Northeast

17 minutes ago, aerospace guy said:

GIANT service if you were to tell him to sell the 5000 and use the $ to purchase something else

AG - I love your honesty and I actually agree with you whole heartedly re: him getting something more user friendly.  

2 issues arising is that Jim has been given the 5000 but I am unclear if he has it to do whatever he wants with or just given 'the use of it' for as long as he wants.  The second issue is that Jim needs to spend some time getting out and prospecting to see if he actually enjoys it before investing his own $'s in some new equipment.  Hence why I'm just trying to get him set up and working in a manner that is going to effective but not overly frustrating re: ground noise/ghost signals/EMI. 

Your commentary re: the performance of the GPX 5000 is likely quite accurate but beyond my user knowledge.  All I do know is that my GPX 6000 is everything that I hoped for re: sensitivity and ease of use and would absolutely be a better option for Jim.   Although, given the option of paying Australian $8,000 for a GPX6 or being given free use of a GPX5 I would be in a right quandary - free is right in my preferred price range  ?

Thanks again for your comment and honest opinion.  'Bull Pucky' gave me a laugh too  ?

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

unfortunately now Steelphase is no longer in business

Sorry Phrunt - posting at the same time  ?

 

I had a search on Facebook and found this from the Steelphase facebook site.  So Nenad is continuing the SPO1. 

Thanks gents for the feedback and thanks Steve for the link.  Hopefully it is straight forward enough for Jim not to get lost.  

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

are you sure the speaker is wired correctly to engage the amplifier in the battery?

He has a dual speaker set-up that previously was working and now it is not, thus why I am thinking it might be the curly cable.  Made sure that absolutely everything was connected properly, plugged in the full way, etc.  He has another curly cable at home with a single speaker so he was going to try that when they returned home.  I've just texted my sister to see how things went - will report back when I know more  ?

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

The other thing is the amplifiers in the batteries do have a component that can fail

This is something I hadn't found in my research.  Thanks, that is a handy hint and may be something to pursue if the second curly cable fix doesn't work.  

 

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

unfortunately now Steelphase is no longer in business

What, what, what???  When did this happen?  Is the SPO1 no longer?  

5 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Seems my idea went somewhere after all

I was just about to quote you after I read that - thought the same thing!

Surely there must be some sort of a commission for a good idea like that?  ? ?

Hi all. 

A fella I know, who we will call Jim, has been given (yes GIVEN!!) a GPX 5000 and has asked me for help to set it up.  I think it is a year or so old but never been used as the original owner is unwell.  I recently helped my sister's boyfriend who had issues with his 4500 so had roughly read the manual.  The 4500 actually had a speaker issue as well so although we got it working OK the Threshold was still quiet.  My less than expert diagnosis (from a bit of research here and PA Forum) was that his curly cord might be a bit defective and it isn't boosting the audio to the speaker.  

Anyway, I stopped around the other night and helped the bloke with the 5000 as best as I could having roughly ready the manual again.  Now this bloke is technology illiterate and is not someone who is going to sit down and read or understand the 112 pages of the Minelab GPX 5000 manual.  I did give him a print out of Steve H's GPX 5000 bit from the Detector Review area of this forum but even that is beyond him (the Timings/Mineralisation diagram for example). 

So, I have set the 5000 up to a point where the Threshold is humming nicely and we were finding targets in the bush quite easily.   With the 5000 are an 11" mono Commander and I think it was a 17"X11" mono Commander.  No DD which I thought was unusual but maybe they came in a package without a DD?  The original owner might still have a few bits and pieces too as it seemed there were a few things missing.  

Have written up what I think are the absolute essentials for Jim to know about and change if he feels confident to do so.  There are sooooo many controls on a 5000 that I feel like a 5 year old is in control of the cabin of a jumbo jet! 

The following is 112 pages condensed down to 2   ?

Wondering if those with the knowledge would be happy to peruse it and advise if they think it is a reasonable synopsis of all that is important. 

I have left out anything which I don't think is imperative for Jim to know or play with - at least at the start anyway.  Things like battery voltage, etc.  Have left many other things like Target Volume at factory presets.  

I also don't want it running really hot and Jim digging lots of ghost signals.  So are my timings suggestions reasonable for moderate mineralisation ground with some hot rocks, moderate amounts of red, wet clay, etc?  I generally cannot run Normal mode on the GPZ or the GPX6 in the local area if that is some guide.  

Rx Gain and Stabilizer - I think this is maybe going to raise the most discussion ?   I have another old mate over near Mt Beauty that has a 5000 but he is a bit the same as Jim as he has no idea about technology either.  But, he does find more than his fair share of gold and his detector runs very smooth and appears particularly sensitive to genuine targets without digging a lot of ground noise.  He was previously running his 5000's Rx Gain and Stabilizer at settings provided by the dealer he had purchased off.   He was then told by another old bloke to try the Stabilizer at half of the Rx Gain.  Whatever the Rx Gain was, make the Stabilizer half.  So that is what he has done ever since and he feels it is heaps better.  

Having never used a GPX 4500 or 5000 other than twice in the past 2 weeks I would really appreciate some constructive feedback before I pass this on to Jim  ?

Cheers, N.E.  

 

GPX 5000.

 

Front Panel::

Search Mode:

Choose General.

Deep is for detecting a small area slowly and carefully.

Custom - then provides you with Patch, Hi-Mineral, Hi-Trash and Pinpoint.

 

Soil/Timings:

Normal - best wide range of performance.

Enhance - cancels most ground noise and hot rocks.

Special - If you choose Special on the Front Panel the following settings will then be available on the Rear Panel.

-    Sensitive Smooth - For severe soils.

-    Fine Gold - Good for small gold in mineralised soil.  Ignores a lot of hot rocks and ground signal.

-    Sensitive Extra - Can increase hot rock signals.  Better for mild ground.  Good with Double D coils.

-    Salt/Gold - For very salty areas - salt lakes, high salt content gold fields, beach.

-    Sharp - More powerful but will increase false signals.   

-    Coin/Relic - For low mineralisation areas.  Poor ground balancing ability in high mineralisation.

My suggestion is to start in Enhance.

Could also try Special (Front Panel) and then Fine Gold (Rear Panel).

 

Coil/Rx:

Double D.

Mono.     Use this always unless you actually use a Double D coil.  

Cancel.

 

Ground Balance:

Tracking or Fixed - use Tracking.

 

Back Panel::

I have only covered the things which you might need to alter from the Factory Preset settings.

Rx Gain:  Has a Range of 1 - 20.

Adjust upwards until the Threshold starts to break up/get wobbly and then slightly reduce until the Threshold is stable again.

 

Stabiliser:

As Stabiliser increases it increases the sound of faint signals.  But, it also increases the sound of EMI and ground noise, etc.

Old mate thinks it should be half of what Rx Gain is.  So if Rx Gain is at 10, then set your Stabiliser at 5.   

 

Audio Tone:

Set it to suit your hearing.  Factory Press is 50 but lower tones for older people can be better.

 

On a day of detecting:

 

Set up your Front Panel - Search Mode - Soil/Timings - Coil Rx - Ground Balance.  

Turn on the detector.  

Set the Threshold so that you can hear it easily.

Do an Auto-Tune.  If the Threshold is not nice and quiet - do it again.  If it is still noisy check you Rx Gain and try turning it down.  

Set your Rx Gain (rear Panel) so that it is as high as you can go without the Threshold being wobbly.  

Set your Stabilizer at half of the Rx Gain.

Perform a Ground Balance.

Turn the Threshold down so it is just an audible Mozzie Hum.   

 

Start detecting.   

And just check all connections  ?

?‍♂️

We had a smaller one near Myrt nearly 20 years ago but this one was a ripper.  House certainly had a good shake for about 20 seconds and then you could just feel a little tremble in the ground for another 10 seconds or so.  

As far as I know there has been no injuries.  Some building damage.  

3 hours ago, orgone500 said:

please make it waterproof

Yeah, forgot about that ?

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

do you know what sizes you intend to make

I know Trevor wrote 'more info to come' but that was the first question that popped into my head  ?

To be honest the 11" and the 17" elliptical cover things for the larger sizes from my perspective.   Not sure that something bigger than the 17" is necessary?  Would be quite nose heavy I think.  Maybe a 15" X 12" although not sure if that would gain much (really liking the elliptical shapes though). 

But a 6" X 4" or something thereabouts would be a cracker for small creeks, in between rocks, etc.  

 

Hope it goes well Trevor  ?

 

6 hours ago, GotAU? said:

JK- wow, that’s a nice find!

Thanks GotAU.  I can actually say ‘thanks’ because I did find it, but it’s not mine. 
I was showing a mate how to use his new GPZ and this was one of 6 pieces I found that day.  He’d spent the big dollars on the Z and it was his patch so he kept it all.  We found that piece within the first 10 minutes of turning the GPZ on!  
 

I have actually just put it up for sale for him on PA.  He is not the most computer literate bloke. 
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=37881

 

The day we found them.  

1 minute ago, Gold Hound said:

That is what we Aussies call a Sheila

And that particular sheila is Kylie Minogue.  Quite the Ozzie superstar.  But I reckon that bit of video might have been from a few years ago.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylie_Minogue

 

The following gold picture has no relation to anything - just trying to keep this thread somehow on the topic of gold and detectors and such  ?

11 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

then when the replacements came in I got conned/pretty pleased again

There was no con, but there was a pretty please  ? ?

A 17” coil arrived on Monday from JP.  Been out 2 evenings so far.  More targets but no gold.  Not able to move very far from home yet though.  
 

Not as heavy as what I thought it would be, very sensitive, no knock issues.  Might be a strange comment but it seems to glide across the ground easier than the 11” and 14”.  First time I’ve had an elliptical coil - maybe they all swing a little better than rounds?  

Ground coverage is fantastic.  

This coil was bought specifically for WA but that’s on hold at present.  Will still be useful for Vic in the right places.  

Thanks JP  ?
 

 

Very nice!

3 hours ago, mungass said:

Na still in Inglewood.

Wow, surprised how dry it is over there.   

Be careful of that EXTRA Corona ?

Safe travels ?

That’s quite dry ground Mungass. I’m guessing you made it further afield than Vic or NSW?   Good luck to you ?

And nice bit of gold  ?

A quick, pre-lockdown, morning hunt with the DD on the GPX6.  Lord knows when we will be allowed out again  ?‍♂️

6 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

The 14" DD in Normal and Salt is the best combo. 

Very interesting.  Thanks Nenad  ?

2 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

I just want to talk about detectors and gold

Hear, hear.  As I get older the more I distance myself from negativity. There is enough of that in the world. 
 

Phrunt and others find some negatives about their detectors or set-ups but they try to find solutions and then pass them on to us on the forum.  To those that constantly find the negative, perhaps provide some solutions along the way? 
 

55 minutes ago, Jin said:

Not everyone reads something the same way. 

I did get JP’s angle but you are right Jin. Unfortunately we can’t read ‘tone’.  After a lot of crap went down in my family via letters I remind my kids and friends of this often.  How we write something is almost certainly not how it will be read. 
 

Back on topic.  Personally I am very keen to get the 17” coil and for WA to open its borders to Victoria.  I’ve got a window of opportunity to get to WA until mid October before it will just get too hot.  Hoping Victoria can get the current outbreak under control or the fully vaccinated ‘COVID passport’ gives me a free pass. 
Be good to get a couple of outings in Victoria under my belt with the 17” before heading to the west. 
 

Best of luck to those heading out with a detector this weekend. Hopefully see some golden posts on here by Monday  ?

19 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

It’s great to hear from you that you show to be a happy camper with your 6000

Thanks Chuck, I'm really enjoying it.  Looking forward to being able to head a bit further afield and try out some different ground but so far, so good.  

 

19 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

Northeast as soon they finish that bridge I plan on driving down and digging for you.

Happy to dig a few holes for you too Chuck  ?

1 hour ago, Jonathan Porter said:

The coil is incredibly sensitive and takes practice to get pinpointing right

Thanks JP.  Good info and appreciate the reply ?

9 minutes ago, Jonathan Porter said:

I have only been able to swing the 6000 with the 17 inch coil

Still no news on Oz availability JP?  

Probably for another thread but you're obviously finding the 17" better weight wise?  Ground noise handling?  EMI?  On the small stuff?  Still picking up the tiny lead shot or has it weeded these out?  

Cheers ?

We’re back, baby!!  Woohoo!  
 

Glad DP is back up and running  ?

 

 

23 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

Now, that is hunting nuggets in style!

And comfort  ?

Great pics Mitchel - there sure is a whole lot of area to swing a coil.  

Congrats on beating the skunk.  

2 sayings come to mind from your post

 - Never judge a day by the weather. 

 - No rain - no rainbows.  

Enjoy your sleep - if the kids let you!