TRINITYAU

Hello all, I got out today with one of my friends and we went exploring. We were moving up a wide draw that had water running in it and came up on an inside turn where we found evidence that someone had been playing around recently. There was a black plastic gold pan lying near the creek by some cleaned out cracks. We had not found any gold yet so we decided to stop for a bit and see what was in the area. Chris used his small pick and scraped out a few shallow cracks that had moss covering them. He then panned the material out to see several pin point bits of gold. The area was worked all around by the old timers but I am pretty sure the fine gold is what they were recovering. I continued to detect near the water's edge and finally got a soft signal on the bedrock, but It turned out to be a tiny piece of lead.



While on my knees and looking at the bedrock in front of me I saw what I thought was a boot track in the bedrock. In the split second that my mind was telling me one thing I was thinking another. This is pretty hard bedrock and there should be no print. Looking again I realized that was looking at fossilized ground. Checking closer I could see lots of prints embedded in the rock. I don't know what many of them are but it sure was neat seeing them like that. After playing around and taking some pictures we decided to move on and see if we could find a piece of gold a bit larger than what was in the pan.

 

 

As we were going up the public side of the draw I spied a digging up the hill on the private side. We checked out our location on the phone and have it earmarked for a possible trip in the future if we can gain permission from the owner. We were real close, however without permission it was a no go for me.



I would appreciate any information that anyone can offer as to what the names are for some of these creatures we found in the rock.
Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

TRINITYAU.COM           

Hello Mike, try resizing the page. A few people have had the same issue. If you go down to 80 or 90 per cent zoom then you should see a go to check-out in the white box at the cart. That has worked for others. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello everyone, my book "Detecting for Gold, Adventures, Trips and Tips" is now for sale at http://www.trinityau.com Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I finally got a chance to get out for a day of detecting and met up with a few friends. We had a large area to detect so we all split up and went our own ways. One of the guys told me about a digging that followed the large gully we were hunting on. He mentioned that the digging was up the hill and paralleled the gully.

I found the area and it was what I had hoped for, a pocket digging. The old timers had opened up a seam of rotten shale that was about fifty yards long, ten feet across and about eight feet deep. I detected the digging itself first and did not get any gold. The guys had told me that they detected some gold out of it earlier. It still looked too good so I went over the berm to the hillside between the digging and the gully. You could see where material had been thrown over and down and I figured that I might get a small scrap somewhere along that zone to at least keep the skunk away.

As I moved across the face of the hill I came to an area that had more brush and less dig holes. I went into my regular routine and dropped to my knees and started detecting into the brush. About ten feet in I got a really nice mellow signal and scraped the leaves out of the way. The target was still there. I moved the topsoil off my small clearing down to the red and orange clay that was mixed in with the rotten shale. The shale began to get hard and about six inches deeper as I was pulling the soil out of the v-groove when I thought I saw something yellow glint in the late afternoon sun. I reached down and grabbed a hand full of dirt. As I switched the dirt from hand to hand I felt the weight of something as it dropped onto my palm. I pulled my hand out into the sunlight and right away I could see my nugget peeking out of the clay and dirt. Wow, I said to myself, that's a nice one.

When the nugget was put on the scales it came out to 14.88 pennyweights. After washing the loose dirt off of it I put it on the scales again and it came in at 14.83 pennyweight. I was using the 3000 with the Sadie coil.

I have been very busy the last month or so getting my book "Detecting for Gold, Adventures, Trips and Tips" off to the printer. I have also been working on my website "TRINITYAU.COM". The book will be available at the end of January. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello Steve, I figured I would hear something pretty fast. I sometimes sound as if I am coming on strong, that is not the case, that is 22 years of military coming out. I get that at work all the time. LOL  I would appreciate any help you can offer.

This is the same site that we went to at the college. When my site was scanned Google Tools came up with the same four image lines to be optimized/compressed. The scan was done for both desktop and mobile and the results were the same. I was told by Google Support that it is a balancing act between desktop and mobile. What can be optimized on one sometimes cannot be optimized on the other. I was basically told that if I wanted the site to come up the way I would like it to come up then there was nothing I could do with these four image lines that show up on the analyze site. I talked to three other support persons who all told me the same thing.

I will be the first to tell you and admit to others that I am no expert at all on computer and internet technology. I have to trust what I am being told. I tried to do the things you mentioned to no avail. At one time I was so irritated with how things showed up that I went to the library with three friends and their laptops/phones. All four screens on the mobiles were different on some pages and phones. Yes, there was a difference in viewing my site on a Droid than how it was viewed on a Samsung. The laptops all showed up the same. Later that afternoon, after compressing those four image lines, the laptops were fine but the mobile devices were way worse. I settled with what I have now. If you know a way in which I can run at full optimization please call me. I would like my site to operate on all devices to full capacity. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, thanks for all the comments. I have been talking to many people about their access to the site and how it has worked for them. I have only come across a very few that have had issues loading at all.

Steve, all the pictures have been optimized for the site. I had several friends and an instructor in Webpage set-up at Shasta College help me go over the site. The few people that were using older versions of Explorer were the ones having problems. I was told also that many website companies are set up to optimize on Chrome and above. I am finding out myself that I am going to have to keep up with technology better. Next year, I am sure there will be another newer program that we will have move up to.

These forums do not work well with Explorer any more. The basic pages come up but when you go to post, or get off a main page things do not work right. I use Chrome all the time now and have encountered no problems. I cannot post at all if I have opened up with Explorer.

Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

I thank Steve for allowing me to post this information.

Hello all, I would like to invite everyone to visit my new website "TRINITYAU.COM". HTTP://WWW.TRINITYAU.COM I started this website to advertise and sell my book "Detecting for Gold, Adventures,Trips and Tips". The website has turned into quite a bit more and I am looking forward to adding all my weekly trips to the "My Trips..." page. Of course any of my longer trips that carry me off to locations away from the Redding, CA area will also be posted as well.

I will continue to add new content and pictures that are educational to all as time goes along. If anyone has any ideas as to subject matter that could be added, please let me know. I am open to comments and hope to have a site that will offer information to both the beginner electronic prospector as well as the seasoned gold prospector. There are many subjects that I plan on going into more detail about with a common sense approach.

I will continue to post on the different forums where I have posted in the past.

Again, thanks for looking, and leave a comment on the Blog. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

TRINITYAU.COM TRINITYAU.COM TRINITYAU.COM

Hello all, I got out with Chris today and hunted an area that we have been eyeballing for while. It is a long walk in and a longer walk out. The area is an old hand diggings and there was hardly any trash. I got my larger piece in the first few minutes and the next few came during the rest of the day. I was using my 3000/Sadie. Chris took a few hours to find his first piece, after that he did ok also. Chris was using his GB Pro/Ten inch coil. It was beautiful day with the high around sixty eight degrees. The hunting days are getting short already. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS
 

Hello all, I had been out detecting with a friend and the place turned out to be a bust so I called my wife and had her come pick me up. I told her to bring her detector and we would detect a few pullouts on the highway as we headed home. She got there and we went by a spot at an intersection where some old diggings came down almost to the highway. She started detecting and I walked over to the edge of the diggings and started detecting. Within a few minutes got a booming signal with my GB Pro. I looked down a saw what I thought was a large flake of gold. I thought to myself, WOW! I reached down to pick the piece up and saw that it was a gold coin.

The coin turned out to be a 1843 D (Dahlonega,Georgia) two and a half dollar/Quarter Eagle. It has the large D and large date. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hey guys , these photos should come along for the Nokta and did not. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I have been in Northern Nevada the last week. I used the FORS in Redding before I left and I used it again in Nevada. I have a hunting partner that has been using the unit also. The area in Redding that I worked has pretty mild ground with some yellow clay here and there. I have found gold in grain size pieces and nuggets up to three dwts. I decide to use the small round 5x4 coil first. After becoming familiar with the unit and reading a bit here and there I felt like I was ready to give it a whirl. I decided to detect in the Automatic Ground Balance Mode. I wanted to see what different signals I might hear as I had just finished going over the same ground with a GB Pro and my 3000. I had a pretty good mental note of what I heard and the location of the signals. I detected this area just the way I found it on a Saturday morning. Nothing was placed in the ground for a test, the targets were all real and the depth was unknown.

As I was swinging the balance felt good to me. The unit is very light and this would be a plus to some of the older people who detect. There are a few things that I will contact Nokta about that I would like to see changed or added. On the handle where the thumb is placed I would not mind seeing the plastic molded in such a way that a very small ergonomic platform would be on either side of the current thumb position. Having this change would make it easier and more comfortable for a person to detect longer periods. Lets face it, there are many of us are getting old and we need all the help we can get.

The first target I got screamed at me and turned out to be a 1/64 bb about two inches down in the soil. The signal response was great and I think a little bit louder than the GB Pro. The signal is also a much more concentrated sound than the GB Pro. The coil center is where the strongest signal comes from, unlike some coils. In further detecting with the other larger coils I found this to be true also. The GB Pro for example would have heard the bb as I was moving towards it where the Nokta pinpoints it with the coil center. This to is a good feature but can also cause some problems with cracked up bedrock wile trying to pinpoint. The numbers on the handle readout appeared to be pretty close to the readings on the GB Pro, this was no surprise. I will try and answer a question that many people ask me about the numbers. I do not depend on them but they are pretty accurate and both the Nokta and the GB Pro perform about the same in this task. As you are going along and detecting, you get a signal, you look down and the number sometimes is off from what you may expect, take either unit and set it off to the side for a few seconds and then make another pass over the target while watching the meter. Most of the time you will get a number closer to what you would expect. Myself, I like to "get my ears right".

Moving on I found several more bb's that were a tad deeper than the first and I did not hear them with the GB Pro. I actually stopped and went over these targets with the GB Pro to make sure, and I could not hear them. A few were lead and some were iron. This was another plus for the Nokta. I moved over to some deeper ground and within a few minutes I heard one of the signals I had heard earlier that sounded like it had some depth. I did not hear it with the GB Pro, the problem (not a problem, LOL) was that this target had been heard with my Sadie coil/3000. After digging about eight inches the target was in the pile and out of the hole. I went over the target and it pinpointed very easily with the coil center and I then reached down to scoop up some material with my hand. Making a quick pass over the pile told me that the target was in my hand. Dropping the soil gently onto the coil gave me that same signal and I was looking at my first Nokta gold. At home it turned out to be an 8.5 grainer. Looking back at the dig it appeared that the little nugget had been standing vertical in the tan shale. The signal again was a bit stronger than what I have become accustomed to with other VLF's. This is another plus to me.

I detected a while longer in the Auto Mode and then decided to go to the Vibration Mode. I was really excited about using this mode, as this type of mode was new to me. While the unit was being used in the Auto Mode I was getting signal responses from hot rocks that were similar to the same signal one would get from any of the various VLF's. After getting your ears right you can somewhat judge the smaller ones while the larger ones are easier to hear the tone difference. The number readout seemed to be about the same with both units on the hot rocks. I started detecting in the Vibration Mode already knowing that the unit was capable of hearing tiny bb's. I figured that the Vibration Mode would work OK, but only over a large target. I totally missed on that line of thought. I started out of the gully going up a gentle slope and got my first vibration in the handle. You can really feel the vibration good. I expected to look down and see a can or nail, maybe even a hot rock. There was nothing on the surface, so there must be something big just under the surface. I scraped the ground with my sandal and moved about an inch of depth. I went over the scrape and there was no vibration. I went over my little pile and I got that now familiar "thump" again, both directions that I swung, still expecting trash I set the Nokta down and away from the scrape. I got the GB Pro and listened. The target was in my pile, however my ears told me that the target was not trash but gold/lead maybe even a tiny hot rock. I put the GB Pro down and went over the target again with the Nokta and got my thump, thump. I was ready to see what this target was so I picked up the soil and sprinkled it on the coil.

I have to tell you that it is a chore to hold onto the handle and drop soil onto the coil. I since figured out that Audio can be run while in Vibration Mode. I thought I was going to throw my back out with the position I was in while trying to drop the soil onto the coil. The target thumped when it hit the coil and I had to move soil around until I located the "thumper". The target turned out to be a sub-grain particle of gold. I would guess that maybe four of that size might make a grain. I immediately checked the scrape out again and did not get any other signals with the Nokta. I figured, what the heck, lets go over the scrape with the GB Pro. I did and I heard what could have been another tiny bit of gold/lead or a hot rock. I got the target on the coil and it was a hot rock. Wait a minute I said to myself, how come the Nokta did not vibrate on the hot rock? This is not good I thought. I played around with the Nokta for almost a half an hour and reached the decision that I just don't get. This new Nokta, when in Vibration/Audio off, does not hear hot rocks but will thump on metal. I have never run across this but I tried it out more here in California and got the same response in Nevada over ground that is infested with tiny hot rocks. I had several other people try it out with the same results. This is amazing to me.

The other thing about the Vibration Mode, it is fantastic for those who may have a hearing issue. Even for those who have good hearing, in Nevada especially, when the wind is blowing you can still tell when you have a target, This Vibration Mode even takes this unit out of the goldfields and allows a person to coin or relic hunt if they have a hearing issue.

I used the Vibration Mode in Nevada and found several small pieces of gold in the clay.

The unit is very user friendly in my eyes and if you can use a cell phone you will not have any issues with the menu set-up on the Nokta. I did not use headphones at all while I used it as the speaker works very well. I expect an even better target response with headphones. There are a few things that I have not touched on at all simply because I did not get out of the two Modes that I used.

My friend George used the Boost Mode as did Steve H. and it seems both guys thought that it did add to the signal response.

My time with the Nokta FORS was enlightening to say the least. I was surprised at a few different levels. At first I figured it would turn out to be maybe a middle to upper end VLF but that thought has gone away. For the price and workmanship along with its performance in the field I would say that the Nokta FORS surpasses many of the other VLF's currently on the market. I was very happy to have been able to try this unit out.

The Nokta is currently sold by Kellyco and am not sure if anyone else is a dealer or not. Because of that I do not know how service problems would be handled. I can say that through my communications with Dilek, that she represents the company very well and I would think that service would be an issue that would be addressed stateside at some point. I will leave that to Dilek to comment on. Remember that this is not a fly by night company. Nokta has been around since 2001 and has a huge following of many countries. While the United States is a big market we tend to think that sometimes we are the only market, we are not. I look forward to anything new from this company and would like to be the first to try it out. There was a comment on another forum that this was a knockoff company, I assure you it is not a knockoff company. Remember also that it was not too long ago that another company from outside the United States offered its product and it took a few years for that detector to gain a hold. I expect to see the same ting possibly happen with Nokta.

I will try and make additional posts as I get out with the unit. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, this may take a few tries to transfer from another forum, please be patient. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I received the Notka unit from UPS on Monday. I was impressed that the box that the detector was in had been wrapped in plastic for waterproofing. It also shipped pretty fast considering is start location was in Istanbul, Turkey. It had two stops by imports also before it got to me. When I got home from work I opened the box to find a nice soft cloth bath in which everything was packed. The bag while not really fancy is adequate for carrying everything needed if an individual wanted to keep everything together while in transit. Zippered compartments inside hold the various items included with the detector.

The unit comes with a battery charger for the four AA rechargeable batteries. I had to go out and get an adapter for that charger so it would work here in the states. I have already contacted Kellyco who is a Notka dealer and found out that they do supply an adapter for the charger, so that will be no extra cost for anyone making a purchase of this detector. The batteries are good quality "Varta" batteries. You get a wall charger and a car charger. VARTA Consumer Batteries - Home

The unit comes with three coils. The large coil is 15.5 x 13.3 inches, the next size coil is 11.2 x 7.0 inches and the third coil is the small one, 5.2 x 4.7 inches. All three coils come with coil covers. They are not taped on the edges, so that is something a person would have to do. I have only tried the small coil so far and I will talk about that in a bit. The coils and the power cords are equal if not better quality than some VLF's currently on the market. This is my opinion.

The unit comes with a set of Phillips headphones, model SHP2000. Philips SHP2000 Full-Size Wired Over-Ear Headphones (Black) - Newegg.com The headphones are good but most people will probably opt out for their favorites. The headphones provided will work.

The unit comes with a nice little suede pouch with a clip-on attachment that is ok. You also get a handy dandy baseball cap with the Notka emblem on it.

After unpacking and looking at all the items I started to put the detector together. I decided to place the small coil on first as I wanted to check it's sensitivity to small targets. The fastener for the coil is a bit different and I like it. The shaft, or "stick" is equal to any other VLF's on the market. Actually, after running my fingers over the pop holes I was surprised that I did not cut or scratch my fingertip as I have done with a few other detectors that I have purchased in the past. Attention to detail appears to be one of the traits of this company. The control box was mounted next with the armrest. Again the plastic fittings provided for the attaching of the box to the stick are top quality and work very well.

The control box is very light and I think small for what it does. There is a arm rest strap provided. After the "put together phase" I found the unit to be extremely light and well balanced. I work in the brush a lot so I will comment on how the unit does in that brush down the line. I stick will adjust for a very long reach which comes in handy at times. The handle has two places where power cords attach, but they can be arranged so that they are out of the way, and should not get damaged. There is a screen on the control box that is on the inside of the left side of the box so it does not get the sun beating down on it. The handle however does have a small screen that is located at the top. I got some see thru sun glare tape from Ace Hardware and put over that window, it should se safe from any damage as well. There are power cord locks that are provided for keeping the cord in place on the stick/shaft. I will note that I would be happier if a more comfortable arm rest would be developed in the future.

Overall, I am very happy with what I have seen already from this company. From the shipping to the product itself, this company has done a very good job. There are some features on this unit that I will shed light on in the future.

I was eager to get the unit out and see what it would do in the field. I took off the next morning and went to a very nearby location that has been hit very hard with every detector under the sun. All I wanted to do on this trip was turn the unit on and play with the screen and check out the various functions. There are lots of functions by the way. I will go into detail much more in a few days after I am able to use some of the functions. I tried the flash light out the night before after assembly and it covered the coil area very well.

After seeing what a few targets sounded like I could tell that there are some subtle differences between the FORS Gold and my current VLF. They are good differences and I will touch on them soon, after a few trips out. The one function that I really wanted to try out was the Vibration Mode. I had it in my mind that it would work on the larger targets and wane away as targets got smaller. I was proven wrong as the vibration I felt in my hand was just as strong with a .22 round, 2 dwt nugget, Foil and Tin along with sub-grain pieces of gold and lead. I could not tell of any depth loss while using this feature at all. My testing was done with targets that I supplied on the ground and nine targets that were identified only after digging them out of the ground. To me this is a real nice feature to have. I am already thinking of Nevada during the colder parts of the year when the wind is blowing. It is very hard at times to hear and this feature solves that problem. I really like it. For you guys that have bad hearing this is a feature that will really help you to know that you have a target. I tried it over and over and it works.

The unit offers discrimination. I do not use discrimination at all, except when coin shooting. I found out many years ago not to use or depend on discrimination while detecting for gold. I have come behind people who love their discrimination mode and I have picked up nuggets that had lodestone, ironstone, iron stain, and magnetic black sands attached to a particular piece of gold.

Right now I like what I am seeing and will be taking the unit out for a few weeks of "out in the field" testing. When I am confident of the functions and features of this unit I will report back with my findings. It may be a bit of time before hearing back from me over the next few weeks as the ongoing try out for this unit continues. This is all I can offer right now. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hey Hawkeye, I was hunting shallow bedrock and the cracks and crevices were very small. When I got a good signal I would take my mask and just hold it on the surface with one hand while using the pocketknife with the other. A few of the pieces were wedged in pretty tight but part of the fun is getting getting them out. I hope to be hitting the same area again on Saturday. I have a better spot upstream and I might just take the mask,snorkel and squeeze bottle.The water is not cold and the air temperature is suppose to be about 107 degrees, so I should be ok. I get quite relaxed when I am finding gold in the water on a blue sky day under tropical conditions here in Northern California. It would be nice if there was a food and drink service available in between each piece of gold being dug out. I guess I am getting too lazy as I grow older...   TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS  

Hello all, I got out today with the F-19 to detect bedrock in a creek that has been producing the last few weeks. I had an issue losing the ground balance when I put the coil underwater. I don't know if it was the temperature of the water or the sheer amount of hematite that was lodged in the bedrock. Once I was over a target I did get a good response. The hematite showed up from 85 to 95 on the big screen number. The gold was right where it was suppose to be, 40 to 50 and no ferrous bars. I ended up with ten small pieces. The weight was two grams or 1.29 pennyweight for Shep... Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I was able to get out with the Fisher F-19 for a few more days. I am using it in the Redding area of Northern California. Local results may vary depending on your location. This is by no means a technical paper, just the differences that I see between the F-19 and the GB Pro.

The F-19 comes with a ten inch elliptical coil that is stock.

The GB Pro comes with a five inch round coil that is stock.

Both coils are very sensitive to sub-grain pieces of gold. I prefer the ten inch coil over the five inch coil because it will cover more ground in less swings. It will also fit into crevices better. I have not noticed any difference in the effect of EMI or ground noise on either coil. I did not notice any false signals from either detector. To me Pin-Pointing appears to be a quicker process with the ten inch coil. I feel that the tip of the ten inch coil is more sensitive than the rest of the coil.This applies to both units.

The control boxes on both units appear to be the same, however there are differences. If I were to use the F-19 to detect for gold I would use the same settings that I use on the GB Pro. The difference that I noticed with the F-19 is that I can turn the gain up to about the two o’clock position and maintain a steady and even threshold. With the GB Pro I could only go up to about the eleven o’clock position and maintain a steady threshold. Both of these scenarios are without headphones.

When using headphones I was able to set the Gain to the maximum setting on both detectors. I like to use both of these detectors without headphones because I can hear sub-grain pieces when both are set to the above Gain settings. I come across lots of rattlesnakes in my area so I like to hear all around.

Because I can set the gain a bit further on the F-19 it seems to be just a tad more sensitive. I say a tad because it is almost not noticeable I don’t know why this is occurring as I was told that this was not one of the improvements or additions.

The other difference is the signals are softer and I was not getting the loud audible on trash with the F-19 that I was getting with the GB Pro.

Both units have continuous ground condition readout.

Both units are 19 kHz operating frequency.

Both units show ground phase values indicating the amount of mineralization.

Both units have computerized Ground Grab. The F-19 has a manual override.

The F-19 is recommended for: Relic, Beach, Coin and Gold.

GB Pro is recommended for: Gold

The F-19 offers a Menu on the screen.

Both units weigh in at 2.5 pounds, and are considered Ultra Lightweight.

Both units have Static pinpoint with depth indicator.

The F-19 has a Backlight display.

Both units will accept headphones.

The GB Pro has a variable Break point tone discrimination system, TM

The F-19 has an enhanced Break point tone discrimination system, TM.

The F-19 has Notch Window with Adjustable Notch Width.

Both have independent control of Threshold and Gain

The F-19 will Ground balance all the way to Salt.

The F-19 has unmatched Target Separation in Iron and Trash.

The F-19 has an Adjustable Iron Audio.

The GB Pro has VCO Audio in All Metal and Discrimination modes.

The last five items that are bold and underlined are added features for the F-19. These items increase the effectiveness of this unit when used in the Relic, Beach or Coin mode. These items vary with the GB Pro.

Overall, the F-19 appears to be just a GB Pro in camo with a ten inch coil. However, the additions shown above can be favorable for the gold prospector. When detecting for gold in high trash areas or tailing piles the F-19 may be better fit for the job.

Remember the F-19 is not being touted as a gold machine. It is a Relic, Beach and Coin machine. I consider it a great crossover unit.

The F-19 comes in Green Camo and Pink Camo. I opted for the Green Camo as it was the better choice for me. I believe there would be a change in my performance and concentration if I had gone pink… Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got out with the guys today for a hunt. We all met up and headed out to the site at 0800 this morning. After making sure everyone had everything we were on the trail down to the creek. After a mile of walking we hit the mouth of the canyon and split up here and there and began detecting. We were detecting bedrock along the edge of the stream. We had four Minelabs and a GB Pro in motion. It was a hot one today and after about five or so hours we were all ready to go get a cold one at the local store. We all got gold so all were happy. There was a total of 7.3 grams found between all of us. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

  

 

This piece was found on Chris's claim a few years back. It was found with the GB Pro. It went just a hair smaller than the one Chris posted. I went from one extreme to the other on that trip. I also found a nice specimen, however it was found with the 3000. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hey Chris, we need to get together again sometime before the snow flies. Ray

These four pieces were found with the Sadie mono coil/ GP3000

Hello all, I met up with Chris and Shasta Gold Hunter for day of playing around. We headed out to a location we wanted to check out but it just was not to be. After meeting up together again we decided to go to another site. It was a pretty warm day so this location turned out to be just what we needed. After parking we headed down the trail and into the canyon where we found the creek full of water, more water than last year at this time. We split up and went different directions. All three of us were using GB Pro's and searching crevices for targets, then panning out the impacted gravels. We then used straws to blow away the remaining dry dirt. I think we all spent more time just enjoying the weather and relaxing. None of us got rich today, but no one got the skunk either. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hey Rick, those are nice pieces. Any depth, VLF or PI?  TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello again Moxford, before we go any further what is moxford?  

Without getting into any names or anything the video that I saw between the 5000 and the ATX just showed me that someone did not know how to tune in a PI, whether it be a souped up GP 3000 or a GPX 5000. In my experience there is no way either the 3000 or the 5000 and anything in between would have missed those targets. I have been hunting too long with a PI to even come close to believing that video and a few others. The ATX is a "very" capable machine at the price, HOWEVER, in my opinion it will not get the depth that a Minelab PI will get. As I mentioned earlier, I played with one for a few days and became pretty familiar with it and there just is no way that it would compare to a Minelab PI. Again, as a stand alone PI, no comparing, the ATX is a good machine in it's own right and for the money it is a very reasonably priced unit. If I want to go deeper in any type of ground for gold nuggets I will stick to Minelab.

I will tell you right now that I will be one of the first to say that Minelab is way out of line on their prices and I for one will be keeping my eyes open for a PI or some new technology that will compare to a Minelab PI. Even though I do not like their pricing I have to stay with Minelab as far as performance goes. Yes, you may have to get a few different coils but that is part of the game. I use a my modified 3000 because it performs well for me. I keep hearing about the fine gold timings and all the smaller pieces people are now finding with the newer Minelab's and I have to say that I have been finding the same small pieces with my 3000 before it was ever modified and continue to do so. There have been advancements that are good but I cannot justify a three to four thousand dollar difference against my 3000. Familiarity with the unit you are using goes a long way.

As far as the GB Pro, I started using it soon as it came out. I used a GBII for many years and found pounds of gold with it and was not dissatisfied at all with it's performance. As a matter of fact I continued using the GBII along with the GB Pro for quite a while. Here in the Redding, Ca. area the GB Pro won out because I ended up getting better ground balance and depth in hot soils. It is also waterproof up to the box and I use it quite a bit to seek out sniping zones in a creek, and then go back with a mask and snorkel. There are soils and minerals that I cannot not tune the GBII in on, but the GB Pro works great and has found gold. I do wish that they would come out with the same small boot the GBII has but... The real winner to me is the discrimination and how well it works. I love to take it into high trash areas where there is a chance of nice nuggets. I will cherry pick them right out of the trash with ease. Of course I am talking about earrings or better, not fines. I will give the GBII an edge on a very tiny piece laying out flat on the surface, in that you will hear it a bit zippier and quicker than the GB Pro, however I am talking just nano seconds difference. The GB Pro is going to hear the same piece. I have friends in Northern Nevada that have been nugget hunting for years and years, most of them have quietly switched over to the GB Pro because they are working ground that is just a few inches deeper and hotter on the periphery zones of old patches where pounds of crumbs have come out. I hope this helps, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello Moxford, I by no means call myself an expert but I can offer my opinions on what has worked for me. I detect for gold and that is it. I currently use two units. I have a Minelab 3000 that was modified by Ishmael many years back and I have been using the Sadie coil with it lately, it is a small almost round mono coil that is produced by NuggetFinder Coils.

The other unit I use is the GB Pro by Fisher and I use the ten inch eliptical coil. The GB Pro is a VLF unit. 

I am going to offer my opinions in the order in which you asked them.

California mineralization...

 I have not found any places in which my 3000 could not handle the ground. You will however have to become familiar with what type of coil and size of coil to use in a particular ground situation. I hunt many diverse areas and choose to go with the Sadie coil because I have been able to find pieces of gold right at a grain, sometimes a hair smaller along with six or seven pennyweight nuggets at 16 to 20 inches in pretty hot ground.

How do I judge what is hot ground or mild ground ? Here lately I have been using the GB Pro to somewhat gauge the ground. I have some areas in which the GB Pro will balance out with a ground reading of 25 to 50. I have hunted over some Serpentine areas that give me a ground reading of almost a 100. The depth of the ground you are looking at hunting is going to gauge a lot of what you are going to be up against.

Many guys will hunt over exposed to very shallow (six inches) bedrock with a larger coil. I have found that the signal rate sometimes is too slow to hear very tiny pieces with a PI in this very shallow ground. These same guys will also have some deeper ground very nearby where the larger coil will be more ''usable". I have found that by going with the smallest coil that has proved itself out in these varying conditions is the best coil to go with.

You will notice that there is less EMI with a smaller coil, and many times the smaller right coil will handle the same hotter ground and still get you that three pennyweight nugget at fourteen inches. This is the exact reason I go with the Sadie. If I think there may be a chance of a larger nugget at more depth then I change coils to one that will give me the depth I am looking at.

No matter how many times this subject is brought up it still comes down to the right equipment for the job. I do not believe you are ever going to get away from this situation and feel that you are getting what gold may be in an area whether it be tiny, small or large nuggets without having the right tools.

The GB Pro has served me very well in these very diverse hot and cold ground conditions. The GB Pro is a very capable gold detector and will find a pennyweight nugget in pretty hot ground at twelve inches, sometimes a bigger piece at more depth. Where the GB Pro or a few of the other VLF's will shine is on those sub-grain pieces on very shallow bedrock.

These same VLF's will also pick up specimens in quartz or other host rocks that a PI will not touch. Do not get me wrong as a PI will also pick up some of these same pieces, but not always. If I am looking for sub-grain pieces at zero to six inches or detecting hard rock mine tailing's then the VLF is the choice detector. Trouble is you hardly ever run into ground that will allow you to use only one detector, a VLF or a PI. So once again you are back at having the right equipment for the job.

I have hunted in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, California, North Carolina and Alaska and have found diverse ground conditions in all these states, from one end of the spectrum to the other. Some of these conditions can change literally in just a very few inches. 

Waterproof...

I do not use any of my PI coils under water. I have not used any of the Minelab units that are made strictly for underwater. Just from what I have read I would want to try the new Garrett unit that will allow for full submersion. This is an area of detecting that I just do not get into, I had enough Scuba in the military.

The GB Pro is submersible to the box and I have used it very effectively for finding underwater crevices that are not too deep. There are other VLF's that will do this also.

Smallish nuggets...

I cannot answer this with a sound answer without knowing how small or deep and in what kind of ground conditions. I tried to answer this above.

Surf Detecting...

Again this something that I just do not do, however, I have some friends that have had excellent results with varying PI's and VLF's on the beaches of Northern California. The units they are using are not fully submersible though,but they do handle the beach soils.

ATX...

I have played with one of these several times and while it is a very capable unit , in my mind, it does not compare to either my 3000 or GB Pro under the same conditions. Again, these are just my opinions. Hope this helps, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I ended up being by myself today for a few hours out in the woods. I actually had a first time occurrence and was very surprised. I was in an area that has been hit very hard. As I was working my way through the area came upon a newly fallen pine tree. The ground was very dry and almost all the dirt and shale had come loose from the roots. I swung the Sadie over the pile but got no signal. I started to move on and thought to myself, I better just slow down and rake that pile down a bit. I did and when I went over the material I got a nice mellow signal this time. About eight inches down I saw the glint of yellow and reached into the hole to pick out a small, but thick bit of gold. It weighted out at just a hair under a gram. I didn't meet the skunk so I headed back to the rig and on to the house. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got out today for a while with Mark B. He had been detecting for a few hours by himself while I was at a different location giving a lesson to a couple of people. I headed over to the site and made my way a half mile up the draw. Mark had found four pieces. Once we met up I started detecting and within twenty minutes I had a nice mellow signal. My piece came out at ten grains, and Mark's were a half penny weight together. The clouds were getting dark, my wife Deb called and said supper was ready so I hollered at Mark and we headed out. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got out this morning with Chris, (Nuggeteer) and we hunted bedrock for a few hours. I found one crumb that came in at four tenths of a grain. When I left Chris had two pieces that were far bigger than my crumb. I had to get back to the house and left Chris to his hunting.

Just a few minutes after getting things done at the house I got text from a friend, Scott. He was in Redding for his mother's birthday and had a few hours for a short hunt. I decided to go back out for a bit. I took him to a place that I have been getting some nice gold that is throwing out of the shale which is intrusive on an almost level slope. There have been a few big rainstorms since my last trip to the area so it had washed a bit here and there. I had just walked away from Scott, not even two minutes and he hollered at me that he had a piece. I walked back over to see the nugget. It was nice marble looking piece. It turned out to be two penny weight even. The clouds started to gather again and within minutes we had raindrops hitting us. He was ready to head back home with his prize, so we did.

On a lighter note for you guys that are always raising heck about the BLM, look at what they are doing for us at each of the parking lots that we use while out detecting. They put up these really neat green sluice boxes for us, after depositing your material at the head of the box, then just push the silver button and look for the gold. I was really happy to see this change in BLM mining attitude and then someone told me they were drinking fountains. LOL Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Some pictures of the general area.