Trev (NZ)

And I might add Johnathon. If you ever get to the good ole US of A.. Well they like jelly and peanut butter sandwiches. Of course us far way down under folks call Jelly. Jam. I tried one when I was up there, yuk. So it was a peanut butter Sammie for me after that. And Hersschy put out a chocolate and peanut butter, thingie like a little pancake. Not for me either, Now Marmite and chocolate might go together.. And yep Steve drove the same highways as you did on trip up to AK. Took the Alacan all the way up. Then came back down to Washington on the dirt road, the back one. Very lovely. Did have a laugh when we went through the Bellingham border. We had a break down shotgun, when you broke it down, well it was a four shot pistol. But we got it through. Me as a Commonwealth citizen got two years in Canada and the right to work. Me ole USA mate mate got three months, Then we boot you out. God Save the Queen. Cheers Trev

And JP remember to send Steve his Vegemite or Marmite. He must be getting low by now. Me I am a Marmite man. Cheers Trev

One for the Elvis Fans. Bluebird asked if I could somehow bring Elvis into one of my tales. I posted these on a NZ Gold Forum. Well Blue Bird, whats that old saying. A bird in the hand is worth three in the bush, well something kinda like that. But let me take you on a journey. A few years back I was deep in the mountains, after climbing a very torturous creek, alas it was a Duffer kinda creek, but I had faith in it, so kept climbing and testing. But alas no gold. It looked good, all the right geology, and no he is not a Greek god. Anyway I finally came to a humongous water fall, that's it I cried , I am going no further. So I just sat on a rock and watched the water cascading down. And as I sat there feeling somewhat dejected and just a little bit down, and I might add completely stuffed. A Bush Robin hopped in front of me. And then damm a Bellbird began to sing, a fantail came to show me her dance. A tui began to chuckle I lifted my eyes, with wonderment, it seemed all gods little creatures had come to cheer me up. But wait their is more. On a distant ridge, shrouded in mist I saw something. Oh frig I thought, not Barry again. That buggar gets everywhere. But that's not a rifle he's carrying, its a bloody guitar. Oh holly comolly I thought I hope its not Bob Dylan or Joe Crocker. Mind you I do really Like " I get bye with a little help from my friends" by Joe. Just that I wasn't in the mood for it that day. And then I heard it, " Anywhere is Paradise" it wafted down from the far off ridge. But kept getting closer. Until finally he appeared. Yep bloody Elvis. I was kinda lucky as there was a good rock next to me to sit on. But I had the best rock, and he said you obviously know your rock. I'll give you half an hour, take a look around. You and I are in Paradise. So we rock and rolled. Time for me to go, he said, after a very special 30 minutes, I have other places to be. You know the drill he said to me. Yep I said, " Elvis has left the room" Nope he said Paradise is where you find it, and we found it here today. But now you can say " Elvis has left the Room". Which I did, a wind blew down that lonely valley and the mist blew in. When I turned he was gone. I looked at the ridge and saw two ghostly figures in the encroaching mist, one had a guitar slung over his shoulder, the other a sugar bag pack and a 303 fully wooded rifle. They paused and looked at me. And in the distance I heard the dying strains of " Love me Tender" And then Barry let a shot go, yep I reckon he kinda likes me. I got a " One Gun Salute" well he does have to conserve his ammo you know. I made my way back down the creek, and swore I shall always call this " Paradise Creek" a place to return to when I am in need off inspiration and a bit up of get up and go. Who knows my brushed back hair mate and he of the sugar bag. May just appear. But I doubt it. Those things happy only once in a lifetime. But I'll be looking out for them. Thanks Bluebird, you got me writing again. Cheers Trev aka " The Hatter"

Another little Tale of Mine. Barry Crump is a bit of a legend in New Zealand. He was a deer culler, and many other things. Dead now. Was a very popular NZ author, writing about his exploits. ast Night I had a dream. I was over nighting in the Kellys hut high on Kellys range before dropping into the Taipo Valley the next day. Darkness had fallen, and snow flurries were falling. I became a little alarmed as in the hut was a pack and sleeping bag and on the table was a half pack of 303 rounds. Taking what small amount of firewood that was left in the hut, I climbed to the top of the peak, my carbide lamp was but a feeble beacon. I soon had a robust fire going. Like a signal fire in days gone by. Just as my meager supply of wood was about to depart. I heard a shout in the distance, "Hold the Light" . On went the last few scraps of wood. Out of the darkness he came, snow covered, a 303 fully wooded rifle slung over his shoulder. A sugar bag pack on his back. Damm he said, "Thanks for the Light" even if I can't light a smoke in these hellish conditions. I over judged my wanderings just a tad. And I was surely in for a cold night. Guess we are gunna be in for one in the hut as you just burnt all the firewood. Frig I thought, I save his life and now he's moaning about the lack of firewood. Who is this guy. So back to the hut we go, alas the stove has just about gone out. Never fear my visitor says, I have a stash close by. The Forest Service and I have a little agreement, one load of wood for the hut and one for me. And soon he returns with ample wood and holly bloody hell, some coal, Coal on Kellys Range, frig me unbelievable, he must have a really good deal going with the Forest Service, me thinks. Get a brew on young fella he says. I'm dying for a good cup of tea, and then has this big chuckle. And then he takes off his swanni, his sugar bag, leans his 303 against the table, and says two sugars thanks. My god I save his life and now he wants his tea with two bloody sugars. Just who is this guy. Soon the billy is boiling, so I plonk his much awaited cup of tea down in front of him, with his two bloody sugars. My very small sugar ration has just diminished somewhat. Right he says, time to swap names, I'm Barry. And Im Trev I reply. Are we gunna do surnames, he asks. Well I guess we had better I reply as we may be snowed in for a few days. I'm Trevor Alty, bit of a queer name he says, but a bit like mine I'm Crump. Oh frig, holly bloody hell I cry, " Your Dead". "There was a rumour going around about that he replies. But here I ductions are am alive and well. And enjoying your cuppa, but you didn't quite get the sugar quite right. You don't happen to have any grog up here do you. No bloody way Barry, where at 4500 feet, I don't lug grog that high, neither do I he says, so we have a dry hut. Yep I tnink only because you have a secret stash of coal and wood. Well Crumpet I say, what brings you here, smack, he had that 303 in his hands in seconds, and gives me a hearty smack on the side of the head with the butt. " I don't like being called " Crumpet" grasshopper he says. Oh well that was lesson number one. No more crumpets for me, I guess. Shit I said that hurt, Mr Crump, he replied, " It hurt me more than it did you. There is a lesson there. head Ok I thought one last try. Ok Crumbles, want another cuppa. Wham, down I go again. Yep two sugars and get it right this time. Frig and double frig. I just gotta start getting this right. So one last try, ok Mr Crump what brings you here, wham wack down I go again. Those ole 303 butts are made of hardwood, I can testify to that. Sometimes introductions are a tad hard but this is the worst one I have ever had to endure. Not one but three fully wooded head butts. Ok Barry, Im Trev. Bout time he said, reached into his sugar bag and fetched out two lovely hind back steaks. Guess you are the cook tonight. I wasn't arguing at that, Im not about to receive number four. So on went a venison stew, spuds, and carrots. Wish I had have taken up red peppers and green peppers and crushed pepper corns. Lucky me that would have been blow four. But at last we are getting on like good ole mates, and I am awaiting with baited breath for Barry to call me " A Good Keen Man". After our hearty meal we sit back. Barry lets a mighty burp go and then this tremendous fart. Damm I was impressed. Shit those were beauty's Barry. Yep he said, that's how I call in the stags in the roar. Damm I am impressed. So give him another helping of stew and one for myself so I can learn the technique. So now its hut time. Another brew. By this time Barry has got me breaking the tea bags, oh these new fangled things are beyond me he reckons. Okay have you read my books, he asks. Yep every bloody one I reply. Which ones did you like the best, Well Barry a few were crap, but I really liked " A Good Keen Man" and "Gold and Greenstone". Why do you say Crap, well Barry when you write from your heart and take people into your world, those are good books. When your publisher wants you to write more. Then you have to make things up. Thats why a " A Good Keen Man" was your best ever book. It was real it was you. Why are you here Barry. " I want you to write a book. I don't want to. You have too. Don't want too. Why. I'm scared. What of. Failure I guess. And the time it will take. I did "A Good Keen Man" in a month. Frig it will take me about 12. Hows your head, bloody sore Barry, thanks to you. Whats that thing in the corner. Why Barry thats a Minelab SD2300 Military specifications. Frig Trev whats the blast radius. Na Barry its a gold Detector, it finds gold. Bloody hell Trev, how does it do that. To complicated for you Barry. I agree. When you drop down into the Taipo, go here. Give me a pencil and a bit of dunny paper. As you used the last of the paper here to light your big bonfire on the peak which I didn't really need, but was sure glad to see. Right lets get some shut eye, I get the bottom bunk, you the top. And no farting. We dont want any stags hanging around. Goodnight Alltea and no sugar, ok Crumpet. I'll let you off with that one alltea, see ya in the morning. And when we get back to the Otira Pub its your shout. OK. I awoke in the morning. He was gone. Not a sign. Oh well travelling another ridge, I thought. One of these days his Forest Service supplied 303 ammo is gunna run out. But knowing him he reloads, somehow. I trudged back down the track, the next day. And then the few miles to Otira, where I was getting the Vulcan Railcar back to Greymouth. But I had a two hour wait until the ChCh to Greymouth Railcar arrived. So off to the Pub I went. Gidday said the Publican, what will you have. Two 12 ounce beers please, I replied. Two he said, but there is only you. One for my mate and one for me, I replied. But there is only you he said. Rest assured I said my mate will turn up. Bang down went my first one, never touched the sides. And then started looking at the old photo's on the wall. Turned around and frig me (my first frig me of the day) the other glass was empty. Fill them up again sir, it seems I have company. The publican just kinda looked at me as if I was a bit strange. Well Barry and I got through six 12 oz beers before I left for the railway station. But on his last, while I was in the dunny, I came back. An empty glass. But there on the bar counter next to my glass, was a 303 shell case with a bit of paper sticking out of it. And not dunny paper. It read. " Write the Book Grasshopper" and yep you are "A Good Keen Man" A Tribute to Barry Crump. Thanks Metal Kiwi. And I think Barry thanks you too. Cheers Trev aka " The Hatter"

A story, from my younger days. Yep its true. But old mine shafts and pit pony's kinda go together. Was watching Country Calender tonite about the Kaimanawa Wild Horses. Bought back a few memories when I was a young fella in Reefton. (About 8 years old) we used to love going up to the old Globe mine up Soldiers Road, (The road to Big River). We were on a mission, to capture one of the wild old globe mine pit horses. When the mine closed they just let the pit ponys go, so there was quite a herd of the buggars in the 50's. Naughty horses had been breeding. We would bike up the Soldiers road, till we came to our favourite paddock, and in that paddock was our transport, no. not an old Indian Motorcycle but a bloody old draft horse. He liked his apples that old bugga did. But I guess he liked us too. We always carried some bailing twine, so on went our makeshift halter. Didn't worry him a bit. And then four of us would climb aboard and off the road we would go. I think his mummy must have done a few hauls up the Globe Road. As soon as we got to the old Globe road, which was then just a track, but a good one. He would turn off without any prompting from us four young whippersnappers perched on his back. And all he ever did was plod. So up to the Globe Mine he would take us. We would tether him up to a handy tree. And then devise our plan to catch a real horse, we wanted a bloody racehorse, a Globe Race Horse. So we would scout around until we caught sight of the herd. About 20 of the furry things. Then we would sneak away and find a place to stampede them to. We always had a coil of our horse catching rope with us. So we would rig our horse catching noose between two tree's. And then sneak back, get behind them. Then all jump out waving our arms and screaming. Off the Globies would go, straight towards our trap. We only got one shot each visit. Damm those horses were cunning, we never caught a one. And just as well, had we snared one we would have probably have broken its neck. And if it happened to survive, it probably would have kicked us all to death. We never quite figured out what we were going to do if we did get one. So horse catching over it was off to the mine shaft, it was open then, just a great hole in the ground. We threw everything we could find down that hole, rocks, old cast iron stoves, you name it, down the hole it went. Ya could hear it bouncing off the walls as it descended. The guys at Oceana must have chuckled when they open casted and got to the bottom of the shaft. But phew none of our rotting bones. So it was back to our trusty old stead, mount up and head home. But he was happy there were then wild apple trees up the globe hill, and we picked him a bellyfull and he loved them. Back down the track, and back to his paddock he trustfully took us. We never did know who owned him, but I bet they knew we took him on little adventures, and didn't mind at all. We did many trips with our old mate and I am sure he enjoyed them as much as we did. Ride on ole fella, wherever you are. Cheers Trev aka " The Hatter"

Here you go Snakejim. Took me a while to find it. Maybe a few more will have a few laughts and a hoot or two. Time for a laugh. Quite a few years back when I first started chasing that fine sea beach gold I saw in a book a Vibrating shaker table design. It looked quite good and me and my mate, thought right lets build one. Basically the design was like a highbanker mounted on four steel legs, the steel legs were single leaf springs off a car. A motor was mounted underneath and this drove via a belt an eccentric cam which rested against one of the steel spring legs. The idea was that the cam would force the spring leg back and forward etc, thus creating a back and forward movement of the entire rig, the rejects would vibrate off the grizzly and the gold would vibrate to the bottom of the riffles. Well it looked good on paper, so we thought right lets build one. Took a couple of days, but cost nothing, as most of the stuff we had. Came the big day and we took it down to the beach we wanted to work. This beach was gravelly in nature and that is why we needed to screen down. We knew the motor would go as we had tested it. It was an old 3hp Briggs and Stratton. It didn't have a kill switch. To stop it, it had a lever you pushed down on the top of the spark plug to short circuit the plug. This motor also didn't like starting unless the throttle was turned full on. We got everything set up, Rig on flat ground, water pump going to supply water via grizzly, throttle full on, fuel on. Pull the Starter rope, ahah first problem, nothing ever works first time. As there was no clutch we were virtually trying to make it vibrate by hand. The cam was designed to be in constant contact with the spring leg. No problems, a bit of Kiwi ingenuity and we wedged the leg back with a piece of wood. Idea being start motor, then knock wedge out. Right second attempt, pull starter cord and my gawd it roars into action, throttle back to just above idle and with eager anticipation, knock wedge out. Bruummph motor stalls, not enough power to drive cam against leg. Oh well third time lucky. Pull cord, motor roars, leave at full power. With much anticipation I lean forward and knock pin out. It works, it works I cry, as the rig starts to vibrate, faster and faster and faster. Shaking and vibrating just as the design said it would. But it keeps getting faster and the springs really start doing their work. Back and forward they go faster than the eye can see. And then the grease melts off he cam and she starts to smoke. Turn it of, turn it off I cry. But before we can do that it starts to jump up and down whilst still vibrating. Higher and higher it jumps in its own cloud of smoke. How do we turn this monster off I cry to my mate, its out of control. He says bugger that you do it. By this time there are bits of steel flying off and other assorted debris. And then it plays its last trick on us, it starts to move, slowly at first but as it gather momentum it gets faster and faster. Bolt for it I cry, its after us. And sure enough like some prehistoric dragon, bellowing fire and smoke it starts to jump in our direction and we bolt for it. By this time the grease on the cam had completely gone and the smoke had turned into flames. Clack clack clack went the cam in an earsplitting crescendo as the rig built up more momentum. By this time its getting along the beach at a good clip with us in hot pursuit, but keeping a safe distance. What if it gets on the road I cry, it will run someone over and we will get the blame. Lets just bugger off and leave it, says my mate. We will find it when it runs out of fuel. Yeh I say but it could be miles away by then. What if there is a family having a picnic further down the beach and it attacks them. The headlines flash through my head. Woman attacked by Vibrator on beach. This monster we have created has to be stopped before it kills. Lets push it over says my mate, bugger you I says, it'll chop your arm off. Well get a pole then. So off he runs back down the beach where there was a bit of drift wood. Arriving back with a lengthy pole, I say lets try and turn it off first. But alas every time we approached it seemed to sense our presence and would burst into renewed vigour, hopping away out of reach. Well we had built it well, I'll give you that. It just didn't want to die. Oh well push it over I said, it will probably ruin the motor but we have to do it in, its either it or us. So sneaking up with the pole I give it a mighty shove. Got ya I cry as it topples over onto its side. Now die you evil thing we created. But alas all is not over, like some form of giant land crab it adopts another series of movements and now scuttles more than jumps. Will this nightmare ever end. Oh hell fuel is leaking out of the tank, run for it, she's going to self destruct. Never thought of that when I pushed it over, silly me. Red hot metal, petrol. Small Column. Westport News August 1986: The Charleston Fire Brigade were called to the Nine Mile Beach at 3.00pm yesterday. A local farmer reported hearing a small explosion and seeing a plume of smoke coming from the beach area. On arrival the Brigade found the twisted remains of some mechanical device. There was no-one present. The Chief Officer said that it appeared to be some form of fishing device that launched the line similar to a cannon. The barrel was missing and it is assumed that the owner had overloaded it and it had blown apart The device had a motor attached to the bottom part with a belt and it was believed that this was for retrieving the long line after it had been in the sea a while. As no bodies or body parts were found, it appears the culprits ran off before the arrival of the Brigade and local Police. A True Story. Believe it or not.

Hi Folks I have posted a few messages on here. And it is one of my favorite forums to visit. So allow me to introduce myself. My name is Trevor Alty and I live on the West Coast off the South Island of New Zealand. My county is called " Buller". And yes it is a gold bearing region. But we are covered with very green lush forest, As we have a very high rainfall. I am 66 years old. But have kinda done gold since I was five. Did the learning curve, Pans first, then sluices, then got into underwater dredging. And also ran a beach claim, Its called black sanding down here. Really micro fine gold, smaller than a fly poo. But I learn't how to catch it. Some of you may know of the " Gold Cube" well my old mate Mike Pung and Red didn't invent it.. And neither did I. But when I decided to put a claim on a beach where I lived right by. I needed to find a method of catching that fly poo. So I used what the black-sanders were using over a hundred years ago. Down here we call that the boil box system. Believe it or not it was developed by people from the Shetland Islands, up Britain way. They came down here in the early gold-rush days and somehow worked that system out. Its basically a column of water that rises up, and the sorts out the relative gravity of the different minerals. Now days its got a flasher name. Anyway it worked for me. I love taking the old guys idea's and using them. After all they were the masters. Siphons, Perfect water races with just the right amount of fall, and many run for miles. Damn they were smart. An engineer those days was indeed an engineer. Anyway Mike Pung had some trouble catching fine gold up at I think it was Lake Mitchagin. He ended up on a forum I run, that had a lot about how to catch real fine gold.. He followed my instructions, built a wooden one, went back and yep it worked. So then he did a lot a research and development. And at the end of it all, "The Cube was Born" and now they are shipped all over the world. And very popular they are indeed. Why even Lip CA has one. And believe it or not his son Arlie came down to NZ stayed with me for most of our summer, a few years back and we did very well dredging on my claim. Eh Harry. And yes I have been to the great ole US of A. Washington State. But wait there is more. And yep to Alaska. A mate of mine Bruce Strandburg, that was one my forum came down to NZ. I took him out and yep he panned some nice gold.. He got the bug and wanted to get a claim in Alaska. In the Circle/Central district. He flew me up to help him look. Great State, but to much glacial muck and overburden in that area. Hey Steve, yep " Fast Eddies" is a great place, Good tucker my man. And yep its in Tok. Damm we should have turned off there and went inland to the Chicken Place. After scouting out Central and Circle we headed back to Fairbanks. Then went up the oil line road, to the hidden valley. Think it was the Elliot Highway. Ended up staying on the runway at Les Cobbs place, and had our evening meals with him. He was a great man, didn't suffer fools, bit like me there I guess. We got on like a house on fire. Why he had even been down to NZ on a hunting trip. So sad to hear he fell out of a tree when setting a bear bait drum and got paralyzed, then died not long after. He was a man amongst men. I must get his wife's book one day. Sadly didn't get to Anchorage, bugga. But damm I sure loved Alaska. (In the Summer) fire weed, blue berry's and its remoteness. Anyway I am rambling a bit here, but it sure is fun. Cause this kinda feels like home. My latest project is resurrecting the hydraulic elevator. And I am sure it will resurface in the near future. Once again old technology but it works, and it efficiency is 100 per cent. Down here in NZ they had ones lifting 12 inch rocks eighty feet. Straight up. Now beat that. Our suction nozzles and power jets utilize the same principle . But sadly are only at 50 to 60 per cent off effiency . I am developing two at the moment, one for sucking rocks, sand and gravel, and one purely for sand. I will add a pic of a bit of the sand one. Doesn't look much as it needs the throat attached. Now as we all know there are no free lunches when it comes to suction and lift. The higher you lift, the less suction you get. But so far I have had very favorable results. And I continue my research and development, The main denominator is Jet size to throat size. But I do know the ratio's. Thats what R and D is all about.. Maybe you will see the sand one at Nome in a year or two. Hopefully sooner.. Cheers Trev From Down Under

Hi Folks Well the mind boggles. The outline appears identical to that of the SDC2300. So maybe its gunna be a GPX5000/SDC2300 marriage. Two PCB boards. Flick a switch to move from one board to the other. If that was the case, its gunna come at a pretty high price. But at the end of the day, who knows what " Minelab are up too. Be assured whatever its gunna be, its gunna be pretty inovative, Minelab have a history for inovationing things. Cheers Trev Alan maybe they are already onto the multi functional hot plate coil. Lol.

HI Alan Great sense of humor you have there. I am sure if Minelab see how you have adapted the SDC to cut ham, they will explore that market. And may be manufacture a coil, that also functions as a hot plate. Then you can have cooked ham steaks. Would be a bit hard on the batteries tho. But imagine the market. Every wife/partner would want one, and in the weekends the ole man can steal it and go detecting. The perfect marraige. Cheers Trev

Hi Folks These Detector Gunfights are a source of amusement to me, and there are plenty on Utube. There is little to be gained from them, apart from working out which Detector the Poster is pushing or has a bias for. Obviously in this case the ATX is the preferred machine, be it for commercial gain or just outright, I have the better detector. Now let me show you, But of course I am not biased. Like you say Steve, Its a pissing contest. Some days I bet I can pee higher than you, other days you will win. But lets not have a New Zealand Versus The USA peeing competition lol. Lets just call it a draw. The biggest hole I can pick in that video is. How many times do you find a piece of gold that size, already in a plastic container. In my years of gold mining, be it underwater dredging, black sand beach mining, or detecting. And I have done over 300 ozs. I am yet to find my gold already in the plastic container, clean and ready to sell. So to me that test is flawed. Yep the ATX seems to do better than the SDC on buried gold in a plastic container. Bearcat, no offence. Go out and do the Gunfight again. But this time just try putting the gold in the ground on its own. Bet the SDC will do its magic then. Hell my Minelab Etrac would probably beat them both hands down. But then I am not into gunfights or peeing competitions lol. Just my thoughts. Cheers Trev

Couldn't wait until tomorrow folks. So banged the 11 inch Minelab Double D Coil on. 1oz 2oz 3oz 4oz all around the 14 to 14 and a half inch detection depth. And I could still kinda pinpoint them Steve. So they were true readings. So the big coil on big gold is better by around 3 inches. But the little coil on small gold outshines the big coil. And of course that has always been the rule. But the 6 inch coil is far better for ultra trashy area's as it reads fewer rusty nails, a six inch radius compared to an 11 inch radius. And I might add with this mode as used by me, it is a slow slow slow sweep. The Detector is at the limit of its range, and needs time to process the incoming data. Cheers Trev

I must admit Steve I am only an apprentice compared to you when it comes to detecting. Whereas you are the " Master" but I try and learn quick. Decided to do a bit of testing today, with known weights. Using the 6 inch Coiltek Coil. Sadly had to use lead fishing sinker weights. Similar to gold tho, just not the right colour. Here are the results on my test bed. 1oz detected at 10 and a half inches. 2oz detected at 11 inches. 3oz detected at 11 inches. 4oz detected at 11 and a half inches. Maybe could have squeezed another inch in or half an inch. But that would be so faint, as if to say, is that really a signal. Tomorrow I will bolt the Minelab 11 inch coil on and see if I get any further depth. ( And report back) But I reckon the results for the 6 inch coil are pretty impressive. And I might add, the Minelab Relic mode is " All Metal" Virtually No discrimination, well just a tad. But you could take that out and just go completely clear screen. I did read your article on discrimination destroys depth. The old story, there aint no free lunches with most things, even detectors. Hi Harry , I must get around to emailing Arlie. Cheers Trev

Hi Steve I made it thanks to your help. Right lets play. After reading the CTX3030 Manual on line. It is apparent it has similar circuitry to the Minelab Etrac. Which is the one I have. Your CTX3030 just has a few more bells and whistles. GPS etc. So what works on mine will work on yours. I got my Etrac about two months ago. And after reading the manual, which I found somewhat complicated. I thought I bet I can turn this thing into a gungho gold Detector. I just gotta get my head around it and experiment. So for two months, I have been doing that. Had a couple of trips to a local park, and just used the inbuilt Minelab settings. ( Coins) mainly. Then I found on the net that Andy Sabisch had a book out on the Etrac which was somewhat more easy to read and understand than the Minelab Users Manual. So I ordered one and it duely arrived. Well I was in heaven after that. So much explained and easy for me to understand. I was off on a mission. Now I am gunna make this Etrac a gung ho gold detector. But wait, theres more. I went onto Coilteks site and voila, they make a six inch Treasure Seeker coil. Good for small stuff. And pretty damm good on big stuff too. So my journey continued. Gotta have one of those. Well that too finally arrived, and once again I was in heaven. As soon as I bolted it on, I knew I was onto a winner. Right now I need a mode and program I can adapt. So back on the net I go. And found this great link. That guy rocks. Yep he is a treasure hunter, but similar basics to us gold guys. http://www.goes4ever.com/ttf-explained.html I had seen this mentioned quite a bit TTF and wondered what in the heck it was. Wish they had have said " Two Tone Ferrous" And in manual mode with the sensitivity bumped up as far as you can go (Without lots of bingy bongy) the Etrac begain to rock and roll. I saved the mode, then played around with it a bit myself under " Expert" not that I am one. But I got it working a little better for us gold guys. So saved that mode too. I know Minelab recommend and a few others recommend " Long" on audio, but I found " Normal worked better, esp with rusty nails with gold close by. You get the bruuumph bruumph of rusty steel but the sweet chirp of gold, which sometimes can be a ribbit ribbit too. My old Minelab XT17000 used to give me the ribbit ribbit when on a bit of gold. I don't believe in air tests, So I have my own test bed. Plastic bags full of sand and gravel. On top of plastic bins. Actually two bins as the Etrac can go so deep it was picking up the nails in my floor. And I have a few plastic bags filled with dredge concentrates, which I guess are pretty hot. But they don't seem to bother the Etrac. (Minus the gold of course). I will have a go at attaching some pics. But not sure if I can write underneath the pic as to what it is. Sure after I post them I will have learnt a bit more. Right the first pic is just a general shot of my test bed. The gold on the tape measure is the piece of gold I use to test. Just a long thin bit of alluvial gold. Not a lot of weight. I don't have any scales to weigh it. Must get some.. But if I can pick up that size under a rock and a sandbag at 4 inchs, Anything bigger is just gunna get better as to depth. Read the nail and the gold. I go by sounds, and don't even look at the readouts on the screen. I trust my ears. One pic is a silver ring with lots of nails sticking through and around it. Read it at 11 inches. Nail and Ring. Could have even gone a bit deeper I reckon. So judging by that it will easilly tackle gold of any size at that depth, along with their little friends a few old rusty nails. Yep you are gunna get lead sadly, but nothing iron, and there aint many old aluminium tear tabs in remote gold workings or foil, cause they will sound like gold too. Yet to experiment with three tone and multi tone in this mode and setting. And of course Steve as you like digging many holes with your PI's you could just go one tone on the CTX3030 and dig everything. Anyway here are the settings I use. Minelab Relic Mode. Audio: Threshold Level 30 Volume Limit 30 Volume Gain 24 Reponse Normal No of tones 2 Sounds Ferrous Variability 25 Limits 30 Sensitivity: Manual Manual Level 30 Auto Level A Expert: Recovery Deep On Recovery Fast On Trash Density Low Ground Difficult Noise Cancel 3 ( But that differs as you select the quietest channel) Here is a good utube video showing how manual outshines Auto. Thats of course if your ground can handle it. Steve I did find the 11 inch Double D Coil that came with the Etrac, a similar one to what the CTX3030 has actually performed very well. Not quite up there with the wee 6 inch Coiltek Treasure Seeker, but very close. The Minelab Coil got a little noisy the higher the sensitivity is pushed up. On my test bed I had the sensitivity oushed right up to 30. Wouldn't go any higher, it was maxed out. So thats how to turn an Etrac and I hope the CTX3030 into a gungho gold detector, maybe it outshines the SDC. Right time for the pics And I might add I have followed your travels and adventures for many years now. From dredging, to Moore Creek, to Gaines Creek to Chicken. To England, to Australia. You been every where man. Hey you probably know all these settings already. But hey Steve splash out on that Eleptical Coiltek coil for the CTX3030, I think you will be pleasantly suprised. Cheers Trev. From Down Under in New Zealand.