Gold Signals.

Am I correct in saying that gold doesn't sound anything particular? the signal of gold can be anything and sound like just a bit of trash a lot of the time there's no such thing as just 1 gold signal hence dig every signal

Depends on how well you know your machine. Practice in a gold ring/earing, nose-ring, belly button ring -in various positions they can all give a different signal--so dig them all till you know your machine.

There is only one signal for gold. Unfortunately it's the same signal as any other metallic object :lol:

When chasing gold nuggets with a PI machine, dig everything. The number of times that I've seen nuggets dug where the person has called it as rubbish or a shotty pellet is surprising.

I'm yet to find any gold nuggets while detecting (better add I'm a newbie though), however, I intend to dig everything because at the very least it's good exercise for the arm muscles! :lol:

ower: ower:

VLF machines yes! good vlf machines will give a nice crisp zip sound for gold. after a while
its like a DING! gold!

PI machines as stated have no real sound differentiation everything sounds the same.

PI machines are like a buzzer in one of those game shows and A VLF machine is like a poker machine going off feature!

On the nox small gold items can show a negative number. Dig everything

I've said this a few times over the years to both novices and experienced prospectors alike.

Do NOT listen for a particular signal/sound. Those that say they can tell the difference between junk and gold are kidding themselves.

Listen for a repeatable change in the threshold.

It can be tonal change, level change, drop outs, warbles, screams, faint murmurs, whispers.... whatever...

If its repeatable, dig it.

If you aren't sure, take a few cm off top and check.

If you're still not sure, dig it.

I have pulled gold at shallow depths that screamed like junk. I've also pulled junk that had the sweetest deep mellow tone you'd normally associate with a nice nugget.

The range of shapes, depths, density and purity of gold nuggets doesn't allow us to establish baseline sounds.

Moral of the story.... DIG, DIG, DIG

Yep -- as I was starting out and finding my first few nuggets I thought I had the "gold signal" figured out, a nice crisp high-low (on the SDC), not too loud, etc. But now I know better. high-low, low-high, crisp, warbly -- doesn't matter. In my small collection of nuggets I have a pretty good representation of all those sounds/signals -- and it's not that big of a collection either. Dig everything...

I linked this recently in another similar thread. Might be worth looking at again.

https://youtu.be/RD3cKMcKIPQ

Hi steelphase,Thanks for the tips,the word repeatable pertains to the coil being swept over the target in both direction and getting a signal/sound in both directions as well?
Just want to clarify if this is what you mean for any one new to prospecting.

greyhound said:

Hi steelphase,Thanks for the tips,the word repeatable pertains to the coil being swept over the target in both direction and getting a signal/sound in both directions as well?
Just want to clarify if this is what you mean for any one new to prospecting.

Click to expand...

No.
Often some faint targets you might get a signal in one direction eg: left to right but not right to left or visa versa. Sometimes you'll get a signal when approaching from the east but not from the south. It can depend on the orientation of the target in the ground...is it flat or on its edge?

Repeatable as in it is constantly there. Rebalance your machine and it's still there. Walk away and come back and it's still there. Come back another day and it's still there.

Not all targets produce a response from all directions.

Thanks madtuna,they certainly can be tricky little suckers sometimes.
My mantra,if in doubt scrape ,scrape again,if still unsure dig :Y:

Yep MT, I thought I new the sound of gold n yes that sound will find you gold. steel phase must feel like a broken record on repeat. Repeatedly repeatable is key. Lol. Then you here people say my nugget but it had a classic or the distinctive gold sound,yes you heard it yes its gold I know the sound. bulldust. Keep thinking that and leave the majority out there for me. So many variables I wont get into. But just one example comes to mind: recently went out got 8 small ones under half gram 7 had the distinctive soft oooahhh or helllo tone. But the biggest peice of the day was a very flat round peice found on edge. This shape the gold made from the top ( what the detector reads)looked like a small peice of chicken wire. Therefore the sound it made sounds identical to wire of similar size. due to the detectors footprint that it reads is the same as a piece of wire. I stopped said to my m8 got a target here sounds like a bit of chicken wire I said but Im gonna dig it. I think it will be gold. he was like nar. He was shocked when it was. I wasnt as I dig em all. :goldnugget:

https://youtu.be/G6lu3QfMhcE - A video I put together after pulling a 124g piece out from under an annoyingly noisy patch of black silt on a creek bank. Some days when I get tired of digging too much junk I end up trying to choose my targets even though I should know better.

Great video MB erfect: apart from the large nugget the comparison test is well thought out :Y: definitely no way of knowing until you dig :beer:

Cool video money

Jaros said:

Depends on how well you know your machine. Practice in a gold ring/earing, nose-ring, belly button ring -in various positions they can all give a different signal--so dig them all till you know your machine.

Click to expand...

Glad I saw this because I was wondering about jewellry to practice on as they aren't normally pure, but a mix of metals. My final thought was to buy some small pieces off eBay. Unless someone wants to donate lol.
Any opinions on this?
Thanks.

when u get a signal play with your machine settings and see what signals you get from it, best,worse, up ,down ,wobble ,sharp dull etc, then dig it ,it come into practice when find a patch and take the time to do it, to many people come into the hobby and rush all day long ,take the time smell the roses (gum tress) and just when u got it figured out it throw a curly one at u but there's other factors emi ,temp of ground ,air temp,coil temp, shape of gold most of all "your mine set" r u concentrating ,ru comfortable , do u want to find gold i just cut my holiday short by 5 days because temp machine ground and me ps which one do u want :goldnugget:

Digger58 said:

Jaros said:

Depends on how well you know your machine. Practice in a gold ring/earing, nose-ring, belly button ring -in various positions they can all give a different signal--so dig them all till you know your machine.

Click to expand...

Glad I saw this because I was wondering about jewellry to practice on as they aren't normally pure, but a mix of metals. My final thought was to buy some small pieces off eBay. Unless someone wants to donate lol.
Any opinions on this?
Thanks.

Click to expand...

keep in mind that different carat jewellery (eg 9, 18 or 24) has differing conductivity due to the alloy, & can create a different response in both VLF & PI detectors