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  1. I went out this afternoon on the beach in 20 mph winds and about 58 degrees so it was going to feel nippy. This trip I put on the right jacket. It is one that I found in the surf a few years ago. It is a Port Authority jacket made in Vietnam. It's kinda like a ski jacket but wow, I was not bothered at all. Normally I have about 3-4 layers and can still feel the wind blowing through! On to the hunt, I found the chain as a result of seeing another detectorist closing in in front of me and I wanted to go back the way I came. I had just dug a coin and about 5 feet away I got a 2 on my 800 in beach 1 at 23 sensitivity. I swung on it a couple of times because this is normally junk on my beaches but I was in the right area to dig most everything so I did. I saw the glitter in the scoop and of course I had to hide it from my fellow detectorist so he wouldn't come over and share my potential patch. haha Later I put it down on the sand and I got a reading of 6. Funny thing is that it didn't chirp like some targets. It was just a solid signal. (It is a combination of .575 and .375 gold and weighs 4.8 grams.) About an hour later on my way back not more than a couple hundred feet from the chain I got a 21. It was solid and full sounding. It wasn't quite like the pennies which chatter sometimes and go from 15 to 22. I somewhat expected a penny but it is .925 silver. It is missing the stone that was mounted on the top but silver is silver! (It weighs 2.7 grams.) I would have liked more for 3 hours of detecting but there were no swells to move more sand. Mitchel
    14 points
  2. A couple of weeks ago during an extreme high tide, I put aside 2 days to hit two different beaches to see what I could get at low tide. Those visits are a good example of how not to plan your hunt rigidly. Both days I focused on the wrong thing and at the end of each hunt I found a patch that helped save the day. One of those days was an area that I re hit yesterday, some 2 weeks later. It produced 2 silver rings, silver earring an pendant all in the last hour of the hunt. Yesterday it was sanded in a bit more, so the targets were deeper, but focusing on a productive area rather than having a master plan, payed off. What I wasn't counting on was that every hole I dug was in an area that was packed with a sand and cobble stone mix! Solid as concrete. I use a pointed spade and the only way to dig was on your knees with raking the rocks out of the hole. I slept well that night I dug 134 holes trying to focus between the silver signals and possible gold signals. I abandoned the small gold which reads #1 on the Equinox because this beach has a lot of black rocks that also read a solid #1. Since digging was extremely hard, I opted to ignore most of them. So here are the results of an all day hunt. I remember a post about nickel ratios in parks vs gold, so I'm including my ratio. It is way off of what a park gets and what some other beaches get, but if you hit the right area, you can get these results. 20 nickels dug (including 1 silver war nickel) vs 3 pieces of gold. Most of those nickels dated early 60's and older. This is why beaches can not give you the expected ratio as this will not be repeatable every time out. It's beena little while since I hit gold and I was starting to give the equinox the old "stink eye" look. But it's back on my favorite list now The chain hit at #2, the ring at #8 and I think the stud at #3 or 4.
    9 points
  3. All of about 3 ounces is all I was able to get my coil over. Did manage 1 nice specimen though.
    8 points
  4. Today is my 50th anniversary. My Equinox 800 is my wife’s gift to me. Tomorrow we brave the snow and head to Lake Tahoe to celebrate. As I get prepared for my first hunt, I have been repeatedly reminded to stick to the default modes. I plan to do just that. However, my technical side has a curiosity of its own. It is my understanding that the power of the transmitted field is fixed by battery voltage. Beside changing frequency from Multi to individual frequencies, which settings impact coil transmission properties? On the reception side, which settings impact signal reception qualities? Do any settings impact both transmission and reception? Do any settings work together in the normal course of tuning and balancing for ground and trash conditions? For example, does a change in "Recovery Speed" setting change equally both the number of transmissions and receptions or is processing done only on the reception side? Sensitivity? Iron bias? What I am unable to find in documentation is a basic guide to all settings affecting transmission only; receiver only; both. I am enjoying the reading, but there are a lot of places for information to hide. So I apologize if this information is easily found by most, but since I may be near information saturation, I could have easily skimmed by it. Thanks, Curtis
    4 points
  5. I've now used the 24K in the field for only 3.5 hours and although the gold is flowing, its all small bits on ground I've already flogged hard. But still fun finding a little bit every few minutes ? The iron discrim I haven't had an instance where I needed to change off factory settings yet. But that time will no doubt come one day. One thing I WILL say....that 6.5" concentric coil continues to surprise me with its ability to handle mineralized ground and its sensitivity. The threshold stays solid and hot rocks are easily cancelled out. 18 bits of gold and counting......
    4 points
  6. Congrats on the 50th here is a DP page with a number of resources that explain the basics, theory, physics and technology behind metal detectors. HTH Here is the Equinox Essential Information Thread: Here is a link that explains Multi IQ https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/best-of-forums/minelab-multi-iq-technology-details-explained/ Chew on that awhile and if you have more questions than check back. TBH - As an engineer myself and tech geek, I think you may getting yourself into the weeds too soon on the theory of operation stuff and it appears you might have the wrong mental model of receive and transmit as far as a metal detector is concerned that may be a source of confusion for you. You are looking at it more like RADAR and it is more closely coupled like a transformer (see discussion below) because we are talking about detecting small changes in magnetic fields not reflected radio waves where there is little influence between the transmitted and received signals. I would separate your intellectual curiosity about how the detector works from understanding how to operate the detector save for a few basic concepts. But to delve a little bit into this, the detector is basically acting like a big transformer with a transmit coil (which one "D" the left side of the coil loop) as the primary and a receive coil (the other "D" on the right side of the coil loop) as the secondary and the target acting as the "core" of the transformer and the most "sensitive" region of the coil loop being the center "spine" of the coil loop where the two "D"s overlap in a back-to-back fashion . Different metallic makeup of the "core" (target) will cause the electric signal passing through the transformer system to be altered in ways that can be measured such that the target shape and electromagnetic properties such as conductivity and inductance can be inferred and passed on to the user as visual and audible target information. The transformer analogy as I described is incomplete and imperfect but it gets the idea across, hopefully. Multifrequency helps better cancel/account for ground effects and enable the different transmission and excitation properties associated with different frequencies to be simultaneously applied to the target. Higher frequencies excite lower conductors like like gold, aluminum, brass, and lead and small targets better but cannot penetrate as deeply into the ground. Lower frequencies penetrate deeper and excite high conductors like silver and copper and high mass objects better than high frequencies. Ferromagnetic targets like iron have different, known. response properties than non-ferromagnetic targets and can therefore be readily identified and discriminated. There are drawbacks to multifrequency operation, two of the biggest being, minimizing transmission power loss to extent practical (the transmit energy has to be divided between individual frequencies if you are actually transmitting them separately and simultaneously, rather than using more elegent methods such as square waves, pulse width modulation, or other methods to take advantage of harmonics that are produced when two or more signals of different frequencies are combined) and the processing power required to extract the information from the received signal. Equinox also brings adjustable, fast response to the table (known as recovery speed) which helps with being able to detect multiple targets in close proximity to each other. But as is true with all aspects of detecting, there is no free lunch. Run recovery speed too high and deeper target signals will begin to become clipped such that you may not be able to hear them with the practical effect that you are actually reducing detecting depth. Run recovery too low in an attempt to increase depth, and you risk increasing ground noise because of the need to swing slower to get a good signal whichnis also counter optimal performance. For the 800, the sweet spot for recovery speed is around 4 to 6 leaning a little on the high side. There are more in depth discussions of recovery speed on the Equinox Essentials thread page I linked to above. One of the mantras I use to optimize Equinox setup is to stay as close to the defaults as I possibly can and to maximize the signal to noise ratio. Avoid doing things that raise the noise floor along with signal sensitivity (like cranking sensitivity too high or lowering recovery speed too low as mentioned previously). Let me know if you want to go into the different properties of the various modes (Park 1/2, Field 1/2,. Beach 1/2, etc.) and what conditions and targets they are optimized for. HTH to get you started. Chase
    4 points
  7. We have a very friendly coin dealer/gold buyer here that lets me bring in anything and get it shot and they tell me what they would pay. Those with an XRF should be ok with you stopping by often. I should also note that we have a University Professor that likes to tell us the content of our nuggets. We just have to give him a bit of info in exchange. Mitchel
    3 points
  8. Ask, and ye shall receive: ctmenquiry@coiltek.com.au
    3 points
  9. I think the physical makeup of a DD coil may contribute to one way signal response.
    3 points
  10. I found 2 war nickels a foot apart from each other. 1943 rang up 13-14. 1945 rang up a steady 16. Almost didn't dig the 1945 because I had dug about 15 pull tabs before I found the nickels.
    3 points
  11. Mike, the Iron Cancel Mode on the 24k has 62 degrees of "iron" rejection. There are 6 bar settings: NO bar (1-4) one bar (5-14) two bars (15-25) three bars (26-41) four bars (42-61) and five bars (62). As would be expected, each higher number represents a higher degree of "iron" rejection, ranging from rejection of severe soil mineralization, then rejection of small hot rocks, rejection of larger hot rocks, small iron, larger (but still somewhat small) iron, and some steel alloys. Although not an exact science, due to varying circumstances, especially differing types of soil, hot rocks, and iron type/size/degree of rust, it is really an outstanding aid to eliminate the aforementioned "targets" WITHOUT undue discrimination "overkill" and extreme depth loss incumbent with other models of "iron reject/gold only" mode detectors. For example, here in the Mojave Desert my 24k can, optimally tuned, can find microflakes of gold as small as 1/15th of a grain. That's about 1/7200th of an ounce. With gold at $1300.00 per ounce, such a flake would be worth 18 cents. Employing "no bar" severe soil mineralization reject, such targets would be "iffy," but 1/4 grain bits (68 centers) still come through loud and clear. Using one-bar (small hot rock reject) 1/4 grainers are iffy, but 1/3 to 1/2 grainers sound loud and clear, with NO discernible loss of depth. Yes, with higher settings, there is a progressively higher loss of depth. BUT, thanks to the XGB ground balance system, combined with one-bar severe soil mineralization/small hot rock reject, I can hunt black sand washes which defeat lesser machines, can reject small "zipper" hot rocks, but still get sub-grainers, without the upwards of 60% depth loss with full-iron reject. Regarding hot rocks: some cannot be reliably rejected, but such even pose problems for PI's. Regarding "amping up" 24k performance: employ "b2" (boost 2) target volume, ultra faint threshold, medium self-adjusting threshold, and the highest gain setting which still provides the smooth, stable, operation for which the 24k is renowned. Hope this helps: HH Jim
    3 points
  12. Fantastic hunt in my book. You did very good. It's nice to hear others state how solid the audio is with the Equinox on good targets. ?
    2 points
  13. On a related but slightly different subject. Is this perhaps why when swinging the Gold Monster (and possibly the Equinox) people talk about swinging one way and getting a 'ferrous' signal and swinging the other way and getting a 'non-ferrous' signal over the same target. If the Tx coil passes the target first and excites the target and then the Rx coil passes over it might give a different response to when swinging the other way and the receive coil passes the target first. Hard for a receive coil to actually receive a signal from a target that hasn't been excited or only gets excited as the receive coil is about to leave the target zone? I'm guessing this theory may be full of holes or was it already widely known withing the detecting community ?‍♂️
    2 points
  14. Your story moved me Gerry. You can't (I don't) put monetary value on something like this. The true value is in the experience and emotions that you were immersed in. Great find and great story.
    2 points
  15. Hi Aureous, Can you answer a couple of questions for me? 1) how many points of iron disc does it have and how does the iron disc setting equate to the iron disc bars? Like is there 10 numbers to a bar? 2)how many points of hot rock reject or bars does it have? None of the reviews go into the setting very well and the operating manual isn't very clear either. All I have to go by are some pictures, some that show one bar of iron disc, another picture on another site that shows two bars of iron disc, and then another picture on another site that shows three bars of iron disc. One video show up to 9 or 10 settings, another video shows where they ran it up into the twenties, but there isn't any definitive information about it anywhere by anybody. Same questions for the hot rock setting. Hate to play 20 questions to buy something but nobody is talking much about it. Thanks in advance, Mike
    2 points
  16. Welcome to my free "book" about metal detecting and gold prospecting. Each chapter is a "how to" or explanatory guide, on metal detecting and gold prospecting themes. Many were written in response to questions asked on this websites forum. Each article focuses on a single subject, and they are meant to be relatively short, but to also cover the topic well. In many cases you will not find more in-depth coverage of any of these topics anywhere else. The answers were created expressly to eliminate having to answer common questions repeatedly, creating this reference for use in future threads. There is information both for beginners, and advanced topics for the pros. All articles are copyrighted, and may not be duplicated in any form without my express permission. Steve Herschbach Metal Detecting Steve's Guide to Headphones for Metal Detecting Steve’s Guide to How Deep Metal Detectors Can Go Steve’s Guide to VLF Metal Detectors and “More Depth” Steve’s Guide to Testing Metal Detectors Steve's Guide to Metal Detector "Air Tests Steve's Guide to Metal Detector Search Coil Compatibility Steve's Guide to VLF Concentric vs DD Search Coils Steve's Guide to "Search Coils Are Not Antenna" Steve's Guide to Variations in Coil Performance Steve’s Guide to Detecting Depth Vs Coil Size and Shape Steve’s Guide to Metal Detector Sensitivity Steve's Guide to Threshold Autotune, SAT & V/SAT Steve's Guide To Why GB Numbers Do Not Indicate Mineralization Levels Steve's Guide to Metal Detector Mixed Modes Steve's Guide to Metal Detectors with Reliable Target ID Numbers Steve's Guide to the Best Target IDs For Rings Steve's Guide to Detecting Gold Jewelry Versus Aluminum Steve’s Guide to Why Detecting Thin Gold Chains Is Difficult Steve's Guide to Detecting Tiny Gold Jewelry In Saltwater Steve's Guide to Small Item Testing "The BIC Pen Test" Steve's Guide to Testing Weak Gold Targets & Ground or Salt Settings Steve's Guide to Selectable Frequency & Multifrequency Metal Detectors Steve's Guide to Why Target ID is About Size, Not Type of Metal Steve’s Guide to Metal Detector Discrimination Basics Steve’s Guide to Recovery Speed Steve’s Guide to Target ID Normalization Steve's Guide to Target Masking Differences Euro vs U.S. Steve’s Guide to Why Weak Non-Ferrous Targets Read As Ferrous Steve's Guide to Why Some Ferrous Reads Non-Ferrous Steve’s Guide to Iron Bias (Bottle Cap Reject) Steve's Guide to Waterproof VLF Metal Detectors Steve's Guide to Beach Detecting For Gold Prospectors Steve’s Guide To Why Detecting Tiny Gold In A Bottle Is Difficult Steve's Guide to VLF vs PI Depth Difference Steve's Guide to Pulse Induction Ground Balance Steve's Guide to Pulse Induction Discrimination Steve's Guide to Ground Balancing PI and "The Hole" Steve’s Guide To More About The PI “Hole” Steve's Guide to Long Range Locators (LRLs) Steve's Guide to Beach Detecting For Gold Prospectors Steve's Guide to the Fisher CZ Series Metal Detectors Steve's Guide to Fisher Gold Bug Models Steve's Guide to The F75 Ferrous Tone Quirk Steve's Guide to Minelab BBS, FBS, FBS2, and Multi-IQ Steve's Guide to Minelab E-trac, CTX 3030, Excalibur, and Equinox Steve's Guide to Differences Between Minelab SD, GP, & GPX Steve's Guide to Minelab GPX Timings Steve's Guide to Tuning the Minelab GPX 5000 Steve's Guide to Insanely Hot Settings For The GPZ 7000 Steve's Guide to Ground Tracking As A Filter Steve's Guide to White's Goldmaster Models Steve's Guide to White's SignaGraph Display Steve's Guide to White's Electronics GMT versus MXT Steve's Guide to White's TDI Coin Settings Steve's Guide to Rebuilding The White's GMT Steve's Guide to Some Nugget Detectors of Note Metal Detector Database with User Reviews Prospecting Steve's Guide to How to Pan for Gold Steve's Guide to Suction Gold Dredges Steve's Guide to Where To Prospect For Gold Steve’s Guide to Getting A Mining Job In Alaska Steve’s Guide to Metal Detecting for Gold Nuggets Steve's Guide to Gold Nugget Detectors Steve's Guide to a Brief History of Gold Nugget Detectors Steve's Guide to Gold Nugget Target ID Numbers Steve’s Guide to Glaciers & Gold Steve’s Guide To Detecting Gold In Quartz Rock & Mine Dumps Steve's Guide to Finding Gold Veins With A Metal Detector Steve’s Guide to Nugget Detecting Kits Gold Prospecting Research Material For Alaska General Steve's Guide to Successful Rock Tumbling Metal Detecting & Prospecting Library Catalogs, Brochures, User Guides, & Owner's Manuals Thread Hall of Fame Nail Board Tests & Sensitivity
    1 point
  17. I am primarily a gold prospector but I do enjoy all things metal detecting. The thing is I really like finding gold (or platinum, silver, etc.) so my focus is always on precious metals. That being the case relic hunting has not particularly appealed to me, especially given the laws surrounding finding true artifacts in this country. Many relic hunters are at least technically in violation of federal law if they are recovering items 100 years or older and in many places 50 years or older can get you in trouble. I don't need that kind of problems in my life, and so even though the actual risks involved tend to be overblown, it is not something that excites me. I have the law firmly on my side when prospecting for gold on land open to mineral entry. Eight years ago some friends suggested I might enjoy hunting ancient artifacts and gold in England. The UK has laws regarding the recovery of antiquities that are far superior to ours. They actually support metal detecting and have proven so successful that museums are being overwhelmed by the numbers of exciting finds being made. I always wanted to find a gold coin anyway. My friends suggested the operation that centers around Colchester, England. Colchester is the site of the earliest Roman occupation in England and has history extending far earlier. The Celtic tribes in particular were active in the area, with many Celtic gold coins found by detectorists. The gold coins found span the millenia though including hammered gold coins and milled gold coins of more recent vintage. Just browse the website finds page for an idea of the types of finds made every day in this area. All photos in this story may be clicked or double clicked on for larger versions. Just one field of several at this one location. I could have spent the whole trip here. The hunts are limited to a couple times per year when the farm fields have just been harvested or planted, so Feb-March in the spring and Sept-Oct in the fall. The limited timeframe and limited openings means it is hard to get your foot in the door with this club unless you apply a year or more in advance. 2019 is already filling up and people are booking 2020 now. Long story short I made the trip for two weeks back in 2010 as told at Metal Detecting Ancient Coins at Colchester, UK. I refer you there for more details especially photos of all my finds. The hunt was amazing with finds ranging over a 2000 year span. Finds that would be world class in the U.S. are not only common but considered "new" by comparison to the finds I made almost every day I was in England. Yet I did not score that gold coin. There are many found, but when you consider the number of people hunting 12 hours a day the reality is that you have to be very lucky to get your coil over one, even given a full two weeks. I came away better educated on that reality. It was a fabulous trip but I was in no great rush to return knowing what I learned, plus it rained half the trip, and UK farm field mud is as sticky as it gets. It is far easier to find gold nearer to home and I went back to prospecting and jewelry detecting as my main focus for finding precious metals. Nostalgia does creep up however, and as time passed I thought I should give it another go. I booked a slot with two of the hunt managers, Minnesota Mindy and Chicago Ron, figuring that I had a shot at maybe at least one of them. I had never met Mindy but we knew of each other from Ganes Creek days, and Ron I took a photo of making his first Morini Celtic gold coin (see story above). A year went by and then suddenly Mindy had an opening, which I jumped on immediately. Just a few days later Ron had an opening. I was going to decline, then saw by some miracle his week started when Mindy's ten days ended. I really hate making trips of any magnitude for less than two weeks. This is low odds stuff and the costs also do not justify short hunts in my mind. I booked with Ron also and suddenly had seventeen days in England on my calendar for October 2018. By sheer coincidence it turned out that a forum member unearth (hi Gary!) was booked for Mindy's portion. Field with view of the River Stour I got a ticket with United for $1250 round trip to Heathrow from Reno, NV. It is a pretty easy flight really. Afternoon flight out of Reno to Los Angeles, and then 11 hour overnight flight from LA to London. Overseas flights coach class is more like domestic first class, and if you can sleep on planes you can sleep most of the journey away and wake up in England. My return was the reverse but routed through San Francisco with a longer layover in order to deal with customs on re-entering the U.S. No real issues for those used to navigating large airports. It could be exciting for novices however but just relax and ask for help the minute you have any problems. The trips to a certain degree are like an all inclusive vacation with most everything covered, but may include nights out at English pubs for dinner. I did none of that my first trip so looked forward to seeing a little more local flavor this time around. I must be mellowing with age because it is not all about the hunt these days - I am making more effort to smell the flowers along the way and just enjoy. Accommodations on the trip are in barns that have been converted to apartments, which is why these types of hunts are referred to as "barn hunts" but there are other options. Rooms are normally shared - my room for the first ten days. Art was a great roommate. I got far more lucky with weather this time much to my relief. It makes everything more pleasant for all involved. Groups consist of seven or eight people including the host, who busses the group to different fields each day or twice a day. All morning hunting takes place on one farmers fields. The hunt may continue on that farmers land in the afternoon, or switch to another famers land. The farmers are paid by the number of people on their land each day so for logistical purposes it is one or two landowners per day. The amount of land available is mind-boggling vast. There are fields that have been hunted for the 16 years the club has been in existence, and good finds are still being made. This is part due to the sheer size but also the fact that the famers deep plow and turn the land. Targets that were too deep or on edge get brought up or reoriented, and so areas thought dead come back to life on a regular basis. I proved that myself this trip. New fields are also added on a regular basis for those who like that feeling of being on less hunted ground. I took two Equinox 800s on the trip, one outfitted with the new 15" x 12" coil that arrived just before my departure. This is a fantastic coil, very light for its size, and just the ticket for covering huge areas. There is a depth bonus also on most targets but to me that is just a bonus. That extra 4" coverage per swing is far more important in improving the odds for finds than another inch of depth. I will get more into my settings and how they evolved during the trip as a follow up post. United wants $100 for a second bag, and I was able to bring two complete Equinox and everything I needed for three weeks on the road in a single 40 lb bag plus small satchel carry on. Nice! I could drag this out as a blow by blow accounting of each day but let's cut to the chase. Just a couple days into the hunt one of our group found a Celtic gold coin, always a good sign. Five days into the hunt Gary (unearth) scores part of a medieval gold ring with a red stone, possibly a ruby. A great find and Gary was very pleased to find gold - who would not be? Congratulations Gary! I and the others were finding various old coins and artifacts similar to what you would see in my story from 2010 - lead seals, hammered silver coins, watch winders, buttons galore, musket balls, etc. Gary scores gold and a gemstone - jewelry finds are very rare October 16 dawned nice and sunny, and we went to hunt some of the older ground in the club and so few people want to hunt there. Yet I was immediately busy digging "gold range" targets with my focus being on target id numbers from 7 on up. I will explain the reasoning there later. I made a few passes back and forth digging all manner of small lead bits when I got a nice little 7-8 reading no different from hundreds already dug in the last few days. I turned over a spade full of dirt, and out popped an oddly shaped piece of gold! Celtic "Votive Offering" fresh out of the ground! I knew it was gold but I was not sure what it was. It looked like a small torc, normally a band worn around the arm or neck. This was too small, maybe 5-6 inches long, so it would barely loop around a wrist enough to stay put. More like the size of a ring really. Whatever it was I knew it was great and my emotions soared sky high. I reached in my pocket for my iPhone to take a picture.... and had an emotional crash. My phone was gone! I went from elation to panic almost instantly. I left the find and detector where they were, and proceeded to backtrack my trail. I had not gone far and the ground was rolled flat, so I determined I must have left the phone in the van with Mindy. So I got on the radio and announced my find of a "mini-torc" and explained I had lost my phone. New Minelab Equinox 15" x 12" coil helps make once in a lifetime find Mindy was excited and said she would be right there. She did indeed have my phone, so we rushed back and took photos of the find. Everyone gets excited when gold is found and this time was no different. Now that I had my phone I got excited all over again, quite the rollercoaster! Happy guy! Photo courtesy of Mindy Desens Celtic gold, the find of a lifetime for sure. Many of the Celtic gold coins found here date from around 50 BC to 25 BC and so it is reasonable to think this find is of similar age, though that cannot be determined for sure without further testing. Gold dropped around 2100 years ago - simply amazing! Equinox and Celtic gold! The find has since been labeled as a gold "votive offering". The ancients lived for the harvest, and offerings were made to the gods in the form of gold tossed into the field to insure a good harvest. At least that is the theory that tries to explain why nearly all the farming land seems to have at least a few Celtic gold items found in them eventually. The truth is nobody really knows for sure as there are no written records from that time. For all we really know this might be an ancient gold hoop earring! That's half the fun, imagining what this stuff is and why it is where it is. The club has been hunting these fields for around 16 years, and while many Celtic gold coins have been found this is the first item of it's type, making it a particularly rare and satisfying find. It is really hard to get my head around the fact that somebody last held this gold over 2000 years ago. Celtic gold "votive offering" closeup All gold or silver that is not a coin is immediately declared as treasure to the museums. I actually got to handle the find very little before it was whisked away to a safe. The museums will evaluate it, and possibly bid on it. High bidding museum gets the find, and the money would be split between me and the property owner. If the museums decline, I will pay the property owner one half the value and eventually get it back. This normally takes about a year but can take two or more years depending on the backlog. Every item found that the finder wishes to keep must go through this process, and there are only so many experts who can identify and catalog all this stuff. I live for the hunt and the photos. It's not like I haul gold around to show off to people - it all resides in a safe deposit box. So for me the only real value is in making that adrenaline rush happen and then having photos I can easily share with others. I won't mind therefore if it sells at auction and I get half the cash. Clean and easy. If I get the opportunity to get it back however I may very well have my find fashioned into a ring. There are not many people in the world who can claim to be wearing jewelry fashioned before Christ was born. I could sell it myself no doubt for over twice whatever I pay for it, but I don't need the bucks that bad to part with such a find. Celtic gold details - actual age unknown but BC, around 25 to 50 BC if in range of coins found in area The Equinox with 15" x 12" coil did a good job making this discovery. As a classic open ended "broken ring" type signal it was reading 7-8 and was detectable to only about 4-5 inches in air tests. I am guessing it was about 4 inches deep. The Equinox is exceptionally hot on gold and while you can never say for sure it is very possible that this gold item was left in this heavily hunted area because it is such a poor signal on most detectors. Needless to say I am very happy with both my Equinox and the new 15" x 12" coil. It is the perfect coil for this type of large field detecting. Speaking of Equinox I was surprised at how many were already in use with this random cross section of hunters from around the U.S. About three-quarters of the hunters were swinging the Equinox, most having switched from the Deus or CTX 3030. Other than the typical minor quibbles people were unanimous in liking the machine and there was constant talk about how well it was performing. The Equinox really loves round items in particular, and people were reporting noticeable increases both in depth and target id accuracy at depth. Ferrous identification is almost 100% accurate under these conditions. I dug only one ferrous item in nearly three weeks that just clearly fooled me, a very deeply corroded steel spike of some sort. There were a handful of other ferrous targets I dug that I figured were ferrous but were borderline enough I figured "just dig it". Better safe than sorry, but in each case they were the expected ferrous items. Lots of Minelab Equinox plus a Deus and CTX The next day we were back in the same general area. There was one small plot Mindy wanted to hunt and nobody else was interested, so I decided to hunt with her. I was at one end of the field and Mindy the other. I was hunting fast, trying to cover area, when I got one of those showstopper signals and dug a nice 1737 George II milled silver sixpence. I had no idea what it was - kind of looked like a Roman emperor to me and so Mindy had to take a look. I found I was best off not speculating on finds as I was usually wrong though I am learning. The "George" I know now is a dead giveaway that this is a "recent" vintage coin. A real beauty though and I was quite pleased with it. 1737 George II milled silver sixpence It was only 15 minutes later that Mindy calls out on the radio that she found a full Celtic stater, the larger of the Celtic gold coins. It was her twelfth gold coin find on these hunts over the years, and a real beauty at that. I am one of those people who get nearly as excited as the finder when a great find is made - I love seeing people do well detecting - and this was very thrilling to witness. Although I was in no position to complain this was exactly the sort of find I had hoped to make myself, and it is nice to know these targets still remain. I had walked maybe ten feet past the coin as I headed for the far end of the field. Just a stunning coin, and looked almost brand new even though it had been in the ground for around 2100 years. Gold is just amazing in that regard, whether nuggets, jewelry, or coins, they pop out of the ground like they were dropped yesterday. Mindy scores a Celtic gold stater - her 12th gold coin 45 BC to 25 BC Addedomarus - Trinovantian tribe 5.58 g.16.90 mm Can you imagine, twelve gold coin finds, including a hammered gold noble, some sovereigns, and Celtic gold? Mindy is amazing. Here I am looking for my first gold coin and she gets her twelfth - now you know why this hunt attracts people. The next day we were hunting some of the newer, less hunted ground, but after some high speed scanning I wandered off to an area that has been hunted a lot before because two gold sovereigns had been found there recently. There are areas where there are lots of targets, and also vast stretches of fields where targets are few and far between. People tend to like the idea of new fields, but they often have very few targets to dig. I kind of prefer older target rich zones that have prior gold history because even after years of hunting I have no problem digging lots of gold range targets in these locations. This does usually mean lead but I am happy to dig lead targets all day as opposed to being in an area where there are only targets once every 15 minutes or more. This was one of those locations, and I was in gold hunt mode digging lots of tiny signals in the 7-10 range with 9 being particularly prevalent. This almost always is an oblong little bit of lead, but I dug another nice 9 signal and up popped a large gold flake! It was not much different than something I might find gold prospecting, but is either a fragment of a hammered gold coin that has been worn to oblivion or maybe a portion of a blank gold sheet. I don't know but it was my second gold find in three days and so very nice to see. Just making one gold find is exceptional, and two in a week is harder yet. The flake only weighs 1.03 grams and is 15.05 mm long and 0.80 mm thick. Truly just a flake of gold, and another testament to the gold ability of the Equinox even when running the larger coil. I was pleased with the find as much from a technical aspect as anything else, since I have already found countless similar flakes of gold while prospecting. I went all the way to England to find a flake of gold! It finally came time to say goodbye to Mindy and the group and get handed off to the new group incoming with Chicago Ron. Ron is an incredible hunter with a real nose for making finds. I really enjoyed watching him - an artist at work. In fact there are many people on these hunts that are amazing detectorists (Scott and Scott, and Mike, I'm looking at you) and there is always something to learn by observing good detectorists in action. What makes Ron special is he just wanders around in an apparently random fashion, yet consistently wanders into some really great finds. He has one of the best noses for detecting I have ever seen. My luck dropped off in this final week but no complaining here - nobody would sympathize anyway! I had my trip in the bag and was more relaxed and I was admittedly cherry picking a lot more now, focusing on the gold range and round targets. Most people are hunting hard for hammered silver coins, but for me those were more accidental bycatch. I just hunt for gold and let the rest happen. I had the chance to eat out a few times with Ron's group and enjoyed seeing more of the local flavor than I did on my first trip to the U.K. There was a dinner night out with Mindy's group (I bought dinner and drinks for all celebrating my find) that was a good time. I just love the English people and these nights out gave me more chance to interact with them. I even took time out from a hunt to go shopping in town with Mindy just to see the town of Manningtree close up. Again, one of the benefits of making a great find - the pressure was off and I did not get so crazy about just detecting. Manningtree, England One pub in particular out with Ron and company was directly across the street from where the captain of the Mayflower lived. The history everywhere you look is just stunning. Ron like nearly everyone in his group is was swinging an Equinox, and early on one day of the hunt he made a find that is rarer than the gold coins - a huge 1653 Commonwealth hammered silver half crown (30 pence). This is one of the few English coins with no king on the front because England was a Commonwealth without a king for a brief period of years. How this 14.39 gram silver coin was still sitting in the middle of a hunted area is a mystery, but as we all know if you do not get the coil right over the spot finds get missed. The coin is 34.66 mm or 1.36 inches in diameter and 2.0 mm thick. I got a great photo of Ron with his first Morini Celtic gold on my last trip, and here he is again doing his magic. What fun! Chicago Ron and 1653 Commonwealth hammered silver half crown Ron's 1653 Commonwealth hammered silver half crown I added to my collection of hammered silver, 1700 and 1800 copper coins, and milled silver coins with the remaining time I had. I tended to wander off in oddball directions away from the group, doing the "go big or go home" thing by hoping to get into some little corner or hotspot overlooked by others. Given the size of these fields there are limitless opportunities for this sort of wandering, and it often means fewer finds. It is however how spectacular finds like a horde happen so I do enjoy giving it a go. It ultimately is my favorite type of detecting, being alone in some place wandering around doing my own thing. Gridding target rich zones is probably more productive, but it has a mechanical work aspect to it. Wandering is more freestyle and also more conducive to the sort of meditative mental state I achieve while metal detecting. I am one of those types that lives in my head and some of my best thinking is done while wandering around detecting. I get so into "the zone" that hours flash by in apparent minutes. Whether I make finds or not I find metal detecting to be wonderfully refreshing. For me at least there are few things more relaxing than metal detecting. The trip ended with a spectacular bang by another new Equinox owner who recently joined the forum. Tim was kind of frustrated with the Equinox when I met him, but I did what I could to help him gain confidence in his detector, and the finds started coming. The very last day he made a find that exceeded my own in some ways, but that is his tale to tell so I will leave it for now. It was so awesome again to be around when a major find was made, and come to find I had walked about 30 feet away from it the previous week. Miss it by a foot or a mile, and you miss it. Usually you never know what you miss, but in this case I got to find out. It may be hard for people to believe but I am happier that Tim made the find than me. I am getting a bit jaded these days whereas Tim nearly fainted from the excitement. I get a real charge out of seeing that in people and Tim is just a really nice fellow. He really worked hard for that find and it was an awesome way to have the adventure come to a close. I am sure we will hear the details about Tim's amazing find very soon. I could not be happier with my 2018 UK adventure. The weather this time was really great. I actually got a farmers tan while in England! Mindy and Ron and his wife Gretchen are all great, doing everything they can to insure people have a good time. The folks I got to visit with in both groups came from all over the country, and I could not ask to meet a nicer and more upbeat bunch of people. I really am going to have to give this another go because I finally came home without that gold coin. Even that is ok because what I did find is even rarer, and I made two gold finds on the trip. Eight years ago I went home with a pouch full of great stuff, but I think my pride was a bit wounded that I had found no gold. I am supposed to be the "gold guy"! I am constantly competing with myself at some level, and this trip really left a warm glow. Again, my thanks to all involved for making this one of the best experiences in my now very long detecting career. Just awesome!! ~ Steve Herschbach Copyright © 2018 Herschbach Enterprises Many more details and pictures later in this thread plus the settings I used so do follow along ! Here is a partial selection of some of the finds I made on this trip. I won't be able to post a complete listing until I get the museum documents back - may be a year or more from now! A few finds made by Steve Herschbach in England, 2018
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  18. Just returned home from a crazy road-trip. We had a work event in Las Vegas last week, and we had some equipment to haul in.The company said they'd pay my gas, so I decided to drive it, and take a few extra days off and go to one of my old Spanish trail sites to detect on my way home. What a trip it turned out to be! Snow blizzard on the way to Vegas. Then from Vegas to California, was one of the worst rain storms in like 50 years...I was out on a little two lane, twisty, curvy road that routes you though the mountains and it started out as just small oozes of mud filling areas of the road, or wet slicks as water filled the roads, but as I progressed higher into the mountains, it was progressively worsening, now small streams and creeks and boulders were taking over the road, then massive mud slides onto the roads. The road would worsen. The roads were washed out and flooded with white water rivers now taking over, filling the road with a debris field of rocks, small trees and brush, and tons of sand. One one occasion I was blasting through what amounted to a massive river flowing across the road, and while trying to blast though it a massive sand bar under the water attempted to trap the car, but luckily the FJ is a very capable off road vehicle, and it was able to make it though this and many more obstacles to come. So after all this, I get to my destination and the motel had canceled everyone's reservations because they had no water or power. Great, now I'm out in the middle of BFE with no place to stay and I'm not driving back through raging water flash floods. I ended up spending the night in my FJ Cruiser in the middle of the desert. It was a weird night, to be made even more strange by the fact that the only radio station I could pick up out there was playing Indian chants all night - LOL Between storms, I managed to get in a day of detecting, but with an even larger storm system nipping at my heals, I decided to head back before it hit the fan! I managed a good day testing the 15" Equinox coil at a site that's been stingy lately. Tom and I hunted it the last time we were there, and neither of us dug a single coin, but for whatever reason the Equinox lit it up (tu) Enjoy! Flickr account is buggered up, else I'd post a still pic, but here's the video: GL&HH Cal
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  19. Well done school and well reported. Sometimes there are macro clues and sometimes there are micro clues. When I find a patch I sometime see if I can find a better one before I return to the only one that is producing that day. Mitchel
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  20. I have limited use on a TDI, but did notice that getting depth on the TDI SL I used was more about getting the ground balance right and getting the pulse delay to operate as close to 10 as possible. Before getting a new coil maybe PM some users and see if they are willing to give some settings out. I know I watched a bunch of you tube videos and one guy got excellent depth with his. I usually use a GPX and it has taken me years to get the depth I now get from it. You may consider binging on some videos one evening, and watch who is getting great finds and see what kind of coil they are using. Just some thoughts.
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  21. The sound of a good and great target on the Nox is glorious. We have so many mixed metal targets in the surf it is rare for an uncorroded, pure sound. I get it most often with pull tabs and nickels. There is a fullness to the sound. ☺️ I should note that both of these finds were 'without a clue' but in an area where I've found good objects before.
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  22. Great hunt Mitchel. I too find the signal to lock on for silver and gold targets. I just found a nice 14K ring that locked on at a number 8. Just a nice solid sound to it . Sometimes when there are very few targets I get impatient and dig a lot of iffy shallow targets, hoping for that gold ring. But when you actually come over one, it is not iffy at all! Congrats on that beautiful chain and silver ring!!
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  23. Didn't think of that, but I would assume its no big deal. I think a smaller coil would be nice but needs to be waterproof for sure. Even if the big ones were waterproof then this would be a fun and useful beach machine! But what I really want to know is if you can put the orignal 8" back on and have the coil or the entire machine waterproof again.
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  24. I was one of the contributors...and being here in England didn't receive my cheque for a couple of articles till much later...then when I paid it in, it was returned to me! (As well as bounced fees) Of course I haven't lost as much as you folk who have subscribed to the magazine, and I certainly am sympathetic as well as sharing that feeling of a kick in the nuts! I hope fate balances it all out by giving you a 20 Dollar bit on your next hunt out, and a nice gold Guinea for me! All the best, Darren Clarke
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  25. Just to clarify, this refers to non-destructive testing with X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. ? Some pawn shops and coin shops have these devices. They aren't cheap ($5k entry level?) and thus the shop may charge a fee for doing a measurement.
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  26. I wasn’t really happy with how I setup the pvc and made a few changes that are much better changing how it attached to the box and connected the frame and box as a hinge using only one 1/2 “ repair fitting for the angle adjustment at the header end instead of two. In addition to being easier to use and adjust it all fits easily inside the tub now. It would have been better to use two 90* elbow at the header end of the pvc but I was trying to use stuff I had on hand.
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  27. Everyone also needs to realize that while the TID is related to metallic composition it is not necessarily directly measuring metallic composition of the target, there are other effects that influence the phase angle (delay in the received induced mangetic return signal) that is measured by the detector. So, especially, with mixed metal alloys, corrosion, and other influences it is hard to really say what is causing the variation. I think GB is right, that a sampling of non-corroded war nickels is what is needed to at least see if metal composition variances are the main cause. I think it also makes sense to do that check in single frequency to rule out multi-frequency processing artifacts and get a simple return off a single frequency transmit signal. Interesting topic.
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  28. Mitchell i got an insurance i paid 60 british pounds to cover 1 year of vehicle rental .........60 days straight at the time ,worldwide except Jamaica and Island .......Saw a lot of outlander seems the vehicle of choice out here.I will try to find it today and send u the link.Lots of space in the boot i havent try to sleep inside and the windows aren't tinted enough......Will try to get it cleaned today has it is caked in track dust :) Just found the insurance https://www.worldwideinsure.com RR
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  29. Nice job of repurposing material.
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  30. Spotted at my local Cabelas
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  31. I don't know if the mint makes the planchet or they have a company make them. But either way it's obvious there are variances in the mix. Which just makes our hobby a little more interesting.
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  32. I have seen a few posts where the 1943 S war nickels especially, read high.
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  33. Coiltek has that Platypus coil that is water proof. I want to start using it on the beach!
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  34. I wonder if by doing the conversion if you can go back with the old coil to be waterproof. Main thing I need my SDC for is to be waterprooof. At least the coil!
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  35. Thanks for the link! I’ve been avoiding videos of other detectors trying not to get TOO confused but I see that may have been a mistake. I do have a question about the video - it seems like the signal was MUCH quieter out of the ground waved across the top of the coil than in the ground. Is that due to how the coil operates? Or I’ve heard a little about halo effects in the ground....? I’m now convinced I lost many pennies’ worth of tiny gold nuggets the last time I went out - small but repeatable signals I couldn’t find when I dug them up, thinking that the wobble in the threshold when I waved my scoop over the coil was just some sort of noise... ? -Julie
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  36. Ok, I feel a story coming on about your trip. My trip now will consist of an 800 and a 7000.
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  37. Aureous, you will find that the 24k, fitted with the 6x4, will give the GBII, fitted with the 6.5x3, a run for its money in the ultra small nugget category. The 24k/6x4 combo will find 1/20 grain (and maybe smaller) pieces. Still, for me, the 6.5 concentric gives the best combination of depth, sensitivity, and maneuverability. And yes, it IS making "hammered for decades" patches productive again. We look forward to reading more about your auriferous exploits once the weather improves. HH Jim
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  38. There it is in true psych talk--- i knew you would be there!
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  39. That's about how I see it too, although I try to set my goals a little higher than an IHP ?
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  40. Too flashy Paul. I just call it "Walking Gambling Disorder" WGD. The Oz version is "Swearing Walking Gambling Disorder" SWGD. DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria: Gambling Disorder A. Persistent and recurrent problematic gambling behavior leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as indicated by the individual exhibiting four (or more) of the following in a 12-month period: 1. Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement. GPZ 7000 case in point... 2. Is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling. Like that will happen........... 3. Has made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling. Yer right........... 4. Is often preoccupied with gambling (e.g., having persistent thoughts of reliving past gambling experiences, handicapping or planning the next venture, thinking of ways to get money with which to gamble). Ringing any bells? 5. Often gambles when feeling distressed (e.g., helpless, guilty, anxious, depressed). Code for not being on a patch.... 6. After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even (“chasing” one’s losses). That patch is flogged, wait I'll go back one more time. 7. Lies to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling. I had to stay there honey, car trouble ....... 8. Has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of gambling. Becoming a small scale miner or leaseholder..... 9. Relies on others to provide money to relieve desperate financial situations caused by gambling. I'll pay you back with nuggets ....... B. The gambling behavior is not better explained by a manic episode. Specify if: Episodic: Meeting diagnostic criteria at more than one time point, with symptoms subsiding between periods of gambling disorder for at least several months. Beginning prospectors ..... Persistent: Experiencing continuous symptoms, to meet diagnostic criteria for multiple years. "Normal" prospectors.....
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  41. Dunno about the Seniors suffering from DOG but the young uns, ya put em onto gold (they can`t find any without your input) and their suddenly DOG pros. But what can us old fellas do but keep on being irrelevant...………. Never know the OZ licensed board members might sign your release papers after your next term in OZ, but judging from some of the directors reports we might have to send you to serve a term in Tasmania. Hey JW, how about a term over in Kiwiland would that help straighten the lad out.
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  42. Thats' true Goldwright, Interesting that you should bring that up as I have the whole Los Angeles VA mental health team looking in to the matter--- After their initial studies with /of me they have concluded that the syndrome North Queensland Syndrome (NQS) appears to be a hybrid diagnosis which actually extends into Far North Queensland ..(FNQS) Alcohol Dependence Adult Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Bipolar Disorder Any or all of theses disorders may manifest during the period of exploration time in North Queensland. One d/o may become more dominant than the others at times..... but one single most prominent symptom noticed consistently through the range of disorders is, delusions of grandeur. This symptom appears at the moment when gold is found and carries a distinct exhibition of DOG (delusion of grandeur).... Studies have found that this display of DOG is usually exhibited by the senior person in the group,... but in rare cases when the junior person does find gold -----the roles reverse immediately. I will keep you informed of the boards findings as they delve deeper into the root causes. The Board have asked me to come back to Australia and remain for an extended period,in 2019 (for up to a year) before I come back to the USA for further study. As always I have agreed to sacrifice my time and to do the right thing to help in any way I can to further the finding in this study. *I have to put a disclaimer in this note that no animals or plants were , or will , be injured during this study. **Disclaimer: I am not a psychiatrist nor claim to have any more knowledge of mental health disorder except within the scope of my practice as a nurse. I would hope the professionals that are licensed who frequent the forum could join in and possible suggest additions or removal of some parameters of the US study. ?
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  43. I don't think there is a term for the syndrome you got from your visit to North Queensland.?
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  44. Hi Steve, I did get a Tarsacci. I posted the following on this forum on February 6th in a different thread- "I pulled the trigger and bought a Tarsacci MDT 8000. Like in the Johnny Cash song I drove right down to the factory and picked it up. Well, not quite, but close. I was only about 100 miles away from Merced vacationing so I made arrangements and drove down and met with Dimitar, the designer. I spent a couple hours with him. First, learning About the Tarsacci, then discussing its mineral handling capabilities and prospecting possibilities, then trying it out. We did some air tests on coins and nuggets and detected some test bed targets. I had my Deus with me so we did some comparison testing. The weather sucked and I needed to haul my carcass up to Oregon pronto so we did not do exhaustive testing but we did enough that I felt confident buying the machine. Dimitar did not pressure me to buy his detector. The detector sold itself. A week previous to this I was looking to buy an Equinox which I am no longer interested in at this time. In the interest of full disclosure I do not intend to use this machine only for gold nugget prospecting. I also enjoy relic hunting so the capabilities I witnessed that applied to both types of detecting made my decision for me. This machine has been marketed as a beach machine. I had about one hour of beach detecting experience up until yesterday. Now I have about 3. I played around with it on a beach in Oregon with a fair amount of black sand and see some decent performance( I think). What I am seeing on the beach is making me all itchy to go some where there is some bad dirt instead of sand. The Tarsacci is an interesting machine. The build quality of the rod is the best I have ever seen, top notch. I hope the rest of the machine lives up to that standard. I don't want to say much more as I just have so little time on the machine. And of course there is the human factor. I just paid a fair amount of coin for this detector so I must have liked it. Not being perfect I am likely wearing rose colored glasses now when it comes to my new toy. If some of you guys are like me where you have just reached that point in life where you have no interest or physically can not dig every target on God's green earth then this machine may be one to follow its journey through the gold and relic fields." Since I posted that I have not been out detecting with the Tarsacci very much. When I have I was at "bed of nails" locations doing some relic hunting, which is not exactly the Tarsacci's forte but it actually does fairly well in that circumstance. Once, I did take it to a pounded nugget location for a couple hours. I would classify the mineralization as medium at that site. I did not find any gold but neither did my partner with his GBII. The Tarsacci seemed to run good at this location. It will be interesting to see it's performance in some really hot ground. I did do some testing of the Tarsacci against the Equinox at Stricks' test bed site. We recently planted this test bed. The soil is medium mineralization in an area of bad EMI. Strick and I planted a half dozen coins at depths which are challenging for the Equinox at this location. We also planted another half dozen coins at shallow depths in co-located with iron scenarios. On every coin that was planted with out iron co-located the Tarsacci was able to generate a better response to the signal versus the Equinox. On every co-located target the Equinox did a better job of separating the targets. I am not saying the Tarsacci could not detect the majority of the co-located targets. Just that the Equinox generated better signals when coins were co-located with iron. I know this post is very sparse in content about gold hunting with the Tarsacci and I don't anticipate having much more to contribute for a few months due to demands of work, and continuing education. One of you retired gents should pull the trigger on a Tarsacci and really work it over in a review.
    1 point
  45. These Soudpeats Engine buds also work. The newer (and more expensive) model of the Soundpeats Engine does not appear to support APTX LL so avoid it. The drivers of the Engine appear to have superior quality to the Q12's and that is backed up by a more robust audio (I own a pair of Q12's also) and the small neck band puts less stress on the buds than the hanging cord which keeps them more securely in your ear. Bonus, they cost less than the Q12's. HTH https://www.amazon.com/SoundPEATS-Headphone-Earphones-Sweatproof-Smartphones/dp/B07KPWCTDR/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmrnull_1_sspa?keywords=soundpeats+engine&qid=1551181581&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull-spons&psc=1
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  46. Not sure if any of you knew of this site: https://www.historicaerials.com/ They have a view that shows old photos back to 1938 and topos going way back. The viewer is slow but has nice reference as you can click through the dates and see changes. It is a little hard to see but you can see some old trails, lost foundations and even early farm fields that have either been built over or trees have grown in. I use it to find some spots and I plug the gps coordinates into my phone's gps.
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  47. Lunk, Having the ability to find a meteorite in that area with any VLF gold detector is pretty amazing in itself. Glad you were able to break the 24K cherry on space debris. Using the 7000 with 19" coils allowed you to make up ground coverage lost when using the small coil on 24K. It is most important that folks realize that not 1 machine is best for everything and that is why some of the best hunters (such as yourself) have more than one gold detector. Nice photos, story and thanks for sharing something a little different.
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  48. The majority of todays readers are on the internet. Even my own local paper "Idaho Statesman" is downsizing and they keep trying to get me to order the digital subscription. I'm the kind of guy who enjoys a good read (paper or magazine) in the morning with my 2 cups of coffee. So sad to see.
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  49. Thanks Fred, Being only 5’4” tall and a scrawny 130 lbs, I’m certainly no he-man. But the GPZ stock harness and bungee adjusted correctly fits me well, and I can swing that massive coil all day without fatigue. I never use the swing-arm either. However, if I get crazy and swing too fast, the inertia can about knock me down!? As a side note, I once ran into a guy at Rye Patch that could swing the GPZ all day unaided by a harness, hipstick or bungee, and he WAS a he-man. I don’t recall his name, but I may as well call him Arnold...with a German accent...
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  50. I am becoming more befuddled on the Equinox 800 pinpointing . I come from the Explorer XS and Garrett GTI family of detectors an am having a bit of an issue. Some people have noted that the variation of pinpoint sounds can be a good indicator of size of the target. I tried a half penny (1916)that I threw on lawn and target was normal in descrim mode Park 2 5 Tone Sensitivity at 15. noise and ground balanced.. Set to pinpoint to dispel the assertion that targets were read off the tip of the coil. Turned pinpoint on and had signal High pitch at bpth the end of the coil and halfway. Toe was higher on both and meter closed on both points. I did not raise coil to test in that venue. I had trouble beach hunting especially when ferrous metal was in close proximity I have read several articles and watched you tube vids but many seem to be on clearer land and Beach (new Hampshire) than I. Perhaps I am getting to analytical and should refrain from using the pin pointer and relying on X marks the spot. This machine begs for additional info than the others I have used. I would love to learn more about this as I work it, and at this time I am using 5 tone. Great group hope I can add something.
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