Masking

[BH505Man]

Have you ever had your detector sound off on one target, dig that target and also find an additional or multi targets that your detector did not sound off on? If so, you have experienced something referred to as masking. Masking can occur for many different reasons including the following: 1. multiple targets (one above the other). 2. multiple targets (spaced closely together coupled with slow detector recovery speed). 3. Too fast swing speed vs detector recovery speed. 4. Using too large of a coil in a trashy area.
I experienced masking today firsthand during a hunt using my Legacy 3500. It sounded off on multiple zinc pennies close together. I dug them all one at a time carefully checking the plugs and the holes. In one of the plugs, I found a a zinc penny at 2 inches and about 2 inches below it was a nickel. It was a good thing that I checked the rest of the plug after recovering the zinc penny, because before I dug the plug all I got was a zinc reading.
Has anyone else had a simular experience?

Walt

 

[mudpuppy]

Yep! Great work and very important post!
Spills, slanted stacks, mutidenom tight spills are important signals to recognize if anyone wants to increase their coin totals in a hurry. once you find one you do like you did, just commence to harvest.

A good place to practice or find them are in totlots at the bottoms of slides and under the horizontal bars, beaches, sportsfields, etc....you sweep your coil and something just doesnt sound "right" something is interfering with the signal and you think its just the iron poles of the equipment...a big group of multidenom coins can be a confusing signal, but if a person keeps it in mind to sort of hunt for them, you will find lots of stacks and spills that I think others overlook on account of its not a tight "ping"

once these snow piles start to melt at the edge of a parking lot, thats a good place to practice hunting masked targets too! I run a real low sens in any trashy areas to help cut down on the masking. Its nice to rack up a heap of coins from a spill, your coin count per time afield goes right through the roof!
Mud