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Was in Myrtle Beach area for a couple days. We had a lot to get done and did not expect much beach time so I only packed one detector, the old blue tube Excal. Got a few hours to detect. In a little cut near shore, about thigh deep I hit a shallow target that more than pays for the parking cost.

John-Edmonton had put up some videos of making coin rings. He also made some rings from the brass ends of shot gun shells. I see he has been seen on this forum; but it looks like it has been a while. Looks like it is not hard to do and doesn't take any expensive tools, just some patience and learning to get the feel of it.

Nice hunt! Wonder if there is any relation to signal emitters in the area and wet salt conductivity paths? ... understand I'm reaching with that. In any case that seems a strange phenomena. Did you try turning sensitivity down?

Thanks! The blue heron coming up and getting close was amazing. Didn't expect much from this beach except to learn about the coil and that I did get a start on. As expected, in the area very near the community pier, where all the trash is, the small coil helps separate stuff better than the big one.

Walked down to the local watering hole; brackish water bay tributary, pretty well cleared out over the years but a bit trashy with bits of iron. Ran delay 7, sensitivity 7, threshold 4, volume 8, ATS 6.5, reject 6; mostly all metal but some tones and mute to check targets. Initial reaction is that it is a little easier to hear the edge modulation with the 8 inch than with the big coil. I walked away from several targets that were very pronounced double tones then had a more subtle edge that I told myself to walk away … but dig to verify. That was the little fish hook. The odd shaped washer, to the right of the fish hook, fooled me; it sounded pretty good in all metal and in tones. The rest of it is all non-ferrous. Some of the small targets fell through the scoop several times before I finally capture them and got them in the pouch. This set up finds fairly small targets well. Tones seem to be more pronounced to me with this coil than with the big coil with some similar settings, yet I think I still hear iron better in all metal than in tones ... maybe some setting tweeks would change that around but I'm pretty happy in all metal. I did have an interference issue. A boat about 100 feet from me fired up and the AQ talked and talked. Stepped through the frequencies and no help there. I was shallow enough the detector head was above water so I went deep where the detector electronics were well under water and, surprise to me, that did not help either. Dropping the sensitivity down to 2 made it usable. Once he lowered the boat lift, backed off and motored away I could turn the sensitivity back up and hunt with a very quiet AQ. Did have a great blue heron land on the beach and walk into the water. Got about 30 feet away from me so I stayed still and watched it turn its head looking for minnows, catch and eat them. After a few minutes it walked around the beach corner towards the boat lift then flew about 2 hundred yards down the water. A good afternoon in the water.

Excellent! Nice Buffalo nickles too. Love finding Buffalo nickles and almost never find one with a visible date. Can't tell if the date is legible on yours or not ... they look a little worn ... but a great hunt!

That will certainly change were any flex is happening!

Good coil control is important for best results with every detector I've owned. AQ is no different and on smooth wet sand I can glide it on the surface too. I have no idea what you are talking about with the quoted part of the statement you made. Maybe you could enlighten me with more of your expertise.

Yes, I know. I'm hoping he sees many rewards for all his efforts to bring this one to market and that things go smoother for the Impulse Gold.

Thank you. Looking forward to seeing the new part. Did you note that the serial number sticker on the coil is getting nearly illegible? Might possibly want to go to a serial number marking that is more permanent, otherwise there won't be serial number traceability should warranty work need to take place for a coil. So far, the sticker on the electronics housing is holding up better than the coil sticker, but it is not as clear as it was when new either.

Mine is a little different than cuniagau's. His pictures show a mostly solid lower piece with holes drilled in the shaft insert for the pins. Mine is hollow nearly all the way to the yoke end, meaning it is still hollow down into the thick part that is outside the shaft when assembled. All the pin holes enter the thin tube like part of the molding. As an aside, before the pictures are inserted, note in the assembly picture that the serial number sticker is getting nearly illegible. Material for that sticker might be an area for improvement too. Edited to add: The material the yoke is make of seems to have some give to it and is a little pliable. I was thinking of epoxying it back together with a plastic rod down the middle and just use the upper pins for retainers. The flex in it has stretched the plastic enough that it is not easy to get it back in a straight line ... may have to rethink. Here they are:

Not yet. I'll get some up later. Will need to pull the retaining pins out and see if I can get the entire piece out.

Unfortunately, the cut wasn't deep enough to get the detector fully under the surface for most of it. As you both have posted, it runs quiet and smooth in the bay and tributaries, even with very hot settings.

I was surprised the interference went up in the shallow water. I'm guessing it wasn't coil pick up as I would think the water would attenuate much of the stuff coming from a building. Not sure what was going on. As I got further away it got better and at the southern end of the cut (away from the offending building) I could take sensitivity back up to 4 and it ran quiet in the water. It was good to see it is still pretty deep with the sensitivity in the low numbers and I still had some adjustment room on the delay and ATS.

Yes. Much of the sand was way too soft. We get back to this beach area a couple times a year. The day before we left, the city trucks were delivering stacks of beach chairs for the upcoming summer crowds. Hopefully there will be more dropped goodies and not too many people detecting before our next visit as well as some deeper cuts in the water.

Nice week of beach vacation swinging the AQ. Saw one other person detecting. He had an older Garret Ace and was using a garden hoe to dig. When I walked towards him to say hello, he pulled a mask over his face and turned away, so I turned and went on my own way. Had one resort where I got interference when detecting in front of it. Found one frequency setting that was a little better. Turned sensitivity down to 3 and could hunt the wet sand. Delay and ATS settings did not appear to make any difference. On our last day of the vacation there was a nice cut in the water that ran half a block long and part was in front of this resort. At low tide the cut ran from knee deep to belly deep. It was protected by a sand bar that cut the waves coming into the cut to about 6 inches. I was surprised when I got in the water that the interference actually got worse. Tone, mute, volcanic were all noisy, all metal was best and if I had my back to the building, standing between the detector and the building, it got quieter. Dropping sensitivity to 2 quieted things pretty well. While increased delay did not seem to help over the wet sand, it did in the water. The little bit of wave wash did not make a sound at these settings. Settings were Sensitivity 2, ATS 6, Delay 11, volume 7, threshold 4. I found the sterling hoop earring in this cut, bent it digging it up. Also found a blob that I dug a small trench to get it out. Almost gave up on it, flipped to mute turned ATS to 8.5 with reject on 6 and it did not go away so I went back to all metal and kept digging. Encrusted piece with some pretty gold color showing. It cleaned up nice after a few hours soaking in a salt and vinegar bath and is a sloth pendant that the loop broke off of; unfortunately, plated. The ring that was an 18 inch deep wet sand find where I was hunting with ATS around 4.5, sensitivity at 4 and delay at 7.5 is also plated. I still have not played with the 8 inch coil except in my yard. I need to get it in the water soon.

Your ears are probably better than mine; they are still not so apparent to me. What ATS and disc settings? Today I dug a quarter in wet sand where the hole did not collapse. Good round sound and not faint at all in all metal. Switch to tone and it went to a smooth even mid-tone with little if any pitch modulation, not the low growl the stainless scoop gives. I was at presets. Quarter was down about 18 inches or so, back of the scoop about 5 inches below sand surface level. Got a thin ring yesterday that is leaching copper but shows a lot of silver color. I have no idea what it is made of yet. Will try to clean it up when I get home after the weekend. It was in that same 18 inch range and was a good solid signal, high tone in both all metal and tones. I don't think I would have hit either with any of the other detectors I have, and these were solid signals; not whispers. Hoping there is gasoline someplace this coming weekend for the trip home!

I just broke the lower shaft insert at the lower pins very similar to cuniagau's pictures. Was swinging at a very relaxed sweep and caught an edge of the coil on the wet sand surface and felt it go. I was thinking it wouldn't be a problem for me since I've broken very little equipment of any sorts ... the way it broke with a little hit on the sand has me thinking I may have created cracks when in the water before this trip because I do balance myself with the detector when digging in the water; and that has not been a problem before. I'm sure the design team will get it figured out and fixed. I put my second 12.5 inch coil with it's shaft on the detector with the big battery and am back in business.

Will do when I get some time on it.

Glad you got the AQ limited. I figured it would be in good hands with you. I have yet to give the 8 inch coil a good exercise; but I will.

Looks like the holes for the pins are pretty deep and drilled. Lets see what they come up with, but I would think pinning (and only drilling) on one side would be enough and leave less of a chance of failure at the pin location than there is with holes coming from both sides. Or just epoxy the fitting in the shaft. I have had two Excal coil mounts come loose from the shaft (fell out). I epoxied them back in and neither one has had a repeat.

That is how it came from the factory, as new, already assembled. I'll turn it around to correct and install Steve G.'s shaft clamp on the upper shaft of this detector too.

I was thinking that too. I'm going to switch it so it is oriented like the 12.5 inch. The 8 inch is not prone to flattening when set down ... just not much leverage or weight in play.

I should re-read before I hit the submit button. Sorry for typing the wrong coil diameter!

My new 8 inch came assembled with lower rod. As it came, the cable comes out behind the shaft, not in front like with the 15 inch coil. Wondering if that was an assembly mistake or intended with the smaller coil. I like the new cable clips, but there are only two on a shaft. I think there should be four on each shaft.