mn90403

Yes, I asked him! He said I didn't put it in reach so I have to find it or order a new one. I know I had no reason to take those parts to Quartzsite. I know what it looks like and where it 'should' be but I can't put my fingers or hands on it yet.

I got a new control unit today. Thanks Minelab. When I went to put it back on the shaft I couldn't find the bottom part of the clamp. I have the screws but ... I'm tired of looking.

Here is an interesting article that focuses mostly on the Kalgoorlie Gold Rush of 1893. I'm sure there are some here who would have tales to tell of this rush. https://lacrossetribune.com/community/tomahjournal/news/ask-your-science-teacher/article_928e4df3-a9a1-5c4c-bea1-bef645a0076e.html

Retirement gold is out of the question or realm of possibilities. When you hit it big there is no reason to stop! Mitchel

I didn't hit the start button!

Simon, You are connected. Line up the family permissions and remember, go first to those places where they don't think they have any gold left. What they don't know will put you on to big gold and small gold. Go off map young man! Mitchel

I went out again today with the 3030 and the 12" coil. It's time to give some love back to this detector. I was finding both small targets and deep ones. I've learned a lot about sounds from using my 800. I dug one 'iffy' signal and kept digging and digging and I got down 20" in the sand before I got a piece of iron. It reminded me of some of my abandoned targets in past years. The 3030 will hear a few targets I simply can't dig. Many people say the discrimination on the 3030 is Minelab's best. I tend to agree. I don't follow the digital numbers as much as I look at my target trace on the screen and I can see the nickel or gold rings! It is nice to place a find on the map also. This might be a good time to buy a used one but I haven't checked the prices so I don't know but it is a darn good beach detector. Mitchel

I have a return shipping label so I guess it is on the way to me tomorrow after the holiday!

I'm back. I'm sure glad to know you are back at it around here. I had wondered about the mysterious man from down under. I saw some good gold from Norm and company at Tom Wells Road. Lu won a salt lamp with a token. I got Curtis out there picking up coins. Last year he just sat in his stroller. Next year he will probably find more than me! Mitchel

The article said there was another location with similar hope ... With all the hoards that have been found it seems someone there was mining and making things from it for a long time.

How much gold is there? https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/perth-kinross/1081373/exclusive-gold-worth-300m-could-be-extracted-from-perthshire-hills-after-major-discovery/

I've been satisfied with everything on service except the broken ears on the CTX 17" coil. They offered no help with that problem.

Robert Verish is a Gold Basin meteorite expert. He has published many articles on the finds made there. Here is an article where he 'puts it all together' and lets you know what you have found or what you could find in Gold Basin. There are more updates if you are interested in the area but this is a primer. I know I could say that I've found over a pound of meteorites from there over the years. http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2008/aug08.htm Mitchel

I have thought about my original posting and the replies and have 'modified' the 'have you paid for it' measure. I would say now ... how much more would you budget if the detector you are currently using is still finding treasure and nuggets? Why get a new detector? Many of us could 'justify' getting an Equinox based upon known information and hype. The same can not be said for the Vanquish. I didn't say the same thing for a Monster. (I'd rather miss Monster gold while using a Zed!) I've had dealers tell me that what I have now (the 800) is better than that model (Vanquish) for what I do which is spend a lot more time at this detecting business than a two or three times a year type of family. There were two factors that made me buy the Zed. I thought it was a better machine and technology than my 5000 and I didn't want you hitting my patches with one before I did! I just thought if I spent enough time at it with a Zed it would pay for itself. I've found a lot of gold with it and some of it was unseen gold with other detectors but I've spent too much time on old patches rather than find new. One fact working in my favor which may pay off the detector without finding another gram is that the price of gold is going up and I've not sold any of my finds. I already have 'enough' gold to pay off the detector when gold hits $2000 per ounce. Mitchel

The Quartzsite Metal Detecting Club Super Hunt is this Saturday. The weather looks good so we are going to attend. We'll be in the Blythe area on Friday morning and willing to go up to Quartzsite for an afternoon of nugget hunting. Does anyone want a tag-a-long which includes a 2 year old? haha We could go to Tom Wells Road or up to one of the GPAA claims or ??? Ken and Lunk where are you? Mitchel https://www.quartzsitemetaldetectingclub.com/events/2018/1/20/qmdc-january-super-hunt-df7jl

Minelab called today. They gave me an RMA number and the control handle is on its way to Pennsylvania.

It has probably been over a year since I've used my 3030. Tonight I used it for a bit over 2 hours and I got the hang of it again. It is a much different sound than the 800 and now I remember why I had a learning curve about hearing targets. One of the things that came back very quickly is the ability of the 3030 to be 'played' like a violin. By that I mean you can get a target and swing on it and make the detector 'sing' really loud. This was what was happening with the many tent stakes I found. You could tell that it was a mostly iron target because it was down in the lower right of the screen. I still dug most of them and some of the other iron pieces were just the same. The 3030 has clear identification of the target and that lets me choose to dig it or not. If I was getting better targets then I may not have dug so many of those stakes. When I get tent stakes with the 800 it kinda blanks out rather than sings out. The depth was good with the 17. One of the quarters was 13-14 inches. I use it with the Minelab harness because it is a bit bulky and heavy. When I first got the 17 years ago I used it without a harness for the first 3 weeks and I got something akin to tennis elbow. That took about 6 weeks to heal and I've never swung the 17 for more than 20 minutes without the harness since. The screen now has a flaw down the right side where it doesn't show data but I can live with it as a backup. The battery didn't last too long. We'll see what happens after this charge up. It was a real pleasure being able to turn on the GPS and see where I had found rings in the past. Many I had transferred but a few are still there and that made me slow down in those areas. This was an end of the weekend, end of the day hunt and I saw where several detectorists had been out before me. I'm ok with the results.

I used a scoop similar to this for finding shark's teeth in Venice, Florida near the pier. When you have enough targets in surf/sand you find a way to get them. Many years ago people would go to the Florida beaches and seek out a pier. They would find many lost items around the pilings with scoops and shovels. This was before there were metal detectors. Mitchel

You said it better than me!

Simon and I have had exchanges about digging negative numbers. He likes the 15" coil. I think it is finicky but became less so after the update. We have both had negative numbers turn into good targets. You are on to one of my secrets. I've found 3-4 chains in the last 6 weeks or so. A couple of them were silver. They can kinda ball up and make a scratchy sound. I dig all that stuff now on my beaches especially if I'm gridding with good quarters and negative 2 bobby pins around. I turn up my iron volume from 5 to 10 (I'm hard of hearing on that tone for Beach 1) and I did EVERYTHING. Sometimes I'm digging down 17 to 18" with the 11" coil to find a quarter that started as negative. These are times when I can't swing fast. When I'm going that slow I can also hear some of the micro pieces. Cruising speed misses some of these objects. It killed me to slow walk a beach in the past but now I know when it is best. It is best when it works! Try it. Mitchel

Years ago I had ears break off my 3030 17" coil. I could not glue or acetone my way to fixing it and Minelab would not fix it so I bought a replacement set of ears made by someone in New York of industrial rubber/plastic that fit the screw holes. It was flexible enough to be able to tighten without breaking. This U shaped ear and bottom was then attached to the coil with cable ties which has worked just fine. Mitchel

I'm mostly in Beach 1 so I can't help with the Field and Park. It helps me to GB often because I'm in wet sand/shallow water/black sand all the time. I turn up the iron volume and if there is lots of iron around I keep the speed above 5. Mitchel

Kirk, I think Chase is on to it. I don't have waterproof headphones but I would get them if I was diving. When I am out in the rain I don't care about my 800 getting wet but I don't want cold rain on me so I have a good rain suit. It has a hood and I put the headphones under that. I've got a backup set that is not Minelab but I don't have to stay out if the weather is too bad. I would stay out if I was in England on a paid trip and I might buy a pair of waterproof before I left but I haven't scheduled one of those yet. I do know they 'make' you go rain or shine. You can't stay over and wait for dry days because someone else is taking your place when you leave. Mitchel

Definitely a detector on a board! haha It's a bit of a different switch than I thought. I don't feel guilty now. Bring on the replacement.

I prefer Beach 1, 23 if I can run it that way and all metal without any bias. I've turned up the volume on iron because at depth the negative number changes to a positive. I dig everything if I have time because I'm always proving my assumptions wrong every few days.