CPT_GhostLight

Thanks, F350. I always use the MI-6 too, but was just curious how accurately one could zero in with the 11x13" coil. Using the 9" coil I almost never use pinpoint mode on the detector (except to check target size) and it zeros right onto most targets at the center of the coil. Glad to see you can do the same with the larger coil.

Serious Detecting in the US has the 115cm cable kit (shorter than the stock 250cm D2 one) but it's not the black one. https://www.seriousdetecting.com/product/xp-deus-metal-detector-aerial-antenna-with-115cm-cable/

Congrats, mn90403, you got the brass ring! 😉 And it was just waiting for you to come back and pick it up, very unusual ring indeed. A ring is a ring and a find is a find, well done!

Good hunt, Geologyhound, and love the war nickel, well done!

Great story and photos, strick, and the that old "bling" is gorgeous, congrats on pulling that one out! As you know, folks in the mining camps were dirt poor and that gold plated piece could have costed a fellow 6 months pay. It's in great condition and a rare find, well done!

Well that's even more impressive if you were using the big coil in the woods. I'll have to look at the 11x13" coil closer, thanks for your report!

Thanks, strick, those Tony E's look pretty sweet! Like you, I'd prefer to be able to use PWM audio since I use that primarily, but I like Square tones in Pitch mode which is probably what I would use in Beach mode. I imagine since the Bone Mode audio is louder it makes other headphones easier to hear over the surf and wind noise and is probably easier to hear under water when using the Bone Phone audio out.

Thanks, F350, I'm still curious to try them. Since they are very affordable, I will probably snag a pair to try out. Worst case scenario, they would make a great backup pair. Thanks again, amigo! 😎

That's very impressive, well done! How was the pinpointing on that large coil?

Wow, F350, spanking the the 1/2 cent again, congrats! And love the spike, Wheatie, doggy pin, and pistol decoration (judging from the size), well done! I have a theory about this. I feel like when you get a very desired target, you become tuned to it on the detector. When I got my first silver dime, it wasn't too long until I hit another. Now I know that sound and when I hear it, it's an instant dig decision. Lately I've been digging Wheaties a lot, even found one in a very new park recently, which is great because I love Wheaties. But I know that sound now and again, when I hear it, I dig it. Now I just need to retune myself for silvers! 🤣

Even when I was kid I was interested in history and loved poking around in my grandpa's cigar boxes of old things he would find when he went to the mountains to fish or go rock hounding. He used to say that I had one foot in the past. When my kids were little, we used to throw them in the Jeep and head to the mountains on adventures up goat trails to old mining and logging camps and bring home bucket loads of old scrap metal and bottles. Man if I'd only had a detector back then! I never really understood what my grandpa meant by "one foot in the past" until recent years when I got back into metal detecting. SInce I got back into detecting, I look at the forums and see all the wonderful things that people are finding around the world and it's truly amazing. I'm sometimes very hesitant to post my finds because they are mundane by comparison. But as I look around at the boxes and buckets full of what my wife calls trash, I don't see trash. I see connections to the past. Even the most mundane pieces of articles that found their way into some scrap heap on the side of a mountain were once tools, machinery, or personal posessions of a person who long before me cherished that item while they scratched out a living just trying to survive another year in some God-forsaken remote location. In the drastically changing world of today, it's almost impossible to imagine what it was like for people to just survive 100 or more years ago and how their posessions were few and the simplest little things brought immense joy to their hard lives. In that spirit, when I find a button or coin or piece of decorative glass, I'm instantly transported into someone else's world long ago and try to imagine what that item meant to the last person to touch it a few decades or century before. So I ventured out a few days ago to find some diggable ground away from my frozen metropolis in an old industrial area of the past. A friend of mine told me that I won't find anything good in an industrial area, but I disagree. Where there were people, there are pieces of their hopes and dreams all around. You just need to look for them. I took the D2 out to the land of the lost and noticed that almost all the tumble weeds were gone. It's hard to imagine there was anything there all those years ago but it wasn't long before the big iron started showing up. I switched back and forth between my usual Relic, Silver, and Deep HC programs because I was comparing signals with F350's Reaper program. All of the programs reported similar ID signals but the Reaper program has a very different sound on iron which makes it easy to differentiate non-ferrous. I did have to adjust the Reactivity a bit to compensate for the ground mineralization, but that program went as deep as Deep HC. I'm still trying to get use to the much different audio though as I'm really tuned in to PWM audio in Pitch and Full Tones and the Reaper uses Full Tones in Square audio. I'm still workin it out. So another long story short, my finds were nothing earth shattering, but still are interesting glimpses of life in the past to me. The only coins i found were a 1984 clad penny (where do those come from?) and a very toasted 1945 Wheat penney. I also found a buckle marked Hickok underneath, a "Union Made" button, shell shirt button, some decorative rivets, a pocket watch, a hem weight, and an older tape dispenser. It was flat when I found it and I couldn't tell what it was until I carefully bent it back into it's original shape. I also found some late 1800s-early 1900s era cartidges, the coolest of which is a REM-UMC (early Remington) .41 Long Colt caliber revolver cartridge that was unfired. And I also found a small clam shell (I have no idea where that came from) and an embossed "The Beyer Co" bottle. So thanks for reading and remember that even the most mundane finds could have been someone's most prized posession back in the day. Happy Hunting out there! The trash...

That's a good question, I'd also like to know. I was recently looking at the Thresher and Aqua Tek waterproof phones on a dealer's site and it said the Thresher phones use the Bone Phone outputs and are much louder, but it doesn't say that on the Aqua Tek phones which look identical except for color, so those may be wired for standard audio output.

I've been curious about the Bone Phones, but since I haven't hit a saltwater beach since I got the D2, I figured I don't need them. But the wife came home a few days ago and said we're going to a beach this year so get ready! 😃 That means, pack your bags and get the D2 water ready! 😎

Thanks, guys, so where can you find Tony Eisenhower phones? I can't find any them listed anywhere.

That silver ring is a great find, Joe, congrats! It's very stylized and looks Navajo or Zuni influenced, very cool! 😎

Another awesome hunt, Chase! The Dynamic Deus Duo is cleaning up, and congrats on the North Carolina button, Well done! I found your PTA button, actually TPA, the Traveler's Protective Association. https://www.tpahq.org/what-is-tpa/

I've been looking at waterproof headphone options now that there are more available. I plan to do some wading, snorkeling, and possibly shallow diving with the D2 and was interested to see what the water hunters are using with their D2s. I've looked at the XP Bonephones but I'm also interested in the aftermarket phones out there like Tony Eisenhowers, Threshers, Aqua Teks, Grey Ghost Amphibian IIs, and the like. Anyone tried any of these or others that they could recommend?

Dang, F350... I have no words! See this is why we need a "WOW" emoji instead of just "Like", "Oh My", etc. Some posts just need the WOW!!! So in lieu of that, 😲 😵 😮 😱 😎!!! Man, you have been touched by the gods and good on you for your hard work cultivating your research, skills, and permissions. It's a great testement to you as a detectorist and a person. You have levelled up big time, amigo! Congrats on the awesome finds!!! You inspire me to go out and pry another toasted wheat penny from the frozen earth! 🤣

Very cool design, good job. I would agree that the cutter should be longer, at least 8". The only down side I can see is I couldn't walk into a park where I hunt with a stand-up version like that. It looks too much like a shovel and I'd get kicked out right away. I hunting buddy of mine has a hand version he bought in the 70s that is 10" long and has two hand grip bars on the top (like where your foot step is) and had a plunger to push the plug back in. It's small enough he can use it in any park without drawing attention. He has worn that thing out but still uses it, so if your work mates make something like that, I'm sure he'd jump on it and I might too.

That's interesting about the inside of coils being painted, I've never looked inside one. I always use the copper tape shielding (yes grounded) in my electric guitars because I use use high gain tube amps and it eliminates the hum. 😎🎸

Man, you're going to need a bigger finds pouch! 😆

I've had my Nox 800 for 3 years and used it at beaches, lakes, ghost towns, parks, fields, and old home sites and can say it has performed well at all of those. You can't go wrong with a 800 or 900, but take the time to get out a lot with whichever you choose and learn it well and you will be well rewarded. Also, all of the Equinox coils work with all models 600-900, and the Coiltek 10x5" coil is great for relic hunting and cramped spaces and is deadly on any site.

Thanks for the great write up, F350, and Happy Birthday! 😎

Excellent write up, Rattlehead! Like your write up on the D2, this is the kind of matter of fact reporting I like to see without bias or outside influence. It doesn't try to sell or unsell me on a product, just gives me the kind of useful information I want and need to make informed decisions. Well done and thank you!

That's possible of course, but transmitted EMI will still get in throught the bottom of the coil as well. The improvement you have noticed in performance with your beach's wave wash that carries salt and black sand over the top of the coil may be due to the restricted top flow of the coils transmitted EM field having a reduced interaction with the salt/black sand water on top of the coil. Again, one of the forum's electonics experts could shed more light on this, but your experiment has brought up some interesting points and questions in regards to beach hunting.