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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/05/2020 in all areas

  1. Hello everyone, Got my AQ over a month ago and it had a faulty set of headphones from the get go as one side would intermittently cut on and off. FT wasn't sure about the problem being in the headphones and had me send back the whole machine. It was gone for almost a month. FT gave me a new headset and all is well again. I've been out about 7 times now and just finished a 6 hour water hunt today. The AQ found its first gold today... a small 14K, 1.5 gram earring, silver ring and junk jewelry and 21 coins. I have found a number of gold rings in the past at this spot and have been hunting it for years with 2 different PI's and more recently the Excalibur and Nox. The last time I used the Nox for (5 hours), I found 5 coins and no jewelry. Targets had been very hard to find until today. This was my first time there with the AQ, and there were plenty of DEEP targets that created just a slight bump in the threshold. There is very little trash and I am now learning some differences in the sounds. The first 3 pictures are today. If you notice the coins and jewelry... nothing there are "fresh" drops. All is deep and only one bottle cap that was banging loud and close to the surface along with some other trash. There are also a couple pictures of some of the past days with the AQ. I don't usually take pictures of the trash but will start doing so. Our beaches are really sanded in so pickings are slim. I am using Joe's 11 hour Big Battery, It works great and is just what I need. Stay tuned...Bob
    15 points
  2. Got out yesterday to a beach with the AQ and the GPX for about a 6 hour hunt. A bit breezy, but generally nice conditions. I used the Fisher AQ for about 4 hours and the Minelab GPX 5000 for the last 2 hours. The beach had exposed rocks, but unfortunately not the deep ones. I think the ocean pulled them from the top of the beach. I could tell the area was hit for low conductors, since they were hard to find, compared to the high conductors. Not a bad day, as I found a silver bracelet, 2 war nickels, a .925 heart ring and possibly a silver, very tiny ring. The usual clad was found along with a very unusual quantity of Canadian coins - 20 in all. At first I thought they were recent drops, but some were rather green. So now I'm thinking that someone had a roll of pennies and they were buried in the upper banks. The ocean is slowly eroding the banks, so I'm thinking that's where they came from. The newest penny was 1967, and the rest ranged from the 40's to 1964. I wish I had found that area earlier, as it was almost time to get going home. No gold, and no bling jewelry, lots of junk, but some decent silver. That's more than I expected with all the detectorists that live in that area. Was nice to get out and hunt again.
    11 points
  3. I know- gold is always a surprise but when I'm not finding many targets it is even more so. On my last hunt targets were few and far between- even junk was hard to come by. However, I stuck with the plan and at my 4th beach I had what I would call a fluke find in a patch of wet sand where I really wasn't expecting much. The ring has been re-sized and the markings were distorted in the process. When I first found it the back was clogged with sand and the stone looked black so I thought it was an onyx. When I rinsed the sand away I was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful green color. Other than that I only found 2 quarters, a nickel, some zinc pennies and a little trash in about 3 hours of detecting. Hopefully, there will be a couple more golden surprises before the year ends. GL&HH!
    5 points
  4. Just before fall in Sept, sent my Simplex to my nephew in the US as he wanted to get started in metal detecting. Gave him the newest 8.5 round DD coil. Still had a spare Simplex control box sitting here and the new 5x9 coil. Decided to make a project out of it. Thought I would make a custom handle for it to attach to a round tube straight shaft. Its super lightweight with 4 thick rock hard coats of epoxy. By the way, its a perfect, comfortable fit for my hand. A project to keep me busy on those rainy days. Recently finished it off with 5 coats of spray on Truck Bedliner paint. The new handle was mounted on a round tube straight shaft with a White's lower rod.. Still have to tidy things up a bit. A higher sitting Bounty Hunter arm cuff was attached, making everything fit and feel very comfy. Overall now balances better, feels lighter and easier to swing than the stock straight shaft.
    5 points
  5. In the summer of 1968, I was on summer break - the fall would be my last semester before graduation from University and I was all set up to go into USAF Officer training school in February after I had my degree and turned 21 - and then on to Pilot Training - all that happened, but this is not about that. My mother’s family were French Canadian, emigrated to New England in the early years of the 1900’s - my grandfather - not yet a US citizen - was drafted and served in the US Army in France in WWI. But this is not about that. That summer, to make some money to afford to get married in the fall, I went to Rhode Island and lived with my godparents in Pawtucket. I got a job at Englehardt Industries in South Attleboro MA at a plant making the three layer metal rolls which went to the mint in Denver to be turned into Kennedy Half Dollars. There were several of us “College Boys” working there that summer. One of them was a Chemistry Major who worked in the lab. All incoming silver (from the US Repository at West Point) had to be assayed at the plant to ensure that the “mix” would be right for the silver content. One day at lunch break, my pal told me that there were problems with the last shipment of silver bars we had received - some stray element which was holding up approval for usage. We talked more and I recalled that shipment. The stuff came in in ingots - strapped one layer deep on wooden pallets in a trailer. They had us “kids” help with the unloading (we were cheap labor) and I recalled looking at these bars - they were a bit different. The bars always had mint marks on each bar. Usually just US Silver Repository West Point. These were different, Swastika marks - Rostchilds bank London, Rostchilds Bank Paris and the usual US. I though not much about it. The next day my pal from the lab told me what the stray element from the lab analysis turned out to be....mercury. The only likely source being amalgam for dental fillings. I will leave it to you to draw the same conclusion that I did. Precious metals are more enduring than us morals. Sometimes we possess them for a time - then we pass - as it were - through the “furnace” of time - and they endure. In this case - sadly - the furnace was all too literally a furnace.
    3 points
  6. Congrats on the gold. It took me a while to get my first gold as well. The conditions just dictate when we can reach the gold sometimes. From the sound of it, that area should produce more gold for you. Joe's battery is a must if you like to hunt worry free. I keep the stock batteries for back up, If I'm too lazy to charge Joe's. 😄 Not too bad on the junk targets too.
    3 points
  7. https://www.usmint.gov/news/inside-the-mint/mint-releases-first-ever-w-quarters-into-circulation I like this quote from that article: "The goal of the initiative is to create excitement about coin collecting by introducing rare coins into circulation, allowing anyone the opportunity to collect the quarters from their pocket change." (emphasis mine) How things have changed since 1965 when the USA federal government tried their best to kill coin collecting among the common (i.e. non-wealthy) people by no longer using mintmarks and stopping proof coinage. (Of course that is when they stopped minting 90% silver coins and started the ugly clad coinage, but that was because the silver coins' cost of minting was higher than face value.) Mintmarks returned in 1968. Are these first non-error coins meant for circulation minted in the last 60+ years which carry a premium value (over face)? I'm not aware of any others but I lost interesting in modern coins (except for some of the double dies, etc.) long ago just for that reason.
    2 points
  8. WTG Okra!! And sounds like your onto the "AQ" thing. I know there are faint signals with the "AQ" and there are faint "one way" signals..All very welcome when you know there is deep good targets.
    2 points
  9. I posted this length reply on Tom D's forum, but it's probably not the niche reply he's wanting, so maybe it's more relevant here: I've had my Eqx 600 over a year now, so I've had time to form some opinions on what could be changed and improved, plus some thoughts on what could be incorporated into the new 'high end' machine. Starting with the hardware/mechanicals: * The elbow cup/rear stand has shown itself to be weak. There's several reports of a broken upper section, it just needs to be made chunkier. The foam padding is too thin, and surely it could be designed to actually fit the plastic part. The lower 'stand' part at first sight appears to be heavily ribbed and strong ... except the ribs all stop on the centre-line, leaving it with no reinforcement at all. It will bend/break very easily along that line, as I discovered. The ribs should go all the way along, and ribs added in the 'hidden' part. I think the 'stand' part is a bit small, too. Make it wider on the new machine, similar width to the elbow cup section. See attached photo. * Having the machine break down into 3 parts is a good idea BUT the 3 parts should be comparable in length, so it packs away neatly. Two short sections and one long one is poor design. Allow for the fact that a plain shaft will pack 'diagonally' relative to the bulky upper section. As I've done this re-design myself, I think the upper section needs to be 25mm longer ( between the handgrip and the camlock) , the middle section needs to be 25 - 30mm longer, and the lower rod 65/70 mm shorter. Have 10-15mm less insertion overlap of the lower rod, maybe 10mm less insertion of the middle rod. * The hole in the lower carbon rod for the locating pip has been seen to enlarge over time, with resulting minor misalignment. Perhaps if there was at least one 'spare' pip hole, the service life of the shaft could be extended. * The coil-fixing nut/bolt are difficult to adjust. The combination of just two flats, and the closeness of the clevis to the coil body is awkward. Make the nut heavily knurled, so it can be gripped firmly regardless of orientation. *Camlocks: make the hole for the 'wedge' part on the opposite side of the shaft to the spring-pip holes. This avoids the problem of the sprung pip scraping across the 'wedge' every time the shaft is assembled/disassembled. ( First Texas please take note of this, too ) * Please make 'solid' coil covers available for the 6" (and 11" too). An open 'spider' design is not good on a small coil that's going to be used in difficult terrain, bushes/scrub, tight spots with debris. * The 6" coil is too big for a small coil. If there's going to be new coils made, make a solid 4.5" or 5", basically copy the Fisher/Tek one, and put ML logos on it. * Make the new machine compatible with existing Equinox coils, and if possible, make coils for the new machine compatible with the 600/800 machines. * I have big hands, so don't find the fat handgrip a problem, but I can see why some find it excessive. As the size is almost certainly related to the large (26mm diameter) 26650 Li cell inside it, I recommend changing the cell on the new machine to a 21700 size (21mm diameter). These are becoming increasingly popular in electric vehicles, so are well-developed. Capacities of 5000 mAh are available, almost the same as the better 26650's. Whichever size they use, ML should use their business clout to get high capacity cells sourced. Intermediaries like Shock-Li seem to do this for the vape industry. Allowing for the low drain of detectors, 26650's with a capacity of 6000 mAh are available. * The icons/labelling of the buttons/functions could do with some thought. There's too many pictures of search-coils with random arrows, lines etc around them. -------------------- And my electronics/software thoughts: * The On/Off power button has shown to be a weak point. A more robust switch is needed, maybe a custom version of the standard one with solid fixings, like a metal frame with through-hole mounting. Perhaps a custom-designed switch? * The USB/charger cable should be 30cm / 12" longer, it would be more convenient for charging. * On the current machines, have the search-mode selector give a distinctive double-beep when it returns to 'Park 1'. That way, it's easier to work out where you are with audio only. It's not always easy/convenient to see the screen, but beep-beep-biddip-beep would tell me I'm in 'Park2' mode. This audio cue should also be applied to other functions. Engaging 'all-metal/horseshoe'=> double-beep; disengaging => single-beep. * Assuming the new machine will have more modes, 'Scroll-left' and 'Scroll-right' would be preferable to single-direction action. * Have the detector give an audio warning of very-low battery, perhaps 30 minutes before the 'musical finale' & switch-off. * Make the green LED indicate that battery charging is near complete. For example having a rapid-rate flash once the battery goes from constant-current to constant-voltage charging. * Pinpoint button: it's the most important button to locate by tactile means. I've attached a small sticky-backed rubber button over mine, and it's a great help. Could ML think about making something similar as a standard feature? * Pinpoint Mode: The unusual 'auto-cal' operation takes a bit of learning, and has its quirks, but it does work OK. But one thing I don't care for is the resulting lack of 'depth' information it gives the user. A conventional pinpoint mode will immediately inform you if a target is weak/deep, or shallow, etc. A good example is the Fisher F75's pinpoint mode. The Eqx really needs the option of regular VCO pinpoint mode. It would seem pretty straightforwards to achieve - use a short press for 'auto-cal' pp mode, or press and hold for a second ( or a bit less ) and it gives conventional VCO pinpoint. Use the 'single-beep' / 'double-beep' to alert the user which mode is engaged. A single short button push exits pp mode, as normal. In regular VCO mode, have the '88' display indicate depth, calibrated for a US 5 cent 'nickel'. I'd prefer centimetres displayed, as the 1cm increment size helps with pinpointing. I find the 1" step size on the Inches scale ( eg. on the F75 ) a little blocky. The standard Eqx jumpy flickering double-bargraph pinpoint strength feature is awful and unusable. Perhaps replace it with a non auto-calibrating indication, there's 25 bargraph points available, so it should be possible to make it have decent resolution, 0.5" / 15mm step size roughly. * Non-motion / pinpoint hunting, for deep targets, hoards/caches: This seems to be something the Eqx is quite capable of, and only a few changes to the standard pinpoint mode are needed. A "Re-cal" function would be useful, and it seems possible to use the 'horseshoe' button to do this, as it serves no purpose in pinpoint mode. The '88' readout could display a sensitive 00 - 99 signal strength, plus if possible use -1 to -9 to indicate weakening signal, eg. drop in ground signal, either natural, or by the operator raising the search-coil too much. * It's known the Multi modes use 7.8kHz / 18.2kHz / 39kHz ( Beach has 13 kHz too ) , and the machine is evidently capable of operating at 5Khz, 4KHz with conditions. So is it possible to gain anything by running a 'Low Multi' mode, such as 5.4k / 12.6k / 27k (same ratios), which could be better for the US-style milled silver coin hunting? Maybe ML have tried it and decided it gave no advantage, or worked less effectively, but I think it's good to query it. * Unlike many people, I don't dislike having 40 points of non-ferrous disc resolution. However, I don't like the calibration of the ID scale. A mid-range '20' target is roughly a 5kHz target, and to get the '5th tone' 30+ ID, the target needs to be quite a decent size copper/silver item. It's quite a novelty for me to find 5th-tone targets. It's pretty certain that Park1/Field1 favour the 7.8k frequency, so perhaps in these modes a 5kHz mid-scale target is OK, but the scaling needs stretching out so that real-world targets read in the 30's. But Park2/Field2 seem weighted more to the 18.2kHz freq, and the ID scale should be calibrated accordingly. A US 5c 'nickel'( a 17kHz coin) should be a '20' target, with correspondingly different calibration over the full range. Perhaps there could be some way of choosing between 'Legacy' ID scaling, and 'dual-scaling' tailored to the machine's mode? ( I haven't commented on Beach & Gold modes .. I don't have gold modes, for a start ) * I see some are wanting a First Texas style mineralisation meter, and I see the value of it. But the '88' display is capable of providing better info. I proposed how this could be done in an old thread on Tom Dankowski's forum ( see my later post in this thread ), but the 1/3/10/30/100/ scale is a bit blocky, and if you could resolve it to: 10/16/25/40/64/100/ etc rather than just 10/30/100/, you could likely discover more about the land. I was originally thinking about it use on the Fisher ProArc-F75 ( the blue one for archaeologists), but it could be relevant to us hobbyists. * True all-metal mode is conspicuous by it's absence from the Eqx. Is it possible, in single-freq mode, at least? Multi mode all-metal is perhaps more challenging, but it should be considered. * Stereo Operation: I hope the Eqx is stereo-capable, it seems likely. Its successor certainly should be. The standard 'Nautilus' mixed mode ( disc in one ear / all-metal other ear) would be an obvious implementation, but there are other potential uses. * When you scroll through the options and reach the discrimination/notch function, it defaults to '-9', which is inconvenient, as it's usually the non-ferrous zone that users want to adjust. Can it be modified to default to '00', to save some button-pushing?
    2 points
  10. Ok, I was feeling guilty and the tide was right! I got out for a couple of hours on one of my favorite beaches. Let me use the word SAND! haha As in sanded in. The last time I worked this beach it was down 6+ feet. That makes for less than ideal conditions even on the low tide. Maybe if I had been working this beach as it filled in that would be different. I was pretty much in standard settings but I did experiment. As you can see there were not many targets. The most interesting target was the piece of aluminium in the center. I dug it at about 5 inches. Before I could get it out of the wet sand hole it just disappeared. It was still in the hole but could not be seen. I know because I scooped it out and then could see it again. I had a small gold test nugget with me that I laid down on the beach. It is less than half a gram, closer to .25 I'd say. In the standard settings on damp beach ground it could not see it. I experimented and got it to see it with limited depth but I don't remember the settings. It will take more time to know how to go. Mitchel
    2 points
  11. 2019 and 2020 so far with more to come.Google West Point quarters.
    2 points
  12. Another reason i don’t post is because a lot of hunts look like this.
    2 points
  13. Exciting Dig!😆Cheers from 16f Idaho! Ig
    1 point
  14. Nice. I am always thinking "foil or nickel" and love it when I am pleasantly surprised by anything other than trash. That is one sweet looking piece of AU.
    1 point
  15. Was hitting an area with my Tejon and came across this medalion that I missed 3x before and my buddy missed with his Nox. We missed it probably because there are so many targets in the area you just become target fatigued. Also it was pretty loud and easy to skip over because there is a lot of copper pieces. I had my disc 1 at just above iron and so If I got a crackle I would check for any signs of additional targets with the all metal mode. 2nd disc set to pull tab to quck check for coppers and silvers. Simple hunting and pretty quiet. Not much aluminum as alum has a pretty flat tone and easy to recognize. Found bit more info as the city made some coins with same art. Haven't found anything on medallion version. Not sure if these were fewer or handed out to more important people? https://so-calleddollars.com/Events/Haverhill_275th_Anniversary.html
    1 point
  16. There are a number of ways to either "step-up" or "step-down" voltage, and regulate it. The common inexpensive modules available are switch mode regulators (in either step-up or step-down configurations). So yeah you either have a single lithium ion or lithium polymer cell at 3.7V and step it up, or you put a pair of them to make 7.4V and step it down. Switch mode regulators are usually (if designed well) pretty efficient, about 90% approx. meaning 10% of energy used is burned off in the regulator components themselves, or as waste heat. The main problem with switch mode regulators is that they are noisy. Creating a lot of RFI. But that can be filtered with additional components (caps/chokes for example). That said, if you're building a custom unit with a cell built in for light weight, I'd go with a Lithium Iron Phosphate cell, which is nominal 3.2V (about 3.6V peak at maximum charge, but only for a very small amount of the charge curve), they have a very flat voltage curve around the nominal voltage. These would output very close to the 6V (if you use a 2S pack) needed for the control box circuit, meaning the internal regulators are fairly likely to handle it just fine without issues, and no additional regulator needed. This would also require adding a BMS/Battery Protection/Charge circuit to handle charging of the cells, and protection from short, or drawing them below the minimum drain voltage, etc... (your Lithium rechargable AA cells include a small BMS inside the cell to allow recharging etc) LiFePO cells also have slightly better energy density, and are safer and more stable than standard Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer batteries. Now to get a discharge in Wh close to what normal AA Alkalines give, you'd want 15Wh of energy capacity. To do that with LiFePO cells you'd need a 2S1P pack with 2.3Ah capacity. A 2.1Ah capacity pack that's easily available is only slightly under this, but weighs about 100g on it's own. Though it would likely have a fair bit longer runtime than the AA Alkaline cells, merely because of the better discharge curve, so maybe going smaller to 1.6Ah but that's still 80-90g. And you still need to build the actual housing/chassis. Now IF experimentation shows the unit can take 7.4V directly without any issue (which I hesitate to jump to that conclusion). Then you could use 2S1P Lithium Polymer packs, and I can find some of those at 1.5Ah and 70g of weight. That would provide 11.1Wh of energy capacity, vs 15Wh with AA Alkaline, but you'd be able to discharge fully most likely, getting longer run time with full voltage. But you'd still probably be looking at 80g-90g for the whole package, including a BMS, and the chassis. So I think as far as an actual replacement for the normal battery compartment that is rechargeable and light, I think you're better off with the RNB pack (which will be difficult to improve on much), or rechargable lithium AA cells like you've been using. I think the only way to further improve the balance/weight is to rebuild the control box as you've been saying, or to move the battery back to the elbow (which doesn't help with weight, but possibly improves the ergonomics of where the weight is located)
    1 point
  17. Good conversation piece and shadow box nostalgia item.
    1 point
  18. Nice find Compass, keep it up!
    1 point
  19. That's a real beauty, hope that is a real emerald! keep'em coming compass nice fun your having. ht
    1 point
  20. Have you found one either detecting or in your change? We have a circulating clad coin worth taking a good look at and worth much more than a regular Mercury dime. Only 2 million released mixed with P and D quarters rolls per design. I see some going for $36 on E bay. Happy hunting.
    1 point
  21. Interesting piece of history they own. I sold Mr. Moon a detector a few yrs back and had one of my associates teach him to use it. They did quite well on hard rock ore piles with some really nice specimens. There is a mine just below them that I have had success with gold and breath taking scenery.
    1 point
  22. I didn't say that you were ridiculous. I said your reason for not posting your finds was ridiculous. 🙂 Who cares if someone might think you are bragging. Ignore them. Their opinion means nothing.
    1 point
  23. There's gold in Idaho. https://www.idahoseniorindependent.com/darr-moon/
    1 point
  24. I don't post find often for the reason that the competition can sometimes identify where I was hunting. Some of the targets can be unique to a beach. Such as musket balls, bus tokens, other tokens, high school rings, fishing weights, the age of the rings such as signets. By the way, most of my finds have been by a Nox so they of course would not be shown here. When I do post, I mostly post on Facebook because I have a limited audience and not the hundreds of people that read forums.
    1 point
  25. It is always sweet to find gold for the first time with a new machine. Congrats on your find.
    1 point
  26. The LAST 3 pics are todays.
    1 point
  27. Honestly not a lot of work to redesign the control box, I do that kind of thing all the time. And I think other than the button layout, the control boxes are essentially the same, so I could likely do one design to accommodate all 3 models, and leave the front interface panel as a separate piece so that it could be re-designed for the 440 and 540 ultimately in the end. That said even if you were willing to sacrifice a 340, I think shipping it to me in NZ would be completely unrealistic (expensive). But either way it's an interesting idea. Sounds like a cable extension and/or quick-connect is a valuable item, and that's probably super easy so I'll definitely look into that. Cheers!
    1 point
  28. I haven't used any machine in over two weeks because of an addition to the family. I got in one hunt before ... a different treasure package arrived early.
    1 point
  29. The black abs plastic ones are definitely worth it. It will also help to add more rigidity to the coil so you wont develop false signaling from flex and end up with a noisy bump sensitive coil.
    1 point
  30. "If i had a cargo truck for every truckload of metal detectors i own, I'd be a very poor detectorist!"😂 Or a very wealthy like MineLab!!👍👍
    1 point
  31. Welcome Glasswalker! Those of us who have read about Phrunt's (Simon's) incredible hunts are envious of you. New Zealand sounds like an amazing place to detect. As far as pinpointers go, I never considered them a necessity and, actually, gave mine away. They might be more useful for "dirt" hunting but for the beach they just slow me down. HH&GL! (Happy Hunting and Good Luck!)
    1 point
  32. Ryan, If you get some plastic tubing, I think it is about 3/8 “in diameter in old language I think, then cut of enough to go right around the coil. Then carefully lay it flat and mark the inside curve in the centre and cut along that line for the hole length. If you then open it up and fit it around the rim of the coil and cut it so the two ends just meet. Use a small hole punch to put two holes in each end and use couple of small plastic ties to pull the two ends together. I have never had to replace a coil cover, usually the area of the cover which becomes worn and damaged is the edge. This treatment prevents this damage. Regards John
    1 point
  33. It's telling you "If it's a US 5 Cent coin, it's at 6-8 inches" , which in practice means it could be an earring at 1 inch, or a squashed drinks can at 12 inches, or something even larger at 18 inches.
    1 point
  34. Deep/large iron can cause confusion when trying to make recoveries, can often sound/read like a shallower target only to end up being a lot deeper down. Deep iron can also cause the the original pinpoint location to move after making an excavation, another tell-tale indication. If unsure, one of the best tools at your disposal is to use your pinpoint mode to get a rough estimate of the size of the target before digging, if you get a foot wide response it ain't going to be a coin, possibly large iron at depth - a coin will have a lot smaller footprint when pinpointing with the detector. You can also get high tone falsing on deep iron, sounding more like a good non-ferrous target - wildly inconsistent target id's will usually point towards iron vs non-ferrous (if your detector has target ID's). Deep targets beyond effective range of the detector can have it guessing on the true dig depth, so I wouldn't totally rely on what the detector display is telling you. Bottom line is that there is no substitute for experience when deciphering what a buried target is likely to be, if unsure just dig the target and after time you will have a greater understanding of what those tell-tale indications are telling you.
    1 point
  35. Well, if you are a real scraper there isn't much that will hold up. I began using one of the spray on coatings on my 2300 to protect the coil and the knuckle. You just have to remember to put some on before each trip. If you picked up 55 grams of gold that is a heck of a trip and giving a gram or two back for a better coil cover should be worth it.
    1 point
  36. Thanks for the useful information for the newbies on here to learn from. I am hoping to go prospecting this next year and can use all the help I can get. I try to learn as much as I can from the articles on here, and it really helps when someone gives some good advice to me. Good luck on your next hunt!
    1 point
  37. SPP 101 , 5shot , ..on the right hip..don't even know it's there. But it's there when you need it
    1 point
  38. I had about an hour before we were going fishing for fish this morning, so what better to do than to dirt fish? I was trying out a new set of aptX LL BT earbuds that were ordered for when the other ones start to fail. They paired fine, but they certainly were not fast. If I'm running 7 recovery, I don't want them to sound like a 3 recovery. I disconnected them and continued to hunt. About 5 minutes into no earbuds, I got a strong 11 ID. Not knowing what it really sounds like, having taken the earbuds out, I decided to dig as it seemed like a robust signal. The Carrot was able to hit the object from the surface, so it wasn't too far down. There are no markings, but from the looks of it, it appears to be about 18K based on my wedding band at 14K. I believe this makes 10 gold rings/necklaces for the year. To my recollection, all found with the 15" coil with 7 recovery. I remember the first few years of detecting when I found no gold. I really appreciate this machine! Florida weather doesn't hurt either, as it is far easier digging in non-frozen soil year-round! Almost forgot...fished for fish for 4 hours and didn't catch a thing. 🤪
    1 point
  39. The best part was how much fun I had chasing the gold with my son. The two of us really hit some nice stuff this past season. All the best to those of you that enjoy chasing the gold, Lanny
    1 point
  40. Indeed Simon, but I use a secret weapon in flogged areas: slow and careful gridding; most operators can’t even stand to do it for a half an hour, let alone all day for days on end. But in these kinds of areas, it’s the most effective way to maximize your gold recovery.
    1 point
  41. Snow trying to stick down low and drove thru snow to the gold fields a couple days ago so days are numbered!!!!! Might be able to get in 1-2 more days depending? Here's my total nuggs for my 1st year chasing with a detector. I'm happy with results and thank ALL on here who helped me general info and "secret" info (lol)...they know who they are. The New Zealand boys post up great info and I think we all appreciate the scenic so I thought I'd sprinkle in some scenic for them so they can see my area in particular which is typical in many areas of the western U.S. All the nuggs were got with the Gold Monster in 2 locations in Idaho and 2 in Montana. Sluiced gold came from Montana claim from 2 trips mid winter in butthole deep snow (FS don't allow sluicing in river but they ain't up there mid winter...lol). My other hobby is chasing predators with trail cams so I sprinkled in a couple to show you guys, and the New Zealand boys what you could see at any time out in the western states. Hope you guys enjoy the pics...... Weight wise...this was my best day below
    1 point
  42. I haven’t posted of late, been a long Smokey and hot Summer in NorCal which keep me in controlled atmospheric conditions, lol. Now, since it’s cooling off somewhat, I made my first Rye Patch Trip of the season. This solo trip was perfect, only had to worry about myself and how long my cooler ice would last, only had two bags of ice! Arrived and set up camp and hit a Patch for a late afternoon swing to see if I could get the skunk off my back. Skunk was off with a dink nugget to the poke and a good nights sleep with the moon blazing! Well to make a 2 1/2 day hunt short, I had fun and met a few other Prospectors enjoying our hobby as well. It’s a nice change of scenery from the woods/manzanita of NorCal to open plains of the desert. As many of you know Rye Patch isn’t what it use to be...or is it! Well, I ran out of beer and steam in my engine and headed home, knowing I left gold for the next trip(s)...until the next hunt! Big one was 3.53 dwts for a total of a little over 9 dwts. LuckyLundy
    1 point
  43. It was a beautiful weekend in the forested hills of the Idaho goldfields, with temps in the low 70’s and plenty of sunshine and cool breezes. I took full advantage of the 3-day Labor Day weekend to continue working some old spots with the Minelab Equinox 800 in Gold Mode with the 6-inch coil. Saturday and Sunday saw a combined total of 24 bits with the Nox; I’m more amazed with the performance of this machine each time I use it. I switched gears on Monday however, and decided to swing the Gold Monster instead of the Equinox. It’s taken a back seat this summer, as I’ve been swinging the Nox almost exclusively. So much so that I’d nearly forgotten how good the GM 1000 is; even running the sensitivity at 10, it was much quieter than the Nox in hot ground. Between that and the Monsters simplicity of operation, along with its amazing sensitivity, I found myself falling in love with the machine all over again.? Definitely going to start using it more often, and not just because it found an additional 12 bits of yellow. So all up, 36 pieces for the extended holiday weekend, with a combined weight of 3.1 grams.
    1 point
  44. I try to listen to.......and use the force.....
    1 point
  45. Had a heck of a time getting there these last 2 weeks but finally made it today. Pretty big deal for me at my early stage of nugget shooting. Got 6 today and here's a pic of everything so far...should be 104(?). Over half ounce but well shy of 1 ozt. We'll keep pluggin away and hopefully I can get maybe 1 ozt by end of season???? Yellow rocks come from 4 different locations...2 in Idaho and 2 in Montana... STRONGLY thinking about a PI machine in near future....hmmmmm?????? BIG THANKS to ALL for the help, info, and Steve for maintaining such and great and informative website!!!!!
    1 point
  46. I posted earlier in the summer about a new spot that I was using the Monster and my Puffer drywasher at; well, I went ahead and claimed it so I could have a place to go play all the time?The process was a great learning experience, and the guys at our local BLM were really helpful to a newbie like me! I finally got the quarter mile of brush, downed trees and rocks cleared so now I can get in there with my side x side....a bit gnarly still, but doable. I initially attacked the old timers stackings...here’s one that was a screamer in a small depression, seen to the left of the Monster in 2nd pic: I continued to move rocks, detect, then drywash.....here’s the area now, and a sample of a good day’s detecting: I explored other areas of the bench, and Woo Hoo, got my biggest piece....a whopping .43g lol! It was almost 5” deep and pretty faint...pic doesn’t look that deep, but it was: Here’s one scraping/dig hole that had 6 pieces in it! Good thing I kept checking it, for sure: If you zoom on the scoop you can see all them little babies? So the pup and I have been having a fun summer.....nice utv rides along the creek and in the pines, picnic lunches at the claim, and I’m finding a bit of gold while she’s chasing chipmunks all day! Life is good??⛏
    1 point
  47. Oh If you only knew what you just wrote in American English! ?
    1 point
  48. A couple from Little Nuggety Gully a whilst back , Smashed Tarny for years for not much reward ♻️
    1 point
  49. Someone dug a nugget that should have been left for me!
    1 point
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