Norvic

Bit of a giggle about OZs financials & I guess the worlds, some truth in it might have a bit to do with this years gold price movement. " OZ only can afford to buy 2nd hand money printing presses, all the available 2nd hand money presses are worn out"

Had my fishing hut broken into years back, took fuel, gas bottles etc etc but didn`t take a 3/4 bottle of rum that was in full view on table. I smelt that bottle of rum, took a sample and tested it gingerly seemed AOK. Just reckoned a Tee totalling Slime Boil Lowlife had broken in, probably one of those hidden battery operated motion sensing video cameras would be helpful but that bottle of doctored Wild Turkey would certainly give one some satisfaction.

Same here, the hipstick is on my Z harness permanently and I have the harness belt above pants belt so dacks can be removed without taking harness off on occasions. Would have enclosed photo but had already submitted. Swing arm is in cupboard along with other thingos that didn`t work out, but the hipstick is a permanent part of detecting even with the SDC. Crikey Paul you sent me one what 6 months or so ago and only just using one yourself, if I`d known that earlier would have sent you one way back.

Reno Chris has nailed this, despite all the rhetoric about environmental "issues", what we should do to be responsible etc etc. we are naught but hypocrites when we bag mining, whilst we benefit from this great industry. We have resources we require for our fine standard of living, and we have technology to mine these resources and advance our society further plus help those who aren`t so fortunate. One thing else before you dismiss me as a environmental vandal I live totally off grid, my power to house, shed, water pumps etc come totally from solar panels and a little from wind turbines. My acknowledgement of my responsibility to sustainability. All this made possible by mining, and then there is our vehicles, our fuel etc etc right down to our detectors. A book written by OZs world renowned Geologist Ian Plimer called "Not for Greens" tells the story of the humble teaspoons origin and illustrates the complicated process`s required for such a small simple implement to be available for our table use. It is enlightening book thats first chapter is written by Patrick Moore (the originator of Greenpeace)

That`s a good read, perhaps that "halo" is the inductance Bruce Candy speaks of. Perhaps the ferrous oxide whilst not being magnetic, creates the field, also explaining why the signal diminishes when we dig into it and break that field. Those eddies from nuggets shape, thus varying the inductance of the field may also help explain why we often get a reverse signal over some nuggets. Dunno food for thought.

Yeah, solid gold is more dense and more conductive but ferrous objects because of time have corroded and leached into their surrounds unlike gold which is basically inert thus no "halo" whereas old ferrous objects have a halo. You`ll note this when you disturb that halo whilst digging ie the signal decreases.

Crikey, the Stud from Over the Pond does Down Under. Flogs our gold and our Shielas too!!!! No wonder the lads knackered.

Way to go Paul, I know from a couple of paid follow along trips I did with Doug Stone Tours back in the nineties to WA & NT, going with prospectors who are familiar with the country is the way to go, what I learnt from NQ gold fields over the years before was not applicable to the gold fields Doug took us into. Thus the cost of such tours is well worth it, makes a hell of a difference having access to local knowledge, plus you have the benefit of security and safety that only a local can give. It would taken months to achieve what you did Paul without JPs guidance, would have been very frustrating. Good on ya, definitely the way to go.

Have developed a technique that seems to work well with the Deus in parks, carry the remote and screwdriver in left hand, being fairly tone deaf just go by IDs on the remote. Without the remote on the stem it is much quicker. Use no discrimination and run in 4Kz, with pinpointer & screwdriver there is no damage to surface. 4Kz is not so sensitive to foil, of course am only recovering the shallow signals but is very productive and quick. Next will mount remote on a wristband, with remote facing inside of arm. Amazing the amount of modern coinage that is dropped by park users.

Yeah, Nenad never trusted the PIs in tracking so always used in manual, even took awhile to be convinced the Z was AOK in tracking, used Mono coils always so can`t comment on DD. Probably just a stubborn habit I developed but worked for me. Saying that I gave the SDC a good go at cancelling out a scrap, didn`t even look like it. Suspect the new coil will bring a lot of interest, stir the Z pot up again at least 70%

Running the X with a 14" Elite Mono is close to the Z with its stock coil except in one respect, the Z no doubt gives far less false signals ie a repeatable signal that the auto GB doesn`t take out on the Z is nearly always metal, on the X you will be digging more false signals or risking its auto gb taking out gold(if you risk auto gb on PIs), something the Z rarely does.. That makes the Z more productive, tis a magic machine for sure. I`ll have that new coil, the SDC with its small coil will do those places the Zs coil can`t get at, until ML bring out a small coil. But as I found with the PIs 14" is a sweet size, time will tell with the Z.

Now that may explain the red sunsets we are having at the moment up here in NQ OZ, they are usually in the West but they`ve been in the South last couple of days. Pauls bloody well glowing. On ya have a ball.

Thank you for sharing, gives one some appreciation of the detector era we live, how they have progressed. Makes you wonder in another 50 years what they`ll be capable of. Visual heads up output on your glasses, who knows?

Wow, case and all, that is impressive.

Perhaps of interest, a place to collect info of detectors from our past and their modifications. There were a few homegrown detectors about in the 80`s in OZ, their manufacturers no longer operating, perhaps also were others throughout the world, these were "the building blocks" of the sophisticated machines we use now. Some like the Goldseekers 12000 which lead to ML, and another that enjoyed some popularity was the Bridgewright. This photo is of a Bounty Hunter RB10 that has a added pot on the front near coil plug, I believe this modification may have come from not yet ML technicians back around 83-84, unfortunately I`ve lost the operator instructions which had a extra page explaining the use of this pot in GBing the detector.

Doesn`t look very encouraging that my source of the 12000s manual is going to find such, I went looking through my old stuff for old manual of my own RB10 which I believed had been modified with a early version of auto GB by early Minelab techs(had a couple of pages added explaining the use of such mod). From memory this would have been done in 83-84 or there abouts. No sign of that manual either but fortunately I still have the old RB10 so will post photo of such showing the additional pot that was added to it. Once I`ve got that photo I`ll start another thread, perhaps there may be some interest for a say "history of metal detectors & mods" thread, it was a very exciting time in detector development. This brings to mind a few other "homegrown" detectors of that period eg Bridgewright and others.

Nah, never had a dual Ace, only used a loaned 1600 by then the 1700 was out, 1700 really swung me from the A2B, GM2 etc to ML, (was hard to walk away from producers like the A2B) yeah found tone control is very important to my hearing(or lack of it!!!!). Hopefully I`ll have that 12000 manual shortly, scan & convert to pdf, and attach pdf to post if Steve has no problem re. manual rights for such an oldie should be dead. Interesting history the advancement of detectors, am going through a ton of old detecting books, no mention of the 12000 as yet. GG&T(OZ Mag) online archives don`t go back that far unfortunately

Well that clears up that bit of gossip, at that time I was using the A2B and got a bit of a surprise at the performance of the 15000 you speak of Argyle. I suspect it had a DD coil as around rocks it was reaching nuggets the A2B couldn`t get (close to the base of rocks) Than the 1600 come along and that really concreted MLs dominance of the OZ gold scene. But have followed up on the 12000 manual and have contacted a fellow thinks he may have such somewhere?????, will get back if he finds it.

Crikey, that goes back a bit. Could be wrong here but there was some gossip around then(last century!!!!) that machine was the beginnings of ML of OZ.

Yeah, got you there KL also from your past posts, tis certainly a major jump in tech. Guess ML rely a bit on users to sort out the shortcomings, the SDCs supplied batteries a prime example. I didn`t try them in mine, got a set of Accucells from Nenad, they work a treat.

Fault, dunno whether it is anyone's fault, the 4Ms certainly portray customer grumbles, but think you nailed it re. ML would still be the leaders with the Extreme & Explorers plus say the CTX. Maybe not a big enough market for the rest to get up to speed, or is it that ML have the best in personnel that the others just can`t or don`t wish to match, just content to keep refining the cheaper VLF, which seem to have a good market. ML tried with the GoFinds but that doesn`t appear to be the go as yet. Whatever tis good for me that ML keep lifting the gold detector performance benchmark. The gold detector market doesn`t seem to be driven like say the 4WD market, suspect that is because of size. All the various brands of consumer 4WDs seem to be so much the same, that tis boring. PCs, cameras etc etc but not MLs products, never boring.

Yeah your right Fred, depends on ones perspective, the SDC should have had batteries with a bigger + terminal, and the Z should have had all those thingos that KL refers to plus for me a GPS with a mapping screen that is not proprietary. But for me I`d rather see them spend that dough positively, instead of upgrading current tech, on research so as their next gold machine is the worlds best also, because that is what the Z and the SDC are, as their PIs were. I have no doubt they listen to our gripes but they also have to stay financially viable, a balancing act I hope they are successful at for many years more.

KL & Fred, you both forget worlds best gold detector by far, it tis I tell you for sure.

Crikey, love that scenery, not a tree for miles just nuggets waiting to see the light. (heavy breathing)

Dunno!!!!!!! what is more important, chasing the Rainbow or finding its treasure???? Or maybe the cookie, dipped in Brandy laced steaming hot coffee as the sun rises on a chilly still morn out in the sticks.