Skull diver

Nice job with wedding rings! I wish you more enjoying your truly treasure.

9 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Thanks Buddy! i Love when I see those tides dropping. I'm sure you can't sleep either knowing what's coming.

I hope Joe!....Lot of murky water for now...Time to wait for better conditions...

42 minutes ago, Jim in ma said:

I need to have my coil replaced on my TDI BH    Whites service center is not sure they have one at the moment.

My Question is what are the pros and cons of putting a 12 inch Aussie Mono coil on.  Not for diving just waist deep wading,

also does anyone know if the mono will float like the yellow dual field?

I am not looking to find small bits of gold, mostly coins and ring size targets on the Northeast  beaches.

Thanks Jim

The Aussie is a single field type, so You can have the same shape but less windings I think...Cause of the shell, identical to the yellow one, it will float the same way if not more, due to more empty space in the central area.

However, nothing you can't manage staying vertical and a wading depth.

Regards the machine, for sure you're right on the medium size sensitivity, cause the 12 is more oriented to medium to big targets...I decided to swap the yellow in favour of an 8" Detech mono that floats like crazy...But is another story, I do scuba diving and this not the ideal machine to do it, at all.I only love the pinpoint much more easier and some good depth despite of the size.

Good luck with it!

2 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Water level is Insane high

Another BIG beauty Joe!Nice.

Interesting fact, no low tides until the 29th, at least here?must be a moon's joke?️

2 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

What are the best underwater sounding (100% waterproof) headphones for the EQ-800 and that actually stay on your head. 

Gerry, I can't help You with your research, but talking about headphones, trust me, with the yellow Koss your chance to hear something are really few unless you don't raise the signals pitch to best suit your ears.

I tested the Nox and was however slightly better than the Ctx for the audio.

Grey Ghost, Minelab, nothing..These machines are just poor crap for audio output.

Joe OBN is the master of amplified headphones and I'm still dreaming to know what's inside the Skullies....Ask to Joe...

I have a project suspended to realize a pair by myself using the grey Ghost cable and another cheap frame I bought days ago...I talk about no more than 5 bucks for the frame.What I need now is to find a good pair of high impedance speakers and seal it with silicone...Plus something to amplify the sound...And here will be tough?

Here we go again, when autumn approaches, the evaluation of the most suitable vehicle means to prepare anything to face the peace of the beaches that will gradually begins empty  ... Unfortunately for me, no more dinghy this year and considering the terrible weight of all the ballast I'm forced to bring downthere, plus another tool I'm planning in these hours, this time I'm in real troubles. At least 150kg, to be carried by hand and never on my back again, possibly.

I tried to build two different trolleys with solid wheels, but with all the weight, I only managed to sink into the first meters of sand and to get into the water it was a nightmare.

if any of you use special wheels or have built a personal cart and want to share pictures to get an idea for a project, that would be really great ...

12 hours ago, The Seeker said:

The AQ was noisy (during each swing) in both settings, running 7-8uS

Congrats for the gold!

Feel free to turn up delay without fear up to a stable hum...Think about the AQ max level of 11.5uS like a third of others machines setting.

Trust me, after that You should also have more available gain for your pleasure....

All the best

I like to analyze hunting trips where I am not successful and last Sunday was one of them.I visited a small cove, one year later, where I collected discreetly in the past with my Ctx.Unfortunately the rocks around the small beach cause really bad sand grains. I was there with Tdi believing I could have depth advantage.This place is far from home and I was going there to try something different without great expectations..Guess what?

Eroded!All the fuc....g sand was gone somewhere else and I couldn't believe it.

Was probably the first time I've seen that place in so good conditions since I know it.

Long story short is that I was losing time over small iron signals, avidly looking for high pitch beauties and in the same time I spent digging no more than 10" at the deepest hole, my Ctx was the right gun to use and cover all the possible space in minutes. I left the beach when people was swimming almost over my head and very pissed I called it quit after two hours of useless holes every 20 cm one from each other.

Fact number one

Someone is already been there...

Fact number two

This is my fault..

23 hours ago, midalake said:

Can you elaborate on what your comment means?

I think it refers to the optimal conditions to use AQ ... Like any other p.i.  after all ... A minimum of wave is enough to create false signals and force you to turn up the delay ...

16 minutes ago, PPP said:

so I am soooo happy to buy one as fast it hits the european market

I will be happy the same way...But wait for an official pricing release as the "Euro type"can easily be here at almost twice the cost of limited..At that point I'll be forced to evaluate another option by competitors.

For the relative brief experience I have gained with the Tdi Beachhunter in the last year, after modifying it, changing coil, changing batteries and testing every possible combination of gain, delay and GB, I can say with certainty that such a low delay in salt water  can only give you problems. I am not talking only about noise, but also about making target identification less effective. After 11 years with a Vlf, it was a sudden transition, with no similarity between the two machines. Now, I'm peacefully setting a delay of 15uS, which I consider the minimum acceptable for a stable threshold and the removal of trivial insignificant pieces of foil. Maybe hunting for nuggets, I would use under 10uS, but away from a beach and away from human traces. Following an "edge" can be frustrating too simply cause of the minimum side wave action on you.

If I think of the AQ as the next detector in my hands, I can already see it in tone mode, with a gain of 4, sat on 5 and reject on 3. Delay can only be dictated by environment...

All this to be reworked over and over again and only on "certain" types of sand.

So powerful that I'm looking for an effective tool to seriously dig so deep submerged.

Best reward after a long battle!

I promised myself to go out and test the changes I made on the Tdi Beachhunter ...
In the end, all works properly and I'm a bit proud of what I've done thanks to some help I received here on the forum...
Last night, however, I got my hands on the scuba harness and made one of the most serious miscalculations ... Removing a lot of weight to be free to reach the beach without paying the price of pain after the fatigue ... I had in mind some splendid video on sidemount setup, which intrigued me to try in terms of set-up ...
The result was crap to say the least ...Sh...happens...
Not only did I gain 22kg during quarantine, even though I didn't seem so fat, actually the buoyancy got a lot worse and even with the 32kg weight including the 15lt steel tank, they weren't enough to keep me on the bottom.
So today, I massively messed up one of the most promising dive sessions to hunt...
In conclusion, the Detech coil does its job, but my transformation is definitely an act of stubbornness and I do not recommend repeating the work to anyone.
Although in any other environment, this coil would be adorable, underwater it manifests all its terrestrial nature ...
I recommend watching the video to people who are not faint of heart or stomach, without minors around.
Bad language censored and copyright defective.
Cheers all of You!

https://youtu.be/4xKkc_5UmJg

7 minutes ago, pjrough said:

CNC milled

Even better...

Unluckily for me, being mechanically able to build things, when it takes to multiple electronics knowledge, I find my limit.

Maybe in the future, probably next to retirement, I'll build my entire machine from zero...Definitely a PI.

For now, at the age of 37, I'm only oriented to burn these years as best as I can, diving, hunting any good place where I can travel to and hoping for my back to resist for enough long time...Serious troubles happened years ago and weight is a big enemy for me...

Later I'll post a short footage of a dive session I really messed up today in early morning... 

32 minutes ago, pjrough said:

This one will be the detector to test out different coils (coils swap option).

Aniway I already love that pcb housing.

I wonder why White's don't adopted on this project an easy flat surface like that with a simple flat gasket too...

Are You moulding and pouring epoxy to obtain that shapes?

Seems not like a 3d printed box.

As strange as it can sound, I think must be something related to the coil...I suppose one of the two, specifically the larger one, isn't working good... I managed to swap the dual field with an 8" plain mono last week and I noticed this morning a lot more sincere conduct.Slightly Less depth but more stability and at least 5uS less compared to the over 20Us before the mods.

(GB On too)

I can only suggest to ask for some official assistance if your warranty is still active...Or, think about a coil change soon as You can.

"Just my 2 cents"

8 hours ago, kac said:

One thing nice about the Garrett mono is it works really well in the water even salt, doesn't lift off at all.

I love the Garrett 8" coil design.That coil was born exactly for diving purpose but unluckily some more mods were needed...Things I'm still not able to do...I learned in a spectacular pdf file that Steve posted here, there's lot more than wire another brand's coil on the machine...After the mechanical work there's how to tune the machine for the new addition...Game over for me then.

The easiest choice for the Tdi was to use a Gpx/Gp/Sd Minelab compatible coil... I Still think something can be improved on the pcb however...Next underwater test will tell the truth on this subject.

1 hour ago, kac said:

Does that Coiltek coil have neutral boyancy?

Best of luck looking forward to see how it works for ya!

It is a Detech 8" Mono coil for Gpx and Tdi Pro/Sl...The alternative was the Coiltek Platypus 12x8 mono, but is a discontinued one and a few are available in the Usa only...

Talking of buoyancy, There's not a lot of difference with the original 12" dual field...It will float the same way believe me...

1 hour ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Thanks Joe D, No offence taken. Down the road I do have to get several of the nicer rings together and take them to little jeweler shop that sells them locally. I have been in there several times showing them some I have found and funny it's like I'm teaching them? But there is a small market for them and if anything just to save the rings from getting melted I would sell them at melt price..someday.

Good job as usual!

With the current price is really tempting to sell it fast?...

1 hour ago, midalake said:

No one has been posting anything about "storm finds" anywhere. Spooky quiet.

Go get em guys!!!! 

Too early to say if something is changed for better...I'm in Europe and this week thunderstorms have affected the shore, more than the wind...In the end I expect for the next week murky water and more trash than usual around... Right when I want to try my mods on the TdiBh?

After a busy week, doing an effort between heavy rain interruptions, I finally finished this work!

Thanks for all people involved in this project for their knowledge shared...

Underwater test next week(I hope)

A little update of coil swap and some battery mods...

I managed to finish the wiring work this morning and honestly I'm a bit pissed....

I mean, the Beachhunter is maybe cheaper than other machines and effective too, so this can balance the expectations on it..But...If you open the control box, even as a rookie like me, You'll be surprised of work quality on the PCB!Fragile and way cheap to say the least.

Jeez...I was afraid to destroy something even moving the board a little, then I decided to don't disconnect anything and proceed to wire as I was, with a really tiny space.

Thanks to Tony and Joe OBN suggestions I've been able to finish without ruin the machine but what a fuck...g work.

Not to mention the gasket, seriously a nightmare to close again and in fact I'm waiting to re/open the box to do other things on the upper side and better check the enclosure.

I only turned on for a couple minutes to check the 16V battery pack and to move some objects on the new coil..

Nothing special to say before real underwater session.

A bit of misappont regard the Detech Mono, as I feel it scarce in build quality! If You shake it in up and down motion, you can feel the windings and epoxy to hit the housing!?.

I definitely don't like the coil's feeling on land yet and just hope it will last a dozen of hunts  submerged,to assure the payback time at least.?

Pictures soon ( I'm sorry)...Right now the storm is approaching on my garden work table?

36 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

Were there any beaches helped for detecting with this storm?

Honestly?Due to the multiple livestreams and some pictures of beaches I'd say more sand is been brought on the shore...?

Maybe in the next weeks something will be better but as for now I think is better to wait some days...

It happen... Anytime I check the wind radar hours before to go wet and I see something similar, the dreaming child in me wake up and high hopes follows the wind arrows.

In some days even in Europe we will see the effect of this hurricane even if highly reduced in the force.

Sunday afternoon I've seen an underrated profile by the TV and YouTube live for the weather.

Right now, knowing well what that colours means I think someone near Orlando is living really a nightmare.

(With great respect for all those on the Florida East coast and I hope all of You are safe and closed at home far from shore.)

Nice!

Perseverance pays off!