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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/28/2024 in all areas

  1. Wondering how many out detectorists here while out looking for gold also pick mushrooms, berries and such when in season? I'm always looking. I look for Morels and Bolet mushrooms, goose and elderberries. What do you look for in your neck of the woods?
    6 points
  2. Clue in every post I make. There's a DETECTOR in my signature. First Letter DALAS - D = Detector CLUE #1 These are the parts included to get the DALAS perfectly adjusted to you. Adjust once and you never have to do it again. CLUE #2 The DALAS will fit is a PIZZA Box perfectly in fact that is probably how it will be packaged. CLUE #3 Up the creek without a PADDLE. Any of you that carry a weapon know that a PADDLE holster is extremely comfortable. Why not incorporate that into the design for the DALAS? CLUE#4 The second and third word in the acronym DALAS A and L is AIR LIFT. If you had observed carefully you would have seen the helicopter had the words, AIRLIFT on it. CLUE #5 Detour signs redirect you. What happens when you redirect weight? What happens when you redirect weight like in a block and pully system? The weight becomes barely noticeable. A 500 lb load feels like 5 lbs. CLUE #6 It's Green! Well it is! You will see tomorrow when I have pictures. Clue #7 A young man attempting to ASSIST an old man who is using a STICK, (cane) and wearing a STRAP. The second "A" DAL -A- S stand for ASSIST. CLUE #8 Is a Circulatory SYSTEM. The final letter in DALAS, has multiple meanings. SYSTEM. STICK, and STRAP. CLUE #9 STRUT. The DALAS, among other things consists of a PADDLE and two STRUTS. SO let's look at the history of how people have tried to make metal detecting more comfortable and enjoyable. I don't care how much research you have done, how many detectors you own, what detector you own, all of that means nothing if you get fatigued while swinging your detector. Fatigue is the biggest detriment to finding goodies. I don't care if your detector weighs 2 pounds or 20, when you start to feel the effects of detecting in your neck, arms, back, you lose focus. When you lose focus you lose focus you lose concentration. When fatigue sets in, your gold take drops precipitously. So let's start with Minelab back in the days of the SD2000 SD2100 SD2200. They gave you a little bitty bungee cord, with no ability to adjust the cord, you were just supposed to tie it to the detector, attach it to the backpack carrying a 5 b battery, and off you go. Next of the horizon was the ol' Swingy Thingy that I developed. It actually allowed you to adjust the length of the bungee at the rod, so changing terrain was no longer a challenge for you to instantly adjust your bungee. Next came the Hip Stick, a very popular item. Some folks absolutely love it and some people are lukewarm about it, but it never seemed to catch on here in the U.S. while in Australia thanks to Jonathan Porter who made some important modification to the design it is very popular. Next came an upgrade to the Swingy Thingy from yours truly, the Ultra Swingy. A dual strap padded version with the QWEEGLE Bungee which allowed you to adjust at the rod and also at the shoulder "D" ring. Then some attempt was made in Australia for an over the shoulder "Sky Hook" device to hold the detector up. Alas it was cumbersome, and it had a lot of bounce to it as the over the shoulder device was a piece of bent metal which flexed under the weight of the detector. Next Minelab introduced the Pro Swing, which in my mind was actually sort of a hybrid of the Ultra Swingy Thingy and the Hip Stick. Minelab did some very interesting things with the Pro-Swing, instead of direct weight transfer, like the hip stick, they redirected the weight which made the weight of a detector even less noticeable. HOWEVER, while the concept was fantastic, the execution left a lot to be desired in the mind of users. There had to be some modifications done that many people were not willing to make. People complained that it was too confining and made them feel claustrophobic, they couldn't get it adjusted right, and it kept coming apart. On top of all of those complaints, users said they didn't feel it really took the weight off as much as they would have liked it too. Also it didn't work on every detector. Personally I love the Pro-Swing but I had to do several modifications including how it is worn to make it work as it should. I have written before about how to simply modify the Pro-Swing to make it worked as designed. I would be happy to share those tips with you and I guarantee you will love the Pro-Swing. So for four years I have mulled this concept of a device to make a detector float like a feather, but I know you guys and you have many requirements that need to be met before you would consider using such a device. I worked very hard on making sure the DALAS™ checks all of those boxes. I hope you will agree I resolved all of those things that needed to be resolved. The new QWIPPLE ambidextrous triple point adjustment bungee was my first big step in this project. So here is the manifesto I wrote to myself that gave me the mandate to invent the DALAS™. Common Metal Detector Support Devices, what they attempt to do. • Claim to redirect weight to alleviate stress on arms, shoulders and neck. • They attempt to do this by redirecting the weight to a larger area of the body, usually the waist. Why Common Metal Detector Support Devices fall short of their intended purpose. • Some units are too bulky and constricting. • Some systems attempt to mitigate the weight by directly transferring the weight to your waist without re-directing the weight. This means you have to wear a tight belt to keep your pants up. • You have to select a fixed size with no ability to adjust the length if it is not perfect. • Some adjustable systems do not give you enough of an adjustment and are too short to function properly. • Some adjustable systems pull apart even when they are adjusted to the longest adjustment. • Some systems require an adjustment to switch for right hand to left hand use, which is not secure and tends to come apart when used. • Most systems are designed to attach to the “D” ring of your harness or are dependent on being fixed to the harness “D” ring in some way. If you are unable to adjust the device to the perfect length, the system pulls on the “D” ring. This then transfers the weight to your shoulder instead of your waist. This completely defeats the purpose of the proposed advantage of the system which is to transfer weight to stronger less injury prone body areas. • Some “Over the Shoulder” devices are so large, heavy and cumbersome, most users find them unusable. In addition to which the “Over the Shoulder” device puts the bent metal support strut with “D” ring over your shoulder and right next to the side of your face. Not only is this distracting, but it could cause serious injury and a severe laceration if you were to fall and your face landed on that metal support strut. • Some systems do not come with a fully adjustable bungee cord or any bungee cord at all. How should the perfect Metal Detector Weight Support Device be Designed? 1. Unit should be easy to wear. It should be lite weight, minimally intrusive, and not make the user hot. It should be able to be used with the users favorite backpack, or hydration pack without additional straps of any kind if they are not needed. The device should compliment the user's rig instead of trying to be an additional harness that has to be added. 2. Unit should truly “REDIRECT” the weight NOT just transfer the weight “DIRECTLY”, so it is unnoticeable and very comfortable. Unit should be custom designed from concept to execution using parts specifically made for the intent of the support device. Using parts made for other purposes that are "jerry rigged" to adapt to the proposed use never achieves the ultimate design goals. 3. Unit should be fully adjustable for all size individuals without compromise, for a perfect fit. 4. System should be firmly secured at any joints or areas of adjustment to prevent the unit from coming apart when being used. 5. System should be easily adjustable for right handed or left handed use, with the adjustment point being totally immune to separating when in use. 6. Support device should be completely able to move freely even when attached to a harness or “D” ring. It should move independently. There should be no impediments to unrestricted movement from the point of ORIGIN, where the weight of the bungee with the detector is attached to the “D” ring and where the weight is redirected to an unnoticeable area of the body where the weight redirection is TERMINATED. This design should prohibit the device from ever pulling down on the harness and transferring the weight onto the shoulder, neck, upper arms, or any part of the body other than the weight redirection termination point of the support device. 7. Support System should not pose a significant risk to the user. System should not be made of metal. They should be free of sharp edges. It should not be necessary to wear the system close to the side of your head. Direct weight transfer systems using a strait support rod should be avoided. If the weight is directed straight down. In a fall the force of the fall could drive the rod straight up causing injury to the user. 8. Support System should come with a fully instantaneous “On the Move” adjustable bungee support rig with multiple ways to adjust your detector to the perfect height. Bungee should be adjustable at the attachment point of the detector rod and at the shoulder clip and be ambidextrous. Bungee cord should be of superior material, Dacron Polyester UV protected Marine Grade with a 50% stretch. Either end on the bungee should be able to be attached to the detector. The bungee cord should be easily detached or reattached with one hand to either the “D” ring of the Weight Support Device, or to the attachment device on the metal detector rod. Introducing Doc’s Nugget Stalker® Brand The DALAS™ • Detector Air Lift Assist System Features 1 through 8 listed above! CHECK! Tomorrow pictures of the first prototype. Thank you for all of your support! Doc
    5 points
  3. In general advertising detectors is something I offer as a service to good members in long standing. I'll let this stay as maybe it would be a good deal for somebody, but as abenson notes, maybe not. It does provide the service though of my asking in the future for members to defer from posting anything other than their own detectors for sale. Anything else is circumventing the intent here, which is to offer members a way to sell their own detectors without extra fees to a select group. Thanks
    4 points
  4. Andy emailed me today. Great guy. They are sending me out a replacement coil. Andy is the real deal. He has helped me tremendously with this issue. If Andy knows about something he will take care of it. Thanks to everyone who posted. I can't wait to get the LG24 and try the legend out some more. Think I will go turn it on and do some air tests with different objects and see how it behaves in different modes. It's raining here so going outside is just not happening. If you ever have troubles get in touch with Andy. He gets the ball rolling!
    4 points
  5. Thank you. Also approaching the 500,000 view mark. More to come.
    4 points
  6. For anyone keeping score that makes 85.8 ounces of gold out of that cut so far. Will it hold up or get better? Stay tuned. The fun is just about to begin.
    4 points
  7. September 11 2002 Bound For Glory Jacob was already up before dawn and eventually the entire crew was at the morning breakfast meeting and having coffee. We all took a minute in silence to remember those who had died in the Twin Towers attack last year. We had breakfast and Jacob and Clay went up to the dig site while Conor and I started the cleanup process. We were done just after 1:00 PM and I radioed Jacob and Clay. They came down to camp and I showed them a jar of gold. It was from this morning's weigh. It was good. The jar contained 56.8 ounces of coarse gold with some fine mixed in as well. I figured somewhere around 11 grams to the yard. Even old Jcob got excited. He stated that the further down he went the better it got. And it also was widening out to the west. Conor was nearly out of control and Clay was almost as bad. Jacob spoke softly and told everyone to calm down. He said it was bad luck to get too excited. He also told everyone to keep their mouths shut if they went to town. News of a strike could send all kinds of hooligans and prospectors out here looking for gold. We had dealt with enough of that kind of thing. After lunch we all got back to work. Conor and I washed another 40 yards of material by dusk and we called it a day. When Jacob came down the mountain with Clay just before dark he went straight to the sluice and grabbed a small scoop of the concentrates with his pan. We all followed him over to a water tub and shined flashlights down on the pan as he worked the black sand away from the gold. The pan was heavy with coarse gold. I think Jacob just wanted us to know we were still on the streak. We went back over to camp and I heated up some canned hash and fried up some Spam. Jacob uncorked a bottle and we all filled our cups. We did a toast to the mine and all the miners who had worked here before us. Then Jacob did a very somber toast to his brother Jed and the crew of 1936 and 1937. I saw a tear run down his face. Then he turned to us and flatly stated “Boys, we are bound for glory.” TO BE CONTINUED ...............
    4 points
  8. tekkna works very well in heavily littered fields where there is a lot of modern garbage. Harry did a great job, he picked up the settings so that the wrong targets remain in the background, and the right signal hits your ears like a shot.
    3 points
  9. One of the things that I haven't mentioned about farms is that there are so many conditions and stages happening that it is difficult sometimes to choose where to go. When Chase comes down I try to think of a spot (or let him pick, saves guilt 😏) that will almost guarantee some decent finds to make the trip worthwhile. Personally I can go to any of these places, hunt all day and not find much. Unless I get some interesting item or many, I might not post. It is still fun and does not bother me. Posting a crap hunt sometimes does keep it real though, and makes me more credible. 🤔 Here farmers plant mostly corn or soybeans with either winter wheat, barley or "cover crop" after harvest. The cover crop they don't care about. Some farms are so big that they rotate two crops. With corn, if they don't knock the stalks down with a bush hog or tiller it is almost impossible to hunt, so a field with corn can be a two year wait to revisit. Soybeans are preferable as if conditions are good they will cut them short. This field was not so good, but we toughed it out knowing it would be a two year wait if we didn't. Not only is it fresh but also putting it off might make the aged owner forget he gave permission. Add to that other strategic difficulties, some farms have very little to offer or are extremely trashy. I have one really big one that has literally nothing on it despite its age, or at least I found nothing while scouting it for a whole day. Others have hotspots, some of which have been wiped out and I am awaiting some sort of tilling to refresh the place 🤪 But yes, having a lot of places to go does lead to getting still more. If I pass a farm of interest and it feels like the time is right and the farmer is out there, I'll stop and ask. Most are curious as to what I might find, and thankfully appreciate the desire for some reward for me should I do all the work to dig it up. Establishing a friendship of sorts goes far, they will try to think of other places to look, or even ask someone else for me. There are 2 rules for getting permissions: 1. Start out with a question about the history of the place and a compliment about how nice it is, then Listen to the farmer after asking to hunt it, no matter how long they talk. It's the most important thing, if you act hasty or impatient, you're not doing to get it. If they say no, be prepared to calm their fears of leaving holes and damage. Make them say no more than once. 2: See rule 1. I guess you could just say it's complicated 🙄 but I do hope to inform as well as brag 😎 information is a bit more important here.
    3 points
  10. Aye a man can`t live on gold alone, wild field FNQ Au mushrooms on cooking, sliced up with a sprinkle of salt, a good amount of pepper and cooked with butter......... mmhhhhhh it don`t get any better.
    3 points
  11. So now I'm thinking back and remembering that season so long ago. Seems like yesterday but they're all gone now.
    3 points
  12. Morels, corrals and bolet mushrooms. Blackberries, elderberrys and Huckleberry's. Have a harder time with the "Gold berry's" here is pic showing the contrast between hucks and the Gold variety.
    3 points
  13. I think you will see the work that went into this and the design that allows the weight to be almost completely ameliorated, via redirection of the weight of the detector. You can use the DALAS (Stick) with any backpack, hydration back, or anything that has a shoulder strap that has a "D" ring or a "D" ring can be sewn on. Yet the DALAS moves completely independent of the "D" ring. The "D" ring only positions the DALAS at the shoulder but the DALAS is free to move up and down in order to transfer the weight down and back to the middle of your back in an efficient matter. Transferring weight to reduce the sense of how heavy something is, it's not a new concept. The problem I see is when you do a direct weight transfer, like the Hip Stick, you do not get the benefit of the sense of reduced weight, because the weight is transferred directly and not re-directed. Second issue is you have to know exactly how long the Hip Stick needs to be. It is not adjustable. If it's too short, the rod pulls on the D ring attached to the shoulder and the weight is not transferred to your waist, it is transferred to your shoulder. The rigid design does interfere with your movement especially when bending over. If it's too high, you have a rigid stick sitting right next to your face. The Hip Stick is certainly a valiant effort at weight transfer and as long as you get it adjusted correctly. It does not however come with any bungee support system like the QWIPPLE. With the DALAS, there are no special belts needed, it attaches to your waist band in the back of your pants. This free movement allows unimpeded weight transfer, eliminates any possibility that the weight will be transferred to the shoulder strap, and it makes it comfortable to bend over and move freely, because the rod moves up and down with your movements instead of being a rigid rod that restricts you range of motion. There is an optional minimalistic strap for people who have nothing to attach the DALAS (Stick) too. It is called the DALAS (Strap) Together they will be referred to as the DALAS (System). Perhaps there are days when you just want to do a quick check of an area and do not want to use "The STICK." The beauty of the DALAS Strap is, it can work totally independently as a Utra-Lite type of Swingy Thingy with the supplied QWIPPLE bungee. Of course DHL who was supposed to deliver yesterday did not have my gate code, Which is weird they deliver here all of the time. So I got up at 6 am to call in and give them the gate code. Now they are telling me maybe today, more likely tomorrow. When you positively absolutely need a package, don't count on DHL. Doc
    2 points
  14. Oh, and Valens Legacy will be getting a nice gift because he used the word "STICK" in one of his posts. Like Groucho Marx, "Say the Magic word and the duck will give you a prize." Doc
    2 points
  15. As many people has said so many times on here " It doesn't hurt to ask unless they have a shotgun pointed at you". So the more you ask permission and interact with them the better your chances to get their permission.
    2 points
  16. You've collected so many permissions it boggles the mind.🤯 You can actually cherry pick the locations instead of just the targets..👍
    2 points
  17. I hear you bro. It's enough to bring tears to a grown man's eyes.
    2 points
  18. April Fools is coming real soon. Chuck
    2 points
  19. My detecting mate and I have been working a dry gully for quite a while using our 6000’s with 10x5 Coiltek coils attached. We had been finding a bit of small gold but lately our returns diminished and we had almost decided to move to a new location. In a bid to squeeze out a few more pieces, we decided to detect the ground with our 7000’s and try to uncover a few deeper nuggets. We weren’t expecting much as we had spent a considerable amount of time working this area on the short gully and thought that if we could come home with a piece or two we would have achieved our goal. The Six with the small coil really suited this area as there were many potential gold traps and hiding spots for the tiny pieces that inhabited this location. The Zed’s were fitted with Nuggetfinder 12” Z search coils and after a ground balance and tune were running exceptionally well. The hot rocks and noisy ground that played havoc at times with the 6, were ignored by the 7’s so we knew that we had a bit of potential to find that really subtle signal. We moved slowly and tried to get into difficult areas and hopefully jag something for our effort. After about 20 minutes we added a couple of small pieces to the rattle jar from steep banks on the sides of the gully. It was agreed that the shallow pieces would have been picked up easily with the 6000 but were now happy that we hadn’t been “skunked” for the day. Joe was working a stretch of ground that had produced well for us in the past so I decided to move upstream about 50m to give him some space. I started at a rock bar that had given up some treasure about a month or so ago. We had pulled about 6 very small pieces on and around the outcrop and made a concerted effort to cover all the ground in that area very well. Every subsequent trip resulted in a repeat of that process just in case we missed something. The same region was detected today with the Zed and to my surprise, a very faint signal was heard. It was in an ideal location next to the rock bar on the inside section of a bend. You can see the hole in the photo. We had hoped to find a piece of gold at a depth that the Six couldn’t see and it finally happened. It must have been on edge as the signal was initially very soft and only increased during the dig. What popped out was a pleasant surprise. The 6000 has dominated our detecting for a couple of years now and the Zed barely gets pulled out of the cupboard. It was good to get its coil scraping on the ground again and put through its paces. We had forgotten how quiet it could be when the ground suited. We had also forgotten about digging deep holes until we were quickly reminded of its power. Rusty nails and bits of steel with soft enticing signals generally resulted in ugly growls and swimming pools being dug half way to China. We moved upstream and continued to detect some old ground looking for that deeper target. I was lucky enough to get a really faint signal behind a large rock. After digging a deep hole, a small, shiny nugget surfaced. I could see why the Six would not see a piece of gold at that depth. When the hole was inspected with the coil, another break in the threshold told the story of a surprise awaiting inspection. When a piece of gold ended up in the scoop, I called Joe over and we started moving rocks and detecting a small area thoroughly. A bunch of small pieces resulted. We had a lot of fun working that area together. Joe finally moved 20 metres upstream and found another patch of deep, small pieces of gold. The river worn gold was often visible in the scoop or in the ground like the piece shown in the picture. Joe pulled a couple of pieces on the walk back including one that was in a pool of water. Boots and socks came off and a slow and frustrating recovery followed. It’s great to see a prize for all the effort put in. The final picture shows the result of our day out. Quite a few of the pieces were so small that they wouldn’t move the scales but they all added up. It is pleasing that the Zed can still earn its keep on the tiny gold. Most of the pieces found would still be in the ground if we had used the 6000’s on this trip. Having a combination of machines has proved to be a winner in this area.
    2 points
  20. this works a treat Avantree Relay 20 hours battery life, then whatever aptX LL headphones you like, You can just use your Equinox headphones to save some bucks.
    2 points
  21. 2 points
  22. Congratulations Ghostminer. You have reached the 250 page mark in your story. Has been a great read so far.
    2 points
  23. How these Russians always get the information to leak first is a surprise. If he is right, it sounds like it will be awesome. $1200 USD for the headphone's version, $870 for the basic. The headphone version must come with more coils or something to be so much more money, unless the translation was incorrect on the pricing. Looks like some Whites V3i technology has gone into it for the screen display. GPS mapping, waterproof, more control over used frequencies, a triangle flashlight to let out more light, vibration, 19 hours battery, I guess we'll find out on April 5th if he is right and if he is, I think it's going to be very popular.
    2 points
  24. They are good finds Doc. You are right about its ability to sniff out deep targets. When we were onto the small gold, we just got into the zone and forgot about getting the phone out to do some filming. As things slowed up a bit, we finally drew breath and took the time to take one small bit of footage. It’s just a raw, unedited clip so apologies if it is clumsy. It is what it is. We had our machines running in sensitivity 15, high yield, difficult. Except for the really small pieces, they were banging through really well.
    2 points
  25. Translation: "I love tekkna. I don't know what it is, but I'll take Gary's word for it that there's some magic going on with it! Lol some kind of witchcraft! Lol,,,,🙂" Alexnov, Can you identify the objects you found and the age of them? Very interesting. They look very old. Do not do so if it is not in your best interest. 🙂
    2 points
  26. I just came back from a trip to Gold Basin. As we know there are meteorites there. I found one about 80 grams. When it was washed off and brushed I could see some tiny yellow shinny spots. I've found lots of Gold Basins but I don't remember and of them with gold in them so I did a search. That search introduced me to a concept that many have that much of our mineable metals, including gold came to earth with meteor showers. If true this could explain a lot of unexplainable patches in different areas. Here is a primer from one of the AI tools, Copilot. This is new for me and might take a while to have my brain wrap around it after all of the info about gold being molten and coming up with eruptions. Someone help me understand this. Did meteorites bombard Earth with gold? | EarthSky https://earthsky.org/earth/did-meteorites-bombard-earth-with-gold/
    1 point
  27. I have no interest in this item. Posting for anyone who might wish to pursue what appears to be an unused or nearly so, GPX 5000 at Goodwill in AZ. current bid is $401.00 as of 3/27. Large photos posted. Let us know if you get a deal. Listed as a Minelab Commander. https://shopgoodwill.com/item/194917884
    1 point
  28. The evidence is in....Your permission system sure does work ! You have become one of the locals. Everything found has a story to tell , even the pulltabs ........
    1 point
  29. The way I see it SMF is 6 year old technology and most agree that its peaked. To throw just another SMF machine in the ring this late would not make sense. No it needs to something special and I hope it will be. I will buy one. Mark
    1 point
  30. Gotcha! I got lost in the translation! Lol!
    1 point
  31. The majority of the party did stayed behind to continue trapping for beaver on multiple tributaries up into the lower foothills. Smith left instructions if he did not return by September they were to sell the pelts then head for home. They must of been totally focused on beaver not to see all that free gold under foot.
    1 point
  32. I was asking Alexnov what he found, but very cool stuff man 🙂 I translated his post.
    1 point
  33. Dutch oven baked fresh blackberry cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream on the Klamath River. Salmonberries you pick from the edges of the trail while hiking in the Olympics. Those were some of my favorites. But that was before detecting. Now that I mainly desert detect when I can go, the only berries I pick are the little round lead ones that I mostly keep finding. Don’t eat those!!
    1 point
  34. Jeff, Great job! You are killing it for sure 🙂 Like you, I think the Manticore is an awesome machine. John
    1 point
  35. I picked up one of these F70s even though I already have an F75 (and a Deus 2, lol) just to see what it's capable of. As others have said, the all metal mode should be excellent. There's also a lot on the forums about its nuances, from Dave J's posts to Digger27's extensive experiments and experiences. I've only gotten out one time with it so far but it found me some three-ringers at a place I'd gone over with more expensive machines. For $199, it's fun to pick one up and see just how it stacks up to machines that cost several times more.
    1 point
  36. If I get a faint signal with no TID or trace, I'll change settings to try and get a better signal. Usually I'll start by increasing sensitivity, then adjusting recovery speed and switch between modes. And if that isn't helping I'll dig some dirt and check if the signal gets better or worse.
    1 point
  37. We ended up doing good on this low cost plan. At one of the trenches on the operation we hit a honey hole that we got pretty excited about. I was at a creek about half a mile away running concentrates through a spiral wheel (Gold Magic) while my partners were running gravel. I saw my partner pull in with his truck and told me I needed to come check out the area they were digging. I had him stay with the cons while I drove up to the the dig site. They were test panning from the trench and were pulling pans of coarse gold like I hadn't seen there before. This stuff ended up being in the ounces to the yard. We all thought we had struck it rich but as soon as it started it faded away. It was a hot spot but it didn't last long. Mining can be cruel. However, sometimes I think running the small and inexpensive plans are the best ways to go. You have little to lose but your time and if you have done your homework on the ground you should make some money. For me it's not a fever any longer but a business. I like to get paid for my work. So do my partners. However, it will always be a thrill to see gold in the pan. It's something that never grows old. I just got smarter about how much money I spend to get it.
    1 point
  38. They have not said anything to get excited about, just "new model." So what? New high end competition for Legend, Deus 2, and Manticore? That would get people excited. Another mid range detector? Not so much. Given the lack of information and the way people got hyped up over models like the Apex, only to be disappointed, I can fully understand a lack of excitement at this point. Especially with the hard core detector junkies that hang out on this website.
    1 point
  39. My Manticore is always full of water even days after being submerged. Every so often I will loosen the 4 screws and dump the water.
    1 point
  40. @HardPack, Lifting the coil should help on the hot rocks. I would recommend testing to see what level of sensitivity/depth loss it costs you on the type/size targets you are wanting to find. Trying to Ground Balance to the hot rocks if possible would help also, or even running a GB manual offset. Again, test to find what the trade off may be. Basalt would be a pretty tough environment. I’m thinking your ground conditions and mine are on on opposite ends of the scale. My TID 1 tone setup may not be practical for your conditions. You will just have to experiment. I’m kind of outside the conventional box getting into the weeds on the video. I hope it was thought provoking at least and maybe helpful to some.
    1 point
  41. Miles? Sounds like you will need some help!😉
    1 point
  42. The site I am detecting is a slope with a contact separating an upper basalt formation from a down slope slate formation. Erosion has carried the basalt sediments down slope along with quartz from the contact over the upslope portion of the slate formation. With the Legend basalt hot rocks consistently hit TID 1 with an occasional roll over to 60. The problem Is small gold on the surface will hit TID 4 or 5 then even lower depending on depth. With ground discrimination the basalt hot rocks are eliminated along with the possibility of smaller gold targets. There is no problem detecting 22 caliber or larger lead or brass casings. Been able to deal with ground noise with both ground balancing and lower sensitivity adjustment but in All Metal Discrimination the basalt hot rocks remain. I’ll try lifting the coil over TID 1 targets as you suggest plus dig all targets until I am satisfied there’s no hidden small gold. Thanks for the demo.
    1 point
  43. I will check more of my iffy signals to see where a lower sensitivity finally cannot pick them up. Your buttons sure get a workout! 😆
    1 point
  44. We actually ended up using a Kubota 80 on this plan. We got a deal from a guy who owned it. They are good machines & fairly powerful for their size. Normally I would not go smaller than a mid size but the big mini was all we needed. Bedrock was only 6 - 10 ft in depth and there weren't any huge rocks to worry about.
    1 point
  45. Thanks JCR, Since we didn't find any coins we think it might have been a gathering spot for barter. I've found spots like this in other farms here, lots of buttons and animal tack but no money. There was an old house back in the woods, there was a road going to it that I walked using Caltopo, but there was nothing but iron. The house site is very difficult to get to, and right on a ravine that drops off precipitously, I'm never comfortable around those. 😬 There is nothing in the field near the house site. Much later another house was built, and an old machine shop and post office is there in ruins, somewhat famous in its own right. The later house is gone and replaced by a current one, and sadly lots of the topsoil has been scraped to the edges of the ravines to slow erosion. I guess we'll have to look around the edges a bit.
    1 point
  46. So here is a small scale plan executed in 2020. It was a 3 month operation involving 3 - 5 people. It used 4 separate plans of operation so as not to trigger SMARA (surface mining and reclamation act. SMARA is triggered when surface disturbance exceeds 1000 yards and requires much more detailed and expensive permitting. We do our own plans of operation at no cost by using federal and state agencies to do the proper environmental evaluations. Average time for plans to be approved can vary depending on how busy the agencies are but 4 - 6 months should be expected. Our bond was moved from one site to the next as each plan was finished and reclaimed. If you want to run multiple sites at once you would need a bond for each site. Our bonds vary from around $3500 for a small plan like this upwards to $10,000 or more for larger scale operations. The bonds are refunded as reclamation is finished and approved and all equipment removed. I am posting a very small scale plan here first. We did this plan after several years of hand prospecting to ensure success by proving the ground as best we could. One word concerning mining in California now - I noticed on Dave Turin's new show when he was up at Happy Camp he kind of clouded the issue on mechanized mining. Mechanized mining can still be done in California but you must be at least 300 ft from the creeks. For our claims this is not an issue as our commercial grade ground is anywhere from 600 - 2500 ft from any creeks. If you are planning to mine with equipment closer than 300 ft to a creek in California you may as well forget that plan for now. Perhaps it will be changed someday. Here is the small scale plan with the gold values conservatively adjusted for today's price per ounce. I will be posting a larger scale mining operation here as well. MINING PLAN FOR 2020 Equipment & Starting Expense : Super Hog Highbanker $ 2033 Custom built hopper/grizzly 500 Small 2 Yard/Hour Highbanker (Vern) 0 Semi Trash Water Pumps 2000 2100 ft 3 inch Lay Flat Hose & Fittings 2267 300 ft 2 inch Lay Flat Hose 149 Extra Fittings & Clamps 100 Bobcat E85 Excavator Rental (one month) 4667 Delivery & Return Fee 500 Porta John (one month) 300 Storage Shed 2000 Fuel 500 Misc & Shipping 500 Total : $ 15,516 Production Estimates : Run Time (8) hrs/day Monday - Friday Saturday/Sunday make up time & gold cleaning & processing. 7 yds/hr 56 yds/day 280 yds/wk 1120 yds/month $ 50/yd gold value after refining $ 2800/day $14,000/wk $56,000/month Operating Cost : $ 5467 1st month (fuel & excavator rent & misc) Net Revenue : $ 50,533 per month Would be scaled up to the larger operation Description of Operation : At Site #3 the north bluffs at Upper North Mine have 300 ft of baseline gravels that will provide 37 cuts or trenches into the base to bedrock. From each trench 45 yds of pay gravel will be processed. At Site #2 the west facing bluffs at Upper North Mine there will be 250 ft of baseline gravels that will provide 31 cuts or trenches into the base to bedrock. From each trench 45 yds of pay gravels will be processed. Site #2 Production : 31 cuts 1395 yds @ $ 50/yd $69,750 Site #3 Production : 37 cuts 1665 yds @ $ 50/yd $ 83,250 Total From Production : $153,000
    1 point
  47. We didn't bother to take very many pictures in 2002. However, I will look around or see if anyone else has any. I am not much for taking pictures & didn't even own a camera back then. Even today I do not own a smart phone but have a chrome book for occasional pictures. There are some pictures taken on the mine from much later yrs that were taken by one of my partners but by then that 2002 project was completely reclaimed and buried. The bond was huge for the 2002 project because of all the ground we were disturbing. Cheers.
    1 point
  48. I think people get this impression as they buy a new computer, use it a few years and then it's really slow and clunky and they think age caused it when really, it's just bogged down with crap from the years of use and loads of updates, wipe it and fresh install Windows and it's like new again. Run benchmarks on it when it's new, and after being wiped and reinstalled years later and the results will be the exact same, many years apart as long as its not developed any hardware issues, most likely the hard drive being the mechanical component being susceptible to wear causing it to slow down or have performance and reliability problems, fortunately our Nox's don't have hard drives for their software 🙂 I can't imagine a 5-year-old Nox performing any different than a brand new one unless it's developed a fault or the battery is failing.
    1 point
  49. I have returned to the original coil, I think it is a better option for wading and I went for a walk... I'm testing Beach 2 on the shore and I think the transition between wet sand and waves is better resolved. According to the manual the recovery speed is somewhat higher. I have the Horseshoe ON and the pitch break at -4. This is how I take advantage of the deep iron signals and the ones that I like the way they sound... Manual Ground Balance on O and Tracking OFF. 5 tones and the vibration function on. The sensitivity between 17 and 19 depending on whether I get more into the water or not. And I must say that this machine is really good. I go out to look for low tones and weak and confusing signals, everyone entertains themselves with what they want...and in my case it's Gold. Well, piece number 18 has come out!!!!. Gold ring 14k, 2.84 gr. I have already passed 50 grams so far this year and there is less and less left for the two Ounces. The sensitivity of this device is impressive and the audio even better. If it rings, it's there. Both the silver bangle and the steel bracelet sounded bad. Open mind... 😎
    1 point
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