normmcq

Paul It is where the gold isn't!

Found it this morning,Came back this afternoon when it was warmer and it had turned around and was completely exposed. My first Desert Tortoise. Norm McQ

Good Job Fred Heather and I were thinking of you yesterday morning, we had Spam and eggs!

The fuel grade seemed to be the same, probably treated for cold temps year round. There seemed to be plenty of places to buy fuel. Squeeze every last drop in before crossing into Canada, when I went in 2010 the price was just over 80 cents a gallon more. Norm McQ

East Texas Chris The roads are much worse in the Canadian Provinces than when you actually get into Alaska. It is much better to follow someone, and pay close attention to how their vehicle handles the bumps, swerves, brake lights or any other clues you can observe. They usually place a small red flag on the side of the road that has damage. That does not hold water in all cases. Sometimes they have made repairs and leave the flags, or a bad place with no flags. I personally would not drive at night just because of the road conditions. Just take your time and enjoy the trip. Take Klunker with you. Might be some gold left in California for the rest of us. lol Norm McQ

WTG Robin!

I want to extend a Merry Christmas wish to all of my forum friends. I would also like to share with you a very special gift that I received from "Sourdough Scott" just in time to put it on the tree. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Norm McQ

Scott I met your grandpa, but now I can't remember the circumstances. I sure hope it wasn't something I did when he was sheriff.

Congratulations Paul! And thank you Steve for making such a thoughtful choice for the first recipient. Norm

WTG Paul!

I have been getting promotion offers from Minelab. If I would buy an entry level detector, they would throw in different things to sweeten the deal. I bought one of the first released ZEDs for quite a few dollars and didn't even get an acknowledgment that I purchased it or even a thank you. I just took delivery of a new Minelab Xterra 305. No free-bees with that either. I may not ever open the box

WTG! Nothing quite like finding gold. Congrats!

After a few shots of Fireball, I think I read that it might take up to 40% to get the ZEDS repaired?

WTG Fred! Nice finds Norm

Just to add one more thought, if the organic material only adds distance between the coil and target, shouldn't you be able to air test a 3.5 dwt nugget at a total of 6 and a half inches? And no I did not test the signal on any other detector, I can't even imagine getting it out of the closet. Norm

If they are repairing 40% of the ZEDS they are too busy to answer the phone. LOL Norm

From the looks of that truck, I think he had help from a local! Norm

The nuggets that I am referring to came out of a patch that has been covered by several very good detectorists since 2008. The most recent amazing find was last week, 3.5 dwt just about 12 feet from where I found my largest nugget to date 39.9 dwt. I showed my friends where it came from and you can bet that we have all covered that area carefully. The 3.5 dwt was under about six inches of duff and 6 inches of soil after a rain. The organic material was moist, but the soil was dry. If that was the only one, I would agree that we all missed one. There have been others that were basically on top of the ground, but under a heavy layer of organic material. Norm

I agree with most opinions that detecting while damp is better than dry. The conclusion that I have come to is, the organic material is a very good insulator and the detector does not penetrate it very well. I say that ,because I have found several nuggets up to 5 dwt that were fairly shallow that had been missed by 4ks, 4500s, and 5ks. The ZED seems to penetrate that insulation little better and is finding lots of small gold. Larger pieces give a better signal and most of them have been found with previous PI models. Norm McQ

Scott You are not the first person to suffer this humiliation at the hands of that expert. He is very much in tune with his detector. I think he has super sensitive hearing. I value his friendship and expertise as my mentor. Norm McQ

After having spent a lot of time with ZED and finding nuggets behind myself from my GPX 4000, I know ZED is a much better detector. I have found several nuggets that made me question my ability as a detectorist, how did I miss that? I will admit that a large portion of my finds have been at no great depth. Now that brings up the thought that inspired me to write this post. Detecting in the Sierra is much different than the deserts of Arizona or Nevada. Most places are covered with many inches of organic material. After a boot scrape, a weak signal that is shallow becomes a booming signal. Does that layer act like a good insulator? Would it be better to detect when it's wet or dry? Any thoughts out there? Norm McQ

Steve I gave your audio settings a try today, I had to bump up the volume to 8. Are you using a booster? Norm

Great post Steve I have pretty much been using those settings, except for the audio. I haven't found a setting combination that really works good for my hearing. Next time out, I will see how your audio settings work for me. Thanks for sharing your settings Norm McQ

When the upgrade first came out, a lot of ZED users were reluctant to change. I for one, thought if it was recommended, I should do it. I personalty believe it is more stable and more sensitive. I started to find very small pieces of trash in some areas that were virtually target free and some gold that was missed by some competent ZED users. The seven smaller pieces were found at Rye Patch and the others were found close to home in a very pounded area with all kinds of detectors. These were all found after the upgrade .

WTG Rick and Crew Hard earned nice gold