Andyy

You know it, Mitchel. I got sucked into the story. True or not, it sets a good plot.

Sure 160 acres and 640 acres is easy. But sometimes they cross between NW to SW for example. Also, here in AZ, the most common claim size is probably 20 acres. Soooo, you see the necessity to getting familiar with the county web site. :)

Look for the google download for PLSS. This will allow you to view township and range with the section number. Then you can look up the Notice of Location on the county recorder website to know how to draw it fairly accurately within the section number. mylandmatters should give at least a corner too (nw, sw, ne, se). Sometimes this is enough. Sometimes not. But this is the only way I know of locating since geocommunicator is not supported anymore. Other than that, you can purchase Footprint software .... but these are only updated once a year. It really depends how good your county recorder is to work with. As for blm, this will only get you history and other details. Not the exact location.

Trickiest part about the instructions (strangely enough) is the alignment after you've inserted the image. If you are getting google earth images to your garmin, sometimes it is good to record the coordinates of the corners of your map that you are going to repaste in. Using Steve's instructions, say I want to paste a certain google earth area onto my garmin. My steps are: 1) Go to google earth and mark the 4 corners I am going to export to my garmin 2) Take the screenshot capturing only the area within the 4 corners 3) Insert overlay into google earth and use the 4 corner points to realign the image (being sure to adjust transparency) 4) Once it has been adjusted and saved in google earth, export it to a .KMZ format 5) Open Garmin Basecamp and import it into there. 6) Now you can right click it in Basecamp and send it to your Garmin. This is the method I have to use to get stuff to my Garmin Montana GPS. If you just want outline claims, just create a polygon shape in google earth and export it as a .kml. No alignment adjustment necessary. Then import it to Basecamp and your Garmin the same way. It sounds time consuming but you get used to it. If you just want google earth aerials, consider paying for Garmin's service called Birdseye. It's part of Basecamp and makes it very easy to get any aerial image to your Garmin. Can't remember the yearly cost. I got it free the first year I had my Garmin. Andy

Xterra 705. In my opinion it was just a very noisy machine for the goldfields. Then I got the GPX5000. Great machine. I would still have it today if I did not have to pay off my ZED.

Way cool, Mad Tuna. The only way I would pick up a 5000 again would be for the smaller coil for when my toes get sore kicking all the big rock and boulders in the washes. DO YOU HEAR ME MINELAB?! GET US A SMALLER COIL FOR THE ZED TOO!!!

Being in the US, I use Avenger boots from workboots.com. They are reasonably priced, have NO metal and allow me to trudge through jumping cactus without nary a prick. I will only wear full leather boots with snake chaps for my shins .. due to our rattling buddies.

Yeah, I know this thread is getting a bit old but I can confirm having some hot rock difficulties with the ZED as well. Mind you that I am still becoming familiar with all facets of this beloved machine. But I happened to be in a spot which was hotter than I have seen the likes of, due to the Basalts. I was kicking hot rocks every 3 feet and even Severe did nothing to curb this (which makes sense now that I read JP's explanation) I see that I need further work at quieting this detector down in this location. I suspect Difficult with sensitivity dropped really low, will be the only workaround for these rare areas. I'll experiment more in the future.

In my opinion, it's pretty obvious how to set up B&Z with other machines. But the GPZ threshold is quite different than other machines and there really isn't a cut and dry volume as on other machines. Reason I brought up the topic is that I did a test on a .04g target and a 1.5g which were buried to just audible and I did not notice a significant difference. This has made me wonder if there are different ways of setting up the B&Z I figure JP will have seen the good and bad ways of setting this up.

Chris. Great job. Im happy you found those awesome pieces! You won't forget that day :-)

Right now I am running GPZ to WM12 to JP Booster to Black Widow headphones but am tempted to run dual speakers in place of the headphones. Assuming I were to run dual external speakers, JP, what order would you recommend doing adjustments for really optimizing your booster on the GPZ? (my main knobs I usually adjust are Sensitivity/Threshold/ and sometimes a hair of Volume (audio boost)) I listed above, the order I currently use. Curious to know what you recommend to really get the most benefit out of your B&Z booster. Many thanks.

Madtuna - Whirly birds are definitely the way to go. I tried doing some aerial gold scouting by circling with a Cessna 172 and I'm sure I just appeared to be a confused Kamikaze.

JW - yes, I am using JP's booster with configuration I listed above. I do need to move my WM12 to my belt, however. You are likely correct in thinking this will improve breaking signals. Headphones are not a problem if you set your volume limit correctly. I use Black Widow (for those interested) set middle volume. I believe you and I both like to run what I'll call conservative settings, if I remember correctly. The big difference in how you and I are set up is that you are in beautiful quiet New Zealand. I am in beautiful EMI noisy Arizona :) Ground can be noisy, but I generally keep in Normall mode for most areas. For people with boosters, I would be curious of the order of their setup. Mine pretty much follows this: Start with: Volume Limit = 5, Volume (Audio Boost) = 8, Threshold = 27, Sensitivity = 6, Smoothing = off, JP Boost = 2. Then I do Noise Canceling and Ground Balance.(with ferrite) First adjustment for me is adjust sensitivity down to 2 and then work it up until it jitters and back off a number. Next adjustment for me is threshold. I back down and raise it up until I just start to detect a fuller threshold sound (usually still 27 or so) Next I adjust the booster a couple notches to really hear it in the headphones. (then I double check Vol. Limit) This is my process, but it is likely not optimal for getting the best use of the booster. I am curious how others optimize their booster settings by changing threshold, Sensitivity & Audio Boost.

JW - I've been running WM12/Booster/Headphones for the last few months. (recently adding JP's booster) I like this and have tested this against the setup without the booster and did not notice much difference. I enjoy using the booster more as a volume control as adjusting headphone volume is a pain.

For night hunts, I have to go solo because my other prospecting buddies prefer to stay curled up in bed and dream about gold. During the daytime, it's about 50/50 as to whether I hunt with someone. Depends on schedules or if we are just exploring different areas. There are many benefits to having trusted prospecting buddies. It really helps the learning curve. You learn hunting styles and different indicators for the different gold areas. (not to mention that it is safer to have someone there)

How to Not Get Lost: I find remnants of a tobacco can or old food cans and fill them with water acquired from a solar still. Next, I grab a few small leaves from a local mesquite tree, float that on top of the water, and place a boot tack on top of the leaves to point the way to north. (Makeshift compass) Or I just use my GPS. Seriously, though, you should always carry a compass. GPS compass is not always accurate and batteries go dead.

My favorite detector is the GPZ... one coil all ranges of gold. Still wish there was a smaller coil option. One can dream. My favorite pick would be whichever one I manage not to lose. I tend to lose one per year. DOH!!

JW - I agree 100% with your coil control comments. I would also like to use the swing arm but I haven't found a good way to hang my pick high enough not to be heard and still be accessible. Therefore I need the arm to hold the pick. I will probably sew or hook a leather hook at the top of my backpack. Currently I sometimes drop it through the backpack loop.

I am from Arizona ... USA.

I used to think the GPZ was noisier than the GPX. I have since changed my mind. The GPZ better allows you to read the ground in my opinion. I may dig a few more holes for ground noise but now I can better track the mineralization. For settings I have two. One setting is similar to JPs but my sensitivity comes down until its smooth. Often this puts me around 5 on sensitivity. If EMI is just too bad... dropping sensitivity to 3, I go to Lunk's settings. I also use Lunk's setting when I know the gold is less than .1g. They pop out just a hair more in my opinion. I tried those insanely hot settings once and slipped into a coma for a week. Not doing that again hee.hee.. Good luck to you. If you're using good technique you really can't go wrong.

Wow, Lunk with that many hours in the field, I couldn't imagine all of the gold information you've sorted through. Thank you for sharing your finds. They're all beautiful ... but man those bigger ones are the stuff dreams are built on :) Great work.

Very nice!! It's always worth a little scratching to find out more information. And that one is a Beauty.

Went out today. Turned GPS off and did a full reset. Still lags the same. Must just be the way they're made.

I think JP means the tracking on the GPS. Come to think of it.. that is when it became more noticeable. Thx JP.

Good. Had me worried, that the screen was going bad or something. Not something you want to happen on such an expensive detector. But as long as it keeps picking up gold... I'll deal. Glad I'm not going crazy. Andy