Jump to content

MontAmmie

Full Member
  • Posts

    269
  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Forums

Detector Prospector Home

Detector Database

Downloads

Posts posted by MontAmmie

  1. I had both the Minelab stock phones and the Miccus phones working very well with my 2 year old 800.  I liked the Miccus ones (2 years old also so I'm pretty sure they had the bluetooth 4.1 version) a bit more because they were more comfortable and had a slightly better sound.  Then last month my control pod started acting weird.  About every 10th time I cranked it up it would go through the start sequence then shut itself off.  I could always get it going after a few tries, but decided to send it in as we are going to go quarantine ourselves for a few months  in the Middle of Nowhere, Montana.  Obviously, a dead Equinox 50 miles from civilization would be an unmitigated disaster. 😄  So it took a couple of weeks, but I got a new pod from Minelab.  So far, so good.  Until I tried to pair it with my favorite Miccus phones.  No luck no matter what I did.  It will pair with my stock phones just fine.  I have tried everything.  Factory reset on both phones and detector.  Installed and and then rolled back the Minelab updates. Turned off my cellphone and did a reset on the headphones. Turned on the detector first.  Turned on the headphones first.  Threw headphones on the floor and stomped on them.  Ok, not the last option, but I was close. 😉

    So this would seem to indicate that the first Equinoxes from 2 years ago have a different bluetooth version than the ones they are cranking out now.  But if they do then why will they pair with the original headphones?  Any suggestions?

  2. 1 hour ago, Norm S said:

    Well no matter what I do I cannot get the F-pulse to program. It is locked in minimum sensitivity on vibrate and unless you're 1" from a coin you get nothing. I could barely find a coin in a hole. Not impressed.  I think it will go to the why did I buy that museum. 

    I was going to try the Minelab 35 but really couldn't find enough reviews to convince me to buy. It may be in my future

    Norm, the included programming directions are a bit confusing.  I had to read it with pinpointer in hand a few times to get the hang of it.  Hold the button down with pinpointer off-adjust the light, hold button down with pinpointer already on-program sensitivity.  If you're really going to just toss it in a drawer, maybe you could sell it to me for a back-up?  I'm not sure if the warranty would transfer if there's something wrong with it though.  I love mine after I got it figured out.

  3. Hi Ya'll!  Just a quick note to let you know I'm still alive and haven't been et by a gristly bear...yet! ?  The Verizon towers have been pretty scarce so far and when we do pass by one it's a mad dash to call family and download a weather report.  So far in Montana I have detected- an old church camp that is now just USFS land, a campground that dated from the 1930's,  an old homestead site (permission), and an old road that was there since the 1880's.  I have about half a jar of wheats, silver dimes, and silver quarters (mostly wheats).  Nothing older than about 1927, but that's just detecting in Montana.  Anyway, having a blast out here and hope ya'll are all having a great summer too!

    Ammie

     

    SAY_5322 (1024x683).jpg

    SAY_5336 (1024x683).jpg

    SAY_5370 (1024x683).jpg

    • Like 6
  4. 12 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

    Good news about Louisville:  been there since the 18th Century.  Bad news:  md'ing in city parks is forbidden.  ?

    Enjoy the graduation.

    No time to metal detect with all the family festivities anyway.  Our hobby is going to be outlawed in every city park in a few years. ☹️

    • Like 2
  5. Hi Ya'll!

    Well, I didn't get a plate or even a button at the Civil War site. ?   It was a beautiful place to dig,  but I think it was just too far from the actual battlefield (pic 1).  What I did get was some assorted lead (pic 2) and what I think is a copper percussion cap (pic 3).  I know? some of this is not Civil War era, like the cone-shaped bullets, at least according to my dad.  I think some of it is Civil War lead like the small lead round balls?, some of which look like they hit something, sorry about the Tennessee clay still on them (pic 4).  I have no idea what the tiny little fuse-looking things are (pic 5), but they look old, I think they are lead, and they were found in the same area as the round lead balls. I was amazed that my 800 could pick these tiny little things out of the iron trash in that area. I used Field 1, all metal, sens 23, rec speed 5, everything else default.  Most of the lead was down 3-4 inches ?, which had me scratching my head and thinking there was no way any of it could possibly be that old, UNTIL the owner told me I was digging in the area where he dumped dirt from excavating the small pond.  OK, that made more sense!  Even though I didn't find much, I still had fun digging it (pic 6).   So if anyone knows anything about this Civil War stuff, enlighten me please!  I know what a 3 ringer looks like, since that is about all I have ever dug, but as for the rest, I'm clueless.  I'm fairly confident that all of this is Confederate, if it is old, since there were supposedly no US troops in this area.  Thanks a bunch and I'm looking forward to any identification help you guys would be kind enough to provide.

    Happy Hunting!

    Ammie

    CW 6.jpg

    CW 4.jpg

    CW3.jpg

    CW 1.jpg

    CW7.jpg

    CW5.jpg

    • Like 2
  6. 52 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

    Yep, it's too bad you couldn't have searched this site before they brought the house down, backfilled, and reworked the yard.  I was lucky last year that I got into a site where the only thing backfilled was the house's footprint.  We take what we can get, though.  Four Wheat's are..., well..., better than four Zincolns.  Did you check the dates+MM's?

    Good fortune at the CW site.

    Yeah, GB, I checked them.  Nothing special, so I gave 'em to a friend of my dad's who collects them.  I kept the Cougar Whiskey token, it seems to be a fairly nice one. Thanks for the good wishes.  There will, of course, be a long, full, probably boring, term paper on the whole experience. ?

    20180506_162435.jpg

    • Like 3
  7. 10 hours ago, strick said:

    How about the back yard? did you try the back yard area? 

    strick

    Strick, I hit every area at least twice.  The dirt next to the gravel driveway is where the wheats were hiding so I spent most of my time there.  I did find the old shoe buckle in what was the backyard. You couldn't cherry-pick by depth either, since it seemed to have been all pushed around by the bulldozer.  The oldest wheatie was actually laying right on top of the ground!  And then there were tons of 1 or 2 square inch white pieces of what looked like aluminum siding that rang up between 23 and 30 and nearly drove me nuts.

    Gary, I probably qualify as a local since I grew up in this area.  I think that permission was probably just a one-time thing and I was at the right place/right time, like you said.  I really don't see the owners letting lots more people detect it, since I didn't find much.  I could be wrong, though. 

    I think we're going to the Civil War site tomorrow, still waiting for the owner to call me back.  I'm taking the 800, of course,  and the Infinium as a back up.  The dirt here is not heavily mineralized,  but if the 800 isn't finding anything I'll try the PI machine.  I think I'll start out in Field 1, 50 tones, all metal, with the sensitivity as high as I can get it, threshold up where I can hear it, and the recovery speed on about 3 or 4, since I don't believe this will be a target-dense location.  I'll be digging everything except probably big iron.

    Ya'll please wish me luck!

    Ammie

    • Like 4
  8. Hello Everyone!

    Well, I had a great time yesterday at a one-shot permission.  My mom and I went yard sale-ing Saturday and we stopped at one in the old part of town.  And what did I spy next door but an empty lot that was just screaming "old torn down house" (see pic 2).  So long-story-short I got the owners name/email and permission and went out yesterday.  It was a really big old house that was demolished recently, and according to my Sanborn maps it had been there since at least 1897.  Woohoo.  Google earth even still had a photo of it pre-bulldozer. (see pic 1).  So I spent 4 hours there yesterday and was really expecting some old silver, but was disappointed.  I did get 4 wheat pennies, an old shoe buckle, a "Cougar" Whiskey Good Luck token, and some other odds and ends.(see pic 3)  It was really tough detecting since they buried a lot of the old house in that dirt- bricks, nails, screws, aluminum siding, chain link fence, copper pipes and all.  I was surprised my 800 found any coins at all, truthfully, with all that trash. I knew my time was limited and I don't dig pennies on purpose, but those darn wheats can sound so close to a dime!  I suspect there is silver there, but probably about 2 feet down under all that bull-dozed dirt.  I wish I could go back, but the dance card is pretty full with family stuff and we're leaving Obion County in 10 days.  So anyway, I'll finally be hitting the Civil War site (hopefully) on Wednesday.  Ya'll wish me luck!

    Ammie

     

    perm before.jpg

    perm.jpg

    20180506_162234.jpg

    • Like 7
  9. 2 hours ago, strick said:

    Thanks for the update..Being from California I find it hard to believe that parks are off limits to detecting in so many places on the east coast. I've only ran across one park that specifically had a sign that said no metal detecting in an uppity neighborhood... Hope you find something good soon..

    strick 

     I know, Strick!  I can not wait to get to Montana.  There are some cool places I'll be detecting, I mean prospecting for gold nuggets, that, back east, would be roped off with a big ole Hysterical Marker sign in front of it.  Montana is how it should be.  If you're not bothering anybody or trespassing on their property, no one really gives a crapola what you do.

    • Like 2
  10. Hi Yall!

    Well, we left Georgia and are now parked in my mom's yard in Obion County, TN.  I hunted several of those Lake Lanier beaches (on the 4 days out of 10 when it wasn't raining), and I must say I won't be in any hurry to go back. I've never dug so many pull tabs without even a tiny piece of silver to show for it.  And not only are the beaches bare of anything but trash, but all the city and county parks seem to be off limits to detecting.  I did try another little city park in Sugar Hill, but after seeing all of the security cameras I changed my mind.  It's not worth the risk of having my 800 confiscated by some local podunk city cop for a handful of aluminum trash.  

    Now for the good news.  There's a friend of a friend who lives near a West TN Civil War battlefield and he's going to let me detect his 3 acre lot!  I've looked at the old maps and while the battle wasn't actually on his property, there was certainly Confederate troop movement and very possibly camps there.  Any suggestions on 800 settings to squeeze the most out of my 4-5 hour (Hubby's metal detecting attention span) shot at this will be welcome.   I'll also be detecting some of the local parks here, and since the mayor of our little town was my 3rd grade teacher maybe I won't be harassed by the local law enforcement!  It will be interesting to see if the 800 finds any silver since I know these little parks have been pounded to death by every other VLF detector ever made.  I just hope I'm the first one there with an Equinox!

    Here's some pics I did of the Lake Lanier beaches.  Ya'll have a good week and Happy Hunting!

    Ammie

     

    Sawnee 5.jpg

    Sawnee Beach 1.jpg

    Sawnee 6.jpg

    Sawnee 7.jpg

    • Like 7
  11. Hi Ya'll!

    Jim, I agree that I shouldn't have asked.  I checked the Forsyth Co Park and Rec website and there was absolutely nothing about metal detecting in their precious parks.  From what I understand, if there is no rule, then all they can do is tell you to leave if some Barney Fife Wannabe takes offense to someone cleaning their park for free?  The park manager at Arrowhead Lake didn't know what the lake was named for?  Sad, but typical.  I hope I'm wrong, but I foresee a day in my lifetime when the only places you will be allowed to detect is public beaches and private property.  It's already like that in many eastern states.

    I went to the Old Federal Day Use beach area yesterday.  I put my 800 in Field 2 all metal mode, upped the sensitivity to 23 and left everything else on the default setting.  If you like bottle caps, then this is the place to go!  It wasn't a total waste of 5 hours as I got really good at avoiding the nasty little things.  Except for the really rusted ones and the steel Corona caps they all have jumpy all-over-the-place ID numbers.  Most of them will even ring up a negative number (or several) as long as you are running all metal.  Of course, if the trash and iron is dense, it seems that you might miss a good target by using this method.  I got 41 cents and no jewelry.  Sometimes you can learn a lot from a day of digging a mountain of trash.   It seems like this beach is well-hunted. since the only shallow targets were bottle caps, which most detectorists can avoid.  Despite the lack of quality targets, I was very pleased with my 800.  The coins were DEEP,  like dig-past-the-sand-and-into-the-
    Georgia-clay deep.  I also dug quite a few of the old ring style pull tabs, which were also about 10 to 14 inches down.  I feel that these would have been already dug, since they sound soooo good, if they had been within range of most detectors.

    Today I put on my jacket and braved the 58 degree Siberian tundra conditions and went down to the smaller Federal Campground beach.  Similar results, just less of it.  I did get a tiny little pierced earring back.  Woo hoo.  It rang up a solid 5.

    Old Federal Day Use Beach5ad91c9161d65_OldFedDayUse.thumb.jpg.0cc478fec262ca9f1bc610ffbec20da8.jpg

    Old Federal Campground Beach20180419_140441.thumb.jpg.a7427ecb8f1d7b750591f766a9b8bd51.jpg

    Area that I wanted to detect. :angry:20180419_165142.thumb.jpg.9c2af089a4a26518809b9d39792c8351.jpg

    Ya'll have a good weekend!  Tomorrow we move to Sawnee Campground.  We'll see what those beaches have to offer!

    Ammie

    • Like 4
  12. Hi everyone!  We left Florida behind and are now parked in a COE campground at Lake Lanier, Georgia.  Tomorrow I will be conducting a bit of an experiment with my 800.  The Army Corps Of Engineers has cracked down considerably on metal detecting in their parks in the past few years.  There are only about 8 small beach areas in which they still allow it at this lake and I've heard that those beaches are hit pretty hard.  Soooo, I think this might be a pretty good test of my 800's ability to find things that other detectors have not.  Someone may have already been over these beaches with an Equinox, but I doubt it.  It's been a very cold spring here so far, from what I understand.

    I was going to go detecting in some local parks, but I made the unfortunate mistake of asking first. :angry:  I told them all about how neat I am and how much trash and sharp objects I haul away.  Here's the email reply that I received a few days ago:

    Hello Ms. Young,
    Thank you for asking.  We do not allow/permit metal detecting and/or digging in any Forsyth County park.  
    Thank you,
    Tracie Goforth | Administrative Specialist, Senior
    Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Department

    I was really nice in my reply and told him I wouldn't be visiting any Forsyth County establishment for any reason, including spending my tourist dollars.  I think there should be an internet database of places where our hobby is allowed and where it is prohibited.  I would be more than happy to boycott any cities and counties where we and our detectors are not welcome in their parks.  I think that other detectorists might be willing to do the same.  What do ya'll think?

    So it's going to be a nice day tomorrow before another cold front hits here and I have a beach picked out to hunt.  The high temp on Thursday is supposed to be 61 frigid degrees.  I'm starting to wish we hadn't left Florida so soon!

    Happy Hunting Ya'll!

    Ammie

    • Like 7
  13. Wow, thanks, RR!  This will be so handy when we're out in Nowheresville, Montana with no hookups and when we're out on the Polaris.  We do have a generator but, as some of you know, it's a pain to run it just to charge up a laptop computer.  Ya'll don't worry if you don't hear from Ammie's Travel Blog for a few weeks at a time.  I didn't get et by a Gristly Bear, we just won't have internet.  :wink:

    Thanks again, RR!  I sent you my mom's address since we'll be there in Podunk, Tennessee in a couple of weeks to see the family.

  14. Hi Yall!  We're still parked in New Smyrna Beach.  So far I have hunted the area of Flagler Boardwalk, and Daytona Beach.  Still nothing but clad and trash and, oh yeah, a flatware spoon.  I probably went to the wrong area yesterday at Daytona Beach.  I tried my luck at the small section where the local hunters have been finding old silver coins.  I won't give away their secret, but it's easy enough to figure out where, if you look at a few you tube videos.  There was another hunter there with a CTX and he said the locals had cleaned it out.  After I wasted about 2 hours, I figured out that he was probably right, since even the pull tabs were few and far between.  Daytona Beach as a whole might have some great possibilities, but it also seems to be well-hunted with some seasoned pros all wielding CTXes.  Hubby counted about half a dozen hunters in the one small section that he drove the truck on while I was looking for/not finding the old silver.  I would imagine that anything that gets dropped would be scooped up pretty quickly.

    Flagler Boardwalk Beach seemed to have less hunting pressure, but also far less bling-loving tourists to drop things. I only hunted the dry and wet sand and didn't find much. I really wanted to hunt the water, but it was kinda rough and the first time that icy water sloshed over the top of one of my dive boots I changed my mind.  :biggrin:  The high temp on Wednesday was only about 65 degrees with a frigid 20 mile an hour Arctic breeze blowing right out of the North and I couldn't believe all the people with nothing on but skimpy little swimsuits swimming in that cold water!  I had on sweatpants, a t-shirt, pullover hoodie, waterproof socks, cotton socks, and 5 mm dive boots and I never did get hot.  I guess I'm just a wimp-ette!

    Anyway, going back to Flagler today, my salt water hunting is about to be over and done until this fall.  :sad:  Hope ya'll are having a good week and happy hunting!

    Ammie

    Flagler Boardwalk Beach, Wednesday, April 11, 2018

     

    New Symrna Beach.jpg

    • Like 6
  15. We are now in New Smyrna Beach, FL, parked here for a week. We successfully retrieved the Polaris from the shop and the damage to the bank account wasn't too excessive. I wasn't terribly impressed with Stuart and Jensen beaches.  The tide tables said 1-2 ft waves and I would really hate to see 3-4 ft waves.  It was ROUGH, with a sharp dropoff at the water line, but the locals said it gets really calm in the summer.  I'm guessing it might be due to sand bars which probably form offshore in the summer and are absent in winter/early spring.  I hunted Jensen, Stuart, Santa Lucea, and Hobe Sound beaches and only found trash, clad, and one tiny 925 kiddie ring. I only went out to about knee deep, because I am really nervous about drowning my non-waterproof headphones, (hello, MineLab?).  That tiny silver ring is worth a mention, not because it was anything special, but because it was two scoops down.  I thought it was a dime, since it rang up at about a 24, and I wouldn't even swear to that, since I was fighting rough surf to extract it.  Yes, my 800 found that little thing at least 6-8 inches down in salt water/ wet sand. (:ohmy:)  I thought it was a washer of some kind until I found the 925 stamp on the inside.  Still no gold yet for the 800, but I think that's due to my recent (lack of) choice of hunting locations more than anything. 

    Santa Lucea/ Bathtub beach was interesting for the rock formations and I would have taken a photo if I hadn't left my cellphone in the truck.  It kinda reminded me of So Cal, on a much smaller scale, of course.  Definitely worth a look if you're ever in the area.

    I will be hunting a Smyrna beach tomorrow and hope to make at least one expedition up to Daytona Beach, if the weather improves.  It has rained here almost all day.

    I can keep writing about our travels and metal detecting adventures, if anyone is interested.  Maybe Steve could re-name the thread Ammie's Travel Blog or something to that effect.

    Ya'll have a good week and happy hunting!

    Ammie

     

    04072018 _925.jpg

    • Like 8
  16. On 4/6/2018 at 11:45 PM, mn90403 said:

    Wow!  I am just about opposite you.  Relic hunting has to have the most trash of all metal detecting.  Beach trash can be seen with a CTX and you don't dig it.  Most trash is seen with a Nox and you dig some of it.  The two main culprits are caps and bobby pins.  You get some lead and other stuff but you also get the good stuff.  The best detectorists I know at the beach use PIs and they dig everything wet and dry but they know where to go and they would have it no other way because they go DEEP.

    Mitchel

    My Garrett Infinium has been replaced by my 800 as my beach hunting machine.  I never hit any targets that were just too deep to dig with my Infnium.  I usually hit 2 or 3 of those every hunt with my 800.  Maybe with the 800 VDI numbers I have a pretty good clue that some of those "too deep to dig" targets might be trash anyway. When I'm already a foot down and it's telling me "toasted zincoln", yeah, sometimes I do move on to the next target.  With the Infinium I just didn't know so I would dig halfway to China to find out.  I do know that my 800 is hitting more targets at the beach, trash and treasure, than my Infinium did.  Just my personal experience,  your results may vary.

    • Like 2
×
×
  • Create New...