Tom_in_CA

Hello.  I'm new to the Nox 800.  I have one on loan for a temporary objective.  And after reading the instructions, I'm left with a few questions :

1)  I see that the difference between beach 1 and beach 2 is that beach 2 turns off the high-transmit .  So I would assume that is for when you would anticipate nasty minerals, for example, right ?  Thus if someone is at a low mineral wet-salt beach, then I assume that beach 1 is the preferred (deeper) mode.  Right ?    I will only be in the inter-tidal wet zone (not wading, not scuba).   What else is the stock difference between beach 1 and beach 2 ? 

2) In beach one, I moved the tones up to "50".  Because I'm a fan of the explorer II, in ferrous mode, with the entire screen opened up (ie.: hear everything, and let my ears do-the-choosing).  But I noticed that , on the Nox, this Beach -2 mode made nails "null".   I prefer to hear the nails (albeit as a low tone that I'll mentally pass).   So I figured out that the way to allow them , is to press the horse-shoe button.  Right ?  But I noticed that the nails are extremely wimpy !   Ie.:  As if their volume is very weak, when compared to the volume of similar size conductive objects.    

Yes I've set the target volume to max (25).  But that only seems to apply to the conductive zone targets.  Not iron.  Am I doing something wrong ?

3)  I notice that the tonal difference between zinc and copper pennies is very subtle.  Not much difference.  As opposed to my Exp. II, where the difference is very pronounced.  Is there any way to accentuate the tonal difference between them ?  Because if the beach is red hot after these storms (targets everywhere) I intend to pass copper pennies and up, and only dig mid conductors (zinc) and down. In order to increase my odds at gold jewelry (try to pass pesky coins).  So is there a way to make the zinc vs copper penny tones more pronounced ?

4)  Any other recommended adjustments to beach -1, for wet-salt Calif. beaches ?   I am NOT after micro-jewelry.   So as long as I'm getting down into foil-range, that's fine.

The 77b would be circa 1973 -ish   And yes, they were sold even into the late 1970s.  I can't remember if the Judge 2 all-metal mode was VLD or all-metal TR.  If it was all-metal TR, then its all-metal mode would mimic the 77b , in that department.

They were great for seeing through small iron.  Ie.:  Combatting iron-masking.   You could put 2 or 3 square nails over the top of a coin, and STILL get a hint of the conductive coin.  As opposed to the nails alone, which would null.   But other than that, the 77b had no other form of disc.

The all-metal depth was limited, and a bear-to-keep balanced.  They would be good for some relic hunting need, where there's a carpet-of-nails, as long as depth isn't an issue.   Eg.:  For oldtown sidewalk tearouts, or where buildings burned down, etc....   You can sort of mimic the same objective with a few of the Tesoro machines (sabre, bandido, etc...)

George, Phoenix buttons are highly prized here in CA.  As the sought-after contact era trade item.   They only show up at spots here dating from 1800 -ish to 1840s-ish.  Which is old for CA   :)   I have probably 200 of them by now (nearly 100 from a single location alone) .   

Yes, some get found on the east coast.  But they are primarily a west coast curiosity, for those of us who seek out the earliest CA toe-hold colonial and mission era stuff. 

Here's an rarity chart I've written on them.   Find yours on here !  

9 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

We all had to start one time are another at detecting and mine was in the mid 60’s with a White’s BFO .....

Chuck, great story.   Questions for you :  1)  What inspired you to buy that first machine ?  2) Where did you buy the machine ? Eg.: Catalog mail-order, or a dealer, or ... ?   3) What city and state were you hunting in, back in the mid 1960s ?  4)  How deep do you recall that it would detect a dime -sized object to ?

thanx !

Nice !!

3 minutes ago, kac said:

..... Growing up here just about every local coin shop was a Whites dealer or Garrett. Machines were not that far out of reach for many ....

Kac, yes it was a regional thing.   Some areas had the hobby catch on as early as some time in the 1960s (albeit limited by the tech. of their era).   My area was also one such spot, where I know there was a few guy plying the school yards as early as 1964.   Eg.: with the old BFOs and such.   And as early as the mid 1970s, there was already a club in my area, and 2 dealers.

So by the late 1970s, you were already "Johnny-come-lately" to the obvious spots.  So the people coming by the early 1980s, picking up the exact same history books as we had, were merely getting leftovers.  Doh !  

But we noticed that if we drove an hour in any direction, we would come into cities where the parks hadn't been hit as well.  For example:   In the very early 1980s, there was a park an hour away from my city, where the only local machines that had hit it, was wimpy old school fisher TR disc.   So the entire top 4 or 5" (clad and 1940s-50s silver) had been cleaned out pretty good.  But those of us who rolled into town with motion discriminators got the barbers to '20s stuff with ease.  Doh !  

So it just depended on where you were.   Some areas had pressure, while others did not.

4 hours ago, NCtoad said:

George

for those of us who are fairly new to detecting, can you tell us what it was like detecting back in the 70s?   I’m sure there was more silver coins and more virgin sites that had never been detected.  How well did the detectors from that era work?   

I'm not George, but I'll take a crack at this :   It depended on who you were , and how hard-core you were.  There were a LOT of hunters back in those days that were strictly doing park turf, beach, etc...    And did not have the "presence of mind" to do exotic things like stage stops, forts, old-town demolition, etc.....    Not sure how true this is of back-east (and CW areas, etc...) .  But it's true of where I'm at in CA.   We were content to ply the parks for silver .   Didn't know any better.   Doh !

And the machines had no disc. up to the mid 1970s, in the era of 77b, 66TR, etc... (aside from ignoring small iron).  And the early TR discriminators (mid to late 1970s) were wimpy.  And didn't tackle minerals.   And were a bear to keep balanced.  Even when the original motion discrimination came out (1978 -ish with the Red Baron and the 6000d), they were slow to catch on.  News traveled slower in those days.    And these early motion machines were wimpy compared to today's depth.   Nonetheless, silver was "easy" for a few years in the late 1970s to early 1980s, for turf hunters.  Albeit just mercs and roosies type-stuff.

To be honest with you, we'd have thought 3 or 4 silver from park hunt day was good.  And , heck, I can still do that today at-will.  

I'm sure there were pioneers who got the better tech. earlier.  And who went to virgin sites first (virgin fairgrounds, etc....).  And I'm sure there were guys that wised up to relic-mindset earlier than others.   But for others of us, it was all about turf and tame beach stuff in the earlier years.  So there was still virgin stage stop stuff into the 1990s and 2000s (heck, even to this day if you're a researcher and ballsy-type).

Beautiful.  Drips with old-ness.

Very interesting.  I'd like to find one of those !

Amazing find.   Here on the west coast, we can only dream of finding cobs.  Our earliest European toe-holds only date to the 1770s, at the earliest.   At which time it was milled coins by then, not cobs.   I've heard of at least 2 cobs found here in CA.   They're rare !

sweet

You east coast guys make me sick, with all those LC's and Colonial coppers !  Sick sick sick  🤬

33 minutes ago, SeabeeRon said:

....  If you get a chance there are a bunch of guys on another "Friendly" metal detecting forum that would would love to see what you all found!

My stuff if posted there.   But Brian has yet to add in his pix there.

40 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

...  but at least let Brian get a crumb to nimble on, would ya?  Geez.)

Yes.  I'm not trying to boast or anything, but ... it *is* rather curious that Brian didn't get any coins on this trip, eh ?   I keep telling him that my preferred pronoun is "Oh Mighty One".   But ... he refuses.   So someone do me a favor and ask him :  "How many seated coins did you find on this trip Brian ?"    🤨

(just kiddin' Brian, I luv ya bro ! 😁 )

1 hour ago, Cal_Cobra said:

...  Years ago Tom and I hunted a site and I found a similar ring, and when I showed it to Tom he quickly dismissed it as a "Cracker Jack toy" 🤬 I disagreed, ...

Once every 100 yrs, you are right and I'm wrong.   This was one-such rare occurrence   🙄

1 hour ago, Cal_Cobra said:

Thanks!

I told Tom that we've had so many crazy adventures we should write a book some day haha

I dunno about this.  It'll have to be posthumous published book, for our heirs to submit, post, etc....     Same for some of the collections we have assembled.   Doh !

Luv that Navy button.

Great pix and great play-by-play.   I like the shot of the field hunt-objective too.

7 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

A "riveting" story Tom, 🤣 nice dime. Shame you lost the half dime, but it happens. 😵 I wonder what all those rivets were holding together? Certainly not the terrain.

Congrats to both of you.

thanx for coming along on our hunt with us F350-platinum.

Question for you :  How are you liking your D-II ?   Does it mimic the D-I in the iron-see-through un-masking ability ?   And how does it do on the wet-salt-beach ? (akin to Sov, Excal, Nox, etc.... ?).  And how about turf-cherry picking :  Does it mimic the old school explorers, or exceed them ?

Thanx for the closeup of the religious medallion.   What's the other side look like ?  Anything visible ?  I love how it was so-worn down that the image is a blur.  That is definite early-contact era (1700s ?)   Love it !

And the re-purposed bottle base is exactly what the fur-trade md'ing buffs cherish :   Things like glass and metal were new to the Native Americans, they would re-tool benign items into various other things, adornment, tools, etc.....   That fits in nicely with the history of this site.  Possibly dating to even prior to the westward-ho era times (ie.: to exploration era).  To a time when manufactured goods would have been a rarity, then anything was used over-&-over, and re-tooled. 

Brian, we weren't concerned that it had rained in the few days PRIOR to our arrival.  Since, shucks, what did we care ?  As long as it's not raining on the days WE were going to be there, then, no problem, right ?  🤪 😬   

But yes :  Those previous days' rains had activated little feeder-creeks,  in the middle of BFE.  Yes they were so small that they were only a trickle .  You could step across them if you were merely a pedestrian on-foot.  And the opposite banks, was only ~ 5 ft. tall, that a pedestrian can ascend no problem.  But the margarine consistency mud banks was a problem for our super heavy e-bikes .  Even in broad daylight, so that element wasn't a problem-only for dark-issue.  We found ourselves having to man-handle them through the margarine ascents .   🤬

And yes, the satellite map made the exit plan look like child's play , on a nice flat hard road.   But who would have thought that an innocent looking gully-wash on the satellite view, would be calf-deep water with margarine descent and ascent ?   And no matter which direction we went, there were other washes too.  

Yes I think we've got a few spots that are deserving of a "round II", now that we're experts on Ebikes .  And know which sites to invest our time in, going forward.  Very intriguing and promising finds.   Touching the true western-frontier emigrant history flavor.  (the "Spanish Trail "). There's going to be some coins in the future to pay us back for our hardship, I promise  😏

I lost an 1864 s half dime somewhere on the remainder of our trip.  Might have left it in the hotel room, or ... who knows ?  But here's my stuff : 

Luv those "md'r to the rescue" stories.  Good job !

On 11/18/2022 at 7:30 PM, Cal_Cobra said:

Tom's dying to get #17 but he can wait, I'm only on #2 maybe #3 is waiting for me on our trek LOL

Let's compromise :  We each get a gold coin on this upcoming trek, ok ?  😏

On 11/18/2022 at 9:38 AM, abenson said:

BTW Tom I picked up #17 this Summer

You dirty dog !   Last time we talked on the phone, I was barely ahead of you.  Now you've gone and rained on my parade.  I gotta get my duff in gear and catch up !!  🤣

12 hours ago, Cal_Cobra said:

We only have four primary sites of interest on our radar, hopefully one of them is the #10 👍

You know one or two of them will be the next "magnum opus".  After all, I'm over-due for #17   tsk tsk   😏