Chet

The National Park Service has a good description and example of a glacial moraine here; https://www.nps.gov/articles/glacialtillandglacialflour.htm#:~:text=Glacial till is the sediment,is ubiquitous in glacial environments. In my younger days I prospected some in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle. The glacial moraines there resembled the picture in the above article. But the little gold that I did find was ground to a fine dust.

Many years of deer and elk hunting I have encountered a few bears. Luckily they were quicker than me to run away. The one exception was a few years ago while detecting in the Sierras one was about 40ft from me while I was sitting on a big rock having lunch. I quickly jumped up with my arms high in the air and yelled at it. It quickly spun around and ran down a steep ravine passing near Idaho Peg. We got double thrills that day; lots of gold and bear scares.

I carry bear spray and this; https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Boat-Accessories-Sports-and-Marine-Safety-Air-Horn-8-oz/183775091?wl13=1903&selectedSellerId=0&wmlspartner=wlpa

Here is another of Benny’s videos that shows the 17x13 EVO coil doing well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NXy6RHTJog

I think the Advantage coils are bunch or rectangular wound. The attached video shows good results with the 15” Round EVO and the 17x13 EVO coils. The tests were run in highly mineralized Australian ground; I expect we would get better results in our US soil. Note that the GPZ 7000 is normally a slow and steady movement machine. It does not give you as sharp response on deep targets as the GPX 5000. Watch the entire video and read the comments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbOsYV4Dbxs

My opinion is that Flat Spiral windings are more sensitive to small shallow targets. Vertical Spiral/Cylinder windings are better for large deep targets. Bunch and Square cross section windings are a compromise between Flat Spiral and Cylinder windings. Cylinder windings are less desirable because the coil housing must be thick enough to house a tall cylinder shaped coil plus air gaps between the coil winding ends and the top and bottom graphite EMI shields to reduce capacitance.

I haven’t had any experiences with any of the modified detectors. I have found a lot of gold with the GPX 5000 using the Minelab 11” Mono coil in mostly Fine Gold mode and some times Normal mode. I suggest that you do some comparison depth tests between your Modified SD2200 and your GPX 5000 using the same coil.

My plan is for a pound greater than the 17x13 coil. With my bungee cord and Hipstick it should be ok.

Most all of my air test results are with the detectors at default settings except threshold and sensitivity set as high as possible. With a auto frequency scan for quietest operation. If outdoors a ground balance is done. GPX 5000 in Normal. GPX 6000 normal and all the way clockwise. GPZ 7000 High Yield; Normal; Threshold 1; and Sensitivity 20. The GPX 5000 coils were designed around different transmit pulse timings that charged up the coils magnetic field at a different rate allowing smaller gauge wire to be used. The GPX 6000 timings evidently require a heavy gauge wire; approximately 12 AWG. The inductance of the GPX 6000 coils is approximately 285 uH which is a little below the older GPX series coils which is around 300 uH. The heavy gauge GPX 6000 coil allows for a fast high amperes charge and a fast early receiver turn-on to listen for tiny fast decaying nugget signals. Several months ago I shortened and moved my GPX Dongle closer to the detector housing. The coils are then connected to the Dongle with a standard 5 pin connector. I use a test cable with alligator clips to test coils. I have ordered some 12AWG Litz wire $300 to build a new 24” round coil for the GPX 6000. I will let you know if it is a success.

GC, thank you for sharing your outstanding finds and experience. The 1849 miners would probably haul the tools into the area in a wheelbarrow; rake up all of the gold until the wheelbarrow was full; leave the tools; and head for the nearest salon. lol

Outstanding chunk of gold; gets some of us fired up to get out before the snow sets in. Thank you for sharing your finds.

Angel Marie’s treatments will go well!

Jason Great work, thank you, Chet

I found a lot of gold in our California Mountains with the stock 11" mono on my GPX 5000. Attached is a depth comparison between the DD and the Mono in Fine Gold mode. Click on it for better view.

I never met Kenny but I know he continued in his father’s shoes and provided good service to his customers. I wish his family the best of life without him. I met Mr. White Sr. a few times. He valued his customers and treated them well. I was raised in Oregon in the 1950’s and 60's so I visited the factory and sales office a few times. On one occasion a man and wife came in with an early Gold Master Mineral Metal detector. They explained that they were on vacation headed for Eastern Oregon to hunt for gold. But the detector was unstable and required constant retuning. Mr White called his technician from the back room. They turned the detector on and the PUT-PUT-PUT sound that these early Beat Frequency Oscillator detectors emitted quickly sped up into a low frequency tone. The technician said he would have it fixed in a few minutes as he disappeared into the back room. When he returned he turned it on and the PUT-PUT-PUT sound was as steady as a clock pendulum. He waved a few coins over it and had the customer test it out in the display room sand box. The customer asks what he did to fix it. He had replaced one of the oscillator vacuum tubes and put in 3 new batteries. Mr White gave him a spare set of batteries and said there was no charge and wished them well on their vacation. I have owned many Whites detectors over the years knowing that they were backed up by a great man, his son and his company’s reputation. Relating these memories of him brings out warm and caring feelings of those early days and other people like him that shaped my life. Attached is a photo of that model detector. It is 14”x4”x5” with 12” coil and weighs 6 pounds.