Jupiter is Only a Planet - I Want a Galaxy

[Rick K - First Member]

Ok, let's perform a small thought experiment.

What if I walked out on my 3 acres or so of AZ desert with a truly intelligent detector. I would ground balance and "initiate a session". As I got visual, tactile or Aural feedback from the detector, I would imput the results of my "analysis" of the signal in terms of what I had observed, whether I thought it was just ground noise (low value assigned by the machine - simce I had no direct observation, but only an opinion to offer) or whether I kicked it out of the way, determining that it was a hot rock, or whether I dug and ID'd it (high value assigned to the data by the machine since i had directly observed something).

After a bit of this, the machine starts modifying its operating parameters to take account of the data it's gathering as well as the data I'm inputting. So, instead of me having to notch out .22 LR cases manually, it would do it for me after I told it what I was finding - and if I found more of them outside the limits of the notch, it would analyize and compare GB and other factors to compensate - likewise if I found a target in that "notch" which a broad-based form of feedback led me to question, it would "reconsider".

For gold, if I was lucky enough to find it, it would consider the reading for a nugget in the context of other current and historical (for that site) data and tune operating parameters accordingly.

oK, where and when can I Buy this and why does this make me sad that I'll soon be 68?

[Reno Chris]

Do you plan on living to be 168 years old - that might be what is necessary.

 

The other thing is that loud surface targets like .22 shells hide and mask deeper gold. This summer I had my brother in law out with me and explained that to him. We were at a spot that produced some decent gold but was littered with .22 shells. I dug maybe 10 in a small area and then went back over it with the detector. There was now a fainter that was undetectable when the 22s were present. I told him that was what gold typically sounded like. We dug it and it was a nugget. If we'd discriminated out those 22s, that nugget would still be in the ground.

 

There is a place for discrimination, but in prospecting you need to be careful with it,

[klunker]

Rick;

When my my knowledge, experience, skills and intuition are replaced by gizmoizm it will be time for me to leave gold mining to the "smart" people.

Perhaps you might try dowsing.

(No offense intended, I 'm just grumpy today)

[Steve Herschbach]

At one Minelab meeting with an engineer I suggested the GPX employ automatic timings. In automatic ground tracking, the detector sets the ground balance based on the feedback from the ground. Why also can it not use those ground readings to select a probable best timing for the operator, and vary those timings as the ground requires? Well, it could. It just has not been done. Timings right now are a fixed function, but variable timings is possible. There is much that can be done with processing power.

What I want is less settings, less controls. I just want the detector to work. My ideal detector would have a power switch and nothing else. That way I can focus on using my knowledge, skills, experience, and intuition as a prospector to find the gold. That is what it is all about - I agree with klunker there. The detector is just a tool, no different than a shovel, and should be about as easy to understand.

[Rick K - First Member]

Klunker,

No offense taken. My imaginary detector would use artificial intelligence to combine the kind of automatic adaptation Steve is talking about with an ability to accept input from the operator regarding what he observes, concludes or desires. Intuition and experience would be inputs that the device uses to function as a smarter "shovel".

If a patch is producing tiny nuggets and you want to find all of them, then the device will have to operate differently than if you expect and hope to find larger, deeper nuggets. No one combination (at least in current PI machines) can be expected to do it all. Up to now, the best answer has been the GPX-5000 and a collection of different coils. The problem with that is that the adaptive inputs are all from the operator - what timings and other settings to use - which coil to use.

A more intelligent machine would use data it gathered about the ground, the EMI environment and targets - including operator imput like absolute target ID by digging - to adapt its operational parameters to the goals of the operator and the environment.

If it were done well, it might indeed only have one button! Of course it would take 10 engineers, 5 programers and $100 million to produce and that only happens with Military equipment and mass market hi tech - which our gear sadly isn't.

Oh well.

[klunker]

 I'm sure the technology exist but the market is too small to invest the $ it would take to wrap it into a single detector.

I would like to see a detector that could be switched from  P.I. to VLF. with quick change coils and cordless.

 I don't disdain technology but so much focus is aimed at technology that we  are no longer willing to invest in the hard work it takes to learn basic common sense skills.

 My vacuum tube Heathkit detector is nearly completed.