boot tack (mostly in difficult but also relevant to Normal timings as well). These shallow ferrous targets can usually be picked up off the edge of the coil (or front of the coil in the case of the GPZ). Most low/high targets are broad and deep and faint, so the width of the sweep is important.

Range of motion is determined by the point where the threshold pitch changes from one direction and the point the audio reverts back to threshold again when coming back again from the other, usually the tail out (as the threshold pitch returns to normal again) is twice as wide as the lead in (lead-in is when the pitch changes as you approach the target to the target signals centre or peak).

Varying the speed also helps a lot with deep wide responses, running the coil through a range of motion at a set speed then halving that speed whilst maintaining the range of motion is a very good way to ascertain a “True” target. A lot of broad conductive signals sound like deep targets but almost always fail the reduction in swing speed test. Repeating all this at 90 degrees is also a useful tool.

The ground balance can affect high/low low/high behaviour from one location to another, especially on the smaller smoother nuggets. Conductive variable soils can also throw things right out of whack.

One trick is to do a precise ground balance to the side of a suspect target (pumping the coil gives accuracy, sweeping gives averaging), comparing what was originally heard to the new precise GB is a good comparison tool and saves time (As an efficiency workflow you can do this at the same time you slow the sweep speed down). Also checking the ferrite balance on the GPZ helps, as the calibration might have drifted due to temperature changes in the electronics. 

Hope this helps
JP

 

[Gerry in Idaho]

Gold Ryder - Yes, those are exactly the kind that flip the signature (from a traditional high to low, to a low to high).  Love that big flat thick nugget, so unique.  Thanks for sharing for us so others can see the kind and types of gold that will flip a signal response.

dirtman - what an inspirational find and I love seeing that thick quartz vein.  Sorry to hear you are 13 yrs in and have not broken that record find.  In reality, those crazy digs are much more rare than most realize and it could be another 13 yrs before you break that one.  Hopefully not though and thanks for sharing.

flakmagnet - Sorry I assumed you were in the thick and chunky gold regions and digging more than most of such reverse signals.  I do have a couple customers that easily find more of them type of gold finds than most of us, including myself.  They just keep the pics and stories on the low.  No hard feelings and glad to know you have dug some with a few different detectors.

Lunk - I couldn't remember if that particular find did or did not.  Now that one there (3.5 oz) is tops.  If I am not mistaken, it too was also quite deep?

Oh buddy, that canyon wide/deep hole below has to be near 20"+ as I see the 14" coil is easily down beyond the surface.  Please enlighten us with details.

 

phrunt - I sure hope one of these days you'll get the privilege of digging a Reverse Signal gold nugget and it will probably be when you least expect it as well. 

Your story reminds me of a trip Lunk/I did years ago into Mexico.  I had found a decent area and recovered a few nuggets in a wash.  Thoroughly working the banks and bottom, I swing over a semi broad low high (here it comes - big gold my mind is thinking).  I'm so confident that it's going to be a nice one, I'm trying to guesstimate the weight of it as I dig.  The deeper I go the bigger my mind says of the weight.  You know how our minds race when these occurrences happen in good gold areas (well I hope you do)?

Now, I'd down 12 to 14" deep and when rechecking the hole with the coil, it's just a screaming at me.  This has to be at least 1/2 oz'er and would be the biggest nugget of that adventure for me.  

Well I finally get it out of the bottom of the hole and in a pile of lose material. I'm expecting to be able to spot it with my open eyes. Nothing I can see.  Eventually using the handful of material to coil method, I get it in my hand. Well how disappointing it was, as it turning out not to be Golden and or Biggen.

My 1/2 oz prized Reverse Signal Mexican Gold at depth turned out to be a Prospectors lost coin.  It's actually pretty cool as it's a Spanish hammered copper coin (before milled) and if I recall it dated late 1700's to early 1800's.

 

Jonathan Porter - Yes, you are 100% on point with the target width.  I try not to go into detail much with folks about target widths as most of them get confused.  But I thank you for bringing it up.  Interestingly, I can even tell the target width when running VLF detectors (Equinox and Manticore) on bigger deeper signals.  I guess with a few of us who's been listening to signals for eons of years, our ears pick up those subtle nuances. 

Making sure to do a Ground Balance next to an iffy target or a potential reverse signal is also a great piece of advice.  Thanks for chiming in and adding some knowledge for others to learn from.  Your input is always welcomed.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lunk]

2 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Oh buddy, that canyon below has to be near 20"+ as I see the 14" coil is easily down beyond the surface.  Please enlighten us with details.

Yep, it was at a measured 24” depth about 30’ out from an old raked and detected nugget patch, all by its lonesome; pretty typical for lunker nuggets. It gave a broad, faint low-high response. And since it was virgin ground, I knew it had to be one of only two natural objects…a multi-ounce gold nugget or an iron meteorite. I would have been ecstatic with either, but glad it was the former. Full details here.

[Gold Junkie]

Today I experimented with my new 13" DD coil for the Axiom. On my 0.13 g test nugget, it gave a nice high low signal in the center of the coil. When I would swing the front or rear 1/3 of the coil over it, it would give the reverse low high signal. I thought that was odd, but good to know.

[Arky]

Almost walked away without digging this one due to reverse signal. It was shallow, not more than 2 inches. It was in pretty hot ground and the signal went normal after it was loose. Zed with stock coil.