fredmason

Norvic, I mount the hip stick on my harness and set it back to the side a bit...otherwise it will grind on your hipbone...and if mounted on your pants will make them slip down...no one wants to see low-riders on me... fred

Those are cool-even upside down... I frequently pu interesting rocks and keep them until I forget why they were interesting or until they no longer interest me. Then I give them to someone. fred

if they had let me and Grey Weaver in there in 1980 we could have all been rich...the owner then didnot believe detectors could find gold in a hardrock mine... oh well fred

Not a question of BETTER; just what works best for me. fred

I tried a couple of methods to balance and hang the detector from my harness and hipstick. These pics show clearly how I did it. Attaching the bottom of Doc's bungy on the right and then bringing the top connector through a d-ring on the left does a few things. This attachment helps eleviate some of the twist that the detector wants to do, it keeps the bungy in line for maximum lift and control, you can turn the detector loose and it won't fall to the ground and it makes swinging the detector very easy on worn-out wrists and elbows. Also, it keeps the bungy up and away from my fairly large hands...comfort and convenience thanks to the Hip-stick, Doc's Bungy and a little modification by me... fred

If you don't mind the whine of a swarm of mosquitoes, Norms settings work very well. I tried them and had a headache in five minutes-but, I am a delicate little thing... I was having a terrible time with my zed but then Norm reminded me of one very important thing. You must use the start-up procedure when going to a new area. I have no clue nor excuse for forgetting that-but, I did...stupider and stupider... The settings that worked best for me were from LUNK. Thank you, Lunk!!! I did adjust the tone and threshold a bit to suit my ears. I love my 7000 fred

my sister-Rosemary and Bro-in-law-David lived on the corner. I lived across the street next door to The family that ran the trash service and owned the theater, if I remember correctly....nmaes have faded away. fred

sorry for the confusion-getting old and stupid-er... i miss Plumas County, Portola and Quincy in particular...as for the Chili, it generally is served where ever I am camping... fred

Norm, you can use Crow in place of Pork for my chili verde...such a cry baby and you found the biggest of the trip!!!! fred

nice ring, Mitchel! I use a hipstick and Doc's bungy cord with the big coil at the beach...when using the stock coil I donot use the hipstick, either setup keeps my ctx3030 detector out of the sand. fred

very nice...I am tired just from watching the digging! fred

Two tenths of a gram is about 3 grains so nothing wrong with the sensitivity..sometimes the orientation of the nugget changes the signal. A flat piece on edge will give less signal than a flat piece laying flat...there are so many factors it would be impossible to describe them all... fred

I have found some very small nuglets with the extreme...an enhancer and mono coil are a good combo...there is certainly some info somewhere from Jonathan Porter regarding the best settings... fred

I ain't fishing... Most Chondrites are attracted to a magnet...some will jump and others barely stick. A whetstone will allow you to grind a window to see nickel/iron specks, polishing may reveal chondrules... there are lots of resources for learning- Bill Southern's meteorite forum is one of the best. http://www.nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/?showforum=4

The Field Guide by Norton is also a great primer for hunting meteorites. Just a note the various meteorites I have shown are all different types of Chondrites....there are many other kinds but these are the most common falls...irons are the most common finds by passersby...Mars and Lunars are extremely uncommon... fred

a scoop or coil cover would make that sorting easier...very nice nugget! thanks fred

here are some San Bernadino Wash pieces I found

yes, the oz piece shows flow lines in this pic...I never did find the other piece of this. I suspect someone else thought it was a hot rock and gave it a throw. Or, it broke off and landed a away from this piece...I will never know. I have never found a Gold basin with clear flow lines, I suspect they are to weathered to show... fred

Dang, you earn those deep ones!!! Thanks for the inspiration, again. What is that structure at the top of the hill? fred

Steve mentioned a desire to broaden the forum horizons. So, with that in mind here are a few pic's of some of the meteorites I found. 1.Some stuff from Holbrook found by sight-there is only one in the mix. 2. a gold basin laying entirely exposed found with detector 3. my first and only Oz meteorite found hunting gold-still in Oz at Bathurst Observatory fred

This was 2003 in Western Australia... notice the headphones My first choice for audio is Jonathan Porters enhancer and dual speakers, my next is a set of these Sony mdr-j10 and if very cold-with no wind I will use my Gold Pros...at the beach I alway use the Gold Pros...in parks I use the Sonys. i tried other light-weight headphones but I like these bestest! fred

Minelab has been producing machines that will find the gold with their stock settings for years. This is a fact that is rarely mentioned on forums like this. Why? Well, because most of the people that post are extreme gold hounds that wring every trace of production they can from every machine they use...that is fine and wonderful for them but all that does is make beginners think there is way more to using a detector than there needs to be. Also, the people that sell extra coils and after market products want to move their stuff. However; I hardly ever read where the posts starts with READ THE MANUAL and use THE STOCK PRESETS...then, after some practice start experimenting. I find the GPZ to be almost everything I want in a gold detector and with more practice I will gain greater understanding of this fantastic machine...but, I still read the manual, I always read every post that JP and Steve write, I try to glean bits from everyone else...and mostly i need more time on the ground and the gold will come. fred

WTG!!!! fred

I would have a very long learning-curve if not for good people like Jonathan Porter and Steve Herschbach, among others. I thank you all! fred

I listened to part of an interview with a couple that were sailing around the world with their infant and other children. They had a satellite phone. Just after a call to the Coast Guard the phone went dead. When they sorted the problem out (after getting home), The Sat-co had changed sim cards and MAILED the replacement to their address...pretty stupid - and could have cost them their lives. fred