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Steve Herschbach

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  1. Oh, I was calling that the male end. I hate to mess with stuff like that while under warranty myself. Seems harmless but you never know - sometimes any mod is used as an excuse to void the warranty. Anyway, as long as you had no intentions of submerging the unit should be possible. The nut now doubt releases the fitting but without access to the inner compartment installing anything else could be a challenge, and splitting the case sounds like a really bad idea. Well, for me anyway, you may very well be more technically proficient. I am an expert at taking things apart. Putting them together again - not so much!
  2. The female fitting does not "unscrew" but it can be cut off and used to make your own adapter. JP describes the process here http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t19319-sdc-head-phone-mods Or you can of course just bite the bullet and buy the adapter at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/293-headphone-adapter-for-minelab-sdc-2300/ I have one and it works great. I have uneven hearing (a bit deaf in my right ear) so I much prefer using my Sun Ray Pro Gold headphones to employ the dual volume controls. For all that Minelab charges for these detectors they should all come with headphones that have volume controls, especially since the SDC has no built in volume control.
  3. All I can do to help is provide good photos. The female end retracts slightly to go over and lock onto the male end, so I show it twice, once retracted. The male end is 7 mm across. I hate this adapter. I wish they had used the same one as on the CTX 3030 and then both could share headphones. Standardization? Who ever heard of that?
  4. Dealers are welcome on these forums. I do as a rule prefer dealers identify themselves when posting. Putting dealership contact information is the signature line is encouraged for this reason, and can bring the dealer some business! Unlike most forums this one is not owned or sponsored by detector dealers. However, I respect many dealers as being some of the most knowledgeable people in metal detecting. To ban them here would be a bad idea. I in fact would like to attract them. I welcome any posts from any dealer intended to enlighten and inform. Any smart dealer should know people do not like overt sales. The way to go about it is show you know your stuff. Help people. Be useful. I also do not mind dealers advertising in the Classifieds and in fact again, I welcome it. There are limits however. First, you must identify yourself as a dealer in your ad. Second, only advertise real deals. Genuine limited time offers that people would regret not knowing about. Do not "flood" the Classifieds with ads. A few good quality listings is better than sheer volume. As a rule a dealer should have no more than two ads in the Classifieds at any one time; if more are posted I may delete the oldest ones at my option. And do note that no ads stay up forever unless updated regularly. After 90 days any ad may be deleted. Again, at my option and I am not looking to be draconian but am pretty forgiving. I try to see what the intent is and work with that. In particular, dealer ad listings for used detectors and demo units are most welcome. Offer the members of the forum real deals, and you will be appreciated. Dealers can be aggressive types but if so they will meet their match in me. I have very high standards for this forum and demand polite, informative discourse. Anyone wanting anything else, well, the internet is loaded with places that cater to everything else. Here, we stick to meat and potatoes. Advice from my 35 years in retail - talk about what you do that is good, not about what other dealers do or do not do. People do not like it when dealers talk others down. Any dealer that makes a habit of talking negatively about the competition or engaging them directly in a negative way will not be welcome here. This site will always put regular member interest first over dealer interests. Any member who has a problem with or objects to the behavior of any dealer on the forum, please PM me with your concerns. One person complaining that a dealer did them wrong may not sway me but on the other hand I do not want to support dealers in any way that do not make a habit of going above and beyond for their customers. Since this is all an experiment I am making up as I go you can bet I will be watching like a hawk and make adjustments in practices and policy going forward as I see fit.
  5. The most amazing thing to happen in the detector world would be for a company to pay attention to customer feedback on ergonomics by getting them involved in the process. The current process is for engineers to design what they think people want, and AFTER the design is set in stone, ask for commentary on how the electronics function. The choice of actual physical design and layout seems to be the darkest secret process kept behind closed doors. Dave Johnson seems to be one of the few engineers that ever gave ergonomics a place up front in the design process. The Fisher Gold Bug was revolutionary and many companies Unfortunately are stepping away from hip mount and chest mount designs. Nokta could score big points with a FORS Gold in a chest mount design, control panel on top so I can see and adjust it looking down. Perfect for wading, climbing hills, and people who just plain need to keep the weight off the arm. It would need heavy duty coil cables specially beefed up at the connector end. If I could buy that detector I would not even consider the competition. Just like if I could buy a four pound ATX I would ditch my GPX 5000. For me at least it is all about who can give me the most power in the most ergonomically accessible package. We are prospecting, detecting 12 hours a day, climbing hills, wading creeks! The reality is most detectors will find the target if I put the coil over it. The easiest way for a company to succeed in selling me detectors is to pay attention to the ergonomics. Maybe Nokta is willing to ask us what we want instead of telling us what we want in that regard.
  6. Hey Ron, nice! So when do we get to see the video of you digging that 65 ounce monster?
  7. Great story, thanks for sharing! And congratulations on your first nuggets!!
  8. Hi Rick, Welcome to the forum! I am guessing you saw a 2300 at work in competent hands. Frankly, most GPX owners simply have to see it to believe it. It sounds like hype until you see it in action. The little machine really works, and works very well. It favors the methodical hunter and anyone used to covering ground has to shift gears and slow the heck down with the SDC to get the best out of it. Hope you and Robin are well, best of luck to you.
  9. I have CLR also. It is a calcium, lime, and rust remover. From Amazon Klean Strip Green Muriatic Acid Can be had at most big box stores for $7-$8 a gallon. It is about 20% hydrochloric.
  10. I used salt and vinegar for years on placer gold. For California and Nevada gold I have been using muriatic (hydrochloric) for caliche and other calcium type deposits, oxalic acid for iron staining, and Whink 1% HF for the toughest jobs. Long thread on the subject here on the forum previously at Remember always, safety first when dealing with even mild acids. Details at the link above. If you find anything that looks like quality specimen gold, when in doubt, do nothing. Improper cleaning or handling could significantly lower the value of a specimen. With delicate pieces the most important thing is protecting them from physical damage, so any scrubbing or abrasion methods should be avoided. The best article I have seen online is at http://www.mindat.org/article.php/403/Cleaning+Quartz
  11. Thanks Jonathan, I am pleased with the way the forum is going, due to great posts from everyone. Amazing how gold just jumps out. My eye barely registered the photo before seeing the nugget. If I have to spend much time looking it rarely turns out to be gold. the nuggets just pop out of the dirt pile. Or on the ground, as may be the case.
  12. I do wonder what is up at White's Electronics. They have not put out a new detector platform since the V3i in 2009. Just rehashes of the MXT mostly. Yet they have been extremely busy on the research front, with the patent issued on half sine technology earlier this year http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/118-half-sine-metal-detector-technology-hybrid-induction-balance-pulse-induction-metal-detector/ And now a new patent for a constant current metal detector: http://www.google.com/patents/US8878515 United States Patent 8,878,515 Earle November 4, 2014 Inventors: Earle; John L. (Sweet Home, OR) Assignee: White's Electronics, Inc. (Sweet Home, OR) Family ID: 51798186 Appl. No.: 13/235,916 Filed: September 19, 2011 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The new invention provides better target object characterization and identification while eliminating ground mineralization detection. A constant current in the energizing coil establishes a constant magnetic field that goes from zero to a strong, but constant, field very rapidly, as in less than 10 microseconds. Target objects such as coins and other eddy current objects have an energizing time constant usually exceeding 10 microseconds, wherein the eddy currents accelerate until field equilibrium is reached in the target object. A constant current or constant magnetic field does not produce a significant signal in a receive coil after the transition from zero to constant current from ground mineralization permeability (powdered iron or ferrite equivalent). Target object eddy currents do produce a signal of varying amplitude throughout the constant current period, depending upon eddy current charging time or inductance of the object, usually not a simple exponential due to configuration of the target object. i.e., diameter, thickness, conductivity, etc. It will be interesting to see if these patents result in any actual product. People often make the mistake of thinking a patent means something is ready to hit the shelves and the truth is just the opposite. Patents are often filed and nothing ever comes of it. Or it gets licensed to others, who actually produce the goods. Who knows what is going on in this case, but White's is obviously still attempting to move the technology forward. I hope the best for them as they are an old name in the business and a great bunch of people. What makes this doubly interesting is Minelab also has patents in the works on constant current technology. http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/311-minelab-bruce-candy-new-patent/?p=2291 The Minelab work is an application for patent that has been in progress since 2009. This White's deal is an actual patent granted. Is there conflict here? Obviously with these two big names at work on the same thing something is up. Sad story is I am not well versed enough in the technology end of things to truly understand how this may actually improve metal detectors for the end user. Other than what it says up above - better discrimination while eliminating the ground. How much better is better?
  13. At one Minelab meeting with an engineer I suggested the GPX employ automatic timings. In automatic ground tracking, the detector sets the ground balance based on the feedback from the ground. Why also can it not use those ground readings to select a probable best timing for the operator, and vary those timings as the ground requires? Well, it could. It just has not been done. Timings right now are a fixed function, but variable timings is possible. There is much that can be done with processing power. What I want is less settings, less controls. I just want the detector to work. My ideal detector would have a power switch and nothing else. That way I can focus on using my knowledge, skills, experience, and intuition as a prospector to find the gold. That is what it is all about - I agree with klunker there. The detector is just a tool, no different than a shovel, and should be about as easy to understand.
  14. Ray, I have been following the Kinzli Forum and Friendly Forum watching the action on the California beaches last winter. It is what made me decide to be on storm watch this winter, and the forums are my alert system. I love detecting for gold, and gold found in a park or beach suits me just as well as any. Some nuggets found on beaches come with diamonds attached!
  15. Hello JP, There are still many gold nuggets out there just waiting for the first coil to get over them. Most of the ground I hunt is not nearly as mineralized as that in Australia. Therefore, most of the larger nuggets I find, I would have found regardless of the detector I was using. In other words, I found the nugget, not the detector. The smaller nuggets I find tend to impress me more about the detector I am using than the large nuggets. There is a reason the big gold nuggets disappear so quickly from new patches. Most of them are easy to find. It is the smaller stuff that challenges prospector and machine. A lot of places around here, the bedrock is not very deep. Gold tends to be surface gold. Unfortunately, that means getting more depth on an old patch often does not reveal new large nuggets down deep. Luckily, I have lots of hours to burn, and I am patient. Put me in gold bearing geology, and I am the blind squirrel that will find a nut now and then. It is the hours I put in that matter more than anything. I know you know all that about me. I am not as good as you are at squeezing the last possible bit of technical performance out of a detector through proper tuning and hardware enhancements. I hope you are having a very profitable year!
  16. Hi Jim, Maximum sensitivity is about all I ever run on the ATX. Frankly, it appears to me a bit more could be squeezed out of the detector. I like when I run the sensitivity too high on a detector and it becomes unstable, so I back it down a bit. That just never seems to happen on my ATX. I do think running at max contributes the the coil bump sensitivity I experience at times, but like anything else I have learned to deal with it. Hopefully you will have a thread about your latest adventures. Successful ones I hope!
  17. Yes Rick, but think - how many years was Fisher already working on the PI when that statement was made? However, given the way recent model introductions have gone one can only imagine the disaster that might result with something totally new at First Texas. Love the crew there but they do some real head scratching stuff at times.
  18. I am just like a kid before Christmas wondering about new detectors. What about that new Minelab? What will it do, what will it look like, what will it cost? What about that new Fisher? Will it compare? Will it ever appear? What about that new White's patent? Should I wait to buy one not knowing about the other? Do I keep what I have? All good questions, and a lack of knowledge should never get in the way of getting answers I say, even if they have to be made up! https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8936 http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t19976-well-could-this-be-it-minelab-s-new-jupiter-gpz-7000-detector http://australianelectronicgoldprospectingforum.com/general-chat-and-discussion-forum/ml'our-next-flagship-gold-detector-will-be-based-on-new-technology/
  19. To quote myself from the article linked above "The only icing on this cake is that there is a huge amount of fantastic stuff in the ground, and not deep at all. It is there, quite shallow, just under or near that thing you discriminated out. If we could see through discriminated items rather than be blocked by them an amazing amount of stuff would come to light." Discrimination is my best friend, or at least the people that employ it, because it means things remain to be found. The only ground that scares me is ground where no targets can be found at all. As long as trash remains, there is hope.
  20. If people stopped speculating on stuff they really know nothing about almost all human conversation would come to a complete halt!
  21. Welcome to the forum, and fantastic first post! Very much in line with what I would expect. And regarding your last question unfortunately this is a well know problem. Discrimination sucks! http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/326-metal-detector-discrimination-really-sucks/ The big dilimna is exactly what you outline. What to do in trashy tailing piles? If gold is sure to lurk, dig it all is the only answer it would seem. But that simply is not practical in most situations, usually due to a lack of time or lack of patience, or both. What I do at this point is use a good VLF detector to try and find which areas in the tailing piles have the best chance of gold. Not all tailings contain gold! If I find any gold, then switch to dig it all mode. I promise you, if you find gold someplace, you will eventually dig everything there. If you do not, somebody else will. In the meantime discrimination, imperfect as it may be, is our only tool for sorting through horribly trashy locations. That includes using a PI detector and hunting by ear, only digging those sweet pure tones and ignoring those that sound more like junk. Any time you leave a target in the ground you run a risk, so we each simply have to call the odds as best we can, given the particular situation. Again, great post! It perfectly illustrates why I think a well outfitted prospector needs both a good PI and a good VLF.
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