bado1 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 You as well, thank you. Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bado1 Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Just got back from my park adventure with the X-terra. I used the concentric coil to see if it had issues or not. Seemed to work well enough. I did some some air tests before I went. It picks up a flat to the coil clad coin at 6" and gets them weakly at 7". In-ground at the park seemed to be the same if not better in terms of signal strength. MUCH easier pin pointing with the concentric coil AND a bigger better digging tool than a screw driver. If I were in to the park/grass thing I would get a small pin pointer though. Digging clad coins and trash just doesn't do it for me though. I find the relic/old coin/trashy mining site hunting more appealing. I'm going to have to do some research. Luckily, I live in a very historic area. Learning a new machine and a different aspect of our hobby has been fun. It has given me a better understanding of detectors and made me a better detector prospector. Thanks to everyone who helped thus far. Much appreciated. Paul, I apologize if I jacked your thread. I hope your hunting went well today. Looking forward to pics. Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanursepaul Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 No problems.... I love to hear everything i can about this detector... I just got back from a short hunt down near Foresthill CA in a pretty good canyon---looking at some tailings and checking out a small stream. Tons of float quartz on the top and sides of the canyon walls but no good distinctive hits---i am still having trouble learning how to discriminate out hot rocks--- I would go over them in the coin mode and reject their number but they still sounded off--- I also had a hard time with the burned ground---- it is very magnetic as my pick magnet would have a ball of material on it just by using it as a walking stick.... The ground would sound off like a target in prospecting ....and then i switched to coin 1 or two .......and the sound would be gone....MOST of the time....sometime it was so hot it would keep sounding off-- I think i could start to hear the difference in the tone of gold vs hot ground, or a nail, -------but i really expected the prospecting to kill the ground noise better.. My buddy was running an AT Gold and it had 3 or four tones that i liked0----it would give the iron grunt----a higher pitch for a coin and an even higher sweeter note for the gold.... when i was detecting near him i could tell exactly what he was hitting.... Now i know i need to get a lot more time in---just asking now if anyone can help me figure out how to get the ground noise to quiet down....I will take a video of it next time---- I am probably going to go to an old mine a friend of mine had next week and we are going to see how safe it looks now---it has been 4 or 5 yrs since he was in it-- We will light it up big time with strings of leds------ it is an old drift mine in the North Fork of the American area and has very concretized river material in it---- The way i understand it is that the miners went thru the hard rock and broke into the river channel to drift it....... Does anyone know if there are any books out that still know how these guys actually mined that way???? ----- I would love to know their day to day routine at a mine like this--- How did they know where to start the tunnel to get to the ancient river bed? Did they live at the mine? What tools did they use and how? What was the ore/paydirt like? How did they break it up to get the gold out of the hardpacked material. How much did they make a day? What did they eat? Did they do this in the winter and stockpile material like a lot of drifters did in AK----(then wash in the spring when the water came?) Where can i get info on the mine itself to see the historic production, etc.... Many many questions???? BTW, I wasn't too happy with Minelabs cheap build on the 705 today----I am speaking of the coil mounting ears-----both snapped while i was sliding down the hill today!!!!!! I guess a bent it the wrong way----- When i looked at the ears i couldnt believe how thin they are----a 1/32 of an inch maybe ===maybe a 1/16th----- but very weak---- JB weld time!!!! I will put some plastic washers next to the broken ears to give me a place to run a bolt thru----- What a pain---- 400 feet down in a canyon and my other coil is up the hill in the truck!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrr........ for a quarter more they could have made some decent mounts.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norvic Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 That`s a trying time you`ve had Paul, bloody Goddess of Gold strikes again. She`s a witch, trying all and anyway to keep us from the goodies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanursepaul Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 She cant keep it all!!!!!! Vic--- This should be an easy fix on the coil brackets, i will just glue some washers on whats left of the brackets and keep on swinging!!!! That was on my 7.5khz 9" concentric coil ----i would love to try a 6 in or 3 inch concentric too....... all possibilities.. I cant believe the brackets snapped---i'm only weighing in at about 290 now and it should have held up better as a walking stick down the hill-----hahahaha. Learned a trick when a re- ran a video on the 705 when i got home---i had not been ground balancing properly for manual or auto tracking--------so many little steps...lol Changing that routine should help me--the ground must be hotter than i thought over here.... paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bado1 Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 What a trip! Sorry to hear about your coil. Did you use the tones function? I like the 3 tone function myself in the park. Perhaps this spot is where a DD would work better? Sounds like a great spot. Good luck with the coil repair. Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanursepaul Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 yes i use 4 tones... or 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 That ground up there is why they make PI detectors. Just loaded with magnetite and there are places even a SDC 2300 will struggle. Bottom line is it can be a real battle with any VLF in places like that. Smaller coils, DD coils, low sensitivity settings etc are all possible ways that will help. There is no magic solution for a VLF in really bad ground however. Not the best place to use a new machine as a person usually needs to be an expert VLF operator to tackle locations like that. Sorry to hear about the coil. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanursepaul Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 Thanks Steve, I guess because the SDC wasnt having that many problems there, (except for trash) i assumed the ground was quiet----mistake!--- but the Garrett AT Gold seemed to do ok----( maybe---probably-!-- settings on my part????) But i need to really get back out there and fiddle some more--no way to tell if the detector can handle it or not the way I am going at it.... I will try some more and let you all know--- I'm kicking myself for not trying the 18.75 elliptical while i was already out there----!!!!grrrrr--that was a real faux-pauly.... Yeah, breaking the coil hurt my feelings.... Usually while using my 4000 and the 18" round down in Greaterville i would snap the plastic bolts because i would lean on it..... always had to have spares on hand--- this was different in the 705 because the coil ears were weaker than the 1/4 in nylon bolt....!!! I almost have all the parts to fix it but i needed a 2 inch x 1/4 inch nylon bolt and couldnt find on in Truckee-- (the old Minelab 3500 ones i had would probably had worked but i gave them all to the guy who bought it-- i found some dandy nylon washers that I am going to epoxy on the outside of the coil ears (hence the extra length needed for the bolts) and that should do it----next time i will be looking to replace a broken shaft because the ears will be too strong ---hahahaha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now