Steve's Guides

Welcome to my free "book" about metal detecting and gold prospecting. Each chapter is a "how to" or explanatory guide, on metal detecting and gold prospecting themes. Many were written in response to questions asked on this websites forum. Each article focuses on a single subject, and they are meant to be relatively short, but to also cover the topic well. In many cases you will not find more in-depth coverage of any of these topics anywhere else. The answers were created expressly to eliminate having to answer common questions repeatedly, creating this reference for use in future threads. There is information both for beginners, and advanced topics for the pros.

All articles are copyrighted, and may not be duplicated in any form without my express permission.

Steve Herschbach

Metal Detecting

• Steve's Guide to Headphones for Metal Detecting
• Steve's Guide to Metal Detectors with Reliable Target ID Numbers
• Steve’s Guide to How Deep Metal Detectors Can Go
• Steve’s Guide to VLF Metal Detectors and “More Depth”
• Steve’s Guide to Testing Metal Detectors
• Steve's Guide to Metal Detector "Air Tests
• Steve's Guide to Metal Detector Search Coil Compatibility
• Steve's Guide to VLF Concentric vs DD Search Coils
• Steve's Guide to "Search Coils Are Not Antenna"
• Steve's Guide to Variations in Coil Performance
• Steve’s Guide to Detecting Depth Vs Coil Size and Shape
• Steve’s Guide to Metal Detector Sensitivity
• Steve's Guide to Threshold Autotune, SAT & V/SAT
• Steve's Guide To Why GB Numbers Do Not Indicate Mineralization Levels
• Steve's Guide to Metal Detector Mixed Modes
• Steve's Guide to the Best Target IDs For Rings
• Steve's Guide to Detecting Gold Jewelry Versus Aluminum
• Steve’s Guide to Why Detecting Thin Gold Chains Is Difficult
• Steve's Guide to Detecting Tiny Gold Jewelry In Saltwater
• Steve's Guide to Small Item Testing "The BIC Pen Test"
• Steve's Guide to Testing Weak Gold Targets & Ground or Salt Settings
• Steve's Guide to Selectable Frequency & Multifrequency Metal Detectors
• Steve's Guide to Why Target ID is About Size, Not Type of Metal
• Steve’s Guide to Metal Detector Discrimination Basics
• Steve’s Guide to Recovery Speed
• Steve’s Guide to Target ID Normalization
• Steve's Guide to Target Masking Differences Euro vs U.S.
• Steve’s Guide to Why Weak Non-Ferrous Targets Read As Ferrous
• Steve's Guide to Why Some Ferrous Reads Non-Ferrous
• Steve’s Guide to Iron Bias (Bottle Cap Reject)
• Steve's Guide to Waterproof VLF Metal Detectors
• Steve's Guide to Beach Detecting For Gold Prospectors
• Steve’s Guide To Why Detecting Tiny Gold In A Bottle Is Difficult
• Steve's Guide to VLF vs PI Depth Difference
• Steve's Guide to Pulse Induction Ground Balance
• Steve's Guide to Pulse Induction Discrimination
• Steve's Guide to Ground Balancing PI and "The Hole"
• Steve’s Guide To More About The PI “Hole”
• Steve's Guide to Long Range Locators (LRLs)
• Steve's Guide to Beach Detecting For Gold Prospectors
• Steve's Guide to the Fisher CZ Series Metal Detectors
• Steve's Guide to Fisher Gold Bug Models 
• Steve's Guide to Minelab BBS, FBS, FBS2, and Multi-IQ
• Steve's Guide to Minelab E-trac, CTX 3030, Excalibur, and Equinox
• Steve's Guide to Differences Between Minelab SD, GP, & GPX
• Steve's Guide to Minelab GPX Timings
• Steve's Guide to Tuning the Minelab GPX 5000
• Steve's Guide to Ground Tracking As A Filter
• Steve's Guide to White's Goldmaster Models
• Steve's Guide to White's SignaGraph Display
• Steve's Guide to White's Electronics GMT versus MXT
• Steve's Guide to White's TDI Coin Settings
• Steve's Guide to Rebuilding The White's GMT
• Steve's Guide to Some Nugget Detectors of Note
• Metal Detector Database with User Reviews

Prospecting

• Steve's Guide to How to Pan for Gold
• Steve's Guide to Suction Gold Dredges
• Steve's Guide to Where To Prospect For Gold
• Steve’s Guide to Getting A Mining Job In Alaska
• Steve’s Guide to Metal Detecting for Gold Nuggets
• Steve's Guide to Gold Nugget Detectors
• Steve's Guide to a Brief History of Gold Nugget Detectors
• Steve's Guide to Gold Nugget Target ID Numbers
• Steve’s Guide to Glaciers & Gold
• Steve’s Guide To Detecting Gold In Quartz Rock & Mine Dumps
• Steve's Guide to Finding Gold Veins With A Metal Detector
• Steve’s Guide to Nugget Detecting Kits
• Gold Prospecting Research Material For Alaska

General

• Other Metal Detecting & Prospecting Websites
• Steve's Guide to Successful Rock Tumbling
• Metal Detecting & Prospecting Library
• Catalogs, Brochures, User Guides, & Owner's Manuals