Hard Prospector

10 hours ago, Swegin said:

 The thief or thieves knew what they were doing, they must of followed you guys.  I doubt that your detectors are in Mexico, my reasoning for that is that the police found your vehicle a mile a way.  It would be too easy to just drive your car into Mexico.

 

Not so easy as you would think driving stolen vehicles into Mexico these days on both sides of the border. . Easier and safer to just smuggle detectors as most Mexican authorities aren't really trained on what they are.....yet anyway. Coming back from Baja a while back, at a military cheek point one of these guys found the control head to my F19. Asked what it was and I told him it was the depth finder for my aluminum boat, he said "OK amigo" and away I went. Huge market in Mex and down to South America for the best Minelab detectors. 

I hate to say it guys but I think Fred is right. Yuma is just a hop, skip and a jump into mainland Mexico or Baja. Likely crossed at Calexico/Mexicali with in hours of  sacking your detectors. Sounds like you  were being scouted  with the dirt bags waiting for the chance. May still be state side but not likely. Really sucks and I sure hope it works out some how.

42 minutes ago, klunker said:

 I'm sitting here watching it snow. I would rather ride something that contributes a bit more to global warming.

Thats a good one!

Counterfeiting dirtbags trying to cheat those poor hard working African miners that live one day at a time.

Great info, I suppose you don't know until you try.  Julian also was not known for being much of a placer or nugget producing gold district but those that have put the time in, myself included,  have done OK

Drywashed the area long time ago with my dad, I just remember fine gold. Not known for being much of a placer area for detectable gold.......drywasher country. Most people keep going a bit further to the Yuma/pot holes area.

Steve,

I always hoped that some day you would have a forum titled; Pacific Coast Beach Detecting (USA) and Atlantic Coast Beach Detecting (USA)

Expanding your forums I think is great!  Happy Holidays.........Rob

Perhaps this new year,  the pendulum will finally begin to swing back toward the rights of prospectors and other public land users.

I have kept my Gold Bug mainly for a "loaner" to friends who want to come along but not really prospectors ( lots of hunting and fishing buddies)  Lite weight, easy, tough and effective its a good machine. However, I find myself grabbing it (or my F19) often when prospecting out of a back pack because it breaks down and stows better than most any other  detector.

I recently bought the NEL 6.5x3.5 "Snake" coil for my GB/F19,  I've only used it twice in the desert but it really seems to work  well.  I can run the sensitivity a bit higher with this coil (compared to the stock round puck and the 6x10 loop). If you keep your Gold Bug I would recommend buying this NEL coil for it.

1 hour ago, tboykin said:

Reg - I will look into these. As far as the pulse delay, it's not possible to lower it any more than 10usec due to the processor speed. Swapping the processor will unravel the sweater, so to speak. But the other mods with a small folded mono coil should address the instrument's response to small gold.

If we can do these mods cost effectively they are worth it, but it makes sense to invest more $ in new tech. The idea is to squeeze a few more inches/grams out of this machine before the next generation hits shelves. Thank you for your input.

Tom, I think you deserve one heck of a Christmas bonus this year.

11 hours ago, Reg said:

tboykin,

Your questions and suggestions can be answered easily to improve the SL.  

First, contact RNB and have them build the SL Li Ion batteries but use the Panasonic 3400mah batteries.  Option 2 would be to add an under housing mod to hold external battery and a connector so an external 4 cell battery could be used.

As for not working in hot ground, simply modify units with my mod needed and installed on SPP OZ units.  Whites has the details already.  This makes the SL GB as smooth as the TDI.  Older units already made and in use can be upgraded easily for a reasonable cost for any unit out of warranty.

Modify the filters to allow for a faster swing speed (Reduce value of C20 and C21 from 0.47uf to 0.22uf).  This makes the SL a poor man's mini Pro model. Right now, the SL is crippled because of the filtering and trying to sweep to fast causes serious depth and small gold loss.  

Have Miner John build a couple of different sizes of the folded mono design and minimize selling the  Whites dual field design which doesn't ground balance well in bad ground.  Add a relic model and a separate gold model so relic hunters do not have to buy the dual field coils.  Dual field or folded mono are stupid for relic hunters since they don't need to find tiny objects.  FYI the folded mono design is something I came up with in July 2009 (http://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?15585-Coax-for-duel-field-coil&highlight=dual+field).  Just look for the jpeg of the different dual field design.

Change software to allow reducing the delay but either do so with a separate switch or mark the delay setting in RED where there may be a problem using the large coils.  

Add a switch to give and option to eliminate the third filter right after the GB summing junction.  This will eliminate the loss of small gold signals because of this filter interaction.  

Do these mods and you will give the ML 2300 a real run for the money.

Reg

PS you may have to remove C69 located between U1A and B when you lower the delay for proper operation.

If  Reg was in charge of the TDI program years ago, there would  be a lot of happier  SL users today and much, much more $$$$$$$ for White's

3 hours ago, jasong said:

That is one part of a philosophy I'm covering in a video series on my channel, what I feel is the way forward for new guys looking to get serious about successful prospecting in the US. The second part is that it doesn't just produce more gold but it also produces more "knowledge". With each nugget dug, that is one less indicator left in the ground for the next guy to find. 

Consider for a moment a virgin field and in that field are a number of patches. Each of those patches has exactly 1 nugget that is the "lead", or the first indicator for the original discoverer of that patch. That person takes some percentage of the nuggets, and he takes the knowledge of the location, along with the relevant geologic indicators that went along with the gold in that field. A prudent prospector then uses that knowledge to concentrate his efforts in more specific areas within that field or the next to find more patches rather than wasting time wandering around randomly.

Then the next guy comes along, finds his first nugget in the now not-virgin patch, and then takes more percentage of the nuggets out. And again, takes the knowledge. And uses that find more patches. And this continues until the patch is dead and both the gold and the knowledge that gold was there is gone.

The unlucky people that follow afterwards may never realize it was a patch, (no leads are left to even indicate he should spend more time there), may never make the connections between the local geology and the nugget size gold, may never realize where the gold is located due to the specific weathering/erosion in that location - unless someone else tells him. But a new guy can't expect help from anyone, he has to operate under the assumption that he will build this knowledge for himself, and I think the way to do it is to cover a lot of ground, dig a lot of gold, and figure out himself the before those chances are gone forever.

All that said, I don't completely ignore the small stuff, often they are the first indicators for a new area. But I don't sweat it either because IMO, that stuff is better left in the ground as "trimmings" for the lean days so that I don't lose confidence or lower my morale. When exploration leads to the skunk then I try to find an old patch to hit up for a few hours on the way home to grab a couple dinks and pay for gas.

Eventually of course, this approach won't be possible anymore and we are getting close to that day. But right now it is. So that's why I recommend to anyone just starting - take advantage of it while you can. I'm speaking as a guy who started with no prospecting friends or family, and in my detecting life only had 1 other person share a patch with me (he posted here). Almost every succesful US nuggethunter I've met (a few notable exceptions) have had friends, family, or company involvement which gave them advantages that the majority of greenhorns do not have nor will they ever have. So the approach for people like me when I start from nothing has to be more extreme to make up for that lack of knowledge.

Most the detactable gold (excluding Alaska) is within 4 hours of a city of a million people. The chance to do this won't last forever. I think it's a good idea to be ready to give something back when we are done because those that follow after us will have even less than we did when we started.

Wow....very well put

I seriously doubt any other metal detector company would make such an investment in the next greatest nugget finding machine. Especially since the nugget patches and gold fields have been plowed and plucked clean by 40 years of nugget shooters. Just think how many nugget shooting snow birds are pounding Arizona right now!

I would like to think First Texas, Garret and White's are working on some "top secret" detector prototype with incredible hyper accurate discrimination. Features that could pinpoint a 5 gram nugget hiding under a pile of buried old timer iron garbage.

7 hours ago, tboykin said:

Brian that is very kind of you. We are the closest manufacturer to your neck of the woods and I hope to see you out there when I head down to NV next year!

Initial test with a 14.8 volt battery (overcharged to 16+) showed the TDI SL within an inch of the PRO on nickel and larger-sized targets and neck and neck on smaller targets. This was with the stock 12" coil and also the smaller 7.5" DF. Wide open on both machines, GB off, delay of 10usec. But the SL was a lot smoother at full throttle. You can try it yourself for proof.

I need to test it with more aftermarket coils like the MJD and Coiltek, but I would guess that results will be similar. You can make your own battery pack with a set of 4 18650's and some clever wiring but we hope to have a proper version soon. Such a simple change, and the bonus is it will fit all of our other machines that use that style of battery!

Tom,

Any estimates on when those  new battery packs will be out  for the TDI SL...... before Summer I hope?

For the small shallow nuggets in nasty mineralized ground, learned a long time ago not to use any coil on the SL larger than 10" (actually, the smaller the better). Hence, at the 8usec and smaller TDI coils a perfect match. Dan Geyer for a brief time made a TDI 4x6 Mono "Shooter" coil that runs so well on the machine that I can run the gain/sensitivity maxed out and the ground balance turned off EVERY TIME I use it and thats no kidding. The Miner John 5x9 Folder Over, Jimmy Sierra 6x10 Duel Field, White's 7.5 DF and the White's 7.5 Mono Aussi have also been good nugget producers and pretty much in that order.

I am 100% convinced that making these easy mods. could really be a great thing for the SL as a nugget shooter and revenue producer for White's.

Tom,

I've been using the TDI SL for several years, have found my share of nice nuggets and love the machine. Been tempted to go with the SDC2300 for its increased sensitivity but even it can't compete with the ergonomics of the SL. So why not make the SL approach(or match) the sensitivity  of the SDC2300.  Two  modifications to consider that I think would make the SL even more sensitive the  smallest gold nuggets:

*Increase the input voltage from the factory 11.6 volts.... to 13-16 volts. This  could be accomplished by just adding another AA battery to the factory dry cell pack.

*Decrease the pulse delay from 10...... to "8" usec. This would (I feel) substantially increase the sensitivity on the smallest nuggets being especially effective using the smaller coils on the TDI SL

Talk about breathing new nugget hunting abilities into a already good detector and with the already existing means to do so!

How about this: Existing SL users could ship their TDI back to the factory for the "Nugget Hunter Modification Package" which includes having the pulse delay permanently preset at "8" usec,  2 new factory dry cell packs that will hold the " 9" AA batteries ...increasing the voltage to 13+, as well as a general service of the detector. 

The service cost for such a TDI SL "Nugget Hunter Modification Package"? If you keep the cost below say $200 per machine, I think you will see plenty of participation from existing users. Easy money for White's and a lot of happy TDI SL users, especially myself.

Thanks for listening..........Rob

I have found my share of gold nuggets with my TDI SL over the past several years, liked the detector so much I bought another. I know there are plenty of better nugget PI's out there these days but not for the price and especially the weight (or lack there of) allowing me to swing all day without fatigue.. I nugget shoot way off the beaten path up steep desert mountains, ridge lines and gullies. The lite weight of the SL and its rugged dependability I'll vouch for....... plus its still in production. Not sure about the SD2200 or future parts and service. I would want to know the answer to that before buying it.

The TDI SL is no depth demon and not the PI to use in the larger desert washes. Shallow feeder gullies, residual placer bleeding off the steep slope in iron oxides  and even  some small nuggets through desert pavement surrounded by iron stone   is where my SL has really shined..  I also use the T2, F19 and GMT often to begin with but when encountering highly mineralized ground or hot rock hell overloading my VLF's switching to the TDI always gets me back into the game.

I think the best way to describe the TDI SL for nugget hunting; A rugged. lite weight, cost effective PI best suited for hunting nuggets in shallow highly mineralized ground. 

Unless I'm mistaken, White's only TDI  in production currently is the SL............Tom?

Speaking from personal experience, Tom has helped take customer service and communication to the next level over at White's. Some day if our paths are to cross, I'm gonna buy him a Starbucks or an IPA

Probably a good thing coiltek jumping into the TDI scene as haven't been able to access Miner John's web site for quite some time. Anyone have any insight into if he's still in business?

Should be more opportunity in mining work when gold makes another run in price. Probably wont happen till  Wall St slides into a bear market,  some think this may happen (next year) after the November election. Many stocks are hyper inflated, way over priced and due for a  correction.  A "profound"  correction could lead to recession which would be good for precious metals and mining company expansion.

Now would be a good time to prepare for these events. BTW, anyone considering buying silver as I seriously am.

If you don't mind my asking Bob, what machines are you using these days  and is  the TDI SL still one of them? 

Thanks!

Assuming the material is dry, the  Keene DW212V (or most any bellows/puffer drywasher) will be much more efficient at fine gold recovery than the 151, 140s or any forced air drywasher  system.

Running slightly damp material;  then the recovery edge goes to the forced air-vibrastatic machine especially w/hot air induction.

I own both  types of drywashers and use them  depending upon the conditions at hand. I really like the puffer  as listening to the mellow cadence of the bellows going up and down I can almost imagine the old timers working in the diggs with me.

The ATX and Gold Racer would actually make a good pair in many different conditions and situations.

Two types of drywashers;  forced air/vibrastatic or puffer/belows style.

When it comes to forced air type, Keene, Royal and Gold Buddy are all good. If I had to choose; Keene 140S or any Royal (both made in SoCal and parts readily avail). Royals are built like tanks where as the Keene has the removable riffle tray.

Bellows Type; In my opinion, the Keene #DW212v or Thompson drywashers are the best puffers on the market today for the price. The Thompson is much liter and very backpackable where the DW212v includes the hand crank and 12v motor power system complete which adds a bit more weight. 

Where to buy? If in SoCal......American Prospector/Treasure Seeker has a good stock of Keene drywashers. 

Bill Thompson makes his own drywashers so you would order directly from him (look up his web site) He and his wife are very nice people and his craftsmanship really stands out.