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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/09/2019 in Posts

  1. I have the Coiltek 11" round coil for the SDC and after hunting with it for about 36 hours at Rye Patch last week I agree with Strick in that I would only recommend it if you are looking for more depth on bigger gold. In my opinion the larger coil turns a detector that is special in it's ability to hit on small gold into a more ordinary machine that will find larger pieces deeper than the stock coil but is not as deep as the 5000 or 7000 on pieces over .5 grams. I had hoped that it would be close to as sensitive as stock on the .5 gram and smaller and better on the larger pieces plus having the benefit of significantly more coverage but I don't believe that is the case. What I found is that I did find my typical number of .5g -1g pieces that I would have found with the stock coil plus some deeper .75g - 1g pieces that I am fairly certain I would not have found without the Coiltek. The downside is that I only found a couple of pieces that were under .5g when I normally find 3-5 in that range on a typical day. I base my observations on average daily results of having spent somewhere between 300 hrs & 400 hrs detecting at Rye Patch since getting the SDC in Sept of 2014. Other observations on using the Coiltek: It has a much more subtle signal on the small nuggets at similar depths than the stock coil so you could easily miss a target that would be a screamer on the stock coil. It is quite a bit less stable in the threshold and more prone to hot rocks making it tougher to stay focused enough to hear the fainter signals. I do like the Coiltek for hunting tailings in Idaho where I live. The better coverage and significantly better depth on larger specimens are worth the trade off in sensitivity on small stuff. The added weight is enough that if you don't normally use some kind of assisted support (bungee , Hip Stick etc.) you will definitely want to get something.
    5 points
  2. Very few to my knowledge have been from the battery end..... more so from the screen.... and oddly some still work when the operator noticed it. Id think if it was the battery youd be getting a real response. Ive had mine under water for hundreds of hours....... so i agree with Chase ...... if you get intrusion it wasnt right in the first place and we have a GREAT warranty here...... use it. I have been reading a few more of the machines may need BURPED ....because of weak sound, there is a post of that. Im here to tell you..... if you guys think you are going to NOT have any trouble with ANY machine you put in the salt water you are mistaken. Plan for it...... be glad you find enough to pay for those repairs when the machine is out of warranty...... thank ML for the 3 years, it could have been 1 like on the Xcal. I also talked to Keith at ML PA about those after market battery covers. He didnt recommend me and has had a few machines that those may have created the problem.
    4 points
  3. Not being the shy type I will bet there are more coils for the Simplex by year end then there are for the Equinox after two years.
    4 points
  4. Just got this cool note: "This email is to let you know that you are the winner of the Minelab’s Find of The Month competition for September 2019. Congratulations! We thought your story and finds were great!" Funny thing is they run this competition but I can find no place anywhere that they actually announce the winners anymore. The last announcement seems to be from November 2018. You would think they would want to promote it on their Facebook page at least. I guess just getting people to submit stories is the main goal but they would benefit from letting people know they actually do award the prizes also. Whatever - thanks Minelab!!
    4 points
  5. I believe the key to success with the new F2 mode is mitigating audio fatigue. The other day I was hunting an old beat to death site with good success using F2 2 and recovery speed 4. Anything lower than 4 was overload for my ears and what I mean by that is the slightly longer drawn out iron responses creating a cacophony of noise. I was hunting at my normal sweep speed as well. Note: watch out for old nickels hitting just below the normal nickel 12-13 bounce. Got a 1905 V that was mostly a solid 12 but bouncing to 11 as well with a bit of iron in the plug directly above the nickel. Reminded me of the Fisher CZ 5 where you dig all nickel foil bouncers in old sites and parks. I have had good success on old nickels using park 1. Tom D had stated Park 1 is good for nickels and he's correct on that IMO.
    3 points
  6. Steve I think that it should have read "Minelab’s Find of The Year" Glad that they have honored you with their message, but they need to correct their sentence. Congrats.
    3 points
  7. Hey all, I just joined the forum and wanted to share my experience with the Equinox 600 which I just acquired recently. I am completely new to the Equinox series of detectors and so spent a lot of time on here reading what Steve and others have generously shared over the past year. I really wanted to get an 800 but I found a 600 on craigslist that I could not pass up. I got the 6" coil and just recently had the chance to try it out in Northern AZ for a couple days. I set it up in Field 2, with some adjustments, and went at a patch Id found gold in before. I was really surprised at how fun the Equinox is, and how well it sniffed out some tiny lil nuggets among the noisy hot rock infested ground. I guess I was just so pleased with how it performed that I had to share. Smallest nugglets took 4 to make a grain.. (Scale is tiny too) I dont think Iv seen anyone post a nugget found with the 600, lots of jewelry of course but not much nugget action. I assume its because most people serious about prospecting are leaning towards the 800 in general (I am!) I actually picked up an 800 that I cant wait to try out and compare with the 600. Anyway, I can share my settings if anyone is interested, and also if anyone has been using the 600 for prospecting Id love if they chimed in on this. Cheers! Also, just want to thank everyone here for sharing so much knowledge and experience, and I hope to be able to contribute to that as I learn more..
    2 points
  8. the "patch" as I found it, was on the side of a gently sloping hill. I had found one bigger piece (gram+) previously which was deeper than say 4-6" with sdc. I returned with a 12"evo on the 4500 and didnt find anything else. When I went back this time, i just scraped a few inches off of where Id found a smaller piece and found another, then another. So I just used my pick and scraped back a few more inches in every direction. As it turned out, the tiny pieces (which most id missed with the sdc) were within the top 2 inches, nothing deeper (or nothing deeper than I could detect) and no bedrock in sight. I was hunting a narrow parameter of signals (0,1,2,3) ignoring everything esle (but hearing and seeing 0 through40). Signals were bouncing all over from iron and hot rocks which I removed if I could isolate them without digging too much. Moving the coil really slow to pick up a solid tone, or id# and then giving it a little wiggle from different directions to lock on seemed to work. I really dont know how big the patch is haha, but what I found was spread out within about 15'x10'. If I had known this was the case, I would have brought a rake and pulled off the rocks first, detect, then scrape back an inch or two, repeat, being methodical and going slow. I'm sure that I missed a few with my sloppy procedure, and not allowing or investigating -3,-2,-1.... and also not playing around with the settings to get it dialed in better.. Sure did enjoy not having to chase false signals and ground noise though!
    2 points
  9. If the voltage did not drop almost instantly to 1.5 volts that might work. Reality is probably “no”. From https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/lithiuml91l92_appman.pdf: From ”Although the higher OCV of the LiFeS2 system is 1.8 volts, the nominal or rated voltage is 1.5 volts which makes it a suitable replacement for alkaline and nickel systems. The battery voltage will drop when it is placed under load. For this reason, the higher OCV will typically not damage electronic components, but device designers should take into consideration that the OCV of fresh batteries can range from 1.79 to 1.83V. LiFeS2 batteries fully meet the ANSI specification for a 1.5V battery. When a drain has been applied to the battery, the OCV drops dramatically and then slowly recovers with time.”
    2 points
  10. And if your Nox has a manufacturig defect that violates watertight integrity of the housing, that cover and insert is likely not going be 100% effective. The Nox is designed to be watertight down to 10 feet. If your Nox leaks under those conditions it is defective and should be replaced under the terms of its 3-year warranty. As far as I can tell, ML is honoring the warranty for that situation each and every time on the rare event it does happen. Also, be careful about applying a cover like the one described as the Nox needs to be able to dissipate heat from the housing under high outside ambient temperature conditions and bright sunlight. Some users have reported screen blacking and erratic behavior under extreme heat conditions even with those commonly used slip-on black vinyl sleeves with clear faceplate protectors. Buyer beware. HTH.
    2 points
  11. Hey kac, I built a couple like that a few years back. I still use my original one. I can tell you the t-handle design works great for me. I didn't like the lesche style handle when trying to cut through the turf. In harder soils they put alot of pressure on your palm. The t-handle does a good job of eliminating that. Also nice for leverage while loosening soil deeper in the hole. Your design looks good, simple and effective. I used an old #2 shovel for the blade of mine. It is thin but strong and cuts the roots like no other. Good luck with it
    2 points
  12. Subject pretty much burned itself out but here you go.... https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/10450-my-nox-is-toast/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/6908-my-equinox-has-drowned-and-waterproof-headphones/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/10640-another-flooded-nox/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/10644-with-the-reports-of-drownings/
    2 points
  13. On Monday morning i went to my best beaches early in the morning , the tide was in but going out and the tides are short at the moment . I didn't expect much . I started to detect and found a few coins here and there , it was enough just to wet my appetite so i kept going . I got to a groin and entered the next beach which i knew would be a lot quieter , i found a few coins and then with my ET i got a target reading 12 19 . I am always suspicious of that number and this time proved why . I dug down and out popped a nice 18 k 5.9 g Gold Signet ring , by this time the tide was showing that the beaches had scuffed out quite a bit . So i searched below the cut and down to the waters edge , i carried on till i reached 2 wooden groins and after that turned round and started back . At that point i found a Silver ring and after talking to a person who saw me and talking about detecting i carried on . Then i saw another Detectorist and we talked for a while . When we parted i found another thin Silver ring and not long after that a bit of Silver from what might be a Chain . Further along i found another Silver Signet ring then a heart shaped locket which broke when i tried to open it . When i reached the area i started i stopped and went to the Bank to pay in my last Months finds then got the Bus home . I stayed on the beach for 4 and a half hours and found the Gold ring , 3 Silver rings , the bit of chain pendent , the Locket and 95 Euro Cents , 2 small other foreign coins and £35.17 p in change which i have cleaned and will Bank next Month. My next hunt will be next Tuesday morning or Friday next week . I might take the Nox but that depends on the conditions and the weather . I get so much more from the target info on the ET and it is easier . But if the beach in the right state i will take the Nox and give V 2 a go .
    2 points
  14. Well said but it's doing a remarkable job up at the high settings--killing even alloyed slag. Looking at Steves chart didn't realize that it was an expanded range on both ends = better drawing of targets out of iron??? My intital "cap beater" F26+ range tests (In 2 tone to liven it up--take the cotton...) were impressive and seemed to offer a good solution for those brutal slag and cap infested beaches. Much as I like to complain I open my mouth and nothing comes out...!!!
    2 points
  15. No, the pinpoint low volume bug is a fault. It should not matter what the coil is over; when you engage pinpoint it should come on at the same volume level every time. The whole time I was in the UK it happened randomly, and I just hit the pinpoint button a second time and the it would work. Or I would just ignore it since I could hear it, just at a very low volume. Other detectors do not do it and neither should the Equinox. I'm surprised it did not get addressed in the latest update. Half the time I don't use pinpoint at all, just eyeball the beeps. In any case for me it is such a low level annoyance I really don't pay any attention to it. But this thread was about a separate issue, which is why I asked the question.
    2 points
  16. This in many ways is a repeat of my 2018 UK Adventure except two weeks this time instead of three. The 2018 thread is loaded with details and very many local photos that I will not repeat here. Go to the link for the "full tour" with location and travel details. I booked the trip last year as is pretty much mandatory for the Colchester trips. There are only a limited number of trips available in the spring and fall and with so many people returning every year you really have to plan ahead. Mindy had a 10 day opening so I jumped on that as a week is just not enough in my opinion. With the benefit of last years trip experience I was able to weed my suitcase down to 40 lbs including two complete Equinox with 15" coils. Had it about perfect except for a couple shirts I never did wear. I was packed well in advance, and had great connections, so was looking forward to a relaxed trip. I had an afternoon flight out of Reno connecting in Chicago with an overnight to London. Perfect for me to sleep away a lot of the 10 hour overseas portion, and arriving in London in the morning. The plane was half boarded when they announced boarding would halt while they evaluated a flight advisory just in from Chicago. Massive thunderstorms, all flights in delayed for three hours - just enough to miss my connection! I have to give American Airlines credit, they automatically booked me into another flight just two hours later than the original connection, still arriving in London plenty early. We land at Chicago and the plane taxis forever. Finally the pilot announces the gate is blocked and he has driven past it twice. I'm looking at my watch thinking "this is going to be close!" Luckily the gates were close together, but I literally got off the one flight and walked onto the other. I was pretty sure my bag was not going to make it. Well, the flight was fine but less seat space than any overseas flight I have had yet. Price was great though so oh well. I can't say I was shocked to find my bag had been left behind in Chicago as did prove to be the case. Still, all we were doing was booking into a hotel next to the airport before heading out next day, so I hoped my bag would follow on the next flight. No such luck, so next day on the first hunt in the afternoon I was in my travel clothes and on a field with a borrowed Equinox. Thanks Tim! Luckily in a group of seven people somebody always has spares; just as I always travel with a spare, so do others. My very first target that I dug was a full British Crown, I believe a 1937 George VI. Not that old but a large coin and 50% silver. I made some other finds but was hampered a bit wandering around in corn stalk stubble in street shoes. Can't complain though... I was happy to be in England and out detecting! 12th-14th century St Mary the Virgin's Church, Little Bromley Again, American Airlines came through in the end. They actually delivered my bag that afternoon the 99 miles to Colchester (their limit is 100 miles) at no charge. So it really was just a minor snafu of no consequence, mainly due to good weather and a spare machine being available. We had a really great group, four guys and three gals including Mindy. Mindy cooks in each evening except for one pub night out. There was also an optional museum tour for one day later in the trip. I wanted to wait and see how my finds were doing before deciding about that. Weather for the first part of the trip was the best I'd ever seen in England, about 70F each day. It made for really pleasant field hunting. I was as always hoping for a gold coin, with anything else accidental by catch. I was making nice coin and relic finds, including a couple hammered silver coins. A few days into the trip, good buddy Tim, he of the gold ingot from last year, was nearby when he scored his second Celtic 1/4 stater ever, a real beauty. Not minutes later Mindy found here first ever Saxon sceat, a small rare coin that was one of her last "bucket list" items. Lots of smiles and high emotion in the group that day! This may not seem real but the fact is I come very close to liking somebody else making a great find as making one myself. I was right there, got to see the finds right out of the ground, and shared in that "great find high". It's one of the best things about hunting with a group in my opinion. I may never find a Celtic gold coin, but I have been right there when it happened several times now, and that really is about as good for me. Tim and Mindy's finds - Celtic quarter stater and Saxon silver sceat A few days later we were hunting a field right across the road from a small town. I was getting some nice buttons and 1800's coins but nothing spectacular. Late in the day I got another typical button signal of about 17 on the Equinox. I proceeded to dig but the hole was getting deeper and wider with no button found. One of the things I like about the 15” coil is I can pinpoint fairly well with the tip or heel of the coil, and nosing around in the hole revealed the target was deeper and larger. At over a foot the target was squealing, and I was sure it was a large iron target or possibly even an aluminum can. There have been times and places where I have kicked the dirt back in the hole and moved on from such targets, but not in England where you never know what might turn up. I was however getting near the plow line now, the point below which the ground turns rock hard and where due to the rules we have to stop digging. I worked round the center of the target and gave a last scoop, and there sitting in the bottom of the hole was a large green item that tumbled out of the shovel full of dirt. I’m no expert at this kind of stuff, but it looked like a Bronze Age ax head to me. This was not something that I had ever expected to find and so my brain was not really processing it. I wandered over to my buddy Tim who was nearby and asked “is this what I think it is?” I swear he almost fell over, realizing the import of the find more than I had, and assured me I had found an excellent condition Bronze Age ax. Better yet, it appeared to be intact, as many of these that are found have been broken. The final verdict was that my find is a Bronze Age palstave, a predecessor to the modern ax. A palstave is a development of the flat ax, where the shaped sides are cast rather than hammered. My particular find has been identified as a Bronze Age (circa 1500-1400 BC) cast copper alloy primary shield pattern palstave, dating to the Acton Park Phase. In other words about 3500 years old, and about as old as anything that can possibly be found with a metal detector! I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would ever find anything so ancient while metal detecting, and the fact this ax is intact and in good condition makes it the find of a lifetime, and that is no exaggeration. I have always been looking for that gold coin, but after all the gold I have found in my life and now with this I am officially saying "good enough". Anything I ever find from here on out in my detecting career is just gravy, my detecting bucket list is complete. Bronze Age (c.1500-1400 BC) cast copper alloy primary shield pattern palstave, dating to the Acton Park Phase (photo of Steve by Tim Blank with permission) This trip was extra good because everyone in the group was making some really great finds, many in excess of what they were hoping for. After many years detecting these huge fields are far from hunted out, with many of the best finds coming from fields that have been hunted well over a decade. Still new ground does come online regularly, and those fields add a little extra fun in the form of the unknown, especially as regards possible horde finds. There was one set of new fields that another group had found a lot of Roman stuff, including a really nice Roman silver coin and some good condition bronze coins. The trip was over half over and our weather had turned rainy. Not too bad really, just passing storms, with two hours of solid rain the worst I saw. Still, this limits some of the hunting as some fields with a lot of clay content get really nasty. After my ax find I had four days of mostly newer 1700s and 1800s coins and various widgets, but sort of a four day dry spell. So Tim and I passed on the museum tour and braved the rains instead since time was now running short. That plan paid off for me in a couple more hammered silver coins, bring my total for the trip to four. The hammered silver are kind of the standard prized find on these trips, rare but not so rare that most everyone has a good shot at some. Most date from 1200 to the 1600's after which milled silver coins replaced them. I found them off in one corner of the field and as the day wore on decided to head back to the area where all the Roman stuff had been found. There were many footprints but lots of gaps and so I hunted in the gaps. The day was almost over when I got a strong signal and dug up an odd looking lump. At first I had no idea what it was, but suddenly as I cleaned it a head and shoulders resolved into view. I had what appears to be a small bronze Roman bust! There is no real way to date the find, but it definitely looks like a Roman noble of some sort, and was found in the middle of a lot of other Roman finds so it is 90% certain to be around a couple thousand years old, maybe 100 AD going by the coin finds. I am in some ways more pleased by this find than the ax head for some reason. It’s almost like I am talking to that old Roman. I wonder who lost it and what it was. Decorative? A child’s toy? There was a Roman barracks in the area so military related somehow? It is just a great find and I am not aware of anything like it being found by the club before. Small bronze Roman bust found by Steve As noted I was running the Minelab Equinox with 15" coil the whole trip. In retrospect I wish I had brought steveg's new rod with counterbalance as my upper back would have thanked me for it the first three days, but it was a bit too long for my suitcase. Since everyone always wants to know, I basically used the same settings this year as last year with one minor tweak. Last year I ran Recovery Speed 5 and this year lowered that to 4. I normally run with nothing rejected, full tones, but have the Horseshoe button set up to reject 6 and under. This eliminates small stuff, maybe even small silver cut coins, but anything round will still ring up. Target ID 1-6 gets all manner of really tiny stuff almost always small lead or brass fragments. Stuff that’s also slow to recover. So as I say I normally hunt wide open and dig it all, but if time is limited or I am just tired of tiny stuff I hit the Horseshoe Button to go to “Cherry Pick Mode”. Park 1 Frequency Multi Noise Cancel 0 (adjust as needed) Ground Balance Manual, 0 Volume Adjust 20 (adjust as needed) Tone Volume 12, 25, 25, 25, 25 (Steve 4, 25, 25, 25, 25) Threshold Level 0 Threshold Pitch 4 Target Tone 5 (Steve 50) Tone Pitch 1, 6, 12, 18, 25 Reject –9 to 1 and Accept 2 to 40 (Steve Reject -9 to 6 and Accept 7 to 40) Tone Break 0, 10, 20, 30 Recovery Speed 5 (Steve 4) Iron Bias 6 Sensitivity 20 (Steve 22 to 25) Backlight Off Just a really great time with great people and some fabulous finds. I will post a complete set of pictures at some later date when I get the export listing, but for now here are a couple of my favorite hammered silvers from the trip to wrap up this report. Submitted to Minelab for the Find of the Month contest so we will see if I get lucky there also.
    1 point
  17. If memory serve me correctly as a 17 year old I found myself swinging a Garrett A2B in one arm, the other arm holding a pick over my shoulder. No hat, no water, not GPS, just enthusiasm. Those days are long gone, getting back into electronic prospecting I found myself using a sling bag, it held water, gps, phone and a 5w handheld radio. A small pick hung off it and until I got myself a larger pick it was adequate. Problem was that I always had a reason to return to the car for something, which ate away at my swing time. I needed to equip myself so that I could operate for hours without needing to return to the vehicle. The addition of a decent size pick forced me to adopt a rig that allowed a large degree of independence. A molle battle belt and suspenders combined with a heavy duty leather belt formed the basis of my prospecting rig. A leather holster for the large pick, first aid kit, two way radio, GPS, phone, water bladder and water bottle, etc. I can simply add or detract as circumstances dictate. In remote areas I have a Personal Locator Beacon and additional safety gear, at other times an Ipad and phone replace the PLB. Snake first aid kit at all times, one in the car and one as part of the permanent first aid kit on the rig. I always leave trip information and details with family before going out, keep my first aid training up to date and maintain my gear, with particular care for keeping the car up to spec at all times.. I can now go out detecting without needing to return to the vehicle for a whole day. No more time wasting going back and forth, more swing time results.. safety and convenience. Pays to keep the gear mounted on the rear panels of the belt away from the front, less interaction between the detector and stuff. Easier to bend and dig. The water bladder carries 2 litres of water with ice cubes to keep it cool all day. The weight goes unnoticed and the pick is back far enough to not interfere with the detector. Set the rig up correctly and balance your load, the weigh disappears.. The rig in the pictures is my second attempt using a better battle belt and harness. Easier to thread the leather in and out between molle panels to hold the leather pick holder. Because of this rig I tend to wander off further and further, making the GPS and a map even more essential. The GPS to mark the location of the vehicle and to mark interesting locations, the topographic and geological map allows trip planning on the go. All a far cry from the 17 year old swinging the Garrett A2B with nothing but a pick.. All the best, Karelian.
    1 point
  18. Heres one id like to see what others have found. Today i was playing around on the beach with the Nox. Havent had much time with it so i thought id see how the F2 was working. That got me playing around with disc. What i noticed in disc ...... as i swung the coil it was knocking out the ferr like it should in disc....... HOWEVER i was getting these -1 and -2 iron blurps occasionally. I also noticed it knocked out the TID for iron except those digits giving the blurps..... oddly. Im an AM hunter on the beach. What i did was ..... turned down the volume to 0 for targets 0 and below. It seemed to work just like disc...... with two exceptions. 1.. you never got ANY sound from those -1 and -2 targets. 2..... the TID was still reading all the iron targets. So.......out in the water i went hunting in AM target volume for iron set at 2. Then id switch and go back...... doing it with disc....... then with iron volume at 0 using AM. Far less noise from mineral...... but i got the same non-ferr targets just as clear. I know people have asked if there is a difference between disc iron and turning the volume down to 0. To me there seems to be some near target ID bleed that can create unwanted noise at that 0 disc point.
    1 point
  19. I agree about the Deus. I also agree about the theory of what you are saying. And I still think it’s a relative non-issue from a practical standpoint for machines this light. The Deus is an imbalanced nose heavy detector, but at the weight level it is at it simply is not a big deal. Since you edited your post to comment on “a lot” I will do the same. I read ALL the forums Rick.
    1 point
  20. I was thinking more of this series of waterproof units that are obviously quite similar, but sure, let’s toss the 2009 XP Deus in as the unit that pointed the way. 👍 Don’t call the Deus rod a stick however. That’s what the other ones are, XP did far better with their sculpted S rod.
    1 point
  21. Not to quibble, but to me the ultimate and original cell phone on a stick is the XP Deus. I think a little before the first version of the Deteknix Quest Pro was the Minelab Go Find/National Geographic series........ Jeff
    1 point
  22. Came up an hour or so ago. http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/ Jim
    1 point
  23. Looks like a harmonica to me. Here's a website with a good assembly drawing: https://musicianswebstore.com/harmonicas_howitworks.asp I've never found a wood comb, only the (metal) reeds.
    1 point
  24. Can anyone date this? Found on old homesite in Louisiana along the Mississippi River.
    1 point
  25. Thinking about the sweep speed. it would be nice, on the SL, to have a small bit of circuitry to allow the filtering to be adjusted on the fly. Something to allow the capacitance in the filter to be changed...even a 3 -position switch would be great. I'm going to be thinking about that this winter....which, according to the weatherman, is going to start this afternoon. Supposed to be 16 in the morning, with light snow on the ground. Jim
    1 point
  26. “They” is me... I wrote up that spec sheet based on my involvement in the orIginal TDI project from day one. Before day one actually. Anyway, all motion detectors have an optimum sweep speed unless it’s adjustable, as in the White’s V/SAT control. Simply bury a target and sweep over it to find the best sweep speed. There is too fast and too slow and “just right”. A lot of modern VLF detectors do best at a pretty fast clip and people actually hurt themselves slowing down too much. But again, specs are just an indicator, only actually testing your machine will give you a feel for the proper sweep speed. Some machines are forgiving in this regard and some very picky. Knowing this is another thing that gives an operator that magic edge. The TDI in general benefits from “low and slow”.
    1 point
  27. 1 point
  28. Allow me to suggest one more caution about full covers that I learned the hard way. Last June, I took my EQX to the Florida Keys and it was HOT!!!. I had a protective cover over the control box and after a short while, my EQX started to malfunction. The display went crazy and the buttons didn't work properly. I removed the cover, allowed the EQX to cool down and everything returned to normal operation. At that time, I made a "wild guess" that the cover, which covered up the speaker/vent holes in the back, may be preventing the EQX from "breathing properly." Again, just a guess at that point. I cut out part of the cover exposing the holes to the air and have not had a problem since and I hunt on Florida beaches year round. If this cover you describe is a full silicon cover and your hunting in hot weather, you may, and I say may, experience the same malfunction. I'd be very cautious were I you but that's just the view from my foxhole...Good luck.
    1 point
  29. Taipan or Inland Taipan aka Fierce Snake, untreated about an hour, if you don't run around panicking and pumping the poison through your body. Stay calm and apply first aid without delay and you can at best, multiply that by seven. That is seven hours max, sometimes much less.. too many variables involved. Australia's worst snakes, Taipans and Brown snakes have shortish fangs, the poison is effectively prevented from spreading by using a pressure bandage, ie immobilizing the limb. Given the vast distances in Queensland and Western Australia, an optimistic seven hours may not be enough. In most other states it is probably long enough, just don't take too long smoking that cigarette. Please don't stop for a beer either.. My GPS and digital maps keep me up to date on my location at all times. I also carry a 5W handheld UHF, mobile etc Enough for Victoria and the Golden Triangle, not good enough for the greater outback. Rent a Satellite phone for the real remote areas of Australia and upgrade vehicles and equipment accordingly.. My first aid kit contains an excellent snake bite first aid kit, with extra bandages since the beggars sometimes get more that one bite in.. I do the best I can to protect myself and others I travel with. Technology is allowing us to be better prepared and equipped to meet the challenges that we may encounter. Yep, worst case scenario at least they will know where to find the body. Karelian
    1 point
  30. Something I will have to play with I guess. I have never found an actual practical use for the Ground Scan Mode or the "Trace the Black Sands" mode on the GMT so off the top of my head I don't have any idea for what the audio does when using this mode. My gut tells me you have to eyeball the screen. From the User Guide: "Ground Scan is enabled by holding the LOCK button. The display will change to display the ground strength on the top bar, increasing from right to left. Full bars equates to very strong mineralization, and one flashing bar alerts you that no ground information is present. The two-digit numbers displayed are the ground phase. Solid ferrite will read around 81, alkali will read between 50 and 30, but you may encounter any range of phase numbers depending on the area you are in. In Ground Scan you can also set a ground offset by using the UP and DOWN arrows. This selection will affect the ground offset in normal search mode whether using XGB or locked settings. Ground Scan is very useful in prospecting dry washes or creek beds for black sand deposits. One trick you can use is to carry some landscaping flags with you, placing one down where the mineralization is the strongest about every 10 ft. That is where you would want to process material through a sluice or dry washer. To return back to the regular search mode, tap the LOCK or CROSS HAIRS." White's Goldmaster 24K XGB Ground Tracking Explained
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  31. All threshold based motion type detectors have a threshold autotune or reset rate, either preset or adjustable. I added a link to the tech notes. Plus here is a detailed article... https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-guides/steves-guide-metal-detector-autotune-threshold-sat-vsat/
    1 point
  32. Well, if you think people responding is accusing you of “unfairly maligning” and gathering the torches when nobody is doing anything of the sort then that might be a good idea. It’s basically a perspective thing. You see these new models as being low price but lacking features you desire. Many of us are seeing machines packed with features at a low price. You are kind of lumping all experienced detectorists into thinking as you do, when that’s far from the case. Tom (Jackpine) I’d wager is more experienced than 90% of the people on this forum and he’s just fine with what Simplex is offering. Most of the machines I have used have not had tone or recovery speed adjustments and I did quite well with them. I see no need for a properly designed detector to have more than about three controls. You are making assumptions that all experienced detectorists like complexity and that’s not true of many of the ones I know at least. There are quite a few that just want to get the job done and are fine with monotone detectors. As much as I prefer multitones the fact is the majority of my own detecting boils down to "beep-dig". When you dig all non-ferrous you don’t need tones, and many pros dig it all. The bottom line is it’s business and models are differentiated by features at given price points. The Equinox 600 and 800 are the same detector with the same production cost. One is simply feature limited to create a lower price point. You are paying for features when you get the 800, not some calculation based on what it cost to make the item. That applies to most of the First Texas lineup in spades. You are quite correct in that there will no doubt be future models in the Simplex housing with more features for a higher price. Nokta/Makro has already explicitly stated that will be the case. If that’s what you desire all you have to do is wait.
    1 point
  33. I agree Tom that the Simplex might have been tweaked for even better performance. That’s kind of the point to me really. I guess you are wanting it more clearly spelled out in the video that the Simplex is a competitive performer, whereas I’m seeing that anyway. It’s going head to head with detectors costing three times as much and that says a lot. Nobody even bothers with fair comparisons to detectors in its own price range since it so obviously outclasses those detectors.
    1 point
  34. 1 point
  35. 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
  36. Hello to all we moved house on the 26 th of july into a ...........another house which needed a fully restoration it is all done now thanks god after skips of rubbish ,timbers and plaster . Anyway back to the subject i managed few session on the beaches which have been hunted to death with my CTX (Silver ring) and my G5c (PI) the gold ring came out after 5 min of switching the machine on....at maybe 10 inch loud and clear:2.97 gr made in 1887 Birmingham)UK) so lost a while ago,i observed the ocean the day before and waves where a bit stronger han usual........ I want to emphasize that i m no a super experienced beach comber but i just decided to step up my game and invested a fair amount of money in this project.Broke another sand scoop shaft in the process but it is now all sorted The last ring (Green jade) was found in the street yesterday i was parking my motorbike at work......... Any Drum rolls here are the pics
    1 point
  37. Expect cool days and below freezing nights. Still, it's the best time of the year! Ice fog rainbow.
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  38. Was debating on taking my AT Pro or try my luck with the Sea Hunter at local pond I have hit before where there is a sandy beach with little trash. Ended up with the Pro and snagged this bracelet 14k 1.42grams, rest of the jewelry is gold plated but still gets your blood moving when you see it in the water. Very tricky fishing the earings out through my scoop and lost a few others as they were just too small for me to see in the water. For those that still use the AT Pro just set it to zero mode and turn off the iron audio. I fly by audio mostly anyways and occasionally look at the vid.
    1 point
  39. I could guess from your Avatar image that you have a Fisher F44/22/11. Could you give a bit more detail? What detector? How long have you had it? Did it always do this or just start recently?
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  40. Great find! Still looking for my first Indian Head Norm
    1 point
  41. The 80s and 90s were a time of great change in Alaska. One issue was the integration of a number of large new National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, etc. created in the 1970's that lead to a lot of conflict with land owners either near or suddenly inside of a park or refuge. These people became known as "inholders" and it took quite some time for all the conflict to settle down (some remains to this day) but everyone slowly adjusted to the new situation. The mines at Chisana were now inside the Preserve (Refuge) portion of Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The Preserve is different than the Park in that activities like hunting are allowable. Mining claims was an issue that took a lot of time to sort. In order to mine at all any claim has to pass a validity exam (not required on most "normal" mining claims) and then have a fully approved plan of operations. All the new requirements lead to a severe reduction in the number of claims. The claims at Chisana are some of the only active claims left, having fully passed the validity exam stage and permitting process. I was involved in this process and will mention some more about it later. In the meantime however operations were quite limited on the claims, with only small scale dredging, highbanking, and metal detecting permitted on at least some of the ground. One thing I was discovering was that although the old records made it sound like multi-ounce nuggets might be possible in the area, the reality is the gold is generally smaller, with quarter to half ounce nuggets being the normal "large nugget" finds. Most of the nuggets found metal detecting, as can be seen in the photos earlier, are smaller in size. There is ample smaller gold, such that if a location is found metal detecting that reveals a lot of small gold, then there is almost for sure going to be more there to be found with a gold pan or sluice box. Here is a location along a trail in the bench workings where we found gold right along the trail itself with metal detectors. The gold was small and lots of it, so the solution was to fill five gallon buckets. These were loaded into an ATV trailer borrowed from the claim owner at the time. Filling buckets with gold bearing material The trailer was then pulled down to the creek and the buckets dumped into as Keene sluice box. Unloading the buckets Sluice box set up and ready to feed I had finally graduated to pulse induction metal detectors, and brought my Minelab SD 2200D up to the ground for a go at the gold. The SD of course worked well, but as I had discovered already it does not really shine in low mineral ground with small gold. Hot VLF detectors run well in this ground, and so they leave very little for a PI to find, primarily because there is a lack of really large, deep gold. I know of only a few nuggets found at Gold Hill that weigh over an ounce in the last few decades and unfortunately I did not find them. Most were found by dredging operations, with one nugget of about three ounces found by another claim owner with a metal detector. The SD 2200D did find a nice nugget of about 8 pennyweight, which is the largest I have found on this ground. Steve with Minelab SD 2200D pointing at spot 8 dwt nugget was found This was another short three day weekend trip. The problem being a working stiff is getting time during the short but busy Alaska summer to do things like this. Since I was an airplane bum relying on my father for trips, we often hooked up for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day three day weekend expeditions. Still, in addition to nuggets found while detecting, a couple ounces of nice gold were recovered with the sluice box operation. Steve with a couple ounces gold - photo courtesy Jeff Reed Gold is not the only thing you can find with a metal detector at Chisana. There are a few copper nuggets in the area and I would find a small one now and then. However, this rock gave a great signal with almost no metal showing. The copper staining is obvious however. Copper nodule - see the thin line? I have a small rock saw just for jobs like this, and so I cut the nodule in half when I got home (see the cut line in photo above). Solid copper core revealed Well, I kind of rushed this last bit. The fact is I have covered this in more detail before at Steve's Mining Journal in an entry. Plus, I want to get more up to the present where I have lots more tales and photos to show and tell! Here is the story at the Journal: Metal Detecting for Gold at Chisana, Alaska - 7/21/00 To be continued...
    1 point
  42. It is indeed a scoop in my pocket, and yes, I have been known to grow my hair quite long back in the day. 1980 on old U.S. Army "mechanized mule" with 4" subsurface dredge hauling into Franklin Creek in the Fortymile - more hair- less belly!
    1 point
  43. We Aussies weren't shirkers either, Wes. The giant water flume Lightning creek, Omeo, VIC
    1 point
  44. Hi Brian, good to have you here! That post is a perfect setup for a little Chisana history. I am helping out with the Rye Patch hunt today so this will perk things up until my next entry. First off, the entire area was added to the Preserve portion of Wrangell St.Elias Park & Preserve during the 1970's. The bad news is this required decades of adjustment for Alaskans and Park Service people figuring out how to work with situations like mining claims in a Preserve. Long story short permitting can only be had for previously mined ground - virgin ground is off limits and operations are under a microscope. That is frustrating to say the least. On the plus side, the Park Service did up a tremendous history of the area, quite detailed and full of photos. I am not sure of the copyright status of the old photos and so will refer you to the entire pdf history. Well worth a look. A History of the Chisana Mining District, Alaska 1890- 1990 My favorite quote, from the start of Chapter 2: "Billy James and N. P. Nelson began sluicing Little Eldorado No. 1 on July 4, 1913. Assisted by Andy Taylor and former Dawson City bartender Tommy Doyle, the pair recovered nearly two hundred ounces in just two days. By August 2 they had already garnered $9,000, or an average of about $300 per day." (emphasis added) And a few old photos... Wreck of old cabin on Gold Run Creek Treasure chest! - but nothing in it... Old wheelbarrow with old rusted gun leaning on it Canvas roof miners shack Old wooden flume for diverting water to bench workings
    1 point
  45. I’ve been watching for you to post something about your trip this summer. I feel very fortunate to be one of the few guests to actually mine on these Historic claims. To see pictures from the early 1900s and now your early pictures of when you mined on the claims is aw inspiring. And to be able to say I recognize that spot is great. Only detected a few hours this year found gold but nothing big.
    1 point
  46. My father and I had only a couple days on our visit - one of those three day weekend kind of trips. However, when you have the results we did a return visit was quickly planned. This time more people got involved and so my sister and brother-in-law came equipped with a Fisher Gold Bug. Armed with our new knowledge from our exploratory trip we spent more time concentrating on higher bench workings away from the creek. I was running the Compass Gold Scanner Pro again. I detected my way across one relatively flat area high above the creek, when I started getting multiple beeps per swing. I called in the troops, and a brief gold rush occurred as we all started finding gold nuggets. This bedrock hump had been mined off, probably just washed off with water directed from one of the large hydraulic giant "water cannons". It did not appear however that the miners had actually cleaned the bedrock and the cracks and crevices were loaded with gold. Steve's sister detecting bedrock with Fisher Gold Bug View from above of bedrock "nugget patch" in old bench workings I got a particularly good signal from one location in the bedrock. A little digging and out popped a 6 pennyweight (9.6 gram) nugget! Plus another one about a third that size. I could see other smaller gold mixed in the dirt in the hole. Here I am holding the nugget just above the bedrock in which it was found. Steve with 6 pennyweight gold nugget found with Compass Gold Scanner Pro It was obvious that there was a lot of smaller gold in the pockets and crevices in the bedrock. We started scraping and cleaning bedrock as best we could and filled buckets with the material. This was then carried to a gully some distance away where the material could be fed through a sluice box. The was just barely enough water to run the sluice and feed it with a hand trowel, but it proved quite effective. The bedrock was blocky and came up easily. The rubble was screened into the buckets to remove the oversize material. Finally, when the bedrock was deemed halfway clean, we would splash buckets of water on it to wash it down, and then carefully excavate the last remaining material from the pockets in bedrock. You can see wet areas remaining in the picture below. Cleaning out cracks and pockets full of gold bearing material Sluice box set up in gully using all available water In the meantime metal detecting continued. There was a hot patch of bedrock that I had been working around, but my sister was able to get into it easily with the Gold Bug, and she found a nice 4 pennyweight nugget. Steve's sister with 4 dwt gold nugget she found with Gold Bug Steve's brother-in-law sniping for gold in crevices Time was running out and so our little bedrock cleaning and sluicing operation came to an end. The results were pretty impressive for hand work with simple tools... Steve with bedrock crevicing results from sluice box And finally, my results with the Compass Gold Scanner Pro. A nice showing of chucky gold nuggets, the largest weighing in at 6 pennyweight (9.6 grams). Gold nuggets found by Steve with Compass Gold Scanner Pro My wife to be made a trip up to Chisana with me in this timeframe and so I had the 6 pennyweight nugget made into a pendant for her. She ended up telling me gold nugget jewelry was not her thing, and she gave it back to me. I sell most of my gold so this is probably the oldest nugget I still have that I found. I wore the nugget on the chain you see around my neck in the picture above for many years. I am not really a jewelry person myself but it came in handy a lot when I was at work talking metal detecting and gold, and could easily pull the nugget out to show people. I eventually did retire it to the jewelry box but still have it, so just got it out to weigh it and take this picture. The nugget is well polished from many years of wear. All in all another fabulous trip with gold found by all involved! To be continued.... Six pennyweight (9.6 gram) gold nugget found by Steve
    1 point
  47. Hi Mitchel, All my forum posts are written directly on the forum. The latest versions save work automatically in event of a computer crash, etc. Try it. Start a post, but don’t actually submit it. Leave the site, then come back and start a post in the same location - the stuff you typed before should be there. However, I do prefer using a PC instead of my phone since there are more formatting options in the editor menu. The pictures of course get edited offline and then imported. I do have a bad habit of banging stuff out and posting too quickly. Then noticing errors later and having to edit. I am glad you are all enjoying the tale. I will be slowly bringing it all up to the present and my visit to Chisana this last July. Lots more to come still.
    1 point
  48. One thing to always try when having issues like this is go to multiple locations, or at least more than one. It is impossible to know how much EMI there is at any location. Just because other detectors did not react does not mean there is no EMI. There are plenty of machines that run quiet as a mouse in bad EMI but which at the same time lose significant performance due to it - "silent EMI masking". Other machines avoid it by running at a frequency that misses whatever EMI there is. I went to a location yesterday where I could not get the Equinox to shut up until I got down to sensitivity 10 in multifrequency and around 12 if I ran in 20 kHz. Terrible EMI location for some reason. I am not saying what anyone is experiencing is EMI - just passing this along for people with a new detector using it for the first time at their house or backyard.
    1 point
  49. I use my pinpoint almost every time, and it seems to work fine, except once and a while I notice the volume fades out....I think it detunes to something and fades, so I just move the coil away from the target area and re-pinpoint and it works fine. The volume fade is more like a quirk/bug then anything and not really too annoying IMO. When the PP works, it works great, spot on X marks the spot IMO.
    1 point
  50. I think they make some really cool looking units that fold up nice and compact. Other than that I have no interest in them since they are designed for explosive mine detecting. I stick with mainstream machines designed for the task I have in mind, and have never seen anything posted by anyone that has ever convinced me that doing otherwise is a good idea.
    1 point
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