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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/20/2018 in all areas

  1. Hi folks, I got out with the GPZ for some gold hunting. It has been almost a year since I used it...glad to say it still works. Dick W and Mike G were kind to invite me to their claim...I found four little bits For point 89 of a Gram...about 1/2 a pennyweight
    16 points
  2. I got out for a few hours this morning with the Z hooked up to the sPo1 enhancer wired to the WM12 for wireless operation. I spent the first part of the morning rolling big chunks of granite that were giving off faint positive tones hoping that one of the tones would continue once the rock was moved. I was having no luck other than shards of lead bullets. I stepped up on a bench section of an old desert wash and saw that someone had dug a Z coil sized hole about 4 inches down. I waved over the hole and got a faint positive tone, not much different than the 30 or so I had experienced from the granite rocks on the way down the wash. I hit a couple big chunks of granite with the pick and pulled them out of the way. The faint tone was still there, but seemed very broad and not well defined. I dug down another 4 or 5 inches and waved the coil over the hole, still a faint, broad tone not much improved. Thinking it was more hot granite I switched to Difficult. Nothing, not a peep. I was about to give it up as another hot rock but decided to dig a few more inches. Now I'm down 8 or 9 inches and the tone improves in volume, but still seems overly broad. I dug down another 4 or 5 inches and the tone is really crazy. No clear location and it started sounding like crumpled foil with a choppy broken tone. Now I have to widen the hole and go down another few inches. The Z tone is really crazy so I switch to Difficult. Even Difficult is catching the tone now, but it's sounding like a piece of wire. I'm pretty sure I'm down past the trash level and start scooping out the hole with my plastic scoop. As I'm scooping it out I see a layer of rusty red, crumbling clay rock. This stuff is fairly common down here and it's hot enough to really gives the Z machine fits. I get out the pinpointer and stick it down in the hole. The pinpointer goes crazy over the entire hole. I scoop out some of the red stuff and wave the pinpointer over it. It goes crazy, so I wave the scoop over the Z coil, it reacts but not overly so. I'm about to give up for the 3rd time, but I decided to dig out all the red stuff and take some home to pan out. I've had trouble with the Z over this red stuff in the past, but never this deep and Difficult usually cleans it up. Now I'm digging in earnest and using my pocket knife to carve this stuff out of the wall of the hole. I get another scoop of it and wave it over the coil, nothing this time. I am baffled so I stick the Z back down there and bam this thing is sounding like a fist sized chunk of foil. I take the Sens all the way down to 1 and stick it back in the hole, still banging like a gong. I get the scoop and start scraping everything else out down to this red clay layer. I'm piling it away from the hole to try and separate the sounds. As I pick up the Z to check the hole again, it sounds off over the pile. I got you this time you little bugger. I"m thinking it must be a 1/2 oz craggy specimen, see for yourself. I measured the hole off on the handle of my pick. Right at 19.5 inches deep. That's not including the 4 inches the first guy dug and left it thinking it was a hot rock. That's awfully deep for 2.4 grams, even for the Z machine. I'm thinking that hot red clay somehow magnified and distorted the signal. I've dug plenty of deep gold with this machine, but nothing like that. I'd like to say the steelPHASE enhancer did the trick, but that would probably be a stretch. This was just an oddball situation with a crazy sounding nugget. I did recheck the hole and my piles, there was still some reactivity in some of that crumbling red stuff, but not enough to convince me it was golden. I was running the Z machine in HY/Normal/ Sens 16/0 Threshold/Low Smoothing. Beatup- This is the same washes your brother favors past the power lines at Sugarloaf peak. I wonder if he missed this one.
    4 points
  3. Building a 5-frequency metal detector would not be difficult, and there are plenty of processors with more than enough horsepower. But the transmit power gets divided amongst each frequency so you lose depth. There are tangible benefits to 2 frequencies. There are additional tangible benefits to 3 frequencies. There are almost no tangible benefits to more than 3 frequencies. That is a correct assumption.
    4 points
  4. Took the 800 NOX out with new 15x12 coil for a quick swing along fresh water beach. And I have to say I was most Happy, this is the same beach I detected when I 1st received my 800 with 11 inch coil in March 2018, then detected again with 6 inch coil. Both of those coils found coins ( 1 1964 nickel ) the rest so far have been newer coins. But when I went over same ground with the 15x12 coils I found 10 more coins ( no silver ) but these coins were deep, I'll say in the 15inch to maybe 20 inches in depth, hard to tell because ground is really wet and water table hasn't dropped much. Was running Park 1 with a little messing with sensitivity. When reading 21 to 32 it was always a coin, to bad I couldn't tell if coins were laying flat or on sides. Now I would like to start digging 13 / 14's to see about finding nickels, I have been cleaning beach up of crap, so maybe a couple of more coins are in my future. Happy Hunting
    2 points
  5. Last week I went to Bill's outing. I was there mostly to learn (I say that now) but I also picked up the big Nox coil. I didn't use it in the desert but I did use it on the beach. The first hunt was pretty uneventful. Bad beach, bad results as they say. The next time I used it a couple of days later the beach was not that much different but I was ready to test it to the max. I'll have to admit that I didn't walk very slowly. I wanted a big sound to stop me. I also had a specific place in mind. On the way there I got a signal that was mostly 'deep penny' sounding but some of them you have to dig. I kept digging and digging (later measured to be about 15 inches) and I saw something about the color of the sand and it looked like a blade or utensil. When I got it out it was the piece in the center. Sword shaped but used as a pendant? Someone told me it might be from some type of uniform or costume? I've never found anything quite like it. It weighs 1.33 oz and it has a mark of sterling but nowhere does it say .925. After this I continued on down to my beach and I got a signal and looked down and the darker stainless steel ring was on the surface in a footprint. On the way back I gridded an area and came up with the other stainless ring. Here is a previous hunt with the 11 inch coil. You know what detector someone is using when you find this! I have many desert 'tourist' photos I could post but there are no finds to go with them. Mitchel
    2 points
  6. So my brother who has been detecting for 20 years has only recovered 1 gold ring and that ended up in a museum in England. I promised him if he used the new White's TDI "DEEP" Beach Hunter the whole time on our hunt that he'd find more than 1 gold ring. Not only did he do that, but he also recovered the best ring of the trip, this monster Emerald, diamond and yellow gold beauty. Hats off to you Travis for not giving up on those deep signals. Folks, the TDI Beach Hunter is a Pulse Induction detector and it goes much deeper than standard machines. Plus it runs smoother than most in salt water and is simple to use...just turn it on, set the knobs and go. One of the cool features of the TDI beach Hunter is the Tone Identification system that allows you to decide if you want to dig the High Tone Only, which gives you a greater chance of gold and platinum rings, or the Low Tones which are usually most coins. This feature alone saves time as you will end up digging DEEP. One other thing to have, a good Deep Beach Scoop.
    2 points
  7. Yeah, I know where you are coming from Fred, the myth I`ve sort of believed that "gold chasing keeps one young", tis just a myth. Just had the head baking toooooo long in the sun...………….
    2 points
  8. That's how BBS/FBS works. A single 3.125kHz cycle, followed by a burst of (8) 25kHz cycles. Repeat. Equinox does both frequencies at the same time, same as DFX & V3. Either way, you are dividing the TX power amongst frequencies, whether in amplitude or time.
    2 points
  9. Thanks Buzzard, your test result is what I would expect from ordinary chondrites, since they're composed of iron silicates and elemental iron alloyed with a small percentage of nickel. I should be able to field hunt with my 24k at the Yucca DCA (Franconia) soon. Can't wait to see how well the XGB handles the super-hot variable ground on the north half of the strewn field.
    2 points
  10. The UK game is known worldwide. The government makes their land and their antiquities available to finders. Landowners want a cut of what is found on their land otherwise they would just do it themselves or hire someone to do it they trust. The rules are pretty clear. If it is museum quality you can't keep it. If it is anything less you can keep it but you have to split it with the land owner. It is his land and his rules permission. Many of the land owners get 50% and share that with the tour operator. If you know of a better deal, take it. Go to the UK and get a permission for free. Go to a different country and get any permission to export at all. Try Europe or Asia or North Africa. Try getting meteorites out of Algeria a legal way. What do detectorists have to pay for permission to coin hunt properties in the Northeast for Colonial coins? I know a real estate agent who got permissions when he sold their properties. He would go detect his listings. How long does it take you to find an owner who will give you free permission? (They are out there but that costs money to find also.) We who are near forests and BLM land should be grateful and take advantage of our protected permissions to find natural gold and minerals on unclaimed land before a politician changes the rules. Mitchel
    2 points
  11. What's wrong is what's right: most people get great instructions, get put in a good gold-finding area, but don't listen carefully to the instructions (been there, done that myself), so the wrong is not listening and internalizing what needs to be done, the right was in the proper instructions they were actually given. In other words, many people go too fast, don't carefully check out threshold disturbances (not signals), and obviously what she did right was she did check out a threshold disturbance, had the patience to stick with it, and so she got the nugget that many others would walk over. Point in case, I've worked with three rookies in the last two years, two investigate every threshold disturbance and they've got the gold to show for it, lots of nice nuggets. The other one just tears into the coil swinging trying to cover as much ground as quickly as possible waiting for a "screamer" to stop him, and for some reason, he won't believe the other two that they find nuggets by going slow and listening exceptionally carefully and then investigate any disturbance in the threshold: he can't believe that strategy works. He'd rather believe they were just lucky enough to get their coils over the gold first. Yup, he still has no gold . . . All the best, and thanks for the pictures and the explanation, Lanny
    2 points
  12. I've returned from my second detecting trip to England and what a trip it was!! I was lucky enough to be staying in the same barn as Steve Herschbach!! The first day on the fields are a half day usually. After the 2 hour ride from London to the "barn" where we will be staying for the next seven days. The "barns" are actual barns that have been renovated into vacation rental units. We unload all of our luggage from the van, find our sleeping spot for the week, dig out all of our gear, assemble everything, jump back in the van, and head out to the first field! My best find that afternoon was a hammered copper Rose farthing. They are commonly dated 1636. (Look for the pattern here). And the usual buttons and lead. So that was a good start. Day 2: Our first full day. A cool, slightly foggy, just perfect! The day wasn't real eventful for me. We hunted two different farms. At the end of the day my better finds were 5 farthings and a wiped out copper token, plus some buttons and lead. The farthings were late 1700s-1800s. Here at home in the States, to find those 5 coins would be a day to talk about for months. It was funny for me while I was over there, knowing with so much history the possibilities make my hopes and expectations exhilarating! You truly never know what will pop up next. It could be 10 years old or 2000 years old! There were multiple milled, and hammered silver coins found and some neat relics dug throughout the day by the other team members. Day 3: Things started to pick up for me a little on day 3. We came across a late Georgian/Victorian home site members of the team started popping some milled coins. Coppers and silvers. If I remember correctly one member found 3 or 4 silver 3 pence coins in that same field. A little silver 3 pence was one of the coins I was hoping to get while I was there, but it wasn't meant to be this trip. Shortly before lunch I switched fields and got onto my first bit of English silver for the trip! An 1844 Vicky 4 pence in nice condition. So after lunch I was headed back to the field were I got my 4P and we had to walk past a 1700? mansion to get back to where I wanted to be. So I slowed down and detected in front of the mansion along the way and got my first hammered silver for this trip! A nice "full" penny. Turned out to be a 1279 Edward I ! That was the highlight for my day three. But I did find plenty of buttons and lead too. Day 4: This day was one of those roller coaster type hunting days. The morning was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead. Until while hunting near a 13th century church and villa when I popped a nice little cut quarter hammered silver and less than 10 mins later another hammered silver coin fragment. Kinda bang bang! We broke for a short lunch break and went our separate ways and as I was walking into a field through a tractor path I got a nice high tone. But real erratic at the same time. One you would figure to be either a coin or part of a beer can. But when I pinpointed the target it was a nice small tight pinpoint I figured I better dig it. Boy am I glad I did! Turned out to be a 1908 Edwardian decorated silver mount! Turns out it was in a place they usually park the van! The rest of my days finds consisted of the usual trash plus some buttons and lead. Day 5: Today was another one of those days that I was digging lots of targets like buttons and lead... But not one coin all morning till around lunch. After lunch I decided to stay on that field determined to find one of my wish coins a "Bullhead". A King George III silver. And with the coins being found in the area one was definitely a possibly. Lo and behold it happened! A melted bulkhead six pence. Even though it was melted almost to the point of unrecognition I could make out a G III and a reeded edge. Mission accomplished! The only other "wishlist" coin I really had on my mind on my way over was a Roman silver coin. Not really expecting to ever find one. We all carried radios every day, and as a good find was made, we would put it out over the radio. Ron gave the 15 min count down to the end of the days hunt over the radio so we all started to swing back towards the van. Walking pretty fast, with 8 minutes left, I got a signal figured I had time to pop one more. Boom! A Roman silver coin! It has a bad "horn crust" on it that needs to be "cooked" off so it can be properly identified. Early id's put it in the 4th century! I'm really looking forward to seeing that coin cleaned up! Day 6: The group split up in the morning between some rougher ground and some land that was nice and smooth. I went to the smoother field with a few other hunters. First hole out of the van 20 feet away I nabbed a hammie fragment! After that the first half of the day was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead of course. It was a enormous field. It has been hunted a lot over the years from what I understand. The lack of targets for me proved it. But it wasn't a total waste. You just have to walk over the stuff. With a half hour walk back to the van and only about 45 mins left to hunt I spun around and within or 3 or 4 swings later I got a loud high tone! As I was pinpointing I looked down and laying right on top of the ground was a complete silver thimble!! Sweet end to a pretty slow day. Day 7: The day I dread. The last day. You know not only is it your last day of detecting heaven and the inevitable time you'll power down for the last time of your trip, plus the last day is usually cut a little short. That's so we have time to get back to the barn and get all of your finds from the week cleaned, bagged, catalogued, and photographed if you want to see them again before they leave your life for the next few months. To optimize our hunt time we decided to hunt some nearby land. Even though it's also the land that the club has had lasted the longest! Even after all those years there were many great finds found on it this season! The week before we came a gold coin and a beautiful Celtic gold "votive offering" were found on it! I walked across the road from that field to a field that was surrounding a 16th century two story mansion. After a half hour or so of slowly working around the old mansion I dug a small piece of a hammered silver coin. That coin put me in a tie for 1st place for the weekly "Hammy competition". So I slowed down hoping to get another one to take the lead and hopefully win the competition. It was 10:10 a.m. when I got the loudest, jumpiest, most obnoxious signal of my trip. Not being too far from a tractor entrance into that field I figured it was a beer can or a grease tube but I figured I'd dig it up and get it out of there anyways. I missed the target on the first scoop. Moved a shovel blade to the left, stepped it in and kicked the back of the shovel and pushed the dirt forward and a big yellow ..... egg looking thing rolled out to my left. As I looked at it half my brain said to myself " what is that?" And the other half of my brain was saying "HOLY .....!!!!! That looks like gold!!" When I bent over to pick it up and I was lifting it off the ground the weight of it made it fall out of my hand! That's when I knew it was definitely a big piece of gold!!! After Ron came over to shoot some video and take some photos I strapped back on all my gear took 2 steps and 3 swings and got a solid 19 TID on the Equinox 800. I told myself after just finding that thing I don't care what this is, I'm digging it up. One scoop, and I pushed the shovel forward and a 11.2 gram ancient solid gold ring was laying there looking at me!! I about started to hyperventilate!! I quickly got Ron's attention again and he came over to shoot more video and more photos. I can only imagine this will be the most amazing thing I will ever find! It's been over a week since I found it and I still can't stop picturing those two artifacts rolling out of the dirt in my head...... Thanks for lookin' & HH
    1 point
  13. Which metal detectors have the most reliable target ID numbers? Target ID is a function of depth - the deeper the target, the more difficult it is to get a clean target ID as the ground signal interferes. Other items directly adjacent to the desired target can also cause inaccurate numbers. The more conductive the item, the higher the resulting ID number, but also the larger the item the higher the number. Silver is more conductive than gold, so a gold item will give a lower number than the same size silver item. But a very large gold item can give a higher number than a small silver item, so numbers do not identify types of metal. Gold and aluminum read the same and vary in size so to dig one you dig the other. Only mass produced items like coins produce numbers that are more or less the same over the years but a zinc penny will read lower than a copper penny due to the change in composition. In general iron or ferrous targets produce negative numbers or low numbers. Aluminum, gold, and US nickels produce mid-range numbers. And most other US coins produce high numbers. Other countries coins, like Canadian coins with ferrous content, can read all over the place. The scale applied varies according to manufacturer so the number produced by each detector will vary according to the scale used. The 0-100 range for non-ferrous targets is most common but there are others. Minelab employs a dual number system on a 2D scale with thousands of possible numbers, but they are now normalizing the results produced to conform more closely to the linear scale used by other manufacturers. White's Visual Discrimination Identification (VDI) Scale Increasing ground mineralization has a huge effect on the ability to get a good target ID. Ground mineralization is nearly always from iron mineralization, and this tends to make weak targets, whether very small targets or very deep targets, misidentify. The target numbers get dragged lower, and many non-ferrous targets will eventually be identified as iron if buried deep enough. Small non-ferrous readings and iron readings actually overlap. That is why any discrimination at all is particularly risky for gold nugget hunters. If you want target ID numbers to settle down, lower sensitivity and practice consistent coil control. The target number will often vary depending on how well the target is centered and how fast the coil moves. Perfect ground balance is critical to accurate target id. Outside issues factor in. Electrical interference is a common cause of jumpy target id numbers. In general small coils will often deliver sharper, more consistent target id returns. Higher sensitivity settings lead to jumpier numbers as the detectors become less stable at higher levels. The interference from the ground signal increases and interference from outside electrical sources also increases, leading to less stable numbers. Higher frequency detectors are inherently more sensitive and are jumpier. So lean lower frequency for more solid results. Multi frequency detectors act like low frequency detectors and tend to have more solid target numbers due to the ability to analyze a target with different frequencies. Another issue is the number of target categories, or ID segments, or VDIs, or notches, or bins (all names for the same thing) that a detector offers. For instance here are the number of possible target id categories or segments each detector below offers: Fisher CZ-3D = 7 Garrett Ace 250 = 12 Minelab X-Terra 305 = 12 Minelab X-Terra 505 = 19 Minelab X-Terra 705 = 28 Minelab Equinox 800 = 50 Minelab Manticore, Fisher F75 and many other models = 99 White's MXT and many other models = 190 Minelab CTX 3030 = 1750 Fewer target categories means more possible items get lumped together under a single reading, but that the reading is more stable. Many detectors will tell you the difference between a dime and a quarter. The Fisher CZ assumes you want to dig both so puts them under one segment along with most other coins. People who use detectors with many target numbers usually just watch the numbers jump around and mentally average the results. Some high end detectors can actually do this averaging for you! But I think there is something to be said for owning a detector that simplifies things and offers less possible numbers to start with. The old Fisher CZ method still appeals to me, especially for coin detecting. So do detectors like the Garrett Ace 250 or Minelab X-Terra 505 for the same reason. The problem is that as people strive to dig deeper targets or smaller targets the numbers will always get less reliable. But if you want to have a quiet performing metal detecting with solid, reliable target numbers look more for coin type detectors running at lower frequencies under 10 kHz or at multiple frequencies and possibly consider getting a detector with fewer possible target segments. And with any detector no matter what just back that sensitivity setting off and you will get more reliable target numbers. ads by Amazon... Detectors often use tones to identify targets and often use far fewer tones than indicated by the possible visual target id numbers. The X-Terra 705 for instance can use 28 tones, one for each segment. However, most people find this too busy, and so simple tone schemes of two, three, or four tones may be selected. I think it is instructive that many people often end up ignoring screen readings and hunting by ear, using just a few tones. This ends up just being an ultra basic target id system much like the simpler units offer. Reality is that most people do not need or care about huge numbers of target numbers. For many just three ranges suffice, low tone for iron, mid tone for most gold items, and high tone for most US coins. The meter could do the same thing, but for marketing purposes more is better and so we get sold on detectors with hundreds of possible target ID numbers. Perhaps this is a digital representation of an old analog meter with its nearly infinite range of response but the reality is we do not need that level of differentiation to make a simple dig or no dig decision. Finally, a picture often says it all. Below we have a shot of the White's M6 meter. I like it because the decal below illustrates a lot. You see the possible numerical range of -95 to 95 laid out in the middle. Over it is the simplified iron/gold/silver range. Note the slants where they overlap to indicate the readings really do overlap. Then you get the probable target icons. -95 is noted as "hot rock" because many do read there. The M6 can generate 7 tones depending on the target category. I have added red lines to the image to show where these tones sit in relation to the scale. It breaks down as follows: -95 = 57 Hz (Very Low) Hot Rock -94 to -6 = 128 Hz (Low) Iron Junk -5 to 7 = 145 Hz (Med Low) Gold Earrings, Chains - Foil 8 to 26 = 182 Hz (Medium) Women's Gold Rings/Nickel - Small Pull Tabs 27 to 49 = 259 Hz (Med Hi) Men's Gold Rings - Large Pull Tabs 50 to 70 = 411 Hz (High) Zinc Penny/Indian Head Penny - Screw Caps 71 to 95 = 900 Hz (Very High) Copper Penny/Dime/Quarter/Dollar Note that the screen reading of +14 is noted as being a nickel or ring but it can also be the "beaver tail" part of an aluminum pull tab or the aluminum ring that holds an eraser on a pencil, among other things. The best book ever written on the subject of discrimination is "Taking A Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination" by Robert C. Brockett. It is out of print but if you find a copy grab it, assuming the topic interests you. Always remember - when in doubt, dig it out! Your eyes are the best target ID method available.
    1 point
  14. This was my first beach hunt in a few days because I had been out in the Rye Patch area over the weekend. While I was gone I understand that it had rained and some wave alerts had been sent to my email. Our area beaches get hit hard by detectorists but I know them pretty well and followed my intuition when I got there. We don't have a negative tide right now and there is a Santa Ana wind blowing so the new waves are very small. On my way 'out' I hunted near the waterline. There was very little to find. I walked about a mile or so with very few targets. There was a bit of a trough at the bottom of the hill (beach slope) but nothing seemed to be holding. I was thinking about leaving and I worked back in the direction from where I had come. Then I got a clue. The clue was the junk wire pack. It was completely buried in the wet sand and had a thin plastic bag around it. It certainly is an unusual beach find for me. This pack was at the bottom of the hill and just above it for about 6 feet or so was hard sand and just above that was about 10 yards of 'past wave' deposited sand. You need some energy to move targets and you need the right conditions for those targets to be 'grouped' and deposited. Some beaches will stay this way for a few days and some beaches will only keep targets for a few hours. I look for these pockets. I liken it to a crab crawl on the Deadliest Catch. Anyway, I went up into this area and found a hoop earring among the bobby pins, pennies and a few other coins. I was using the Nox 11 on all metal and I was digging EVERYTHING. Sometimes I skip pennies and bobby pin sounds but not last night. Then I was surprised by one of the silver hoop earrings and its mate was just about 5 feet away. Then came a copper hoop, and then another and all of them within 10 feet. They're all water tarnished. Then I got what I thought was a ring ... earring it turns out but then a stainless steel bracelet. Then another earring (GOLD) and finally a couple of silver rings (.925). I worked the patch with a grid pattern and it kept giving. I had had enough after 4 hours. A 'bad' beach had turned into the most hoops (10) I've ever found. I've been on beaches where I've found 5 chains in a session but they are as rare as this beach. You never know. Follow your clues. Mitchel
    1 point
  15. I was doing some testing on my 24K to see how it sounded on Meteorites, well on sound with no musical note it just got a ZIP ZIP , but when I changed to the Musical note showing I got the Grunt. This was tested on a 10 gram Franconia and a 7 gram Gold Basin.....numbers was a solid 1....just what I found today and thought I would share.... Getting to know this machine a little better.
    1 point
  16. That could have been Eric's hole , he was out today said he found one piece but he did not tell me where he was. Steve that sounds like the same weird target response i got on a couple of pieces i dug in a wash just over from the wash Eric found that small patch in when Paul was staying at your place. there was rotten granite all down that wash with pockets of that red hot clay eight to ten inches down under the sand and gravels. Just talked with Eric and he said he was over on the west side of the gun club past the archery range today.
    1 point
  17. Well done. I once found a 30gm nugget down about 40cm in red clay that gave off a very warbly tone that wasn't overly loud. I usually only have those sounds with either bits of wire, bits of brass cartridge casing or just ground noise. What made it unusual was that the nugget was a solid lump and I would have thought it would have been a solid signal. I also put it down to the red clay distorting the response from the nugget. Just goes to show that you really have to dig most targets - well at least remove a few inches - and see how the target response changes. I'm pretty sure that most of my recent finds from supposedly 'flogged' ground have been those dismissed as ground noise by other prospectors.
    1 point
  18. Woo hoo! Glad you got out to play and found some nuggies to boot!??
    1 point
  19. Glad to see you are out and about Fred. Just take it slow and easy
    1 point
  20. WTG Fred. I could only tell from the title that the gold signal was wobbly! One day at a time out there and you'll be ok. Mitchel
    1 point
  21. The Goldmaster 24k sees iron targets as "Bad," therefore, yes, the two-tone audio will give a grunt on high-iron meteorites.
    1 point
  22. Yes it is, Lunk...and just about as dangerous with my balance.... thanks everyone! fred
    1 point
  23. Up date on the chain search. Short answer is I didn't find it. Went for Park 1. 5 tones. -9 to 0 low tone. 1-4 pitch 25. The 3 higher segments all 15. I wanted that 1 - 4 to really pop out. The lady said it was a very fine chain with no pendant of any sort. Did approx a 15 - 20 metre area that the lady was reasonably certain she lost the chain in. She remembers the dogs jumping on her there and assumes that is how she lost it. Dug about 7 targets that came up in the 1 - 4 but mostly they were cigarette packet foil all folded over. A few targets that hit hard around the 15-20 that may have been coins but they had a very nice lawn and I was reluctant to go digging for my benefit. It was also close to where they have a fire pit and have a few parties so they may have also been pull tabs, bottle tops, etc. Anyway, it was good fun and I may not have missed the chain as it may not be within 50 yards of where I was looking. The added bonus is I may also have another very special location to detect but that is going to be secret squirrel until after it happens ?
    1 point
  24. Oh, I agree; the Nox works just as well as it did and I will enjoy it just as much, although I am irritated that Minelab misled us on the technology. But it is fun to speculate about some of the technicalities and to hear what others (who often know more than I do) have to say. As for the competition, though, is the Nox really selling that much better than other detectors in its price range? A lot of people really seem to like the Multi Kruzer, for instance, and the other manufacturers also have popular mid-priced machines. Also, many probably buy the Nox because it is wireless and waterproof in a svelte package. Multi-frequency machines probably are the future of VLF, but we're not entirely there, yet--not even as much as I had earlier thought with the Nox :)
    1 point
  25. I guess you didn't read the explanation from Minelab linked a few pages back? Still speculating? 5kHz - fundamental. 10kHz - 2nd harmonic 15kHz - 3rd harmonic 20kHz - 4th harmonic 40kHz - 8th harmonic Those square waves posted by EL NINO a few pages back look like they were made with more then 2 frequencies. They are too flat on top.
    1 point
  26. WTG Fred, it's just like riding a bicycle!
    1 point
  27. Aww c'mon, I would never do that. Not even for a steak dinner.
    1 point
  28. Fred I'm glad you have recovered enough to get out again. Looking forward to our next hunt. Norm
    1 point
  29. o I finally have some production models of the New dual adjustment bungee I designed. I think I am going to call this one the QWEEGLE. Sort of a combination of Quick Bungee and Double for Double adjustment. I know a lot of you use your own harness, which in a lot of instances is a modified Camel Back. Camel Backs are great because they provide hydration and give you a great place to hook a bungee cord up to. Well I have thought long and hard about now to improve the QWEEGEE bungee which allowed you to adjust the length of the bungee where it attached to the rod. The BOOMERANG bungee which I also invented allowed you to adjust the length of the bungee at the "D" ring. The big issue with the QWEEGEE, was that you could only detach the bungee at the "D" ring, so when you laid your detector down the bungee was lying in the dirt. There was no way to detach the bungee from the shaft of the detector. Also where the bungee snapped onto the "D" ring it was pretty clumsy to get it on and off. I wear gloves, and when you wear gloves, small pieces of plastic are hard to deal with. So here was my challenge. 1. Design a bungee that could be adjusted with at the "D" ring or where the bungee attached to the rod. 2. Design a bungee that could easily be detached from the detector. or the "D" ring. 3. Make the process of detaching the bungee really easy and effortless. 4. Provide an optional attachment ring that would be similar to a "D" ring but be more durable, easier to attach to, allow the user to stitch it onto their own harness, and not turn around in the webbing you use to attach it. Standard "D" rings, always manage to wiggle around in the webbing and end up looking just like this "D" running vertical instead of like a U where the curved part of the "D" stays at the bottom. First part: Easy on and off attachment snap that attaches to "D" ring. Nice and hefty and durable. A thumb tab, to allow you to remove the bungee from the adjustment groove using one hand. Second Picture: Adjustment groove in snap. Lift or lower your detector while the bungee is out of the adjustment groove to find the right length, give a slight tug down to seat the bungee in the groove and lock the bungee to a perfect length for detecting comfort. SHAFT ATTACHMENT ADJUSTMENT Point. Long non-slip strap that will accommodate all known detector shafts, even the Garret ATX Deep Seeker that has a rod the size of a baseball bat. • Easily attach or detach bungee by pulling the bungee in or out of the SLIDE SLOT. Picture 3 • Easily adjust the length of the bungee by lifting your detector up or down, and then tugging the bungee up into the adjustment groove when you find the proper length. Picture 4 • Use the shaft attachment point only as an attachment point, and don't use the adjustment feature. Simply put the loop at the end on the bungee onto the shaft attachment point. Then you can use the snap at the "D" ring to make adjustments Picture 5 PICTURE 3 PICTURE 4 PICTURE 5 Then we have the optional non-slip "O" ring that I designed . Supplied with a piece of webbing for you to attach to your favorite harness system. I designed all of these pieces. I had to have injection molds made (not cheap) and had the parts molded out of Nyglass, which is a darn near bulletproof material. That "O" ring is 2 1/4 inside diameter. A blind drunk monkey could attach the snap to this "O" ring without ever worrying about having to see it. So I would love to hear your input. I have just 10 from the first production run. The rest will be sent by boat. Only the plastic parts and the strap are being shipped, we assemble the parts with the bungee here in Henderson. Some things are OK to have made in China, but bungee cord is not one of them. We use a very expensive high quality marine grade bungee. Doc
    1 point
  30. Fred it depends on how you like to use it. It gives you plenty of options. If you like the loop to hook onto the rod attachment point, like you have done, that works great. However you can also not use the loop as an attachment point, you simply pull the bungee into the side slot of that plastic rod attachment point, and then adjust your detector where you like it, and tug the bungee up into the pointed groove to lock it in to the perfect length. Nice nuggets! Doc
    1 point
  31. Oh man.. I hate those mugs.. could write a book over this stuff. Seems to be the same all over the world
    1 point
  32. Hey Fred I don’t see nothing wrong with that. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing. Hope they invite you back and you even do better the next time. One thing about gold it don’t make any difference if it’s small are large it’s still gold. Chuck
    1 point
  33. Start driving Chuck - Carl will be waiting for you along with your new Fisher CZ-3D (Multiple-Frequency transmit, Dual Frequency Processing VLF Search 5 KHz and 15 KHz)
    1 point
  34. Geotech ( Carl ) The day First Texas comes out with a true Multifrequency detector let me know. I will drive from San Antonio to El Paso with money in hand and buy it . I will also treat you to a steak dinner. I wish you well on this endeavor. Chuck PS Maybe it will go from First Texas to Texas First .
    1 point
  35. Hi, Doc I finally got to go wobble around the desert for three days. It was lovely weather and sure was nice to get back to nugget Hunting. I put your new Bungy on the GPZ. I love the LOOP which I attached at the hook. I put the loose end through the CLIP at the top. At first I thought the Bungy was a bit too light-weight; I was wrong! Once I go everything going the bungy was super! This is by far your best-est design yet. Using the new attachment was much easier than the other design. Your Bungy and Chris's Hipstick are the perfect combination. I was alone so photos of my beautiful form in action will have to wait...here is your bungy and four nuggies.
    1 point
  36. In the Salt water Chase 50 tones drives me nuts with this machine. Each of these modes or styles of hunting require us to adapt this machine to those conditions. But most whose been detecting for many years tend to adjust and get the best out of any detector they use. Those who cant...... normally were those blind squirrels lol.
    1 point
  37. Yes. I used a magnetic field probe I designed & built. There are at least 2 threads on Geotech discussing all this, including scope pics.
    1 point
  38. Steve,1st time that i have seen this old post of yours and makes alot of sense,in the last 12 months or so instead of running sensitivity as high as i use too i have reduced this setting down by massive amount,also either reduced discrimination down to zero or in most cases All Metal mode.My Deus and a original green T2 have all been running at reduced sensitivity on all my roman and saxon sites,but my finds rate has increased pro rata. For some reason everyone want too crank the sensitivity right up and use the biggest coils that we can buy and expect to find the holy grail of finds,alas it does not work like that,all my detectors had big coils on predominately for clear pasture sites,but the only real advantage gained was ground coverage,but detecting became a nightmare and in the last 2 years i have done a total reverse and not only running all my detectors at reduced power but also reduced the coil sizes below stock coil size and my finds rate and doubled. A tremendous article and have 'bookmarked' it for future reference......many thanks
    1 point
  39. I have been searching a recently harvested beanfield that was a picnic grove 100 plus years ago. This has been a nickel haven as these were V-nickels number 28 and 29 that I have found at this field in the last couple of years. I read in an old newspaper that carousel rides were a nickel at this grove. The right nickel is a 1885 and the left is a 188?. I had to let them soak in a rust remover to remove the corrosion that comes from farm chemicals. The 1885 will grade AG3 at best. I switch around between the CTX and Deus and the EQ but the 800 is definitely the best on nickels. Still a great find.
    1 point
  40. Another cold weather battery warning - if you are using your detector in cold weather, p. 65 warns that you should not charge the battery if the temperature is below 32F. This is because the chemical process that occurs when charging a Li Ion cell is altered if the temperature is too low resulting in conversion of Lithium to metallic form which will prematurely lower the capacity of your battery. It is ok to discharge the battery at less than 32F (in fact the manual lists the minimum operating temperature as 14F), just don't attempt to charge the battery on the fly (such as by using a strapped on power bank) when out in the cold.
    1 point
  41. compare the TX multi frequency signals, in programs of Equinox .. turn on the subtitles...time : 2:00"Park1,.. 2:15" Park2, 2:20"Field1,..2:25"Field2,..2:33"Beach1,..2:55"Beach2, 3:05" Gold1, ..3:20"Gold2..
    1 point
  42. I'm not arguing that the Equinox is a gimmick, a whole lotta people thinks it's a good detector and that's fine. I'm just stating what the detector is actually doing vs what Minelab would like people to believe it is doing. I've said it before, it completely baffles me why Minelab wants to lie about their technology when the truth is every bit as interesting.
    1 point
  43. From https://www.facebook.com/Garrettmetaldetectorsusa/ Garrett ATX Information Page
    1 point
  44. 1 point
  45. Welcome aboard Rudy. Best of luck!
    1 point
  46. True. There are three primary requirements to be successful at nuggetshooting: 1) Using a SUITABLE high-performance prospecting detector, optimally tuned. 2) Detecting at sites which WILL produce detectable size gold and 3) operator expertise. Of those 3, as Steve states, the latter is really the most important. A capable operator, using a long-obsolete machine, has a FAR better chance of finding gold then a newbie with the newest, most expensive machine available. So while personal preference's exist, and vary widely, and dealer bias exists also, the best recommendation you can follow is to become as knowledgeable as you possibly can about proper nuggetshooting techniques, and always employ them. Regardless of the machine you swing. That, above all else, will make you a successful nuggetshooter. As a side point, since Steve's post follows that of Chris', I would assume it was in response thereto. As regards dealer bias versus honesty and integrity, I telephoned Chris, asking the name of the person who claims to be a "White's dealer for a long time" yet who attempted to sell Chris other brands. Chris revealed the dealer's company, but I already knew who it was. For the record, that firm has NEVER been a White's dealer. Never. But he DOES promote the brands he sells... HH Jim
    1 point
  47. Well I learned my lock-up lesson many moons ago. I would like to share a tip on what I do. I coat the shaft with a light coat of white grease. I seal all other height adjustment holes with black electric tape. About once every month I slip the lower out, clean, re-grease and good for another month. Dave
    1 point
  48. Gold coin numbers - thanks Steve! Did you get an Equinox yet and report on it? If so I missed that.
    1 point
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