mn90403

Merton who?

Today I had a chance to get up at dawn and get in a quick hunt before other events of the day. I decided to go to a familiar beach since I had read the surf report and it said there could have been a 3 hour period of 3.5 ft waves at high tide from the WNW! Ok, that is not much energy but better than the 1 ft surf at 16 second intervals all week. Off I went before the mid tides would take my beach. It was a great morning with just a bit of coolness and a partial marine layer but it didn't block the sunrise. Off in the distance you could see the planes going in and out of LAX. My plan was for a quick walk to my location before someone else would get there and then work my way back. As it turns out there were no other detectorists on the beach this morning due to the lack of major energy in the surf. Even the surfers only had small shore break to try and catch. This was the same area where I found my fantastic David Yurman piece a couple of weeks ago. When I walked fast I didn't locate much. I was following the black sand line and would stop on a target and circle and see if there was more but I kept up my plan for about 1.5 miles to my beach. Once there I was walking up and down the slope. This presents the biggest challenge to the Equinox because at the bottom there is lots of black sand and water and at the top it has been 4-5 hours since wet. The ground changes more. I had just a few pennies with all metal and sensitivity at 23 and iron volume up to 10 and everything else stock in Beach 1. (The other day I did a factory reset for the first time in over a year.) I put the iron volume (0-minus 9)up to 10 because I have learned as Simon has also that fringe targets (very deep targets too) often times read negative and when they do that they get the iron tone and it is preset at about 4. I give it a louder response. When I made my turn I found some rocks that had been washed up by the waves and I got some strong hits. Those are the can pieces that were just at the edge of the water. They were not that deep, perhaps 10 inches but they are big so just normal trash. As I worked my way back in the direction I came I worked up a bit higher than when I came in and I got my first quarter. It was deep but there wasn't much around so this is when I decided to go to 25 on the sensitivity. I rarely do this but it sounded ok so I stuck with it for this section of beach. A pattern began to develop in the finds. There was a rather narrow 'streak' or line running parallel to the waves but 5-6 feet above the black sand line. My holes were in a narrowed zone. I was gridding now down this line and also crossing it. Targets would murmur and then you would have to interrogate them and see what number it would stick on or jump around. I got some of the wires this way. Then I got a deep signal that was negative 5-6 and I took off 6 inches and it turned positive. I went down and down and could now fit the entire coil in the hole but it was still there. I lost it a couple of times because I couldn't hear it without sticking the coil on edge into the bottom of the to hear it again. I had to put down the detector and dig with my hand/arm scoop to get deep enough but the sand was not packed. I was over half the length of the scoop into the hole when it came out. I measured and the 11 inch coil can be fit in the hole on top of itself with just a couple of inches above the sand line so I say it is a 20" deep target. It is some kind of 'pot' metal in the shape of a B. The weight is 14.4 grams. Soon after I found a couple of other quarters and then returned the sensitivity to my normal 23 and worked my way back out the beach. I learn something all the time. The last picture is a picture of my finds for last month. It includes the David Yurman piece.

This dovetails into a thought I had this morning while on the beach. I was increasing the sensitivity on my 800 to the max. It was a little noisy but very good anyway. Was I giving more power to the transmit or receive? What actually happens when you give it maximum power? (I found a brass pendant for my deepest object ever at 20 inches!) Next thought came to me of JW using the Xcoil at maximum power with the Z. What happens there? (transmit or receive power) He says it still stays smooth so why not 'over amp' the power or 'modify' like the GB2 or some version of that to get more out of the same unit? I know it is more than just pure 'power' being added but can a normal unit be amped or do you just make an amplifier circuit louder and don't change the electronics of transmit/response. Mitchel

We had a carrot and the switch wore out and wouldn't work any more. I bought one of these which is only 1/3 the price. It works good enough! https://amzn.to/2NjkUuk

Well done. Once you see a big one or two come out of your patches everything changes. Mitchel

Wow! Not so simple by anyone's descriptions or calculations. I think your paper is an attempt by Dave Johnson to take the complicated science and reduce it to a few words as he says. Maybe this is really the 'artful' part of what we do. Most participation events or creations we do as humans requires both art and science. I'm hoping some of these details will help to recalibrate my personal algorithms. Now, if I could just hear it! haha I'm finding my hearing requires me to equalize the pressure on each side of my eardrums much too often even without elevation changes. Translation: I'm getting old. Thanks for the mind tease. I hope someone like Andy or Jason sees it.

I just read a thread about mono vs DD coils that 'expanded' the usefulness of your 'test stand' features for users. The first 2/3s of it required slow, deliberate reading (just like overlapping a coil) in order to get to the truth of a swing and what I should be hearing. (The last 1/3 is more he said/she said which is a distraction.) The thread talks about the coil field (I liken it to a nerf ball) but when swinging any coil over your 'test stand' the weak fringe targets should lead to the centered targets which means 'dig me' vs ground noise!

Those are great finds for an hour. Are you in the North or South?

Good question Andy but I think so. I want to see the X! This time I'd like to hookup with someone and stick with them for the weekend. Mitchel

This is a very worthy project. I'll spend time looking at some of those YouTubes. I think this type of 'test stand' would allow for someone to learn how to hear fringe targets. Each detector/coil combo will have an ultimate limit of depth on a target. What does it sound like just above that? (If you are directly over it.) What does it sound like when you are 'close' to it from the side? (Not directly over the target but kind of a side scan/off coil detection.) The second measurement could determine how you set your grid pattern if you know a layer the gold or relics are in then you could 'open up' the pattern to find more in the same amount of detection time. I think a third benefit of this type of 'test stand' would be to test the coil speed. (How fast/slow can you swing and still hear the target to maximize time and efficiency.) I'm like Simon. I need to do it so that I know what the coil sees and what I can hear. It has been a few years since I've done it. How much ground can I cover in an hour and be confident I didn't miss anything? A question I would have is one about possible lack of halo. You can't make a 'test stand' that is as natural as a long buried target or an unearthed target on virgin ground. If the target is dry and encased in the pvc tube and perhaps other wrapper ... how close to natural is this? Mitchel

A couple of days ago I had gotten a call back from Minelab about my Equinox shafts which are going to be replaced based upon the serial number of the unit. I have one of the first to be delivered in the States so I guess all are being replaced with a new set of shafts sent just because you call them. Good on you Minelab. They did this even without my registration being official. They completed it on this call. While I had a Minelab ear I asked about any coils coming out for the 7000. They know about the aftermarket coils and the buzz. They also take an official position of 'no comment' at this time. They have no official information about any coil in development but they know we all want one that is smaller. They have received many calls and questions about them. If we don't hear something in a couple of months some of us should show up at Bill Southern's outing and ask Minelab about the future of the 7000. https://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/topic/34198-fall-outing-2019/#comments

Many of you have heard of the Klondike and so have I. A few of you would know it quite well so you can tell me whether this modern day version of the old Klondike is accurate. I found it an entertaining read. https://stockhouse.com/opinion/independent-reports/2019/08/15/klondike-golden-moments

Here is a video to support Doc's thread. It needs to be revived once in a while!

Would something like this be eligible for the upgrades?

I think with reading some of JP's comments and threads I would use the semi-auto with the above settings rather than just auto.