AQ And Beach Hog Ready For Action!

[bklein]

Finally decided on cable connector, got it quick from Mouser, and made an AQ to GPX adapter, and hope to try it in a couple days!  The shaft pins are 90 degrees off so it might move around and get annoying. I’d prefer it were longer too - the stock shafts are about 9” longer.  Any suggestions as to where to get the one I need?

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Looks good! Will be interesting to see how it goes.  Can you tell me the advanatges over the stock coil? Also did you change out the piezo's on the head phones to the larger 65mm's.  Keep us informed on how it works..  🏴‍☠️

[bklein]

Unfortunately it doesn’t work well. It has very good depth under the coil but is sensitive to changes in altitude over the sand. It sounds off with any abrupt coil movements. ATS and delay setting help quiet it down otherwise.  Just not practical due to the AQ design. It worked great on the Gp Extreme.  Next I’ll try it on a surf pi pro.

i took some more videos of black sand behavior of the Manticore as well as compared the AQ. Thought the AQ was going to work great until I walked with it.  Gold mode on the Manticore cut through the black sand pretty well.

i didn’t modify the AQ headset because I went back to my test site and this time could hear the whimper on the nickel at 16”. I had also been thinking of buying a Tony Eisenhower set but I think I’ll wait til I have an opportunity to try it first.  I don’t find a fault with the AQ headset and think I will likely move to a wired or wireless earbud system.

[bklein]

Great news!

I had the coil wired bassackwards plus a shield was not being grounded.

I rewired it and man it runs perfectly in my front yard at least.  My front yard usually has a lot of EMI - but this detector is running dead quiet.  No jitter, no pulsating, nothing.  Not sensitive to shock at all. Can't tell its on unless you advance the threshold.  It was detecting who knows what in my front grass.  It remains to be seen how it does at the beach.  I won't be able to get out there for a couple weeks.

[tvr]

Will be looking forward to your beach experience with it!

[bklein]

Impulse AQ w/ Beach Hog 18”x4” on Nickel and Gold Ring

air test on gold ring (8.5”) and nickel (7.5”).

[tvr]

Thanks. Not bad. With the added coverage, could be a good option in fresh drop season.

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

 

 

Question, do you think it would work better if you set the coil upright and swing the targets in the same manner they would  be crossing under the coil....?  Depth is not good but that could be because the head phones were not close enough to the camara. Like TVR said, good for fresh drops with plenty of coverage, but the stock 8 inch does better on depth. 

[bklein]

Yeah I totally missed the fact that I was sweeping across the coil lengthwise!  But really I’m impressed as normally the depth will be the width of the coil - like 4-5”.  Actual depth typically can be better than air tests and will obviously be better for larger targets. So I’d say it is about perfect.  The majority of targets are in its range and hopefully it will miss some of the pop cans, foil, and tent stakes.

[bklein]

Well the AQ and Beach Hog were ready, but there wasn’t any action…

The coil works great - good depth in the black sand - again 7-8” at least. I didn’t get technical and run tests. If you sweep it too fast you’ll get a tone with the sweep but a normal sweep rate is fine. I went to north Newport, the Wedge, and Corona Del Mar with it and really found nothing. Had my nickel on a string to verify it was working. Went finally to Laguna Main and used the Manticore and just found a iPhone. Probably over 7 miles walking. King tides plus offshore wind - should have been awesome but wasn’t. I worked both wet and dry. Dry areas had been over-run by rain and tide overshoots. If this hobby now demands hunting when the weather and waves is hazardous to succeed I may have to give it up until summer and fresh drops.  The Manticore was finding mostly all sizes of can slaw, the AQ would find BB’s and slaw as well. At least no tent stakes this time out. Maybe that is a sign the heavy stuff is too deep.