How to pinpoint with an 18" NFA coil

Hi guys, I need some advise, how to pinpoint a target with an 18 "Coil Advantage, I was out Sunday and I found it very difficult, so I had to replace it with a 12 "elliptical.
Cheers
Goldquest

Hi Goldquest,

What I do Is I sweep forward and find where the strongest is and mark a line(make sure it is long). Then I sweep from 90 degrees find the strong spot and mark another line. Where the 2 lines cross is where the target should be. Try and leave these lines intact as much as possible while digging your hole so you can still imagine where the crossover point is.

But something tells me that you are having trouble pinpointing in the actual hole as the coil does not fit in it! Just keep your smallest coil handy on a stem and after you have dug your hole down a bit, turn off your machine, unplug you 18" plug in your small coil and then you can use it in your hole. When your finished, hook up your 18" again and find your next slug

Cheers Mick

Mechanic wrote:Hi Goldquest,

What I do Is I sweep forward and find where the strongest is and mark a line(make sure it is long). Then I sweep from 90 degrees find the strong spot and mark another line. Where the 2 lines cross is where the target should be. Try and leave these lines intact as much as possible while digging your hole so you can still imagine where the crossover point is.

But something tells me that you are having trouble pinpointing in the actual hole as the coil does not fit in it! Just keep your smallest coil handy on a stem and after you have dug your hole down a bit, turn off your machine, unplug you 18" plug in your small coil and then you can use it in your hole. When your finished, hook up your 18" again and find your next slug

Cheers Mick

Thank you Mick, the two lines is a very good idea, I will try next time.

Mechanic reply is spot on. Sometimes raising the coil further off the ground also helps when doing the 90 degree move. When trying to find a small target with a large mono using just the edge of the coil also helps if the signal is load enough.

geof_junk wrote:Mechanic reply is spot on. Sometimes raising the coil further off the ground also helps when doing the 90 degree move. When trying to find a small target with a large mono using just the edge of the coil also helps if the signal is load enough.

Take note of the above quote! When trying to pinpoint your target that you have just retrieved from your hole and it is now in your heap, tip the coil on its side and use the edge of the coil to find the strong point then do this again from 90 degrees. Then you will have pinpointed your target in your heap and it should be really easy to find. Sometimes it also pays to spread your heap out a bit too.

You can also use the edge of your coil to determine if the target is on or close to the surface. If it is only detected with your coil flat on the ground in the centre of the coil , you have a deeper target and the blood can start pumpin But still dig and identify all targets.

Cheers Mick

Mechanic wrote:

geof_junk wrote:Mechanic reply is spot on. Sometimes raising the coil further off the ground also helps when doing the 90 degree move. When trying to find a small target with a large mono using just the edge of the coil also helps if the signal is load enough.

Take note of the above quote! When trying to pinpoint your target that you have just retrieved from your hole and it is now in your heap, tip the coil on its side and use the edge of the coil to find the strong point then do this again from 90 degrees. Then you will have pinpointed your target in your heap and it should be really easy to find. Sometimes it also pays to spread your heap out a bit too.

You can also use the edge of your coil to determine if the target is on or close to the surface. If it is only detected with your coil flat on the ground in the centre of the coil , you have a deeper target and the blood can start pumpin But still dig and identify all targets.

Cheers Mick

Mick, I never had a signal so strong, untill now, to make my blood pumpin, but I keep on hoping, maybe one day........

LOL No neither have I except at the test site! However I have had many a deep faint sounding target(turned out to be trash)Although 1 was a nice 5 gram nugget about 6 to 8" down. I always get excited when I find a target, you just never know it could be a nice bit of gold! Hopefully soon I will be the proud owner of a nice multi ounce chunk! 1 swing away!

Cheers Mick

Mechanic wrote:LOL No neither have I except at the test site! However I have had many a deep faint sounding target(turned out to be trash)Although 1 was a nice 5 gram nugget about 6 to 8" down. I always get excited when I find a target, you just never know it could be a nice bit of gold! Hopefully soon I will be the proud owner of a nice multi ounce chunk! 1 swing away!

Cheers Mick

I have the same filing that soon I will find a nice one, then we will celebrate together.

Gday Goldquest

Big coils do take a bit of getting used to, what I do is after I have done a bit of a scrape with the boot and find the target still to be buried I then use the flat scraper on the pick to take a bit of dirt off the surface, if after that the target is still in the ground then you use the coil to work out roughly where it is, if the piece is deeply buried you will only get a good signal from the centre of the coil, and after waving the edge of the coil over the area and you do not get a response from it then you will definately know that the target is deeper down.

The best way I have found to dig the hole is to start from the outside, by this I mean start breaking of the ground with the pointy end of the pick, make the outer edges of the hole wider than the size of the coil, the reason I do this is simple, if your estimate of where the target is sitting in the ground is a bit out then there is less chance of putting the point of the pick through the nugget, a nice piece can be easily wrecked by a careless pick stroke and seriously de valued, I then if the ground is soft enough just drag the point through the centre to break it up, then use the flat of the pick to scrape the loose soil from the hole.

If after waving the coil over the dragged out soil it is not there and still in the hole, then you just repeat the procedure over again, the thing is that if the target is deep then the hole must be wide enough to get the coil in to locate it, and also if you have to dig a big hole its better to work from the outside as what happens the hole always tends to narrow as you dig down and this makes it harder to pinpoint the target and also increase the chances of damage from the pick.

If the target is in the loose dirt and out of the hole, I use the left edge of the coil to locate it, once I get a response from the edge of the coil, I mark it with a scrape, also using the edge of the coil,then stepping back I use the very front edge of the coils centre and approach the target area from the back, moving forward until I get a target response, and mark it again, this way I know precisely where the piece is, you can now either scoop it up in your hand or use a plastic scoop if you have one.

With the large coils and more particularly the open type ones finding a small piece can be a little difficult, with a full coil I just dump the handfull of soil on to the surface of the coil and use a finger to spread the soil about, most of the time you end up seeing the target, and as you move the dirt towards the edge of the coil you will get a response from it, so you locate it in this way.

If you have a handful of soil and after waving it near the coil and you get a response, and you are using an open spoked coil, you can either keep deviding the soil from one hand to another until you narrow it down or what I do is I just allow the soil to trickle from my hand on to the edge of the coil closest to me until I get a sharp response from the piece landing on the coil surface, I then wave the hand with the soil near the coil and if no signal I dump it back in the hole and I know that the target is sitting on the coil, same thing with that I just move it around with a finger and you will either see it or hear where it is when it moves.

This probably sounds labourious but its all done in seconds, everyone developes their own technique.

cheers

stayyerAU

Hi stayyerAU, thanks so much for the detailed explanation you gave me on how to pinpoint with a big coil, like you said with practice becomes easier, in time i will develop my own personal technique, for now I will be happy to follow your advice.
Cheers
Goldquest

Hello
Here is my 2 bobs:

1. 90 degree method is only good for DD coils, and that coil you have is a mono, right?

2. here is how to pin-point big mono:

Take a step back from target and start advancing back to it slowly, moving 1 cm on each swing.
The swings should be very narrow - less than the width of the coil. Few inches left, few right and 1 cm forward.
When you hear a FAINT target, STOP. The target is now under the front tip of the coil.

Cheers!

Back up a tad!! thats no diff from using a DD. A DD coil is every bit as sensitive to a target at the tip as is a mono.?? if not more sensitive the closer the coil is to the target. ..if its a tin can you maybe half a meter from it.

I use and teach the 90%deg method still with both mono & DD, and the only time i tilt my mono coil is when its down a large hole, and i lower the gain to 1 to stop the erratic behavior that this brings on when a mono is tilted off horizontal. This will stop the confusion especially among those starting out and trying to pinpoint down a large hole. If its a big hole you've dug then a gain of 1 will pinpoint your target quite well.

Once its out im happy to do this....Take a step back from target and start advancing back to it slowly, moving 1 cm on each swing.
The swings should be very narrow - less than the width of the coil. Few inches left, few right and 1 cm forward. Give or take a cm or inch.


Edit..One thing i try to pump into the heads of those starting out is, learn how to pinpoint correctly. Its your time your wasting if you dont, and i let them know this because most have to travel some distance to get to a goldfield. The last thing you want with a 6k+ detector when first starting out is to spend most of the day sifting through your tailing's. Thats time you could be spending learning more about the detector.

PS.Most of us at one stage or another have given up on a target for whatever reasons ..myself included, and no doubt it was a bit of gold, we all do it, we just dont like to admit it.

I found the best way to learn how to pin point, was to go coin hunting in lawns. If you made a mess you never got permission to detect there again. If you got it wrong you damage your coin. The lesson is is try to get it right the first time.

I have found responses all very interesting also. We do most of our detecting with 11" mono comander coil that came with 4500. We also have the nugget finder advantage round 18" and always have trouble pinpointing a target. We found they do not pinpoint the same way a semieliptical does. We also found the make a cross by going 90' and where signal was strongest was bang in middle of coil. A hint to find target once dug out, we use a plastic kitchen sieve and pass that over coil. most of fine dirt falls through it as well. (we detect in WA) Cheers travelergold

IF YOU GET A REALLY LARGE WIDE SIGNAL WHILST USING A MONO COIL TRY BRIEFLY TURNING YOUR DETETECTOR INTO CANCEL MODE,YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PINPOINT A COKE CAN TO THE INCH!..BUT DONT FORGET TO TAKE YOUR MACHINE OUT OF CANCEL WHEN YOUR FINISHED OR YOU MIGHT NOT GET ANOTHER SIGNAL FOR A WEEK.

This is my go at pinpointing a small bit.