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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/18/2019 in all areas

  1. Hi guys and girls, My wife is due to give birth to our second child next weekend so I thought I'd squeeze in a quick trip up to the local gold field to find some gold. We'd had a fresh dusting of snow on the higher hills the day before and so my very pregnant wife, daughter and mother in law decided to tag along to try and find some snow. We drove up to the same spot I last went to on our claim with my 2yo daughter. I was dropped off at the creek and the ladies continued on up the hill for a snow/picnic adventure. We arranged to meet back at the road in 1.5hrs time. The spot I chose has a 1.5m high gravel/clay Bank resting on bedrock. Flooding has exposed the bedrock at the base and on our last trip we were successful in finding gold by removing the remaining material off the bedrock and detecting the nooks and crannies. This time I applied the same method and soon found my first piece of perhaps 0.3g. There were some very large worms in some of the gravely clay which were very impressive! Some almost half a meter long! So I managed to get 6 pieces for one hours digging and detecting. The largest was 1.6g and the total weight was 3.2g. A perfect quick mission before baby arrives. Alas the ladies didn't find any snow. Cheers
    12 points
  2. Some additional photos of the gold, including close ups of the largest one which I believe shows some remnants of crystal character. Quite rare in Nz
    10 points
  3. I started this project 2 or 3 years ago (so long I can't remember). Spurred on by recent field experiences and also a recent thread on Equinox settings I've finally finished it. I don't know if it's a completely new idea. I call it a 'test-stand' as opposed to 'test garden' just to distinguish it from the standard test gardens many of you either already have or at least are familiar with. There are other similar variable depth test gardens out there (seen on YouTube). This one has the advantage of continuous depth capability. It also allows 3-d target orientation angle (similar to pitch, roll, yaw of airplane). It's based upon the 30-60-90 triangle (remember that from geometry/trigonometry class in high school?): Here is a sketch which shows how to implement this concept: Shown in the sketch, buried at an angle, is a PVC pipe. A test target can be slid into the pipe a distance 2*d which will result in it being located at depth d. I used two sections of pipe (ID = 1.57 in., OD = 1.90 in.), side-by-side to allow me to put neighboring targets in the ground with some option of how close the two targets are separated. Think of this as burying a double barrel (side-by-side) shotgun with the stock end deep in the ground. All you see are the ends of the two barrels. The concrete (bag of Kwicrete) locks the pipes in place. Here's a closeup of those extruding barrels: Besides the tape measure (units of inches) you also see a hand-graded scale at left which I'll explain shortly. Here is an overall view: The two PVC caps, attached together, are for keeping water, dirt, and varmints out of the pipes when not in use. You'll notice a 1.5 in. diameter wooden dowel rod inserted into one of the pipes. More detail on that shortly, but the target is inserted into the dowel near its end and then the dowel is slid into the pipe. Holes for locating pins (you can see one of those -- gray plastic -- inserted to register the intended depth) are 1 inch apart leading to a depth resolution of 1/2 inch. (Again, refer to the 30-60-90 diagram to understand the relationship between insertion length and actual depth into the ground -- a 2::1 ratio.) Next I show the business end of the dowel rod: The black foam fills the chamber and holds the target (in this case a silver dime) in place. The hole in the dowel is actually lined with a plastic film canister (remember those from 35 mm film days?) which has been modified to conform to the circular cross-section of the dowel and thus be able to fit into the pipe. The second slightly smaller) large hole was put in there originally for a second target but so far I haven't used it -- likely of limited value. You can see the registration holes. The first one has a red '2' (difficult to see) just above it; the next (representing 2.5" depth) isn't labeled; the third one has a '3'; etc. These represent the resultant depth of the target when a registration pin is put in that hole and then the rod slid into the pipe until the registration pin keeps the dowel from going deeper. Although the chamber packing material can be made up of many materials, I chose ethafoam (polyethylene foam) high quality packing material. You typically find this in higher end electronics packaging such as with desktop computers. More commonly it is white but in this case I used black. I initially cut plugs with hole saw (see next photo) and then trim with a pocket knife as needed to fit the pipe: Ok, so now you're still wondering what that specially graded (homemade 'yardstick') is for. Again, referring back to the 30-60-90 triangle drawing, the 3rd side of the triangle is also related to the depth. It is squareroot of 3 times the depth. (Squareroot of 3 = 1.73.) That yardstick will indicate how far downrange (along the ground surface) that the target is located. This helps when you get an iffy response on your detector and want to confirm or deny that the surface location of the target is consistent with its depth. The units written on the scale are associated with the depth of the target. You can see from the sketch above that the max depth is 15". The largest common US coin that will fit the chamber (with some force...) is a half dollar. I didn't keep track of the cost but it's probably $30 or so, mostly for the PVC pipe and caps and the dowel rods plus a bag of Sacrete. (I'm counting labor as free. 😁) OK, now that I (finally!) finished this test-stand it's time to get busy making measurements. I'll be posting those here on the forum as they become available.
    8 points
  4. Two of the best friends I have, they go every where with me.
    5 points
  5. For those who skipped the first post this is an Equinox with the 6x10 coil from the Gold Monster. No, it won’t function, but a coil like this would help take the Equinox up a notch as far as gold nugget detecting. Others have noted a desire for an open spoke type style as preferable. I’m fine with either. I just wanted to revive this thread to say I’m still hoping and dreaming......
    4 points
  6. Tarsacci MDT 8000 has mixed mode.
    2 points
  7. ....Count RUTUS detectors and AKA detectors that also work in MIX MODE with these detectors,,,
    2 points
  8. If by mixed mode you mean true all metal audio simultaneously combined with discriminated audio and/or visual ID, probably about 5 or 6 brands have mixed mode models. In other words most of the Top brands have at least one VLF mixed mode detector. Whites probably has the most models with it (including the V3i, MXT, abd DFX), Garrett has at least one (AT Gold), First Texas (Fisher F75 and Teknetics(see below)), and Nautilus. That includes brands that have audio mixed mode and those that have all metal audio and discriminated vdi. If you want to know more than just how many brands have it and a more detailed breakdown by Steve then read this article. Things haven't changed much since Steve wrote that article, but some additional detectors not mentioned in that article that have True and Pseudo mixed mode include the Teknetics T2 (similar to the F75), Teknetics Omega 8500, XP Deus (Gold Field mode), and Minelab Equinox Gold Mode with Disc off (the last two are debatable, I suppose). Not sure about Nokta/Makro, but they likely have it in their latest models.
    2 points
  9. Decided a bit of followup is in order as my post left some things up-in-the-air. (Thanks for all the thoughtful and helpful responses.) I haven't gotten in much hunting time since that 1850's homestead weekend for various reasons. But the two new locations (both public parks) I have searched have given me little to no EMI problems. In one case I just set the gain to 20 but did run it up to 22 and didn't get any interference. In the other case I ran most of the 4 hour session in Park 1, gain 22 and even tried 25. Still no noticeable EMI! Neither of these parks is located in my hometown where I've done 99% of my coin hunting. So, what's going on? I think underground power lines are the main source, with possible additional headaches from private radios (like they sometimes or at least used to have at construction sites). There are so many sources of problematic EMI and as others have pointed out, they vary a lot by location and even by time. My hometown has long ago converted from overhead power transmission to underground, and I'm sure the depth at which they are buried is a factor. In my cases there are likely other variables, too. As far as why I don't find coins deeper than about 6 inches, I think I'm getting a read on that now that I've installed my test-stand. I'll post more evidence as I collect it, but from what I've seen so far, it is the ground magnetic susceptibility affecting the TID. (Sound familiar? Steve just mentioned this with regards the using TID for dig/no-dig decisions when using the Eqx for hunting native gold.) My current thinking is that the TID drops as depth increases and I'm mentally rejecting (discriminating against) low tones. (This problem isn't unique to the Eqx and might even be universal.) Stay tuned.
    2 points
  10. On Friday had about an hour and a 1/2 to kill between calls. The heat has been unbearable so I went to a local swimming hole And using my Excalibur with 8" coil had one of my best and shortest hunts ever. The bracelet and ring are 14K the little ring with this pink stone is silver the men's wedding band is junk.. Strick
    1 point
  11. From back in May when i first found my little nugget patch. Some of the smaller pieces of gold in this spot would ring up to the iron side, but since almost every target in this spot is gold, it shows you that on small gold the probability indicator should be ignored. Some nice gold for only an hour or so spent detecting. Will have more videos to come, im slowly working through my backlog. Thanks for watching!
    1 point
  12. Thanks for your kind remarks folks, this gold is from the Marlborough region in the South Island of NZ.
    1 point
  13. Thanks, Chase I figured you would know plenty and be willing to share! fred
    1 point
  14. I would be much more excited about that than the 6 inch round coil. It's also the coil I always used with the Lobo. I'd buy one.
    1 point
  15. This^. I was going to respond similarly, but you beat me to it. The target orientation variabity and lack of direct contact with the soil are problematic, but still better than an air test IMO. Can't wait to see your results.
    1 point
  16. Whites MX Sport and MX7 have Relic mode which is a mixed mode. Jeff
    1 point
  17. Putting the discrimination all the way up can actually cause strong non-ferrous targets to blank like iron, so that is not advisable. I keep the ironnreject at 7 or less and, yes, the DD coil is what you want in order to be able to use iron reject discrimination. My advice to you is to set up tge detector with timing set at normal, abs all other settings at defsult. GB set to manual, find a quiet channel with auto scan, GB, and bury some typical relic targets: minie balls, round balls, j-hooks, buttons, high conductivity coins, etc. AND square nails (bent, straight, corroded, and just nail heads) and get used to the audio. HTH.
    1 point
  18. For beach hunting you can set the IB and RS appropriate to target conditions (higher recovery speed for max target signal separation in thick trash or lower for a tad more target signal elongation/depth). Lower RS is more susceptible to ground chatter, but that is not really an issue on the beach unless you have black sand. IB is pretty useless IMO. It may reduce falsing a tad but at the expense of masking non-ferrous near ferrous targets (which sort of defeats the purpose of running at a high recovery speed). If there is not much iron to deal with, then just leave it at the default (since masking is unlikely). If you are worried about masking then dial it down to 1 or 0. The salt signal really has no bearing on why ML chose the default settings of RS and IB in the beach modes. Bottom line is don't be afraid to do some on-the-beach experimentation by tweaking these settings away from the defsults to suit the target situation and ground conditions, but do so with knowledge of the tradeoffs, some of which I described above. HTH
    1 point
  19. I guess there are two ways of answering this first question: 1) How far away do you need to be to avoid cross-communication between detectors? Answer: you'll know it when from how your detector reacts -- is it picking up EMI? Many detectors have frequency shifting (allowing small incremental changes to operating frequency) to alleviate this issue. Otherwise just move apart until the noise stops. 2) How far away should you be to not be a distraction to each other? This one is unquantifiable and clearly depends upon the individuals. When I go out with my sister I usually just head off one direction and she goes another and after awhile I'm looking around to call her over and I can't even find her. 😁 Unfortunately it seems the online reviews (any reviews) of pinpointers is much sparser than standard detector reviews. I would search google with keywords "minelab" "pinpointer" "detectorprospector.com" and find some discussion of that particular model vs. its company brethren. That will hopefully get you the experiences of others on the relative merits. You can leave off this site in your search which should get other sites' discussions as well, but I would start here. Bottom line is that there are many decent pinpointers, many with different characteristics and none perfect. I like my White's TRX better than my Garrett Carrot (Propointer AT) in general, but in some cases the Carrot is preferable. And that's just two of the many models out there. If I could afford it I'd own one of each, but then I probably wouldn't have time to test them properly and that without eating into my limited detecting time.
    1 point
  20. Good point, and it shows one of the weaknesses of this setup. I did bury two coins (US 5 cent 'nickel' at 6" depth, US 1 cent bronze at 5" depth) for calibration/sanity-check purposes. But those can have their problems, too, such as the depth and orientation changing over time. I will point out that three engineers most of us have heard of (Dave Johnson, Carl Moreland, and George Overton) are skeptical that the halo effect even exists except for possibly iron. But that's a whole 'nother discussion topic and doesn't need to be elaborated here. In the end I think any controlled setup has its limits compared to real in-ground targets. But I do think (and I see you and many others agree) that it's still informative and worth the effort.
    1 point
  21. Although I could be persuaded to get an equinox 800😉
    1 point
  22. That gold bug is almost 10 years old and still going strong. Have yet to find a way to kill it. 100s of trips under its belt if you include land based relic hunts.
    1 point
  23. Good question Andy but I think so. I want to see the X! This time I'd like to hookup with someone and stick with them for the weekend. Mitchel
    1 point
  24. This is a very worthy project. I'll spend time looking at some of those YouTubes. I think this type of 'test stand' would allow for someone to learn how to hear fringe targets. Each detector/coil combo will have an ultimate limit of depth on a target. What does it sound like just above that? (If you are directly over it.) What does it sound like when you are 'close' to it from the side? (Not directly over the target but kind of a side scan/off coil detection.) The second measurement could determine how you set your grid pattern if you know a layer the gold or relics are in then you could 'open up' the pattern to find more in the same amount of detection time. I think a third benefit of this type of 'test stand' would be to test the coil speed. (How fast/slow can you swing and still hear the target to maximize time and efficiency.) I'm like Simon. I need to do it so that I know what the coil sees and what I can hear. It has been a few years since I've done it. How much ground can I cover in an hour and be confident I didn't miss anything? A question I would have is one about possible lack of halo. You can't make a 'test stand' that is as natural as a long buried target or an unearthed target on virgin ground. If the target is dry and encased in the pvc tube and perhaps other wrapper ... how close to natural is this? Mitchel
    1 point
  25. My father was a roofer for many years and some of the guys who worked his crew were pretty rough. When I got out of the Marine Corps in 88, I worked for a roofing company in North Carolina for a year. Hot tar build up, rubber roofing and metal roofs. It was the hardest, hottest civilian job I ever did. The only good thing was the owner of the company was impressed with my "lets get it done" attitude and always on time and sober. I can't say that for the other guys and in fact 2 of them had their license taken away for to many DUI's. Heck, back in our young days we never thought much different at the time...just trying to make a paycheck to keep ourselves on the up side. Thanks for sharing your youth with us.
    1 point
  26. I guess not to many Aussies are happy with the price increase.
    1 point
  27. One with an on/off button that only finds good stuff would suit me
    1 point
  28. Here’s what I posted on Dankowski a while ago... I have puzzled over this question for a while - what are these “steel” caps made of. After wasting an hour on the web I have concluded that it is likely that they are “Tin Free Steel” or TFS. This differs from “tin Plate Steel” or TPS by the use of metallic chromium instead of tin in the laminate. TPS is what most cans were made of - TFS is used because of its superior anti corrosion qualities and its suitability for painting or other decorative exterior finishes. Tin Free Steel Features TFS has excellent lacquer adhesion properties allowing use for food cans, beverage cans and general line cans. Excellent resistance to black sulfide stain makes it the most suitable material for making fish cans. Even when the same surface finish as TIN PLATE is applied to the substrate steel sheet, it provides the unique surface luster characteristic of metallic chromium.
    1 point
  29. I look what’s pre-order like the Simplex and another they call Vanquish is one soon to be . With all the Simplex has to offer I’d never gave it that name . Then we have another called the Vanquish and with a name like that we just don’t know if the name fits yet. The meaning that I like best is to defeat in a conflict are contest . I guess in time the unknown will be known. I have the ORX and for me it’s been one of the simplest to use . More than the simplicity is the like of weight and I can even make it lighter by sticking the controller in my pocket. I demand more in a detector than I did years back due to the fact it would have fell on deaf ears back when. Then I was one of a few but now one of many. I thank you for coming along for the ride and the pleasure of detecting. Chuck
    1 point
  30. Yes! My wife and I are close. This is my 29th year as a public middle school teacher and my wife's 31st as a second grade teacher. If CA goes ahead and makes it law that kids can't be suspended for defiance I may not make to #30.
    1 point
  31. The good news, if any, is that the tweaking of the electronics and software have been ongoing while all the other hundreds of details of getting the thing produced are being sorted out. For example, LE.JAG has posted about improvements to the depth in the iron ID modes so that now the depth penalty for using these instead of all metal has been reduced to a very small percentage. Since they announced long ago that a gold nugget PI was next in line, I would expect that this platform’s development has moved along so that the gap between the introduction of the “Aqua” and the “Terra” might not be so long.
    1 point
  32. I can live with an open coil that has a closed scuff cover option. Win for everyone!
    1 point
  33. Nate - how much detecting experience do you have and with what detectors? I would like to help you but a little background can help me understand and separate out problems based on lack of experience with a new detector versus lack of experience with using detectors in general. That will help me determine the best starting point to walk you through your issues. In any event, I will try to help out in the absence of having that info. An example of what appears to be possible inexperience and confusion, if you are using the built in pinpointer, no need to turn 90 degrees. (A 90 degree cross pattern or wiggle off the target are viable methods for pinpointing without using the built-in pinpointer). Once you have achieved a target signal, just slide the center of your coil to slightly the side of the approximate spot of the target and engage the pinpointer than move the coil around to get the strongest signal while keeping the coil level and at a constant height (lowering the coil will give the false impression of centering on the target because the target signal will increase due to the coil height being closer to the target). Also, be aware that if you move the coil too much to the side when you engage pinpoint, you might actually cause the pinpointer to lock onto an adjacent target which will throw you way off. Finally, you need to also know that small iron targets such as nails will tend to pinpoint off center (you will usually dig them out of the side wall of the hole you dig that you think is centered on the target). You may also find this to be the case with small targets or round or flat targets that oriented on edge with respect to the coil. Understand also that pinpoint mode is a non-motion mode which means that the coil does not need to be in motion to acquire the target (unlike the normal search modes where the coil needs to be in motion to acquire the target), so only move your coil slightly to try to obtain the optimum pinpoint position. The pinpoint mode on Equinox also tries to "zero in" on the target by lowering sensitivity slightly as you swing back and forth. This feature results in some quirky behavior such as the target signal in pinpoint sometimes sounding very faint before it "locks in" and gets loud. If this kind of thing throws you off. Simply restart the pinpointing sequence by turning off the pinpointer and then start the pinpoint process again. Don't be afraid to ask more questions if the above confuses you, but again, a little background on you can help us give you the right type of advice. HTH.
    1 point
  34. the prob im having is getting the batteries etc shipped to canada .do you have facebook etc would like to add ya m8 ..im gonna try and do this as i know ill get more depth but would appreciate all you knowledge m8 if you dont mine
    1 point
  35. I put up some better pictures for all to see. I hope you enjoy them. Paul.
    1 point
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