Bozko

34 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

D-Tex Professional from 1968?  That vs. the Equinox is like comparing a Tin Lizzie to a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee!

I can second Chase's warning to not overdo the sensitivity (gain) setting.  I'd say 75% of my 240 hours with the Equinox have been running gain of 18 or 19.  Too high of a gain is more costly than too low with most detectors.

Don't worry about boring us.  We've all been when you are and seeing someone excited about our hobby makes us all feel good.

Thanks GB_Amateur for the input and the encouragement!  I am a bit like a kid on Christmas morning...well, at least the Christmas morning part.

I'm assembling a small assortment of the good, the bad, and the ugly things that I do and don't want to find.  It was 12 degrees F. here this morning but should warm to the mid-thirties by afternoon.  I may not be able to dig holes in the frozen ground without destroying my suburban lawn but may be able to make some slots in the lawn with a screwdriver to insert some targets.

Wow Chase, this is the perfect post at the perfect time for me, thank you!!!  I got my Nox 800 on December 13th.  It is arguably my first detector.  I did have  D-Tex Professional back in '68 but at 15 years old, I never did learn much about using it to it's best potential.  I'm determined not to repeat that mistake with the Nox, so your post is fantastic for me!

I'm in southeast Michigan and although we have had an extremely warm winter thus far, the ground is starting to freeze and limit a few of my learning opportunities.  I've had the Nox out a half dozen times, mostly in my backyard but also to a couple of parks.  As suggested, I've stuck to the Park 1 setting so far but need to experiment with reducing sensitivity and gradually playing with ground balancing.  I don't want to introduce too many variables at once and not be able to associate effects with causes.  Of course, the fact that I've already had the adrenaline rush of a couple small but interesting finds makes it more difficult to stick to a disciplined approach to learning.  Dang, this is an addictive hobby. 

I won't bore you with the details of my penny ante finds, preferring to save those fish stories for my non-detectorist friends.  They are more easily impressed with the ever expanding glories of these small adventures than you seasoned veterans who would instantly recognize my blind squirrel scenario.  I will however let you know that I have printed your post and highlighted portions of it to help me more quickly learn to speak "Nox".

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

Cheers,
Jim

On 12/14/2018 at 11:20 AM, EL NINO77 said:

...One of the very good test fields :  

 

Thank you for sharing this! Oh my gosh, that’s a fantastic training area!

23 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

One (negative) issue with typical test garden is the difficulty in modification.  That also means (unless you have lots of time and lots of space) you are limited in what you can test.  A modifiable test garden is preferred, IMO.

A quick-and-dirty option is to fill quart sized Ziploc freezer bags with soil, enough to result in ~1 inch thick dirt when laying flat.  Not only can you then vary the 'depth' of the target by stacking them, but in addition you can distribute trash items (nails, pulltabs, bottle caps, can slaw, etc.) both at the same level but also 'deeper' and 'shallower' at the transitions between bags.

You'll get the most value from a test garden when it's closest to being like the real world.  The ideal case of a deep coin with no trash near it is rare compared to targets at moderate (even shallow) depths interfered with by nearby trash.

Thanks GB, what a great idea!  I got my first detector, an Equinox 800, late Thursday afternoon. Took it into my suburban back yard yesterday and got a feel for just what you’re talking about.  I guess I was expecting a perfectly “clean playing field” dotted with the occasional perfectly clear, crisp signals of desirable finds.  Needless to say, I often got multiple, in distinct, and so far to me, confusing signals.  I was digging everything so I found lots of foil, a couple nails, a screw, some mysterious ferrous items, the top part of an old tube of airplane glue (made of lead I think), a clad dime and half a matchbox car. The NOX was trying to tell me a lot more than I could understand yet, so my journey into learning the language has just begun.  Your idea for using bags to be able to mix and match targets, depths,  and interfering signals sounds like a good way to approximate actual conditions.  Since we’re rapidly approaching frozen ground conditions here in Michigan, it will also allow me to learn and practice throughout the winter.  Thanks for this great tip!

Jim

On 12/12/2018 at 4:47 PM, EL NINO77 said:

.... Zkušební pole není špatný nápad, mám také zkušební pole 4x4 metrů -1Test rychle zkontrolovat nastavení detektoru a také odpor cívky a EMI. Nachází se v mé ovocné zahradě ... 35 x 35 metrů dlouhé = 1200 metrů2, a znečištěné starým železem, .... čisté z neželezných kovů to je moje 2.test ...,
 
 

   

Test 3 - je moje 50l keramická hrdla - "Liapor" v plastové nádobě, - testování ve vysoké mineralizované půdě -4 bar F3O4-tekG2-11dd "cívka .. -Tato velmi rychle detekovala správné nastavení detektoru a také rychlost otáčení cívky za podobných podmínek ...

Děkuji El Nino 77! Líbí se mi vaše nápady pro tyto tři rychlé testy, zejména pomocí a. Plastová nádoba o objemu 50 litrů. Přál bych si, abych měl velkou plochu jako tvůj sadu. To zní skvěle. Díky za vaši pomoc a šťastný lov!

5 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Hi

Until your ground thaws out this spring, you could try something like this. You could use any container that hold about 2 gallons like those 2.5 gallon plastic buckets that are half the size of the 5 gallon buckets or cut a 5 gallon bucket in half roughly, or any shaped container of that size with 6" to 12" depth, some clean dirt or sand with any metallic targets removed (Gold 1 or 2 on the 800 and a good handheld pinpointer or strong magnet can remove those pieces, if you use a 2.5 or 5 gallon bucket take off the handle!), a piece of PVC pipe that will fit standing up in the middle of your container so it is flush with the top level of the dirt or sand and some rounded styrofoam that can fit inside the PVC. You can cut small recesses in the styrofoam at 1 inch increments that are large enough to hold coins, bottle caps, pull tabs or rings........ I use 2" diameter for testing small lead and gold prospecting targets,  but you could use a different size. Some people put a slightly larger PVC pipe in as a sleeve and then use a slightly smaller PVC pipe with the styrofoam inside so you don't dislodge your pipe every time you remove the styrofoam. You just want a container about the size (or bigger) than the diameter of your coil.

This is a little better than inside air testing since the coil will be moving, you can take it outside and there is some form of ground mineralization. There isn't any target halo to speak of but it is about the same as a new test bed in mild soil until you can get your outdoor test bed established and your targets have a chance to chemically react with the surrounding soil.

When you are able to establish your outdoor test bed try to find an area in you yard with the least EMI. I stupidly put my first test bed too close to an overhead electric line and to my neighbors Ham radio antenna!    Jeff

Thanks Jeff, great idea!   This is why I love this forum.  There is no end to the creativity and helpfulness of the members.  Great tip on the EMI.  I too, have an overhead electric line in my yard and would not have thought to consider it’s potential effects.  It will be interesting to run some tests to determine how much interference they cause at various distances and then play with auto and manual Noise Cancellation to ameliorate the effects.  Thanks!

On 12/9/2018 at 8:54 PM, Tnsharpshooter said:

Welcome  Bozko.

Some good info here and helpful folks too.

Keeping detailed records can be very time consuming.  Could cut into your actual detecting time.

Whatever you decide good luck.

David

Thank you David!  I think initially I want to keep some notes to speed up my learning process but don’t want this to become a hobby of it’s own.  Thanks for the advice!

Jim

On 12/2/2018 at 9:18 PM, kiwijw said:

I just keep a little black book of all my individual gold pieces finds for every time I go out & find something. Date, location, detector used, weather conditions, coil size, individual weights & total weight for that day/location. And photos too so I can share on the forum.  

Oooppss....just realised this was detecting for coins & relics & not finds in general. My finds being gold. My bad but l will stick with it.

Good luck out there

JW 

Thank you JW!  The only problem I see with posting photos is that they make it harder to exaggerate.?

On 12/1/2018 at 11:29 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

I don’t keep a finds log per se. However, I do keep a journal when on trips with short daily notes of interest, including finds. This is something I highly recommend to everyone, along with lots of photos. I honestly don’t care about finds much once they are found. The stories and photos are worth far more to me than the finds ever will be.

Thanks Steve!

Jim (Bozko)

9 hours ago, phrunt said:

That's one hell of a first detector and a great choice, you won't be disappointed once you understand how detectors work and how to understand what it's telling you, in all honesty I think you're better off just going out detecting, digging everything that makes a noise, you'll soon learn how to use the machine and what it's telling you.  I think air testing is OK for the purpose of finding out target ID's of things you want to find but don't worry about depths and so on, they really mean very little when air testing.  My understanding is an air test is as good as it gets, rarely will you achieve those depths in the ground.  

I've found my Nox 800 detects super deep in snow, I have no idea why but I think the water/snow/ice enhances depth, even more so than targets in the air.  I don't know enough about how detectors work to know why, maybe it's because water is conductive? so you'll still be able to go out in frozen/snowy ground as long as you can still dig.  The Nox is also waterproof so you don't have to care about getting it wet ?

People seem to use test gardens mainly to compare detectors, you're better off just going out there swinging, no point finding stuff you've buried when you can get real finds ?

I am certain you'll learn more about your detector going out detecting than you will with a test garden but you're in for a good time once you get your Nox.

Thanks for the advice, phrunt!  I didn’t think I would be able to do much with the NOX before springtime but your comments have given me hope.  The ground here hasn’t gotten to the long-lasting, hard freeze state yet so I think I’ll be able to get in some hunting and learning before it does.  I read a lot of reviews on various detectors and got some great information posted by the members of this forum before deciding on the NOX.  I read the owner’s manual once, then read CJC’s “From Beginner to Advanced” book about the Equinox series, and now am working my way through the owner’s manual a second time.  Can you tell I’m getting stoked?  I hope to have the NOX tomorrow or Friday.  I look forward to the day when I too, can post something useful.  Thanks again!

So I’m a total noob.  I’m getting my first detector later this week, an Equinox 800.  In fact, it has already arrived at my local dealer but my Garrett Carrot won’t be in for another day or two so I’m waiting to get everything all at once.  I want to create a test garden and have read various bits here on the forums about folks using them but can’t really find any information on how to actually create one.  If this has been covered somewhere already, I’d appreciate any direction on how to find it.  I’m sure creating a test garden seems pretty intuitive to experienced detectorists but there’s got to be more to it then getting some stuff you want to find and some stuff you don’t want to find and sticking it in the ground.  I’m looking to make best use of the liimited space in my suburban lot to maximize learning and continually refine my detecting skills.  I’m in southeast Michigan so (I’m assuming) I have very mild soil.  Temperatures right now are bouncing around from 20-40 degrees F so frozen ground may limit what I can do until spring.  I’m guessing that with mild soil, bench (air) testing may be a close second best to a test garden.  I intend to start doing mostly coin shooting in parks and approved public land, then as my skills improve, add in some Lake Michigan fresh water beach hunting.  Then, if I can gain some research skills, perhaps do some relic hunting on private land (with permission of course).  With these parameters in mind, any advice would be appreciated, not only for how to create and use the garden but tips for bench testing too.  Thanks!

On 11/30/2018 at 4:11 PM, BeachHunter said:

Sorry I’m so late to the party. Welcome to the forum and best of luck.

Thanks BeachHunter!  I’m just working my way through the owner’s manual for the NOX 800.  I think I’ll get one this week or next.  I wish had your Southern Cal extended treasure hunting season but I’ll get in a bit of familiarization time with it throughout our Michigan so I’ll be ready to come out swinging in the spring.

19 hours ago, rod-pa said:

An app I use is Evernote...it lets me put as many spreadsheets, pictures, etc into it from PC, tablet, phone, anything...then have access to it on any of the others, even offline without signal, as long as I have synched it prior to losing service.  There are payment choices for it, but the standard free version handles anything you would need.

Thank you rod-pa!  I just finished checking out the Evernote website and it looks very cool.  Looks like it could be a good way to tie together all the various ways I might want to capture and review information.  Great tip!!!

10 hours ago, LoyalistDigger said:

Much like GB, I use an Excel spreadsheet to record date, location, amount and types of coins as well as notable finds. I also take pics of everything and store them in folders by year, date and location. I also store that Excel file within the applicable annual photo folder and it's easy enought to cross reference when I need to locate a pic of that 1850 coin I dug.....good luck!!!!

Thank you LoyalistDigger!  Yours sounds like a great system to be able to tie photos and data together.  Since I have not yet even purchased a detector let alone begun to search, I am struggling to wrap my head around what information I want to track.  Your ideas and GB’s are really helpful.  I’m sure whatever method/system I choose will change and grow but I want to try to get out ahead of it as much as possible so I’m not some day faced with a big backlog of tedious data entry.  I joined a fantastic local detectorist club last night so I’m well on my way to getting started and plan to buy a detector in the next week or two.  Thanks for your input and inspiration!

14 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Welcome, Bozko!

I wouldn't say my record keeping is for everyone, and it does evolve with time.  I keep a simple Excel spreadsheet, with date, location (detailing exactly where within the property I hunted), number of hours spent searching, air temperature, detector(s) and search coil(s) used, a breakout of coins found (columns for clad dimes and quarters, Jefferson nickels, copper pennies, zinc pennies, 'old' coins) plus a record of pulltabs (number by type) and a column for brief notes.

I bought a digital voice recorder (I'm old fashioned) with the intent of giving details in the field, but have never gotten around to that.  My plan was to audio record details of good finds, such as depth, TID (including trash contamination ID's when applicable), and detector settings.  Maybe I'll get around to that in 2019.

 

 

Thank you GB_Amateur!  Your spreadsheet sounds great and gives me a good idea of what I neeed to consider tracking.  In my pre-retirement life, I was a bit of a spreadsheet aficionado so if I can knock some rust off the little gray cells, I’m sure I can put together something serviceable.  I like the idea of a spreadsheet or database to facilitate filtering, sorting, searching, and retrieving information.  I also like your idea of a voice recorder.  I’ve considered using Siri in my iPhone to record in the “Notes”  function but want to see if there are other options for getting voice notes directly in to a searchable database or other format.  Here are a couple of canned programs that I found but haven’t yet fully explored. The second one offers some level of voice data entry.

http://www.ginkgoware.com/products.htm

https://ismartdetect.com/

There are probably other apps available that I haven’t found yet.  These seem to have some potential to at least supplement a spreadsheet or database but perhaps not replace then altogether.

I’m a newbie to the forums.  In fact, since I don’t even own a detector (yet), I guess I’m a “no”bie. A bunch of questions are bubbling around in my head as I try to get better informed about detecting.  Here’s one that is currently on my mind.  I plan to keep some records of my detecting experiences.  Initially, a lot of my focus will be recording detector settings and results so that I may better learn how to use my (future) detector (maybe a NOX 800).  The advice I’m hoping some will share, is what records do you keep and in what format.  I’ve spotted some software created for use by detectorists.  Some allows recording of GPS coordinates (perhaps more useful for gold hunters than coin shooters); detector settings; “finds” records (including uploading photos); free form notes; etc.  So what do YOU record please and how?  Software?  A notebook or diary?  As a learning tool or just to capture fun memories?  Do you search or review your past records?   OK, I’ll take a breath.  Any information and advice will be greatly appreciated, thank you!  PS - I searched the forums before posting this and found a couple of related threads but nothing very specific.  If this topic has been addressed in detail before, please point me in the right direction rather than create redundant threads.  Thanks, Bozko. (Thank you Steve for moving this post to the appropriate forum.  I realized after I posted it that it wasn’t in right spot but then wasn’t sure how or where to move it.  Newbie error.)

34 minutes ago, Tnsharpshooter said:

Welcome to the forum.

Thank you TSS!  I just got done enjoying your video on speed settings.  Very helpful, thank you!  I’ll go back and “like” it.  Forum etiquette is still pretty new to me but I sure do appreciate the info.

On 11/21/2018 at 1:18 PM, phrunt said:

Welcome to the team Bozko, Don't be afraid to ask questions, there will always be someone who has the answer for you, especially when it comes to buying your first detector.  Some posts you read might be 6 years old and a bit dated now with new technology on the market so it never hurts to ask, especially before buying.

Thanks phrunt!  Right now, I’m like a sponge, just soaking up as much information as I can.  Eventually, I’ll have questions and then I look forward to some future time when I too can contribute information to the forum.

On 11/21/2018 at 12:10 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Welcome to the forum, always room for like minded people!

Thank you Steve!

Hello All - I’m an aspiring detectorist, i.e. I don’t yet own a detector.  I have been investigating detectors, how to use them, where I can use them and how to use them responsibly.  My search led me to DetectorProspector.com and I feel like I have (please forgive me) hit the mother lode of information.  I have poked around the forum for a couple of days and love the friendly and positive tone of the forum and it’s members.  I have lots of questions but will continue exploring the wealth of information you good folks have already provided with your posts, reviews, and articles.  I’ll try not to ask questions that have already been answered.  I’m really looking forward to diving deeper into detecting and thank all members for contributing to such a great source of information and enjoyment!  Happy Hunting!