DigsAlot

The pic below is a visual of how my ears  Interpretation of the signals from the Audio files. 

What I would personally like is #3 no thresh only solid signals. 

The problem with #1 vs #2 is that if you try to bring the thresh down to Zero or near it, the roundness of the solid signal will blend to close to the roundish thresh. Also the ground bitchness also peaks with a roundness. Ergo making it very hard for me to hear the peak.

So JP how do we get the signals to peak and have sharpness to them? Or, be very different then the thresh/ground noise?

Great job posting both files together made it quick to swap back and forth.

I almost think the sharp reverb of B would stop me for a look faster than A, minus 12 sec blip in A.

That days take seems to have moved a lot, very rounded.

Hmmm, I heard the break yes. But I have to admit I would first process it was bitching. Which is what I call all the excess noise the Zed makes.  I need to start giving that noise further attention.

JP thank you for adding this extra layer to the thread. Could you please keep adding these pics and audio files. Feeds our addiction.

The question is whether you would hear and recheck the 5 sec or even the 8 sec part. I would say I might ignore the 5sec but maybe check the 8 sec, if I was blue sky hunting.

You hit at 5sec sounds digable at 8sec but bangs obvious at 12 sec.

5 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

OK I have two audio files here to upload but not sure how to host them so I can embed them to make them playable within the forum. Advice required for both audio mp3 files and video files please.

JP

 

Perhaps Steve might be up for helping us get this new style thread of audio up and running. I, sadly do not know how to do it.

Jp I second Mitchell. It is the slight changes that are hard. If you could do your video or audio magic on this subject with lots of different aspects it would be great.

5 minutes ago, Nevada Brian said:

I have been using the Miner John cover for a few years now.  I am very satisfied with my purchase and I would buy another.   It will definitely hold up longer as it is thicker and more rigid than the original.

I see that Rob shows out of stock on his website, perhaps others may have some on hand.   Not sure if Miner John is back in business yet. 

Brian.

Really!! Get back to work.

JP where is today's story!!!!😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

You are like a drug dealer withholding our crack fix.

JP that was a great post. The way you shot the pics I could easily look at the ground around the hole and still see the hole and dirt you removed from the hole. Plus the info you provided matched the pics. Great!!!

So I have a couple points to make Mitchell and Steve.

1. Beach hunting is way way easy. Most items of worth on the beach that we dig are big and loud, they are made of some of the best sound generating materials; their shape also helps to sound off. Plus, as you stated Mitchell, the ground is far more conducive to hearing a solid target. This being all very obvious too us as a group, there is a skill set to locating hot spots and grid hunting. You seem to have that solid.

2. Steve is correct about the approach he takes. I would counter that this approach is not always the best first approach however.

Let's take a look at an example. You have a desert wash that has gold from top to bottom, 2 foot ball fields long and 4 feet wide. Most of this wash only has a few inches of overburden. This wash has nuggets in many sizes, from .10 gram to 5 gram with many in the 1.5 gram range.

The draw back to Steve's approach which is not wrong, is that it leaves all those BOOMERS sitting there waiting to be picked off by someone that does a quick scan. Steve will clear the whole wash in one pass correct, leaving nothing behind; but it could take weeks to do that. But he might also lose those wonderful big ones to someone else. I take a different approach to patches at the start. 

I would, in the example above be moving in patch hunt speed. Which means cover blue sky ground at a med speed. Looking for a Nug or clear signs that one should be present. Once I hit a Nug I drop down to search speed, which is a slow/med speed, doing 10 foot circles at clear speed (slow) around each nug found. It would let me clear the wash from top to bottom getting the boomers and giving me a solid picture of the whole patch. After the above is done, ergo easy pickings cleared. I then switch to Steve's slow grid approach. That is when I start clearing all those hard to hear .10 gram Nugs. Starting at the bottom and working to the top of the wash.

It comes down to mining math= Ground covered is gold earned and questions answered. Both are equally valuable. As they both help you find gold.

I call my clearing style on a patch the onion approach= clearing layers.

Best part of this hobby is there is not many truly wrong ways to hunt. If you are in gold areas and your coil is touching the ground, not waving in the air. Then you are detecting in a way that will find gold. Other styles net more and some net less. 

An old miner told me once, that he only has so many ups and downs in a day and he spends them wisely. Sound advise.

I would offer you this advise Mitchell. Get a hearing test done as part of a medical check up. When you do the test don't guess at the sounds, only mark ones you are very sure you hear. Get a detail break down of that test. It will tell you what frequency you hear best at. Then set your Zed target noise to that frequency level. This might help you tune into those faint noises. This would ensure your unit is set to your precise needs. Happy hunting.

2 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Gold Catcher, I very rarely adjust the sensitivity away from factory preset on all my machines (except the Equinox, 20 is crazzzzzy😜 in our ground). IMHO increasing sensitivity also increases a lot of the surface clutter so generally I keep things conservative instead relying on the technology to do the heavy lifting. 

I should point out here that there are some differences between what we call the “Smooth class of timings” and “Normal” type timings, inherently the Smooth type timings (difficult modes on the GPZ, Fine Gold, Enhance and Sens Xtra on the GPX machines) have increased Gain built into the timings, they need to do this to elevate the target signal which becomes greatly reduced due to the timings removal of the majority of ground noise etc. I feel increasing sensitivity also increases threshold instability of an already twitchy mode. If you pay attention you can actually hear how busy the threshold sounds in these ground signal reducing modes compared to Normal timings.

Note: On the GPZ the High Yield modes are running quite a bit different Tx/Rx wise compared to the others so have an EMI reducing tendency built in (you will notice you can get a lot closer to other operators in these modes compared to General or Extra Deep).

If I‘m working shallow ground where there are mainly smaller pieces I will increase my sensitivity to around 12 on the GPZ but very rarely any higher, the learning curve required to retrain my brain to not tweak on every little burp and fart in the threshold is just not worth it relative to the slight increase in target signal over ground signal (this ratio basically remains the same no matter what you do).

The biggest issue I find with increased Gain or Sensitivity is the increase in EMI jitters and electronic noise, Minelab machines run a very fine line on all fronts even right down to their noise floor so the electronics and timings are very finely tuned to compliment this. 

In essence my main focus is in coil control, it is so important on so many levels especially when chasing tiny gold in variable environments. The Two major things about coil control are: 

1. Keeping the coil level
2. Maintaining a good “Range of Motion”

The detector is tuned for the coil to be held flat relative to the Earths magnetic field, if you tilt it then it allows EMI into the audio and its the worst kind of EMI which is the garbled non-patterned SFERIC type of EMI. You would be amazed how much SFERIC noise kills performance even on the mighty GPZ!

Range of Motion is my super power. Understanding what is required to manifest a deep target response relative to what the coil is actually doing is so important. I imagine the target as being a ball of magnetic energy that radiates out from its centre which is the energised Eddie current infested target itself. You the operator need to have a familiarity in the general ground signal response of your chosen area, as your coil comes into the target zone the threshold response will begin to alter either going from threshold pitch in a raising tone or a lowering tone dependant on which channel is dominant relative to size of target and GB position. This initial change in threshold pitch is what we call the “Lead in” and is generally pretty close to the target epicentre. This is the thing I am concentrating all my energies on when detecting.

As the threshold pitch changes so does the volume which steadily increases till the very centre of the target is reached (this is where the coil Rx comes into the strongest part of the targets magnetic field, where the targets field disrupts the coils Rx the most). Once the epicentre is reached and passed the target signal will start to change pitch again and the volume will decrease till the coils Rx leaves the target zone, this is known as the “Tail out”. The Tail Out is generally much wider than the lead in. The key to manifesting a target response correctly (remember we have no idea if there is actually a target present at first,  its all supposition and guess work most of the time) is to feel around with the coils Rx till you get an impression of the signal area and its epicentre. During this process the GB needs to be kept accurate for the localised conditions not the target zone so be careful not to throw the GB too much when “feeling about” 🤫🤪

IN the case of GPZ and DOD the consensus of this combination is a slow signal response which is ideal for deep slow target signals, you could almost say the GPZ is swing dependant where the sweet spot needs to be searched out and locked into. The GPZ loves a smooth controlled swing that provides a full range of motion relative to the target. Size, shape and depth relative to the aforementioned previous coil speed and range of motion are the key to manifesting the best possible signal response. Getting the coil swing coming in from an averaged localised GB condition where you have to familiarised yourself to detector behaviour for your chosen area is important, some GB states cause the threshold to behave differently sometimes suggesting a slight change in threshold pitch but it will just be the ground and GB interacting with each other.

Achieving a good range of motion and becoming familiar with how deep targets behave is so important, all my settings on the GPZ are solely designed to compliment this. IMHO running higher sensitivity levels blends the “Range of Motion” signal too much potentially degrading identifiable information, especially on the Low/High signals, you need to come from a smooth stable localised ground signal into the “lead in” Stage of the target. I feel having the threshold jittery and coarse through SFERIC noise or the “zoomed in“ Nature of running elevated Sensitivity fights your ability to properly recognise the deeper target signals.

JP

JP great post. I wonder if you could translate the second half which is very technical, into normal everyday circumstance and language. I enjoy technical but sometimes what one word means to you in OZ does not have the same  Nuance in US, resulting in a confusion.

Great to be back to meet and potatoe threads. Thanks JP.

That is a chunk Lunk. I hope you find more in that area. What was the setting, Deep?

Solid thread. I like the pics of the area and of the gold found.

Is it possiable to add a pic of the hole or draw on the pic to show the ground type that caught your eye. This thread could replace published books.

17 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

JP I don't think we could ask for much more than that. 

We can! JP feel free to send each member some of that beautiful gold popcorn you keep finding. Also keep on letting us enjoy your sold tech pointers.

Perhaps it was a mistake to have the coil in the pic. Given the fact that we all know JP tests gear, seems reasonable that if he removed it and wont talk about it, means he can't. 

I agree with Trent King, so sick of hearing about Xcoils or some form of Xcoil description without saying Xcoil.

Make the bad man stop!!!!

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

I have the book!  It was there and they couldn't find it.

Reece sent me the tracking number and I forced them to look again.  I wasn't taking any excuses.

I'm impressed.  Now I have to read it.

Mitchel

I like my theory more🤪🤪🤪🤪

Get them mothers

3 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

Maybe that is what my delivery slip is all about!

Nope, it's the IRS they want their share of all your gold finds lol.

Let's place all the reviews of the book here if we could. Also let's feel free to list the State you are in.

Let the reviews pile up.

I recieved my copy today, plus another for someone else. 

The paper is 100 pound paper, good stuff. 

You might notice the cover is slightly off center. The printer caught it to late. Reese wanted to get us the books so he rolled with it. I can accept that choice. Color is vibrant. 

I look forward to reading it. I will start another thread for reviews of the book.

I just spoke to Reese. The books are in the mail. We should be getting them in the next week. They are being mailed by a third party company, all postage is paid and addresses provided. 

Great news as I prepaid along time ago and have not heard a word since he got banned.