Sunny And Hot In Yuma

[Condor]

The weather in Sunny Yuma by the Sea continues to suck.  Decent morning temps, but 90 degrees by 10:00 am.  I got my new replacement 7000 from Minelab a couple weeks ago.  My original developed some screen issues and a broken battery clip.  As most of you know, Minelab isn't repairing the 7000's, they are replacing them with new ones. 

I'm experimenting with a different super lightweight external frame pack for this winter's detecting.  I've been going out for the past couple weeks for a few hrs in the morning working with the pack and setup to take the weight of the detector off my shoulder strap and onto the pack frame.  I've about got the bugs worked out now so I'm looking forward to getting in some serious detecting soon.  In the meantime, mostly because of the heat, I'm making short trips and using the Lucky Lundy mode of detecting.  Super low and slow and replaced my reliance on the external WM speaker with IEM's (in ear monitor) type earphones.  Lundy prefers the Grey Ghost traditional headphones I think, nevertheless the Etymotic brand 4S has 100 ohm impedance, so very close to the stock Koss headphones that came with the 7000, and no sweaty ears.  No more 5 mile hikes for now, just working old drywash patches. 

The addition of max low and slow with the IEM's have resulted in some tiny gold.  I count 3 that are .1 gram and under.  I'm running maxed out sens with HY and low smoothing.  It's really doing the trick based on these current results.  I'm pretty sure the big ones with take care of themselves if I can just get the coil over them. 

[fredmason]

Nice gold, Condor. Is that  just one days worth?

maybe we will meet up when the desert cools...no 90's for me!

fred

[Nevada Brian]

I never get tired of seeing gold, good job.

[LukeJ]

Good stuff.  Nice haul !!   

Luke

[IdahoPeg]

32 minutes ago, Nevada Brian said:

I never get tired of seeing gold, good job.

Same here, Brian! I haven't been able to get out since the trip last month....so I live vicariously through others on the forum for now! ?

[Condor]

Hey Fred,

The gold is about 10 hrs of detecting over the past few weeks.  Supposed to hit 97 this Sat, so you're not missing much.  See you in Nov.

[Tortuga]

Nice gold. I loop the bungee around the handle of my GPZ and I clip the plastic Y-harness to two plastic D-rings on the shoulder straps of my Camelbak pack. Takes the weight off my swinging arm and the detector hangs down the front of my chest. The detector balances a lot better from the handle too instead of if you attach the bungee down low on the shaft. 

[Condor]

29 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Nice gold. I loop the bungee around the handle of my GPZ and I clip the plastic Y-harness to two plastic D-rings on the shoulder straps of my Camelbak pack. Takes the weight off my swinging arm and the detector hangs down the front of my chest. The detector balances a lot better from the handle too instead of if you attach the bungee down low on the shaft. 

I fashioned a hipstick out of a fiberglass tent pole and attached the lower end to the bottom of the pack frame.  I then ran a short piece of cord from the top of the pack frame to the top of the hipstick and attached the bungy to that right above my right shoulder.  It gets the detector further out in front of me and transfers all the weight to the packframe and hipbelt.  I generally like to cover a lot of miles and want all my necessities with me in case its a long day away from the truck.  Tomorrow I'm working on positioning the camelbak bladder to center the weight a little more.   It's not the most efficient detecting style, but I like to keep exploring new ground.  A detecting harness just won't do for all the stuff I think I need out there.

[Tortuga]

6 hours ago, Condor said:

I fashioned a hipstick out of a fiberglass tent pole and attached the lower end to the bottom of the pack frame.  I then ran a short piece of cord from the top of the pack frame to the top of the hipstick and attached the bungy to that right above my right shoulder.  It gets the detector further out in front of me and transfers all the weight to the packframe and hipbelt.  I generally like to cover a lot of miles and want all my necessities with me in case its a long day away from the truck.  Tomorrow I'm working on positioning the camelbak bladder to center the weight a little more.   It's not the most efficient detecting style, but I like to keep exploring new ground.  A detecting harness just won't do for all the stuff I think I need out there.

I've never tried a dedicated hipstick before. The GPZ is such a heavy beast it might be nice to use. I've got a big camping trip coming up and cuz the heat is still hanging around here in Arizona I've got to really pace myself between the hiking, swinging and digging. Gonna try and do five days out there. 

[beatup]

Nice gold Steve