mn90403

Ok, the guessing is up. All the clues have been given. This is more of a 'what your detector' can see story than something valuable. I wish we would have more of them. What did you find? Well, I have gained more respect for Norvic. He is the closest to the real find. When I dug the hole it was not tin as I had heard before. This target that was silent to a 3030, mellow to a 7000 and jumping around on the GB Pro was a piece of degraded aluminum foil. It is not a find of a lifetime but an object seen by a 7000 but would probably be missed with other technology.

Thanks Steve. Another very informative post on your forum.

Here is the story: (a detective story of sorts) I was hunting a wash in Quartzsite on the last day of the year and I got a signal with my Zed. It is a nice 'mellow' signal not like the piece of tin I just dug down to about 15 minutes before. That piece of tin chattered at me but I had to dig it. Down and down I went to about 12-14 inches. I went and got my 3030 to ID the signal and it was not iron so I had to dig it. It was disappointing to find tin another couple of inches down rather than a nugget. So the new signal is mellow and deep. It gets louder as I go deeper. I get the 3030 in the hole and nothing. No sound, it acted as if there was no target. I tried and tried but nothing. Zed target but not a 3030 target. I thought it had to be trash so I stopped digging. I left and went to another location (trusting my beach machine that I use almost every day to tell me if it was a good target). About two hours later after detecting many pieces of lead, trash and shells in a new location about 3 miles away it hit me. Maybe the target was too deep for the 3030 to sense. Maybe it was a good target afterall. I had to go back to the other hole and find out what was there. So back we went. This time I grabbed the GB Pro, the shovel and the Zed. The Zed signal was the same. The GB Pro was showing 40 on discriminate and jumping between 30-70 on full metal mode. That is exciting! I dig and dig and we use a pointer and know we are close. The hole is knee deep (about 20 inches). What do you think I found? Here are a couple of pictures. The camera cap is just to show scale. I'll post a picture of the find in a couple of days.

Lunk, Lunk, Lunk ... Wake up. This is not your nightmare. It is your salvation, or is it? New patch or old ... what is it today? Mitchel

This is the version of silver cleaning I use. http://cleanmyspace.com/the-besk-kept-silver-cleaning-secret-ever/ When you put the silver in it just 'explodes' the tarnish off. You may want to do it more than once on a really tarnished ring as the aluminum foil will get holes in it.

Peter, A simple fix for every CTX owner is to use Smooth sound setting. You'll probably keep it. I can't understand normal sound. This might save you a bit. Mitchel

Nice find compared to anything. Now you have a patch. WTG

You say specimen? How much quartz? I don't see any. Solid GOLD Nugget I'd say. WTG Mitchel P.S. Now on a bigger screen I see some 'quartz' ... 5% of the weight? Well, didn't see the whole thing.

Good post.

Thank you very much.

Thanks Norm. Merry Christmas to all.

The ICMJ said only sign up for one session. Can we attend more?

Excellent, thank you.

My Keen's are pretty good after wearing a combat boot for a few years. If I had it to do over again I would buy the hightop. Garmin/7000/3030

Thanks for the report Fred. It helps to know what is out there. Azavsfan ... they say it gets easier ... that is what they say. Gambler ... that is all I found my first year with the exception of lead. You might be like me. You didn't go with someone to their patch. Ask to go with someone. Tortuga ... you are right. I still have an after Christmas trip planned. I was supposed to be out there now but plans get changed. LipCA ... was that a good year for ya? (average, better, worse?) boulder dash ... you are a pounder plus kind of guy. Too many nuggets to keep track of. hawkeye ... keep having fun. I am. I've found more gold on the beach than in the deserts and thousands of coins. I just want more from the fields this coming year. There are many other pounders here ... what say you?

This is primarily a gold detecting forum. Most subjects and topics on Steve's forum are about gold and metal detectors that find it. How well is everyone doing with the finding part? (I know some don't want a fellow prospector to know.) Did you have a 'good' year or a 'bad' year? Please let your fellow nugget hunters here know your total weight and number of nuggets found. (I want to motivate myself by knowing what is 'possible' and not being satisfied with what I have found.) Last year I found about 1 oz from 7 nuggets. (I don't have to prove this!) This was better than the year before.

Well here is something to add to the GB memory. When you hit a target you swing it for several seconds/minutes in different directions. This loads a very specific profile into memory. Now you start digging the target and what do we do? We lay the coil on the ground and dig. It is not moving for several seconds/minutes. We swing a little to see if the target is out of the hole. Repeat as necessary ... When you start hunting again after the target is the machine in a better or worse balance and memory than before you found the target? Mitchel

Good for you Fred. That is a helpful forum he has there. I downloaded some of their beach programs and tried to use them here but they have more iron coins than we do. The sounds confused me so I don't use that one here. Once you have the files saved in XChange you take them off the 3030 and add them back any time you choose. Now you can also get the gold programs for your 3030 from Gold Hound http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/797-ctx-3030-on-gold-nuggets-tips-on-settings/

Has anyone been working on these issues? I have come to this thread because I have a 3030 and a 7000. My XChange for the 3030 will not 'see' the 7000. Do I need to install it separately? Has there been any work by Minelab on the import/export of data points? I also have multiple computers and what about my android phone which could also show me where I have been and what I have found in XChange 2? Mitchel

Merton, I was in Redding this time last year for the first time. It was not raining. No gold but a nice trip. I've got the detectors I need now (but tempted by the Gold Racer myself) so I need to go where no one else has gone before ... or at least where someone has left some gold. This is a research season for me but I also have to have some good weather. You are leaving tomorrow for 3 weeks? Mitchel

Go get'em Merton! Leave no prisoners. Burned earth policy is best ... before you look for GOLD! Watch that Paul tho ... he is special forces ... he may convince you to buy the Gold Racer. (It's only money!)

Paul, Go south young man. No other human is going out where you are hunting for gold this time of year. That is a good thing to know and a bad thing to do. No one is there to help you as Chris said. Come down to Arizona or wait until the spring. Mitchel

Great job Lunk!

Good move JP. Now, let's see ... Training with Jonathan from April to October. Sign me up! Mitchel

That is neat stuff. What year was he born?