Norvic

Bit the bullet and have a Deus on the way, son has a CTX so we can compete??? on the coins, have been having some fun with the 705, enough to get me back into coins after 20 years plus just gold. NQ OZ But as to which machine for coins???? GPZ for gold in my part of the world for sure, can imagine what it`ll be like on those smallies once a small coil is available. Guess the coin market is huge compared to the gold, thus all the options.

Have now done enough time with the hipstick to know it is a permanent part of my prospecting, have adapted the midway hookup just under the GPZs screen as per Freds mod, way to go, I should have listened to that young fellow JPs recommendations way back. "No fool like an old Fool"!!!!! Thank you Paul your blood should be bottled.

Yes, if someone pays that for it, that is what it is worth to them, and good on the seller for value adding. Looking at the photo it looks like it is a piece that could have come from NQ OZ, (into the dolly pot), would be interesting to know roughly where it came from in OZ.

Fred, on solar panels and angling at your latitude, for our mobile application this is not ideal. Just put your panel flat on roof of vehicle, the output will not approach its max but todays solar panels are much better at working in less ideal positions. Better to add more panel power than required at a $1 a watt or less then have the drama of shifting panels around. I`ve Sikoflexed my panels direct to canopy fibreglass roof. Simple out of the road and no drama.

Well I`m going back to the future, and consider the VLF could be king again. The GPZ has been said to blur the line between the PI and the VLF, XP with the Deus has brought us a "software" detector, that blurs the line between notch discrimination and GB, and as the ferrite "rod" GB method for the GPZ seems in a way along this line. Suspect Minelab will bring a software update to address those saturated salt problems, the ferrite "rod" being a interim part solution. As a total ignoramus who has bugger all knowledge of how our detectors work, I feel that is the direction detectors may go. Software radio transmitters and receivers are coming into that scene, your home PC can be transformed into a all band receiver with a hardware link to powerful software, why not detectors too? Lightweight, upgradable software detectors that address the use and power of a lightweight CPU, wireless links etc etc that may cut out obsolescent to some extent. That $1000 powerful discriminating upgradable lightweight multifrequency vlf gold detector may be only a few years away.

Yes that is what we call shellite or white spirit, I use it in my little Coleman single burner unit that resides in my Toyota. Way back before LP gas us OZ plumbers used it in our soldering irons. Can well imagine its effect in a combustion engine. Believe its heat content is way above gasolene or what we call petrol..

White gas? What is that? Shellite?

Wow, the GPZ is the star in a lot of videos of late, been on the market for what 3 months. Good stuff, video records of this part of the electronic gold rush.

I think in the GPZ at least, you can see that they listen to input from users, and JP in particular apparently. I guess they have a lot of filtering input from OZ forums. Hopefully my input in making the GPS on the GPZ and CTX more functional and not relying on mapping internet. Dale, I know you have stated you would never use the GPS on your GPZ or CTX, but would you consider using it if you had Oziexplorer on it rather than have to go through the internet to google earth?

OK. small words but I bet you are smart in your field. If your batteries in good nick and your only taking out 72 watt/hrs per day, your right for a few days no drama,Your 650 cold cranking amp battery has probably got a capacity of 120 amp/hrs(watts) or better. Now for the next bit I want you to take notice, cause I`m gonna be asking you questions later I think it is best I take a analogy of electricity with water. With water in a tank your capacity is the amount of gallons, with electricity it is the watt/hrs. With water if you have a sprinkler on the system that uses say 5 gallons a minute, with electricity it is amps. with water your tank is raised and has pressure to the sprinkler of pounds per sq inch in electricity that is the voltage. So watt/hrs is capacity, amps is flow and voltage is pressure. 1. Say your alternator is capable of putting out 50 amps at 12volts, then it is 600 watt/hr alternator, but that is at its max operating revs which won`t be at idle. But each day 1/2 hr run would be enough. 2. As in the analogy with water, we would go with watt/hrs (gallons) which is 72 watt/hrs. If you go for say a 100watt solar panel which will output a max of `100 watt/12volt = 8.2 amp. So you`d get a regulator capable of handling 10 amps or maybe 20 amps to allow for expansion. Now this solar panel angled at your latitude facing South on a cloudless day will put out at least 4 times its wattage in watt hours. eg my panels in sunny NQ at 17deg lat put out 8 times.(this figure can be found at a NASA site and varies for each location) So with that 100 watt panel without shifting it around just face south at your latitude will put out 100 watts X 4 = 400 watt/hrs. There are inefficiencies with batteries, cloud might come over etc but that 100 watt solar panel will kill your issue. PS I forgot to put your quiz in to see if you were listening. Much better to go for a 2 battery set-up, second battery(deep cycle) isolated from your starting battery and allow for expansion, fridges, lights etc etc. I gotta tell a story, Missus and I were down in Victoria many years back chasing that yellow stuff. Camped out for weeks, few days wet/cloudy weather but I thought no drama, I`ll just start the Toyota and charge both batteries, main start battery had collapsed with cold weather, my deep cycle one was fairly flat and didn`t have enough to start vehicle, no drama I`ve got my backup, a little Honda 2 stroke battery charger. But we`d forgot to put petrol in, Toyota was diesel. Missus had a quantity of Methylated spirits, added a bit of engine oil to it, after about 20 pulls the little Honda finally got going long enough to charge start battery. The flavour to this story is have you ever smelt a petrol engine running on metho. Phewe

Should you require further info on this matter, solar etc. just ask Fred, I`m no expert, learnt the hard way but have found it is the way to go for us prospectors. Solar is really easy, a lot of my gear is US made, eg have a Morningstar regulator in current vehicle, purchased back in 80`s, A large Outback regulator on off-grid system both perform faultlessly.

Yeah I did some detecting in the salt lakes of WA back a bit, certainly difficult. We are probably fortunate in QLD OZ, we do have some "hot" areas, but overall tis quiet, well where I`ve been. But I get you the iron richness is what makes WA gold deposits different to most of yours.

Reading this post and other posts in the 4Ms archives, it seems you folks have ground just the same as we have here in OZ. Most of the ground I prospect in NQ OZ is only slightly noisy. If wet even less noisy and more depth penetration. Certainly not like your salt areas, nor like some areas of WA or in particular some patches around Wedderburn in Victoria OZ. Got me thinking and must ask you fellows that have experienced both US and OZ fields, is there really any difference, is it just a myth downunder that our ground is the worst to detect in?

By connecting direct to battery, and if it worked or not is simply a fault finding procedure. i.e If it worked, than you know the problem is in conx somewhere if it didn`t work and your battery is good, the problem would be in the charger. I manufactured portable 12v fridges for 20 years, most of them to customers 1000s of miles away, it is a very effective method of isolating the problem. A lot of vehicle wiring even in new vehicles is not up to the job of supplying such, in fact to solve future problems I always recommended a separate new cable run direct from battery to appliance. I suspect Minelab is well aware of this thus the extra cable that comes with the GPZ that has alligator clips on each end for direct conx. Just giving this extra info to clarify, Fred certainly would be a pain to lift bonnet just to charge. Like Dale says, in remote areas these things have to be working AOK, we rely on charged batteries especially in our Sat Phones, that can be a matter of life or death Apologise for not being clear in my original post, Norm in his post also illustrated this. Solar & deep cycle batteries have been a big boon to prospecting, also to my life, wife and I live totally off-grid using solar and wind to charge a battery bank that weights a wee over 1 ton, have been doing so since 06-07. People used to ask me about the solar cells I had permanently mounted on my Troop Carrier back in the 80`s, used to tell them "its a solar powered troopie"

Many Thanks, look forward to it. Be a good dedication to "the Man in Black"

Here is photo of my vehicles power board, just a marine switch board and the two Clipsal polarised low voltage plugs below it. All is connected with 6mm2 cable direct to battery through a fuse. Cuts down on high resistance joints that are the bane of low voltage power, especially in vehicle use in dusty, wet conditions and I imagine even more so in your snowy conditions.

No problem here. Note the 240v charger puts out 18v, have you tried it with the alligator clamps direct on battery rather than cig lighter. Cig lighter plugs are not the best conx, and I suspect that is where your problem is, a high resistance joint cutting voltage. I use the old 32v polarised plugs have been doing so for 40 years in vehicles, no drama. Should be available in US, they were used in low voltage households before the grid power and are still being made by Clipsal, who I suspect are worldwide.

Love the video, the music not bad but suspect like Paul I`m an old Codger, Only two kinds of music Country & Western. For Paul and I a request, maybe a bit of Ozies Slim and some, say Marty Robbins or Johnny Cash. But I`ll watch your videos even if you`ve got Sesame Street in background.

14" is that sweet size, the allrounder, I don`t think it was just a coincidence the GPZ came with a 14", Minelab knows.

When I first used my GPZ, got fortunate first piece in 5 or so minutes from starting, small but deep, immediately considered, this machine is going to do to PI`s what the PI`s did to the vlf`s. Same thing dig down expecting a larger piece. Speaking to a non detecting person but someone who is involved in the industry, first thing he asked me (known each other for 35 plus years) have you got the new Minelab. To cut a long story short, he is seeing it all over again as when the SD2000 came out, the complaints of a heavy machine but the finds, well and truly making up for it. Go Minelab.

Wouldn`t be $25 worth of gold in it, but if you offered me $1000 I`d decline. It has been sitting by my computer for 30 odd years, no it has bugger all $ worth but is worth a hell of a lot to me, came from location of my first find in my gold journey. Tis magic.

Got a rellie who`s a whizz bang gyro gearloose on the computer, he had asked me for a copy of the photo this morning so emailed it to him, said he could clean it up, whatever that means. Well you can see the results, like wow.

GM2 was brilliant, low mineralisation area, ground noise just not an issue. Any detector with sensitivity to that small stuff, but a lot of square miles of country. Like a pin in one haystack in a paddock full of haystacks. Legwork and the puzzle of what is the indicator. But that's gold.

Would not be difficult to make up the lights without blowing the budget, a couple of small sheets of that frosted white glass or plastic as a diffuser, over a soft led light. Few blankets hung strategically to keep stray light out.. The digital SLR have macro modes and a million other features plus I see you can download macro apps for smart phones. But I`m really impressed with how the beauty of such a small speci can be shown. Once I`ve prospected the area I`m currently checking out must go back to that limestone country, easy country to prospect, fairly flat, just a lot of it, and not aware of any indicators but believe there will be. The mighty ZED will love it. Bloody Goddess of Gold she rules.

Update on Hilux breakdown, you will note in the photo at top of spring is a lifting block, about 11/2 inches high. It is a aftermarket lifting block, I purchased and fitted. Purpose is to offset the weight of steel bulbar and winch, apparently 1000`s have them fitted. It did that job well but instead of upward movement being soaked by the rubber stop, the shockie shaft took the hit. I am eating crow for supper tonight and take back all my cussing of Toyota and am updating with purpose built spring and shockie assemblies, what I should have done in the beginning.