Reg Wilson

Busho, I appreciate the fact that you are paying tribute to Jim Stewart whom I knew, prospected with, and was there at his funeral. Unfortunately you just have your facts wrong, as the big coil which has appeared here on this forum (the Bismark) was bundle wound, as were most of the coils that Jim built, although he also built DDs. This can be backed up by others who were close to Jim. The flat wound coils that are on the market today were not pioneered by Jim, as Rohan (Nuggetfinder) will be able to tell you, as will Coiltek. Others who worked with Jim on his coil projects would also be able to put you straight on the facts including Bruce Candy himself. You failed to enlighten us as to whether you will be attending the Laanecoorie 'bash' to spend a few bucks for a good cause in Jim's honour, but should you do so I can introduce you to some people who actually worked with Jim on coil projects, including the concentric coil, which is being redeveloped at the moment.

Busho, I'm afraid you are wrong about Jim Stewart pioneering flat wound coils. Lance Hewitt who worked for Minelab was winding flat wound coils years before Jim Stewart. I have a 24" that Lance wound back in the early nineties. John Hider-Smith also built large flat wound monos, and I prospected with both Jim Stewart and John in Western Australia, and I also have a 38" flat wound mono that John built. John learned how to wind coils from Bruce Candy. The Laanecoorie 'bash' is held each year as a tribute to Jim Stewart who died from cancer, and the bash is a fund raiser for the Peter Mac cancer center at the caravan park that Jim once owned. As an ex friend of Jim's, no doubt we will see you there next weekend Busho?

Phrunt, you are the victim of false news. The above photo was taken weeks before the climate change march and has been fraudulently posted in many areas in an effort to disparage the people involved in the march. Looks like you have been taken in too Beatty. Thought you would have been smarter than that.

Madtuna, I know who this person is. So do you. Obviously we cannot name him, and I received a threatening phone call from this grub when I called him out over comments he made on Facebook. He is still involved in his 'tours' to WA, so you best be on the lookout for him next season. He is not only an environmental vandal, but a racist and has left one person that I know of with huge debts over his financial fiascoes. Not at all good for the prospecting scene.

Totally agree with Busho, about the idiots who wreck it for all, then go on to attack and rubbish so called 'greenies', for the negative public reaction to the mess they themselves have left. In Australia we have a certain number of 'prospectors' who believe they have the God given right to do as they please in the bush.

JR Beatty and I copped ridicule by the ton when we showed pictures of gold found with our QEDs because of camera date. We were accused of falsifying our finds and it was suggested that the gold was actually found with other brand detectors. We have more than our share of nasty nutters in this country.

Awsome!!! How could they cast it?

Thanks to Dave (Davsgold) I got to test the 12" X coil for GPX, on a perfect Victorian early spring day. Besides testing it on Minelab's pulse induction detector, I also wanted to see how it would perform on QED. Firstly the X was air tested and compared with various makes and sizes of coils on GPX using very small gold and a 330 ml beer can, and then used on ground to see just how well it handled various soil and mineralization situations. I could fill a page with measurements and settings, but instead will just give general impressions and observations. On small gold it was surprisingly good both in air tests and in ground and gave a better response than smaller and similar sized coils both bundle, flat or spiral wound on the GPX. The beer can was only used in air tests, and it was marginally better than similar sized coils, but got blitzed by the 25" Nuggetfinder, as one would expect. When air tested on the QED the results were very good, with measured distances being a bare fraction less than the GPX on the beer can but on a par with tiny gold. The signal was very sharp and positive on a pinhead sized bit of gold, but a small ragged, reefy piece about a gram and a half that the GPX did not give a very good signal on sounded very positive with the QED at twice the distance of the GPX. It seems there are some types of gold that the GPX does not perform so well on, but the QED does. The same was noted with both detectors on ground. Testing was done on ground at my property, which is gold bearing, and fairly typical of central Victorian goldfields. The pleasant surprise is just how stable and yet sensitive this X coil is. For QED users the good news is that it can be run 'hotter' than anything else I have used on a QED so far. I had gain flat out at setting ten and mode down at position one, with the coil behaving beautifully. The weight is quite light when compared to other coils of a similar size. I think I might sell a couple of my other coils and buy one of these.

Just got mine last week, but have not had a chance to test in the field yet. Air tests were impressive to say the least on GPX, but not good at all on QED. Will take the coil to Howard to see if he can work out why this is so, as the DD coils work well on QED since his last upgrade.

When I instruct people in the use of metal detectors of all brands, I constantly have students that when getting a hint of a target slow down their swing to the point of the detector failing to register. I have to tell them that they are using a motion detector and that immobilizing the coil above the perceived target results in the detector failing to respond. They then look at me with incredulity and inform me that they have had the 'good' advice that the way to go is 'low and slow'. It is difficult getting the message across that slow does not mean practically immobile. Instructing requires a great deal of patience. I sometimes think I am not really suited to it.

Low and slow!!!! It's a motion detector for Pete's sake. Too slow and you will hear nothing.

Some aluminium cleaners will dissolve the ironstone but leave the quartz intact. If you wish to get rid of the quartz as well then hydrofluoric acid is the go, but it is very nasty stuff and needs to be treated with great care.

Jin, check my PS on QED update.

Perhaps Howard should be aiming for the African market with the QED.

James and I have already had a situation just recently where we have been followed and our spots flogged. Cheeky devils even camped on one patch. We checked after they left and found a few bits they missed. Our tally would have been better but for these parasites.

Firstly, let me say thanks to Steve for having the patience to give the QED a run on his forum. When I first met Howard and his pulse induction detector project I was impressed enough to agree to test it for him. Having tested for Minelab for a number of years, I looked forward to a new project. What I was not expecting was the vitriol and abuse for reasons unbeknown to me that were suddenly hurled at the QED, myself, and anyone involved with this new detector. The detractors were almost exclusively anonymous, and their attacks in many cases were personal. I am happy to say that most abuse, with the exception of a handful of hard core fanatics, has died away. A couple of other thank yous are in order. Simon, of course for his very detailed analysis, and willingness to try a new machine, and Jonathan Porter, who although an agent for the world's best selling detector, gave a thorough and very balanced review of the QED. I'm sure he will find the latest developments a big improvement on the early model PL1 that he tested. There have been some reports from areas of very high mineralization, Western Australia in particular, of the QED struggling to hold ground balance, and an update to the machine was added to address this problem. While successful in most applications, it did not satisfy Howard that it was the perfect solution. A whole new concept has been tested here in Victoria over the past few weeks by James Beatty and myself, and although we are still awaiting test results from WA, it is fair to say that for James and me, it has been a major improvement. Howard has tried to explain it to me what he has been working on, but I'm afraid it went way over my head. The best I can explain it is that it is a form of ground absorption within ground balance. This improvement, and another big advance will be announced within a few weeks, as soon as final testing has been completed. I'm sworn to secrecy on some things for the moment, but I can say that there are exciting times ahead. To our friends in America, I sincerely hope that this new and much improved QED can soon be available to you as well. We would love to have an agent over there. To our Aussie customers, one of the new developments will be free, as it is a software update, while another will have a minimal charge as a small extra board needs to be added to the detector. My thanks to all who have shown an interest in this great all Australian detector. Cheers.

Swinging big heavy prototype coils for years, mostly without the aid of a bungy cord has caused wrist, elbow, shoulder and back problems. These days I am most grateful for the light weight of the QED, as I can spend many hours per day without pain or fatigue, which GB has rightly stated as being the cause of imperfect performance.

You could use the bathroom scales to weigh the GPZ19" 'Dog'. Anyone know what it weighs?

Names can be tricky. I had a friend named Robert Dick. He named his first daughter Ophelia.

I don't have a problem with people being anonymous if that's what turns them on, but on some other forums certain low life use it like a little kid throwing rocks over a fence. Cowardly 'no names' heaping abuse on others knowing that they are unidentified. At one time I copped heaps of foul and personal abuse from one character simply because I had honestly criticized a product. He carried on like he was some sort of monster, but through various means I was able to identify this 'keyboard warrior', who turned out to be a little five foot nothing weed. When anonymity is used to perpetrate cyber bullying and abuse it stinks. This sort of behavior is a sad reflection of the modern age.

I don't see the use of user names, unless you have something to hide or are frightened of your own shadow.

JR is off detecting for a few days, so I shall get him to respond on his return. We found the test coil could be moved quite quickly, however it needed to be used in smaller sweeps due to the configuration. Different to a large mono.

Steve, the figure 8 coil has recently been made here in Australia and one was sent to Detech in Bulgaria where interest has been shown in producing it . Howard Rockey, the builder of the QED has one. It is incredibly light and has great coverage and surprising depth. The part that interests me is that it performs well on the QED, and makes for an even lighter QED set up. This combination blitzes the SDC in tests that I have seen.

I'm going to have to talk Howard into modifying the QED to run DD and now concentric coils. If he could do that and make it auto ground track, then the QED would be sensational. I know he can do do it. I'll just have to keep up the pressure.