⭐ Gold Detecting Show'n Tell

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Good to meet you Bill. 5000 ran fine in the afternoon. Walked a mile for nothing only to find one small on right near we're we were camped. Just had to fight some angry ants for it.
 
BillS said:
Don't know why the 5000s and even the SDCs had trouble Saturday, maybe the solar flares?

Definitely the Solar activity, Bill. Some of the worst we've copped in ten years. It's still going on too. Had it a bit rough today on the Zed again around lunchtime after a relatively quiet morning. Easy way to tell on the Zed is after a bit of an EMI spike the WM12 module will blank slightly -even when standing still.

Cheers,
Shauno.
 
Bjay said:
Good to meet you Bill. 5000 ran fine in the afternoon. Walked a mile for nothing only to find one small on right near we're we were camped. Just had to fight some angry ants for it.
It was great to meet you to Bjay.
 
Finally went out in the GT this weekend, so must have crossed paths.
I took a long weekend after being cabin bound for too long. Found nothing Saturday. Picked up a single 2.38g (angry lobster at top) on Sunday (Maryborough), then a 2.27g and 0.57g today also at Maryborough.
Some other nice gold (a lovely linear patch for around 5g I think) found at the spot by another PAer, but that's his story.
The solar storm had quietened right off by the time we got there on Saturday, was unusually quiet on Sunday, and only picked up a little this afternoon, so I guess we were very lucky. The geomagnetic warning has ended.
1505126676_11_sep_2017.jpg

Will put the two lower ones in acid (just for a bit) this week to get rid of the clay coloured ironstone, but will leave the darker iron on the top one for it's character.
 
Topped off a perfect spring day with this shiny .6g slug near Fryers creek on Sunday.
Lovely polish on it(and possibly an unfortupplnate pickmark).
About 30cm down, 'Wiggly' signal Gpx45K with Coiltek Elite 12. Caught in broken up blue slaty stuff.

1505126630_20170911_201306.jpg


Hoping to go back there next weekend, couldn't see many detector holes . But that could mean responsible prospectors.

Happy trails fellow metal lickers.
 
Well done BW, nice finds on the weekend.

BigWave said:
Finally went out in the GT this weekend, so must have crossed paths.
I took a long weekend after being cabin bound for too long. Found nothing Saturday. Picked up a single 2.38g (angry lobster at top) on Sunday (Maryborough), then a 2.27g and 0.57g today also at Maryborough.
Some other nice gold (a lovely linear patch for around 5g I think) found at the spot by another PAer, but that's his story.
The solar storm had quietened right off by the time we got there on Saturday, was unusually quiet on Sunday, and only picked up a little this afternoon, so I guess we were very lucky. The geomagnetic warning has ended.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/6786/1505126676_11_sep_2017.jpg
Will put the two lower ones in acid (just for a bit) this week to get rid of the clay coloured ironstone, but will leave the darker iron on the top one for it's character.
 
First time out and Im stoked with what I found!

Ive been on here for a while looking and off the bat I would like to thank Loamer for his What to look for on the goldfields posts as Ive found them to be an excellent starting point for folks new to prospecting and certainly have refocused my approach when Im out in the field. Ive owned a 4.5k detector when they were the hottest machines the first time around and prospected with some success. My eight bits of gold that I did find would never cover the costs but I had lots of fun and enjoyment along the way. Ive particularly enjoyed the research, learning about geology and the history of the Victorian goldfields. With seven years away from the hobby I once again got the itch to go fossicking so Ive purchased a one year old 5K with 12 NF EVO coil and I went out for the first swing on the weekend and for my efforts I have had the most successful day ever picking up 3 bits for about 0.3g. The finds were all within a few metres on the edge of a surfaced area of a locality that I had spent some time researching which include a scout trip too. Although on the day I did forget my rake the next time Im out, the area is going to get a good rake before I go over it.
In the past I used the NF 12x 7 ADV coil and the EVO appears to be a fair bit more sensitive. Besides the three bits of gold I did manage to dig up about 40 ground signals one .22 casing and some obvious surface trash but the spot appears to be clear of buried rubbish. Any suggestions on avoiding the ground signals with settings or detecting techniques would be greatly appreciated.

On the day my setting on the 5k where as follows:
FRONT PANEL
THRESHOLD: at about 1 o'clock.
SEARCH MODE: custom
SOIL/TIMINGS: Fine
GROUND BALANCE: Fixed
COIUL/RX:Mono
BACK PANEL
BACKLIGHT:2
VOL LIMIT:16
GB TYPE: General
SPECIAL: Fine
MANUAL TUNE:
Auto Tube 177
Custom
MOTION: Very SLOW
RX GAIN:14
AUDIO: Quiet
AUDIO TONE:50
STABILIZER: 14.
SIGNAL: 16
TARGET VOLUME: 14
RESPONSE: Normal
TRACKING: Medium
IRON REJECT: Off

1505197986_p11.jpg
 
Your doing very well mate and your settings look pretty good.
I run in Tracking: Slow, but if you're in Fixed GB, then it doesn't matter.
I try to keep Tuning between 90 and 110 (I hear it's optimised there), but you can go +/-10 on these if you must.
I also run Audio: Quiet, but many (viz: old hand - a very experienced operator) would rather run Audio: Normal and turn down the RX Gain and Stabiliser by 3 or 4 points.
I also run Motion: Slow. Very Slow means it thinks you're very slowly searching a small area.
The manual also tells you to keep the Stabiliser one or two points below the RX Gain, so that's what I do (I go with the designer), but others disagree.
In hot ground, you may want to drop back from Fine Gold to Enhanced timings (simple front panel switch-over), as that's what most of us with the 4500s have to do in hot ground (we don't have Fine Gold)- see the pic below. That way you can go back to Fine Gold with a simple flick of a switch to revert to those settings.
Otherwise, I reckon that you're bang on - at least for the Vic GT.
1505202262_gpx_timings.jpg
 
First time over Heathcote way for a swing.
Weather on Sunday was nice met up with a couple of
great guys also running SDC and they helped me sort my
detector out to make sure I was listening for the right sounds
and made sure I had it setup right as I was a bit unsure of the settings
I was best to run it on! And ran around some mullock heaps and had a great
arvo and managed to swing the coil over noises that resulted in some Colour so
was wrapped! Learned a bit of useful information and had a good chat!

Cheers guys!!

1505222680_img_0243.jpg
 
BigWave said:
Your doing very well mate and your settings look pretty good.
I run in Tracking: Slow, but if you're in Fixed GB, then it doesn't matter.
I try to keep Tuning between 90 and 110 (I hear it's optimised there), but you can go +/-10 on these if you must.
I also run Audio: Quiet, but many (viz: old hand - a very experienced operator) would rather run Audio: Normal and turn down the RX Gain and Stabiliser by 3 or 4 points.
I also run Motion: Slow. Very Slow means it thinks you're very slowly searching a small area.
The manual also tells you to keep the Stabiliser one or two points below the RX Gain, so that's what I do (I go with the designer), but others disagree.
In hot ground, you may want to drop back from Fine Gold to Enhanced timings (simple front panel switch-over), as that's what most of us with the 4500s have to do in hot ground (we don't have Fine Gold)- see the pic below. That way you can go back to Fine Gold with a simple flick of a switch to revert to those settings.
Otherwise, I reckon that you're bang on - at least for the Vic GT.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/6786/1505202262_gpx_timings.jpg

Hey BW, so with the 4500 do you blokes prefer to swing in "Normal" and drop back to "Enhance" when the ground is too hot or do you usually just go straight for "Enhance", just out of interest? With the 5k I usually just start in "fine/gold" and drop to "enhance" when fiddling with the gain and stabiliser isn't enough to control ground noises.

Cheers
 
Hi Heath, at a new spot I'll start in Normal, but in the GT I pretty much always end up in Enhance if I have to drop the gain/stabiliser past 8.
I know two experienced guys that will only use Enhance as the very last resort.
Many spots further south around Ballarat I find are OK for Normal.
I would like the Fine Gold timing on the 45, but I have what I have.
 
BigWave said:
Hi Heath, at a new spot I'll start in Normal, but in the GT I pretty much always end up in Enhance if I have to drop the gain/stabiliser past 8.
I know two experienced guys that will only use Enhance as the very last resort.
Many spots further south around Ballarat I find are OK for Normal.
I would like the Fine Gold timing on the 45, but I have what I have.

That's good to know BW, mostly when I've tried "Normal" I've ended up going back to "fine/gold", it just seems to give decent depth with a reasonable smoothness to it. Though I really want to start using other timings instead of just going for the same setup all the time like most other people do, I think changing timings will result in more or better finds eventually. I'd pretty much use "enhance" as a last resort too with the 5k. I guess FG is good as it's between "normal" and "enhance", I trying to stay in "normal" with a 4500 is the go, but as you said, when all else fails drop it down a timing.

As Nenad metioned using "Sensitive Extra". In which case I should ask, which coils do you prefer to run in "Sensitive Extra" Nenad? Would you generally use a DD, a DD in mono mode or a Mono for SE or any depending on the day or conditions? I did try using SE once and the ground was just too hot and there were too many hotrocks, I just dropped back to FG and all was good again.
 
PhaseTech said:
Don't forget about Sens Extra guys ;)
PhaseTech
Did you mean to say Sensitive Smooth?
Sensitive Extra from what I understand and as per the table on the previous page which BigWave put up is more susceptible to mineralisation.
However Sensitive Smooth is the least susceptible of all timings.
For what it's worth I only ever use enhanced in the mid to Northern parts of the Vic GT where I mostly detect. The iron stone and bright coloured clays are just too much. I've tried Normal many times but it's just far too unstable. I run Evo's with gain at 9 and Stabilizer at 8 most of the time. At times when EMI is low I can increase gain and Stabilizer. Early mornings and late evenings I can often use gain at 13 and Stabilizer at 10 or 11.
Just my experience in the Vic GT with a 4500, and not to challenge anyone's expertise. I'm no expert.
Cheers
 

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