Jim in Idaho

Ha...it was darned sure warm enough, Steve. 66-71 in the afternoons. The week before it had been single-digits at home, so we took flannel shirts....big mistake....LOL Jim

LOL...that's all true, for sure. I live in a desert, and have always preferred the desert, and desert-edge mountains as the place to spend my outdoor time. Dave and I are not at all disappointed. We had a great time, and that's what really counts. The looking is what's fun, and the challenge. Jim

My old friend, Dave , and I spent 8 days in Nevada last 2 weeks. Found no gold, but did find a new area to explore. Gives us a decent place to Iook forward to this winter. I found a .44 Henry rimfire cartridge, my first, and two copper nuggets, my second and third. Dave found several round balls of various calibers, and of course, many spent bullets. We also found some really fresh lion tracks well out from the mountains on the valley floor about 40 miles west of Winnemucca. That was pretty interesting, as the tracks were made in dust, and were nearly perfect. Had to be made the night before. Probably a young cat trying to locate a decent place to set up a territory. Not much big game around, but lots of wild horses. Jim

I know, for a fact, that the Special Edition has the second Reg Sniff mod from the factory. But, I was also told so do all the SL's made since 2015, so they would both be the same. Notice he did not say they were the same as the older units. Jim

My buddy, Dave, and I are headed to the Winnemucca area Friday. First chance to use the modified SL for gold. Also taking the GM24K, and Dave will be using his Equinox 800. I've done a lot of research on the area since our June trip, and hopefully it will pay off with more gold. We may stay a couple of weeks, depending on the weather. Jim

Hey Tony, congrats on a great find! Love hearing those stories on the deep finds with the TDI's, and Beach Hunter versions. Jim

I'm over 70. I'd rather have a shorter-lived detector, with greater ability, than a longer-lived unit with less ability. I'm going on 4 years with my 16v battery pack. Jim

I think the deer population is taking a serious hit from the wolves, Mike. I see it everywhere I go in the mountains...less and less deer sign. Currently 26* here at 11:00am. North wind at about 15mph, and clear Jim

LOL...this keeps up, and it won't be anything BUT polar bears. Jim

Not bad here yet. No precip today, but a low of 18* tonight, and 10* lows for Sunday and Monday, and then 3* for Tuesday night and 7* for Wednesday night, and then slowly warming. High Tuesday only 26*. Even at 4,500' that's really chilly for this time of year. Don't think all the sugar beets are dug yet. I see Butte's going to be below zero....poor citizens. Jim

Going to get cold a month early. Down to 12* Monday morning, and 9* Tuesday morning, and then back to 12* Wednesday morning. Highs in the low 30's. We're planning a trip to the Winnemucca area around the 1st. Hope it warms up a little. The earliest I've ever seen single digits here is the first week of December, though I remember a couple of years when we had 10* about the 10th of November. Both of those years that 10* was the coldest temp of the entire winter. I have a feeling the talk of a Maunder Minimum may be true. We had a cold October last year, and even colder this year. Jim

Doesn't surprise me at all. Glad Steve Howard finally cleared that up. But now I have another coil to buy, once they're available. Jim

Whites could not patent the design after the fact of its sales to the public. Can't be done. The only way they could patent it would be to make a substantial change in the design. Nobody can patent an idea that is even publicly written about. Once an idea, or design, is known, it can't be patented. Given that, and given the fact that Whites is calling this a High-Q coil, it's possible Whites has come up with a design change that increases the 'Q' factor of the coil. That change could be substantial enough to allow it to be patented. Jim

Solid questions, Steve, and they deserve to be answered by Whites. I don't see any bias in those questions. Too many separate answers to a simple question. C'mon Whites...what's the story? Also, the patent application may be there, but has yet to be published. You can forestall publishing for up to 18 months after the application. Jim

Thinking about the sweep speed. it would be nice, on the SL, to have a small bit of circuitry to allow the filtering to be adjusted on the fly. Something to allow the capacitance in the filter to be changed...even a 3 -position switch would be great. I'm going to be thinking about that this winter....which, according to the weatherman, is going to start this afternoon. Supposed to be 16 in the morning, with light snow on the ground. Jim

I didn't realize you wrote that, Steve. But I am glad a I did the sweep speed mod to mine. I have to sweep a bit faster, but that's no big deal. I prefer that to having to sweep really slow to detect the small stuff. It's possible the C56 & diode mod helps in that regard...making the SL more sensitive. Jim

Note they said the Auto-Tune was "slow motion". That means if you swing it too fast, the A-T can't keep up. I think that may be what Reg Sniff's sweep speed mod was designed to cure. I also noticed in the video how slow they were swinging. I can see that in a patch, but you wouldn't cover much ground in general searching. Jim

I had no idea that the TDI had that. The threshold on mine rises as the battery voltage declines, so I have to keep turning it down. But, it's relatively flat other than that. Just never thought about it. Also, the ad I swa for the new Whites TDI showed, and said, it had an 8 x14 DF. Apparently that ad was wrong. Jim

What is the "Auto-tune" Mode, Steve? Never heard of that. Jim

They said the problem was "off site". I assume that means the server they were connected to, or one farther down the line, puked. All the data on Whites was saved. Jim

Bear in mind, Chuck, that the electronics cost is really low. I doubt the components cost Whites more than $100. All you have left is the box, shaft, and labor. The real cost is in the engineering. I imagine they're still making money at the new price, even including the coils. Also, where are you getting your info on how many tan machines have sold? They obviously sold enough to run out of the MJFM coils. Jim

Came up an hour or so ago. http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/ Jim

I'd be really surprised if that coil isn't offered for sale at some point. Jim

Can't upgrade the TDI's via software, like the 'Nox. I don't think they've ever offered changes to the circuitry. Jim

The term 'Q' is an electronics thing. I have some background in that, but that said, I don't have full understanding. I do know you can increase the 'Q' of a coil, which is a good, thing, by increasing the number of turns in the windings. But coming up with a new coil for an existing detector requires all the coil values to match the older coils. So, requires some engineering to get it right. Inductance, DC resistance, etc. IMHO I can't see Whites claiming higher "Q" value if it didn't exist. That would make them outright crooks. I just don't believe that. Without one of the coils to disect, there's no way to know for sure. I imagine we'll find out, in due course. So, to take my mind off detectors, I'm heading for Yellowstone Park Sunday to get in a few days of late season fly fishing for spawning browns. Yee Haa! Jim