Reg Wilson

What's the betting it will be soon?

Well Simon, there will be many who don't agree with me (nothing unusual) but like Norvic I don't use them these days. As pointed out by a well known Australian prospecting personality, boosters cannot create a signal that the detector has not already recognized and audibly responded to.

In earlier days of the VLF detectors, some had a volume that seemed a bit soft, so signal enhancers were widely used to boost the response, however the latest generation of pulse induction machines have more volume control, and generally do not require further enhancement. I prefer to have noise reduction to eliminate distracting outside sound, and even 'white noise' that is not even noticeable until noise cancelling is switched on. Most of the WiFi systems, which I favor have, have a volume control, with the Sennheiser system having volume control on both the transmitter and the headphones. (These H/phones are not noise cancelling, but very good) With TX volume control and N/C I find I have as good a clear and unobstructed audio as I could wish for.

 It's a 'different strokes for different folks' scenario, and I've had situations where I have picked up a mates detector to have a listen to an uncertain signal he has picked up, only to think, "my God how can he run a machine like that?" Threshold way up, with the machine 'screaming its tits off',  the pitch so high its deafening, and running a booster as well. The perfect way to go deaf. Maybe some people are partly deaf and need a booster. The way I like to run is with threshold only just there, tone way down low, noise cancelling on, and cordless.

Different boosters react differently to various speakers, headphones and earbuds. While giving a background hum or hiss on one system, on another the audio may be fine. Transmitters too can effect the performance of boosters, and the consensus of opinion seems to be that any booster should be on the RX rather than the TX.

I guess it is a matter of taste, as some people find boosters beneficial, while others do not.

Mitchell, Life's too short. Do it.

You never know Beatty, that record slug may just have our name on it. Looking forward to when you can get away from your farm, so we can get back to hunting for it.

Phrunt, Jaycar  will have the plug you need.

phrunt, you should be able to get a battery in NZ as they are widely used in model aircraft. Most hobby shops stock them. Both JR Beatty and myself use these. I have one fitted on my QED prototype.

anguilla, pity you can't get hold of a QED as not only are they super light, but a QED will not go 'off it's nut' when used vertically, unlike Minelab detectors. Very good for checking the walls of open cuts and drives.

Hard Prospector, unfortunately it is very difficult to sell big nuggets in Australia. Oops, I must correct myself. You can sell big nuggets here in Australia, but they don't remain here.

John Hider-Smith found a 35 oz bit about a hundred meters from where the Hand of Faith was found. We were working together at the time, and I watched him dig it up. It was in the same area that I had found only small bits years earlier, and where my good mate Mr Beatty gets a chuckle out of reminding me.

Due to its size and shape, we named it 'The Phallus of Faith'.

Ha, that's only one of the big ones I missed. No doubt missed more gold than I ever found.

That big insect is actually a locust.

The bit about the flies is not as crude as expressed by Paul. The saying goes; "to keep the flies out of your face, tear the arse (ass) out of your pants". But seriously, the flies can be unbearable and drive a person to distraction. A fly net is the only way to preserve your sanity, as sprays and creams don't last very long, and the little buggers often ignore it. You will get tired carrying them around as thousands will hitch a ride on your back.

If you happen to be in cattle country the flies will be swarming all over cow droppings, and then visit you, where they will have a little rest and wipe their feet. The result is that by the end of the day you end up smelling like one big cow turd.

Gosh, he was a funny little bloke. Couldn't help a few tears watching that.

Strewth Beatty, those were fun days. I never laughed so much since Granny got her tit caught in the wringer.

Pretty sure that some of the trick gear we had access to would out depth a GPZ, but even if the GPZ were better the gear we used would have easily reached the bottom for anything of size. As James has stated, there would only be small stuff left, and it can stay there for all I care.

Alluminati, I feel you are confusing Indicator with indications. Do some research on the Ballarat gold fields where Indicators were associated with large masses of reef gold. As far as advice is concerned I would suggest jadawg as a novice would be better off looking for areas of Pliocene or decomposed conglomerate. Placer as you call it over there is a better area to begin rather than things beyond his grasp as a beginner.

The red dress was hung in a tree. The idea being that any stickybeak, uninvited visitors would notice it, and upon inquiring about such would be asked if they thought perchance it might fit them, as it got a bit lonely out there in the scrub. They would then beat a pretty hasty retreat, leaving us to our gold hunting.

Some of the richest big gold areas have been discovered on the fringe of granite batholiths, in the metamorphic created by the action of plutons, which it appears drove out the superheated fluids through the fissures and points of least resistance in the folded sedimentary rock. Granite may be an indication only in the fact that it was once a source of heat and pressure, and it is in the contact zones that the presence of gold is more likely. Granite is not an 'indicator'. Indicators are a different 'ball game' altogether, and are mysterious and little understood.

Spot on, Jim, and rarely do auriferous quartz reefs or leaders occur in granite, although gold can be found on a granite bottom due to the weathering of folded sedimentaries  which once may have occurred above the pluton, or an ancient water course carrying gold from nearby country.

Looks like something you and Jim Stewart would have built Beatty.

Not conglomerate, but granite. Throw it away.

I was in the west, as you know James when that fuel cell was found by a prospector who sold it to Pieter.

You can't keep a conspiracy theorist down. The same guy who suspected Minelab was monitoring GPZs believed the moon landing was faked, and that no plane flew into the Pentagon, but was absolutely convinced that the story of Noah's Ark was totally factual. Very strange the way some peoples minds work.

You just got to love the odd conspiracy theory. Now these are not my thoughts, but are those of an acquaintance who shall remain anonymous. He had suspicions that Minelab, since being taken over by Codan, a manufacturer of military radio equipment, had the ability to include in the GPZ7000 a transmitter, capable of relaying information back to the manufacturer. This he maintained was a simple task for a company experienced in radio technology. Such an ability would enable Minelab to gather all sorts of useful information, on hours of use, settings used, area and location detected, and if the owner was using the total GPS package, record of finds and position of such.

This scenario is highly unlikely, however the technology to achieve just such a situation surely exists and could well be a future development.