The Double-Hop Signal

Gday All,
Inspired by Franma`s picture of her recent Tuena gold ( In particular the long skinny bit) I thought it worthy to post this little bit of my experiences in areas that were rich,but had high amounts of trash.
To those of us who mainly use a mono coil,and dig mostly all targets,this could come in handy.If not even score you some more yellow stuff.
Gold,being the free forming,noble metal it is can come in all shapes and sizes.It can also give any number of differing responces on ones Detector,depending on sweep speed,angle and direction of the swing.
Over time I had found that longish targets such as nails and bits of wire (Boot tacks are the exception) tend to give a double-hop signal. This can vary slightly,but as long as the nail is laying Parrallel to the surface and you walk into the target from all angles,it should give that double signal.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
Me,thinking I know it all ( in reality i dont know much compared to other members of this forum) got used to hearing this double hop. At first I used to dig each one,just to be sure,but then the inevitable let down when it turns out to be a hand forged nail So I started to leave these signals. BIG MISTAKE!
Then came a day I learned my lesson. Thats the great thing about detecting,you never stop learning.
Walking about some diggings that are known to produce small,well rounded nuggets,and getting all the usual junk,was to be my day in nugget school.
A large Mullock heap was covered in every evil bit of conceivable trash you could think of. My pet hate is those little rusty fragments of tin,all shed from the Mother kero tin further up the slope
At the top of that heap I got a double-hop signal and was just about to walk away in disgust but dug it up. Imagine my suprise when at the bottom of my seive was a long skinny nugget. I could have swore that it would of been a nail.
Well my mind started racing,thinking about the positions of all the other so called nails I had left behind that morning. Turns out that some of them were gold,and strange bits at that.
From that day on,I really do dig all those double-hop targets,and put it down to experience gained rather than just rubbish collecting.

now you know why most people dig ALL signals but we learn from our mistakes and are always learning
Cheers

When detecting for coins, one standing on edge will give the same double beep.
Wonder if the sound changes if nuggets are repositioned in relation to the coil
Would be interesting to try a few, might learn something new.

Nice post Gus, know what saying, last year at Daisy Hill most nuggets of the patch sounded exactly like the response you get from small bits of wire. Lucky I usually dig everything these days.
Just to add to your post, most multigram nuggets sitting in shallow ground will sound exactly like trash. Dug out a 4.5 grammer a few weeks back at about 2-3 inches in a pretty trashy area, the response sounded exactly like the junk target right next to it. For those that think they can distinguish rubbish targets from Gold on their GPX's please tell me where you left your undug targets, I'll be happy to check them out for you.

TheGoldenChild wrote:
Just to add to your post, most multigram nuggets sitting in shallow ground will sound exactly like trash. Dug out a 4.5 grammer a few weeks back at about 2-3 inches in a pretty trashy area, the response sounded exactly like the junk target right next to it.

Too true T.G.C, and I`m sure there are plenty of big shallow bits just waiting to be found amongst junk city for those that arent affraid to dig trash.
Nearly every patch we have got amongst the rubbish has held out on the biggest nuggets till last.
There is a patch of ground we detected a few years ago that must have been a ripper for the first blokes who swung there with the old Garrets and early Minelabs. Apparently they got 1.5 Oz bits,all very shallow. And it is awesome Gold there as well,well rounded,bright and studded with beautiful Rose Quartz.
We picked up the scraps here,some chunks up to 18 grammes but there was a large patch of nails in one spot that must have been the remains of an old diggers hut. My mates are gun shy when it comes to digging big squarkers,instead listening for those soft,mellow sounds.
In walks Gus,digs 20 huge Nails and right in the middle was a sweet 6.5 grammer at depth
From then on I made the rule that if we get a run of nuggets in future,ALL the targets in a 50 mtr radius must be removed so we can sleep easy.
I reckon that its common sense,and the ground will be waiting for the next updated detector to come out from the Minelab stable.

Hi Gus, this is a good post. I have taken something away from this and will be digging a higher percentage than I have been.
thanks. Sparrowfart.

Thanks Gus for the comment, yes I dig up everything as one can't be sure that a length of wire or nail is concealing something else.

Sometimes two nuggets side by side also give the double signal or 1 trash and 1 nugget(quite common).To tackle heavy trash plan to work a small area and dig everything within that area,just return another day to cover further ground.This way at least you don't have to return to the same spot or have a friend find a great nugget that you missed.
Steve

I'm planning to work an area that has small nuggets (up to date anyway) but it has plenty of rubbish as well. I know there is still plenty of gold in the area, but the rubbish will drive you made. So the way I plan to hit the problem is to get a builders string line ( the coloured type) and tie one end to a tree and mark of an area from tree to tree in a square, big enough that I can handle detecting for about 4 hrs or so and dig every target. Then mark that area off by using the coloured insulation tape (electrical tape) around the trees in that area so I know that I have done it. And then do the next area next door to the last one. Keep going until I've done the whole lot of 7-1/2 acres. It will take a while but I will know that I've done it properly and hope to get all the gold. I'm thinking of using 2 coils 8" and a 16" on each area.

Wombat

sounds like a good plan wombat..... that 8'' will come in handy

It is mind-numbing to dig every signal.
At least it numbs mine.
I consciously make myself dig each signal
but up to now I have never found gold after digging a signal that sounded like trash.
I am looking forward to it as you might imagine
and figure the odds have now shifted in my favor.

deutran wrote:Sometimes two nuggets side by side also give the double signal or 1 trash and 1 nugget(quite common).

Good point Deutran,and also how if your walking and swinging at a normal pace,a group of shallow,big trash targets together can make you miss the gold as well. We get the first target,the detector squarks to nearly the point of overload. We naturally slightly lift the coil (reflex action) and take another step.In this time the detector still hasnt finished the original signal and may still be returning to normal threshold.
If in that next step we encounter another near overload target,the same happens again,leading to ground missed and potential Gold lost.
Best tip is to try to pinpoint the big bit of surface trash,scuff the ground with your boot to mark it,then turn 90 deg and walk a few paces. Turn back around and slowly work back towards the trash target/s.
Some extra large trash will cause the detector to start to false even when its even a few feet away;kinda like when we get the coil too close to the pick when digging a target.In that case we have no choice but to dig it out and start over.
Also, if a nugget is recovered in amongst the junk,make sure you work back and forward over that area from many different directions,as some deeper small gold can only be heard properly from one direction due to the way its positioned in the wash.