fredmason

Nice , did you work through that nasty brush and get the pot? fred

To brighten up the day...there are many kinds of gold in life

WOW! you should have named it the lizard-head nugget! fred

Don't worry Norm, we are all replaceable...for a price... just teasing...

yeah, Russ, if I had all the money we spend on cat-litter and kibbles I could buy a couple more gpz's But the cats go where my lovely wife goes and therefore there am I...same reason I live here and not in Reno... fred

Yeah, he loves his kibbles! He has gotten old, fat and lazy too.............almost 30 pounds fred

I ain't the only one that likes this machine...

racers are grumpy, very fast and not venomous to humans... Rattlesnakes are the only snake that any miner/hiker need be worried about. Coral snakes are very not common and you have to be stupid to get bit...same with Gila Monsters Tarantulas and trapdoor spiders won't hurt you... Scorpians might... wasps and bees might none of this is true if you are allergic to them... fred

No doubt I could learn a lot more about the settings; IF I was smarter could remember what I just did and was not in such a panic to dig that target, especially when I think it is gold. I am learning and will certainly entertain all suggestions that I can... thanks fred

very pretty and impressive! fred

Steve; A man for all detecting seasons!!! nice finds fred

paying attention and careful where your hands and feet are is the best protection. A small rattler can coil and hide very easily... especially when your mind is on that next big find! live and let live fred

Steve different freguencies by a lot...I think the gb was around 30 and the gb2 is around 70...more or less. I found my first gold with a Gold Bug...but, I found a lot more with the GB2...however it took around 500 nugglets to make my first oz...what fun! I found the GB2 to be much easier for me to use... I hope you and Mrs. D are doing well... fred

Jasong, nice gold... I was a drywall hanger for years then popped a disk or two...The best exercise I have ever found is using a Roman Chair exerciser...that machine and walking did more for me than any doctor or drug ever did. You have to start out slow and easy but when you can do the manuvers to full extension you will have a very fit back and torso...it is all about core-strength and flexability... Of course, hours of racket-ball most days helped too...I sure miss the r-ball! heal fast and well fred

Russ, I forgot to ask how; how are the signals to your hearing ??? The little ones I found at the dale were barely whispers and not more than 2 or 3 inches in bad ground. The biggest was a solid signal at 6-8 inches... I am wondering if you find the signals on deeper targets distinct or the questionable-better-scrape type??? I hope this is a clear question... thanks fred

My experience is that they very rarely rattle. The worst thing you can do is just start running...they aren't always alone and you cannot always determine their whereabouts...I have stood within inches of some and they didnot bite or rattle... They can be very difficult to spot, that picture is a great example! fred

very nice Russ... fred

thanks Guys; I should have been more clear about the issue. Steve the module works as it should without headphones...(I was just bitching a tiny bit about the strength of the signal.) The real problem is with headphones plugged into the module. Three sets of phones and Jp's enhancer/speakers have serious breaks in the audio. Headphones plugged directly into the detector work fine. According to my simple mind that isolates the problem to the headphone connection in the module...I sent another email to Minelab, hopefully they will reply to yet another problem...of mine. fred

here are my little nuggies from the Dale-ironstone-district... smallest is 1.4 grains and the biggie(haha) is 43.8 grains==2.84 grams.... Total of 4.03 grams for the trip. Two or three were barely whispers and found where someone else had dug a bit and probably decided it was ground noise. The biggest was a very firm signal and I expected a bullet. However, it was 6 or 8 inches deep. I was thrilled to find something deep-ish and multi-gram... My settings and audio input was varied. Lunk, Russ, Doc and especially Jonathan's settings gave me a firm foundation to build on. There is no doubt this detector will find the goodies-but-you already know that. My first trip to Gold Basin I felt there were some intermittant problems with the audio, especially when using headphones or trying to use Jp's enhancer and speakers ( system that I love)...so I did some intensive testing. On this trip I used three sets of phones, Jonathan Porter's Enhancer and just the module. All of the jacks in the Module gave broken-up signals. Headphones directly in the detector worked fine. Fortunely the Module worked pretty well...I donot understand why this GPZ module has to be in constant visual contact to work well-the ctx is not so handicapped. I wonder if anyone else has experienced these problems...or am I cursed? This will be the second part i have a problem with-not including the first gpz Minelab so kindly replaced...The first was the 12v charger that came apart the third time I used it...

thanks, Steve...I think your idea is better... fred

I noticed the screen on the GPZ collects dust at a rapid rate. Rubbing the screen with one's finger will only scratch the screen... my solution is a small square of micro-fiber cloth. I carry it in my right rear pocket and use it. It is very effective with a gentle brushing. Costco sells these microfiber by the bundle and one cloth will make four or more... The ctx also does this but coin digging is not as dusty it seems.... fred

The crumbs are just getting you in better shape for that big, deep nugget! Nice photo fred

Very Nice, Russ! Did you vary your settings from the ones you had posted previously? fred

Yes, I could just push the fast-track button and sometimes did that. However, I wanted to try fixed also...so I set the user button so I could get there easy-for me. I am not in the modern day milli-second rush...a few more seconds is ok with me. It sounds like you are finding the same hot rocks...there are more down toward Gregs HO road than to the west, in my experience. thanks fred

I am hesitant to broach this subject. Please donot take this as my expert opinion as I am not in any way an expert. Also, I am not very good at remembering every setting I tried with the Z. So with those disclaimers...... When I was in Gold Basin for my maiden Z voyage the schiest-y rock there were abit of a problem. They were always really difficult with a vlf. I learned to trust my 3500 and 5000 when the distinct warble came through. However, the Gpz is completely new to me. Inititially I tried the default settings and thought the tracking system would quickly eliminate the HR's...that didnot work well. Then i set up with Doc's settings he posted on Rob's forum. (thank you, Doc)...that seemed better for noise but the Hrs still came through. Then I decided to try my old system for judging if the signal was an hr or a legitimate target. While in auto-track I would raise the coil a few inches; if the signal completely faded away I was sure it was an HR. However, some of the bigger and/or deeper Hrs still gave a "good" signal so I would dig...just a another Hot love-stone. There are a lot of these rocks in Gold basin so i was not thrilled. After a while I setup the user button so I could go from tracking to manual/fixed...checking in manual the HR seemed less hot and using the fast-tracking they would usually track out quickly. Just to be sure I tested with my little test nugget near the hr...the nugget always came through albeit with a different signal...more testing and experience is needed. The few iron-stone type hotrocks I detected were handled better by switching some of the modes...again more experience is needed but a similar result seemed to be had using the raise the coil or manual tracking/fast track option...I will be going to The dale area next week to see how the tons of ironstone is handled there. And to practice until perfect-that could be a very long time. One of the meteorites I detected I was fairly sure was ironstone but it would not track out...and it looked a little different...on filing an edge it proved to be a chrondrite...so even small meteorites will probably not track out-that is good news to me. On my way home I spent an hour or so in the Potholes area on a field of basalt that has/had a little gold. I thought the basalt was handled pretty easy in HY/Diffcult and auto track...I used Russ' setting there mostly...the detector ran well but no gold. I have much to learn so any tips or techniques for improving in hotrock infested areas will be appreciated... fred