Norvic

In search of that vlf discrimating detector for trashy areas, ruled out eureka gold(weight), ruled out CTX ? over multifrequency & weight. Left with GB2, GBpro and Xterra 705 gold, with the Xterra on top because of its discrim properties and flexibility. Many thanks Steve for your concise and up to date reviews, definitely the best. Initially the CTX seemed most logical but I can see a single frequency is needed for my purpose, the Xterra having that with coil changes allowing it to go for lower frequencies for those coins. Something I haven`t chased for 20 plus years, but recall the fun I had doing so. My shortlist but???? no urgency.

Normal/High yield, smoothing Off, volume to 12 whilst on speaker, rest at default for me so far but the GPZ`s definitely training me and no doubt need a lot more use before anywhere near getting the max out of it. It is not the simple beast it first appeared to be.

Shasta... Nice and peaceful, sit back on favourite chair, have a coffee and watch the animals & sunrise. Enjoy.

No not a wallaby but I checked it is a rock I put up there. But it wouldn`t surprise me too much if one does get up there. Not only are they agile, they are very inquisitive, if I leave tractor parked out there near the knob overnight, it`ll have their droppings over it next morn, especially on the seat. They are nocturnal. As a young fella I used to think I was a game hunter, big hero and run around these ridges shooting them, now I am their protector. My wife and I being Wildlife Carers specialise in the Kangaroo family, the rock wallabies are to us the most intelligent. The missus was "talking" to one of them in their lingo(sort of a quiet cheeping) it jumped across the rock closer to her so she put her hand out it promptly came over and bit her on the finger and bolted. We reckon she had insulted it, they are a joy, seems our gold fever "inflicts" us with an appreciation of the environment we prospect in, this thread shows that.

I apologise, I tried to get it all together in one post but either my satellite internet conx is too slow or I was having a senior moment. Anyway enjoy my bit of OZ. Gold has shed from mountains in scenery shot over the rear of. About 200 yards to rear of home you can pick up quartz specimens with wolfram and molybdenite on the surface, country is very mineralised with copper, fluorite, gold and tin all within a 5 mile radius.

Well I`ve tried to get the "natives" in the one photo, they are often down on the track early in the morn, but they haven`t cooperated. You`ll note two of them, well actually three one has a joey in pouch, on the rocky knob. That rocky knob is on the right of the across valley scenery photo which is about 100 yards from front door. The "natives" are rock wallabies, whilst they are a member of the kangaroo family, they are close to being monkeys, being extremely agile as they play in the rocks. About twenty live on the knob year round and are a constant joy to us, have allowed us to erect water tank at their "home". Certainly not as spectacular and magnificent as the photos of your backyards, but my view of this part of OZ I am privileged to call home.

Had got a few antiglare screen protectors for phone, fitted one of them, screen material is a wee soft. Seems I`ve fairly scratched it, probably with a tree branch. As it`s not something needed to view all the time maybe a slip-on cover to protect might be the way

Just got back from trip with GPZ and noticed what I thought was screen damage, on further investigation the screen has a soft plastic protector on it as standard, well mine has anyway. Will remove and replace with phone lens protector. Perhaps that is what is scratching rather than the screen?

Sugar, sounded crazy but is logical once you`ve read the info. Full of high density energy to start with, just love how tech and the people that develop it, revolutionises how we do things.

I don`t think you`d wilt in OZ, is different but the same, if you get my drift. Zoe says so, she sounds exactly like they are here, a bitch, a one man dog but the best. Let me also presume, she rolls in the freshest of manure on occasions. Phueee!

That is magic, I awake to a totally different view, probably in contrast the "opposite" which also is magic. Must get camera out one morn. share and show I also am blessed.

Zoe has adapted well to your cold country, they have a fairly heavy coat over here but that`s a super thick coat. And I complain of our heat!!!!!! Brrrrrrrr.

My GPZ is more like a Toyota, nothing fancy just gets the job done. Oh what a feeling. I`ll get some more speed out of it once it trains me.

No I haven`t had to retrack on changing modes as yet. But I haven`t altered too much from the default, it gets the heavy stuff why bother? In a year or so with use I may change things, a bit slow I guess, after my time with the 5000 I hadn`t changed much from default. I just figure the Minelab Guru`s know what they are on about, they`ve proved that.

Being totally off-grid, with a wee over 1 tonne of lead-acid battery that will need replacing soon, battery tech like this gets me excited.

Jasong, is not difficult to get wrapped up in gold, good for the finances and very pleasurable too! At present our mobile devices with moving map software is probably the way to go in the field,certainly a valuable tool. Without moving map software on the Z it is limited that way, but it gets that heavy stuff.

Now to add to this would a piece of software to allow us to upload to and from our GPZ`s GPS to our moving map software be useful ?

My use of moving map software for a trip into undetected? country starts with marking a route on PC, using a topo map. I`ll select the route points to allow access as far as possible by 4x4 to area and a central campsite, starting from existing tracks then branching off bush bashing following ridges avoiding creeks and other obstacles. Google Earth is handy initially here also. I then transfer this to my Toshiba R500 notebook equipped with a magnet based USB receiver, this allows me to follow the route by 4X4 on a larger screen 12inch. Once reached as far as campsite, I use OZI (Oziexplorer app) on android phone and record a track of each days prospecting marking waypoints of finds and points of interest. Each night I transfer this back to R500 which allows me to ensure I get a good coverage of prospecting area selected, and I can study correlation of finds on each day in relation to finds from previous trips close to the area of interest. Have been doing such since the mid 90`s thus have a fair database of waypoints and tracks. The R500 has recently replaced a old slow 90`s notebook that died, I selected the R500 because it has a transflective (sunlight viewable) LED screen and can run Win7 64bit, plus obtained through ebay for $130. I rarely carry paper maps, as most I have are old, with newer ones of better scale purchased digitally, plus our mines dept QLd has free downloadable maps that you can tailor with overlays you require on their website and then download already georeferenced. Hint- always check this georeferencing is correct once downloaded and imported into MMS(moving map software) As Gold Hound states OZI is easy to use and powerful. My disclaimer, I am not a pro prospector rather a serious longtime one, now retired, I prospect in our cooler months and have no affiliation with OZI other than am a very happy user following the programs developement since its early days.

Two affordable ones I know of and have used, Oziexplorer & Fugawi. Just google them, go to their websites, all instructions etc are built in. Oziexplorer comes in a shareware version for trial. I imagine your Mines or lands dept have downloadable digital maps in suitable formats. With Oziexplore you need the PC version to georeference and work your maps then transfer to your mobile device, either android, windows or pocket pc(containing respective version of Oziexplorer) as per instructions contained in help file. I rarely use a dedicated GPS now rather use mobile phone with Oziexplorer App installed. No network access required just uses phones inbuilt GPS. There is a fair amount of time required to get the hang of moving map software, but well worth the effort, to me a very important part of my prospecting. Whilst I`m no expert, am totally self taught should you have any dramas I am very happy to assist through the forum of course if Steve approves, and also we are fortunate to have Gold Hound in the forum who uses such software as he has indicated in another thread.

I`ll generalise a wee, when detecting you`ll often come across even just a small change in the country, something that is not shown on the geo map. Doesn`t even have to be a mineralised change(but helps), a topo change or even just a vegetation change. Concentrate there too, the main thing is not to dismiss in your mind there is no gold in a particular piece of ground until you`ve detected it. Keep the mind open and have faith in where you are. In NQ OZ we have a low fine grass nicknamed copper grass, it has a coppery sheen, can be a indicator. But I stress can be, not always same as mentioned in an earlier post, a stand of Cyprus pine can be a indicator. Rege-PA, I have prospected with a couple of Geo`s, and again I`m generalising, they get it wrong too, very good to listen to, to gain knowledge but a closed mind is like waving a detector with a flat battery. There is only one constant, it Tis where it tis, sounds obvious but is true and worth repeating. That field work as Gold Hound mentions is important, but for me, more so than study. I`m definitely geologically impaired.

JP`s mention he is two dimensional in his thinking is probably where I am, the technical side of how detectors work is way beyond me. They work and get gold, they are reliable and have made my life what it is in some respects. That is until this thread, the video shows Minelabs passion for their products, shows the human side of why their products lead the world. It is not just their tech abilities it is their enthusiasm to deliver. Way off subject I read Stephen Hawkins fairly easy to understand books on relativity etc, which gives some of an idea how our GPS`s work, plus a lot of other tech, that helps in the field as does Geo`s like Ian Plimers writings on the formation of the earth, mineral deposits etc. Minelabs video does the same thing, communicating in a manner that is easier and interesting for the layperson to understand. Tis top stuff, gets the grey matter working and importantly adds positive thoughts that keep you going in those gold lean times as I am finding this forum does.

Branched from known gold areas, into fringe areas many years back, if I find quartz I concentrate on that area heavily, whether Igneous, Metamorphic or Sedimentary. Have had surprising finds in Limestone, wolfram, coal and tin "country". This has taught me not to be focused on any particular country as Steve`s detailed post points out, even to the extent of stop thinking it`d be better over there where the country "looks better", gold certainly is where it tis and the most distributed native metal on earth. Does not take long to detect creeks, alluvial gold can lead to the elluvial gold, which can be multiple signals per swing, this methods is little different to the original prospectors except the use of detectors rather than pans, GPS`s, moving map software, digital geo, topo maps and our 4WD`s give us a huge advantage. Time positive detecting, lovely finding a creek with nothing but gold signals. I don`t know if this applies to all countries but certainly does to the country I prospect.

My condolences to the Garrett family, the A2B did me well for many years.