fredmason

I almost passed up a nugget in Australia that gave the classic double blip...then I checked it out and there lay a sweet little piece about an inch long and thin just like a nail... fred

thanks Steve...I was trying to be discrete...The Rye Patch area...excuse me if i am mistaken. That is a load of detectors, you sure do get the juice from them! fred

I am curious, Steve; how many detectors do you have at this time. What would you say is your average daily possession rate-if there is such a thing for you, I have had as many as five detectors at one time...but, like a harem I just could not keep them happy. BTW have luck and fun, looks like I will be getting there about when you and Chris are leaving fred

Nice finds! Hunting coins and rings is the worst training possible for learning about nugget hunting. There is an almost immediate reward when coin/ring detecting; finding that first nugget can take hours, days, weeks or even years...never give up! The above comment does not apply if you are detecting for aluminum and foil with some detectors...that is what I use my gbpro for as parks are much closer than gold areas. Of course I still dig the coins and other stuff. fred

Nice gold in tough ground...You earned every little piece! fred

Well if you do everyone will be thrilled! I will be there. After my Nevada trip I will head south...I will most likely make some Mason style chili verde for Friday night, as is my custom-of sorts- You are always welcome. fred

are you going Steve? fred

Way back when I lived in Portola, near Quincy, I could run up and down mountains like a goat. Now I am a flatlander in San Diego and almost 65...I can still get up the hills and cover some miles...but, the climb is a little bit slower. I hope to drop dead in the mountains or the desert...that would be the perfect ending! fred

well Tom...unless it was a very large heavey ring I think that is odd...but, too many variables... fred

You can test the coil by putting the machine in cancel...a dd will still work...a mono coil will not...then use a black marker and label it. You can run mono coils in dd mode with no worries... If you put a dd in mono mode it will be a very sensitive half-coil---sort of. fred

I always figured about 30% loss of depth in descriminate over all metal...this is from memory not a scientific study... Coil manufacturers often claim better depth over stock coils but that is usually because the after market coil is a bigger size. I don't believe bigger coils really give much better depth but do increase ground coverage... fred

Tom really hit a nice one...I really wish I had gone to Ganes creek...while I am wishing I wish I had made it back to Moore Creek before Steve gave it up. My Moore creek trip was almost 10 years ago...Dang! Due to my poor choices of equipment I only found two pieces of gold...this was a solid .52 oz from there. Steve, thanks again for the memories fred

There were some fantastic nuggets in that old channel...I hope they show some pic's of the new nuggets they will be digging! fred

Oh I could doit , just toooooo lazy...by the way, i am fat and a little older-64 and 1/2 and counting...I hope you, me and Steve can get together soon...or later fred

Jonathan, what I said about Steve in the above post, I have and will say about you...only a fool would not see the truth. fred

Nice WORK, Chris...drywashing is too much for me but the gold is really pretty. Mark Hyde of Gold Prospecting Australia is speaking highly of the success his clients are having with the SDC... Simply everyone is raving about it's abilities...and ease of use. fred

Steve, your intregrity, honesty and extreme experience are why I always point people to your site...they simply cannot get a more well-rounded opinion. I read everything you write and continue to learn and gain insights that would otherwise elude me... thanks fred

When I was visiting C and W up at Rye Patch we were playing around with the ctx3030 and various targets... Chris placeed a bunch of nails on the ground and Mitchel put his big speci in the middle. The 3030 didnot pick the speci out of the junk at any reasonable swing speed...The XP DUES did...that was quite an eye opening event...the dues certainly had way faster recovery speed. fred

One of those would be very nice if I get back to Oz...my wife's main complaint during my trips was the lack of knowing where I was and how I was doing...that would ease the pain of separation a bit... fred

Wow, Steve; you sure do a bunch of work and thinking for this forum and all the others you contribute to. Nice job explaining these various facets of detecting. I find the higher the sensitivity on my 3030 the jumper it gets;plus many more spurious signals. Also every change in the settings affects the readouts more or less...and finally, my ears tell more than anything else whether I will dig or not. All exactly as you wrote. thanks fred

Pretty gold...sounds like you put that 2300 through the ringer and it did its job...of course it helps that the Master was at the helm.... welcome back fred

check all the connections on both detectors...make sure the batteries are installed correctly...the problem is almost always something simple... fred

Backpacking into remote areas for 3 or 4 days and hitting the Undetected areas has always been on my list. Unfortunately, thinking about it is all I have accomplished. I hope you did well and had a great adventure....with no unwelcome encounters from BigFoots... fred

That is impressive, especially with those conditions. I find it interesting that the target sounded like a small target, you never know until you dig it... fred

There is no doubt in my mind that you and Chris are proving that the SDC is a great addition to the tool shed. I know some places where I think the SDC would shine for what it is designed for, unfortunately, I don't have a SDC at my disposal... Good luck fred