mn90403

Ok, ok ... are we going to get a nugget report?

Friendly, lovable Emu I'd add. Are Emus lovable?

Rege, Steve has mentioned shape of the target as being important. I have to agree. It is not just a 'size' thing but shape. I mostly use a 3030 (It has a graph.) on the beach these days but in the past I used an SE Pro which is also multi frequency and a White's 6000 DI Pro Coinmaster. (It's meter shows probable coins.) Now I sometimes use the Gold Bug Pro (It just has numbers.) to find a few coins in the desert. With all of these detectors size matters and I always say a man made shape matters most in what I hear. One problem on the beaches now is the corroded zinc penny. It can crackle back at you showing multiple target signals. It can sound or look like a penny or other objects. Copper wire or copper strips can look like quarters or higher silver. Another problem on the beach would be chains. They have multiple facets and disperse a signal to a point that it is not heard back by the coil. When I used to use my 5000 on the beach (a PI) I have a find story about finding a fine chain with a diamond while digging a coin. I later put the chain on the ground by itself and could not see it with the detector. I found the jewelry by accident. When I do to the beach any more I don't have the energy (sore shoulder) or time to dig everything. (If you have a PI you dig it deep and you dig it all.) Iron tones, bobby pins and other trash on the 3030 are on the bottom of the graph. I'm so confident of it most of the time I don't dig. It is the same way with the top left for bottle caps. You just know what it is without digging it. Good luck with your use. Mitchel

What Paul didn't tell us it that they are letting Norvic 'borrow' the control unit. It is on Norvic to make sure it gets back to them and not 'back' to the states! (Why do I always think of things like this when it comes to Paul?) haha Mitchel

WTG Paul! You may have found more gold with the monster than any human alive because you didn't have your 7000.

Steve, I think Paul and Norvic are dogged by the locals and he has told Paul any gold he finds has to be attributed to his next location! If we just assume all locations are confidential we might get more pictures. Hell, send us some pictures of other peoples gold. We won't know the truth or fiction. Mitchel

Bunk is a great guy and an equally good detectorist. If you were ever to make it to the states and you needed a 'guide' for some Arizona locations then you should consider Bunk.

Maybe someone can have Bunk check in to this forum. Several people here would have his contact info. I just messaged Frank C to have him get on here and fill the orders! Mitchel http://www.bunksarizonaprospecting.com/Pick.html

I bought two of these picks from Bunk. One I left on his claim and never saw it again (small one) and another I 'lost' then 'found' then gave it away to the finder. I'll get another one one day but right now I have several picks. As was mentioned, the scoop works great. You can lift the dirt out of the hole and place it on the side and your hole won't fill back in until you are ready. That is a big plus. The pick I use now is a Leland pick with a much smaller head on a long handle that lets me dig without bending over very much. It is also a long distance from the Zed coil because I can't put it on a belt and don't want to but if you use two hands for the Zed ... you have to put the pick down and use it for a reference point. Not everyone's style but that is what I do now. Mitchel

Thanks. How is that Monster working out for you in those trashy spots?

Chuck, The shaft is not too long. Your arms are too long! (As they say in basketball, you have 'length.') Mitchel

Well done. Good report.

Ok, it is not the kind of flakes you normally think of when you think CALIFORNIA. We had a 'cold snap' in the west the last 3 days and that gave me a chance to go out and detect the hot deserts of Southern California. The cold snap came after a Wednesday fishing trip. It started off slow for the white sea bass and the yellowtail. We didn't get any so we went after the rock fish in deep water. This was my first trip of the year and it was a lot of fun. I went over my limit (10) but there were others on the boat that got my extras. At the end of the day we were near the island and managed to get our version of a barracuda and another fisherman got a white sea bass. So I left out for a 3 hour drive to our most productive nugget patch. Last summer we were working it pretty hard and found most of it but Swifty has been finding new patches so we went back. My last 4 trips had resulted in skunks. I was beginning to question my technique and settings. I was finding shots, lead, wires and hot rocks but NO GOLD. My headphones were sounding scratchy and losing the signal when trying to pinpoint. I bought a new set of headphones to make me feel better. (Superlux HD668B Dynamic Semi-Open Headphones) These were recommended on my other post about 'What Can You Hear?.' Now I know what I can hear! I heard all of the same trash but the sound was smoother than my worn out headphones. They were also comfortable (until the very end of the day). So I'm going along with the normal signals and a bit 'long in the tooth' attitude and I heard another hot rock. Even the 7000 and the 2300 find hot rocks in this field. Sometime in the late morning a hot rock was not. It was the rough flake nugget. I saw it in my scoop and could barely see any gold as it was covered in caliche. After a bath in my mouth I knew it was a skunk breaker. I also knew it was thin so I logged it in to my findpoints as .5g. It is really .82g. Friday I had gotten to the field at 4:00 AM and it was a full moon. Sunrise was 6 AM but you could see around 5:30 AM. Sunday's trip was similar but I got there at 5:00 AM and the wind was blowing about 25 mph and the temperature was under 50F. I was cold and went back into the car for a nap. Once the sun was up about an hour I got out and braved the wind until about 2:30 PM. Along the way I found the second corn flake that is 'smaller' but weighs more at .92g. It is a lot of work having fun sometimes but someone has to do it, right?

Well done and well hunted. That weather has been amazing this year. Full dam and water over the spillway. I want some nuggets from there again. Mitchel

Fred, You have a deep patch or two and you don't want anyone to use this coil on it before you. It was one of the reasons why I HAD to buy it. Mitchel

Aussieau, Thank you very much for the photo. It is nice to know it is still there. Hunting in areas where it is possible to end up with a Large nugget excites me more than anything else. Why do I need to go to an area that has only sub grammers? I guess you could say there are some bigger ones there ... ok ... SHOW ME. haha I don't have to find the big ones ... I just have to hunt sometimes in an area where the big ones are or were. I'll let luck take it course (in addition to superior equipment, knowledge and understanding).

Fred Mason has a story in the new ICMJ. Check it out at your local news stands or get a subscription from Chris Ralph. Let me just tell you that Fred has a picture of a nugget that covers a half-dollar coin. You can see some of the pictures here: https://www.icmj.com/ Mitchel

One thing after another ... for how many months you say?

We anxiously look forward to your review. Meanwhile ... I'm going fishing.

Have at it Paul with great success. Please, please, please leave Fred something. He has only found 1.76 oz so far this year. Lucky bloke.

Deft, You bring up a good point. My testing unit is a little Asus laptop but I 'seem' to have good tests. I know there is a lot of difference between internet devices (game consoles, desktops, laptops, Mac's, pads, phones, etc.). How good of a 'sound card' is in the detectors we use? This leads to questions about sound 'processing' after a sensitive coil receives a signal from a potential target. Would this be the circuits involved with target volume and total volume? You don't know a target is there unless you can 'hear' it, see it or feel it. Does anyone make a silent detector with just digital readout only? I have a pinpointer that is more feel than sound. Mitchel

Oh, my ... com' on Paul ... you need to start speaking for yourself. As far as packing ... I remember Paul 'packing' a big trailer and a Chevy Suburban across some awful terrain in northern Nevada. I think neither could be used again shortly after that. Norvic, you know he can't keep a secret, right? Mitchel

Well done. Rye Patch is not a 'quick trip' these days. It takes a lot of gridding of known areas to sneak the last few remaining nuggets into your scoop. Mitchel

The last time I went detecting I got a skunk. During that time of listening to my 7000/14 I noticed that my signals were 'breaking' in a way that made me not understand the ground I was swinging on. I found myself tuning and re-tuning my detector seeking a steady threshold. I was going over my wireless connections as well as my conservative sensitivity settings in an effort to hear the signals better. The breaking can come from several sources. The detector, the headphones/wireless and my ears. I'm in the process of checking my headphones and hearing by using this website. http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php I've found several of my old headphones have problems. I'm surprised I hear the range of sounds on the tests. I get all the mid-range stuff I need, I think. I have a pair of Gray Ghosts that are built like a tank but don't work properly. Does anyone know if they have a lifetime warranty? Some of my Koss UR-30s have stopped working. I know I can get an exchange on those with some cash. Mitchel

It finds gold.