Steve Herschbach

The sale was ending so I made this into a history thread, then the sale got extended until the 7th of April.

Who you calling a rat?

Use a VLF when you can and a PI when you have to. For most low mineral ground in Alaska with no hot rocks and small gold I'd pull out the VLF first. If you are having trouble with hot rocks then go to the PI. Axiom in Alaska I'd stick with the 7x11 mono unless you realistically have quarter ounce or larger gold in the ground.

I lost track of the number of 1-3 ounce nuggets I've dug, with a few larger than that. In my experience settings were not the biggest factor. I'd say any good PI from SD2100 on up with a decent large coil, say 11" to 18", can do the trick. I got most of my large nuggets with the GP 3000 to GPX 5000 range and favored 16-18" mono coils. Tuning is purely ground dependent. My tuning is in reaction to ground feedback and so varies with location. Run it as high as you can until the ground itself is giving you issues and ride the edge with whatever settings put you at that edge. If you are not digging a hot rock or two, the settings may not be high enough. If you are digging too many hot rocks, you may need to back off. Find the bearable medium. Settings in severe ground will be totally different than settings in mild ground. Relying on canned settings is useless - learn how to tune up the detector for best performance in any given area. See the post on the GPX 4500 linked to below - the methodology is the same for all detectors. Like I said, tuning was not the thing that produced for me. As you noted, the area must have large gold history or at least good geology for producing large nuggets. If you are in an area where no large nuggets have been found the last 100 years, good luck. I researched and put myself on ground that had historical records of such gold being found. I found that with a decent but not superb operator (me) running a decent detector and coil with decent settings, I could figure getting maybe 90% or more of the over one ounce nuggets in the first pass. Being first over the nugget is 100% the key. Going back with later detectors, coils, tuning, etc. was always needle in a haystack work looking for the nuggets that I did not get the coil over. Ground coverage was my thing so following myself was always a bad bet, but I did get a few since nobody is perfect. The big ones I ever found that were because of some new detector or coil going deeper were very rare indeed. As geoff notes, hunting flogged ground is not the best way to find large gold. Large gold is the easiest and earliest gold to be found, in fact VLFs got a lions share by being first on shallow ground when the pickings were both large and easy. To sum up worry less about settings and more about research and doing whatever travel etc. it takes to put yourself on ground that has never been hunted or at least not hunted well. Such places still exist but are getting as rare as the big gold itself. There are still quite a few in Alaska, but all would require contacting mine owners for permission to access not to mention small plane travel to remote locations and related logistics.

I can neither confirm nor deny such a conversation ever took place.

The site has no restrictions on words and terms except the worst explicit language. I very strongly suggest you find a better place for your tales as you said you were going to do previously. You started one new story, did not finish it despite pleas from the fans here since the viewership is not up to your standards. You said you were done. Then we get reposts of prior episodes. Now it’s complaints about restrictions. This really has run its course, and you and I both agreed you’d be better off finding a new venue. If and when you ever do let me know and I’ll be happy to point people in that direction. It’s time for this zombie thread to die.

I lobbied very hard for them to actively support aftermarket suppliers and was basically ignored. Maybe they think it would be competition for what they sell, or think they would sell someday? I don't know, but in my opinion it has hurt Axiom sales more than they realize, if the detector would have had robust aftermarket support out of the starting gate.

As far as coils I'd like a standard DD 12" round, both above water and a water neutral wading coil, plus a 4x6 mono. If I had to pick one it would be the 12" round standard DD above water version. No interest personally in real large coils as they ruin the ergonomics, a prime reason I use the Axiom.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-reviews/whites-tdi-pulse-induction-metal-detector/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/whites-tdi-moore-creek-alaska/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/3615-under-4-pound-under-2000-gbpi-challenge/ Depends what your intended use is. For nugget hunting any PI made now is a more powerful and better option than the TDI, including any Minelab made since the SD2200D. A Garrett Axiom for $1999 new (less on sale) is twice the machine a TDI ever was for nugget detecting. On the other hand the TDI original big box models were some of the best beach PI detectors ever made. If by newer designs you instead mean the newer TDI SL - it's actually less powerful than the original TDI and TDI Pro models. The links above should help. And if they are not enough here are 230 more threads to look at: https://www.detectorprospector.com/tags/whites tdi/

See thread here by person that shot the video To show a video here go to the actual YouTube page for the video and look for the share link, copy and paste here. Or sometimes in upper right of video itself - "copy link" button, copy and paste.

Sadly you posted it right before the forum meltdown last year, so it went missing from the old backup I ended up having to use to restore things. I'm truly sorry about that. I wonder if Internet Archive picked it up before things went poof?

Some of Nicks earliest posts were some incredible internal photos of Axiom coils, and explanations about their construction. Unfortunately those posts were lost as part of the “forum reset” that occurred last year. A real loss as the information was uniquely informative, and displayed Nicks great technical knowledge. Yes, good to see, as old dogs like me fade from the scene.

Thank you for the kind mention Nick. The GPAA magazine must be about the last printed magazine left now that all the detecting magazines and the ICMJ are gone. Or maybe there are some I am unaware of… I’m afraid I don’t peruse the magazine racks like I used to back in the day. Before the internet the latest issue of Western & Eastern Treasure or the ICMJ was the only way to connect with the community at all if you had no local club. One way communications for sure, and once a month at best, but all the more valued for its rarity.

More news here…. https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27875-nokta-active-magnetic-sensor-pi-detector-is-getting-closer-the-magnetar/

This is a very rare Coiltek Platypus 12x8 DD coil for the Minelab PI series and White's TDI. I bought the coil on eBay last year. The coils were sold new from about 2010 - 2015 so this coil is at least 10 years old, but is in excellent condition considering the age, cable is clean and flexible, showing no adverse signs of aging. I have included a new coil bolt, not shown in photo. They sold new for $295 (se old 2011 ad below). I am selling for $190 shipped to Lower 48 only via UPS or USPS. I accept PayPal and will only ship to the address shown on the buyers PayPal page. What makes these coils unique and rare is they are one of the very few epoxy filled and 100% waterproof coils for the Minelab PI series. Being epoxy filled means they are neutral weight underwater but heavier above water. This coil weighs 1 lb 9 oz or 704 grams with scuff cover, not bad really due to the open spoke design. This coil will also work on the Minelab SD-2000, SD-2100, SD-2200, GP-Extreme, GP-3000, GP-3500, GPX-4000, GPX-4500, GPX-4800, and GPX-5000. It WILL NOT work on the GPX 6000. This coil is also compatible with all White's TDI models except the TDI Beach Hunter, which has a hardwired coil. The new Algoforce E1500 was designed to run mono coils only. DD coils will work, but only one half of the coil will be active. I did run this on my Algoforce and it worked fine but what you end up with is really a 12x5 coil operationally.

Cleaned up ad deleting the sold items.

Why? No idea with yours in particular. White’s coils are foam filled and with lots of use/banging around the foam can deteriorate and windings shift. Repairable? Not realistically as labor and shipping to undertake the task would exceed the cost of the coil. The normal fix was toss and replace. Can you use it? Sure, just can’t set sensitivity so high as to cause it’s to overload. Me, I’d replace it.

I stand corrected, looks like a bit of bad info I picked up somewhere and now passing along. Slap on hand! Thanks for the update, I’ve corrected my post.

Sounds like the coil has gone bad. I sold a huge number of GMTs plus owned a few and I'd see that every once in a while.

I’m glad the Big C did not get you. When we were kids it was a death sentence, these days treatable in most cases. One of the benefits of getting old now is they keep figuring ways to keep us running. 100 years ago I’d be deaf and blind with no teeth sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Still going strong though thanks to modern miracles like artificial hips. So nope, no complaints here!

Hi Andy, Long time no talk to, seems you disappeared from the scene for a while. I'm happy to hear you have not gone to the big detecting field in the sky like half of us old farts! Welcome to the forum.

This website has always been more fact oriented, personal stories by members of actual finds, how to use a detector, how to find gold, detector reviews, etc. Reality is most of the lost treasure magazines of the past were almost entirely complete fabrications. Often just one guy making up multiple tales using different pen names. Long story short never been an interest of mine nor a focus of this website. The only exception was the long running Ghostminer tale but I never felt it was really a fit for this website. Lost treasure tales and the LRL crowd seem to go hand in hand and it might open the door to stuff I'd prefer be left elsewhere. So for that and other reasons it's not something I care to see proliferate here. It's a rabbit hole into a whole different world as far as I am concerned. If that is really something a person wants there is a hotbed of it over on TreasureNet.... https://www.treasurenet.com/forums/treasure-legends.67/

This tale is so convoluted I will keep it to bare necessities here. We had a past forum member who died, who was replaced by his grandson, who then also died. I was contacted by the father saying millions of dollars had been left to create memorial hunts in honor of the son. This put up red flags in my world and I distanced myself and the forum from any such effort. Then the wife of the deceased recently joined to carry on where the other deceased members had left off. There have been other red flags regarding identity raised. Hours have been spent by myself, Simon, and Hugh trying to verify what is real and what is not in all this. Questions asked either get no answers, or have been given answers that can't be verified or are clearly not true. Numerous forum members have had contact with these people and I have been told strange stories as a result. None ever resolve the questions I have but only add more uncertainty. It's all now too much for me, way too much drama. I have deleted the last couple threads related to these people, and sadly many kind responses from our good hearted and trusting forum members were also deleted as a result. The related accounts have been banned and blocked. I will have no further contact with or involvement in any of this. I want to be very clear I am not accusing anyone of anything. My answer if asked about any of this is a solid "I don't know". There is simply something very odd going on and I want nothing to do with it going forward. I would make no mention at all and just move on, but I do feel a responsibility to let forum members know that if they are contacted about any of this, to use due caution and diligence before getting involved in anything. I do not want to make a big deal out of this with a bunch of public speculation. My goal is just the opposite, to put this to bed and get as far away from it as possible. I am therefore locking this thread from commentary and ask that nobody start other threads related to any of this. If anyone has any comments or questions feel free to PM me about it. Thank you.

Well Joanna, thank you for the solid reply to my not so welcoming post. Big thumbs up for being up front! You will have to forgive me as I get inundated by marketers and outright spammers so much it has made me pretty touchy on the whole subject. Kind of shoot first and ask questions later. You definitely get my vote on that - I am a reader not a viewer myself. I will leave this all for the competent members here to consider, and simply say to you, welcome to the forum. I do admire the work you have done on multiple levels and wish you success.

Yeah, the articles and such look solid. That's really not what is bugging me about it. I did not post links to phaze-9.com on purpose so you have to Google it to see where this all fits together as a business. I guess you can look at it as various magazines owned by some corporation where the main goal is to make a buck, but where the magazines themselves are good and interesting to people.