Detecting in the heat

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Dignit

Dignit

Joined
May 14, 2015
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Location
Melb Eastern Suburbs, VIC
This is my first summer detecting. I detect in the Vic Golden Triangle with a GPX4500 & 11" mono elite.

I am finding that I do not find gold in high heat of the middle of the day. I'm taliking 30C plus. I have a definite pattern of finding gold in the cooler morning between sunrise and about 11am (10 by the sun) and in the evenings after 7pm (6 by the sun).

As an example I was in the GT from 8.30am to 8.30pm yesterday. When I arrived it was 22C and I found a 0.64g at 10am and a 0.21g at 11am. By 2pm it was 36C. I detected the same area all day. I found my next and final piece of 0.15g at 8pm when it was still 30C, but there was a lot of evening shade and a strong breeze. This is my secret patch which I've visited on two other occassions and have now found 11 small sub gram nuggets. All nuggets found on high heat days early in the morning or late in the evening.

I am thinking that perhaps the heat is making the mineralisation more severe and the GPX in attempting to ground out the mineralisation is grounding out the small nugget signals. I do find my machine is a lot less stable in the heat. Alternatively perhaps my machine is faulty.

I'd appreciate any insight in to what I am experiencing.

I'd really like to know if I'm wasting my time in high heat or whether I should get my machine or coil looked at.

Thanks for your help.
Cheers Dignit :)
 
I have heard that myself that the ground tends to be more noisy in high heat.
I think also the heat tends to effect your concentration level i find it difficult to persist when the heat effects me.
Unless you live in the GT the majority of the states prospectors prefer the cooler weather for detecting.
 
Yeah I have a similar experience.
Never really found gold in the heat and the detector seems a lot more noisy.
I'm using a GPZ 7000.
Cooler temps give me better results.
 
Hi S&D.
Thanks for your input.
Yeah I agree about concentration in high heat, and certainly a factor. However, I do ensure I take rest breaks and keep up fluids and honestly feel there is something going on beyond this. I was only in the GT for the day so was super keen to maximise boots on ground. I purposely stayed until the evening to test my theory.
Cheers
 
Thanks LC.
May be it's the way it is.
Hopefully we get input from others and we get a consensus or perhaps input from someone who really can explain the matter.
Cheers
 
I don't agree. I often hear that the ground gets noisier as it warms, but I generally find the ground (and EMI) quietens as the day warms up if there's no electrical storms looming. I'm guessing its just a matter of randomness. i.e.: CBs, tiredness, coronal hole ejections, grumpiness with the heat etc.
 
Hi BigWave.
That is very interesting. I'm still open to the idea my GPX is faulty. Before I contact Minelab I thought I'd get some opinions.
What are you swinging?
Cheers Dignit
 
I run an sdc so my observations may be different due to the machines? I detect in the GT exclusively. I've personally found no difference other than the bush is quieter in the early morning and evening and there is less wind noise etc that i find can effect my concentration at times. I know that when i start detecting say around 8-9 am i'm fresh and can concentrate far better (for about 3 hours) than after lunch when i'm feeling the effects of tiredness and the heat. I can detect longer and concentrate better during winter.
Tryhard and i were out detecting from around 9.30 am till about 3.30 yesterday and while it was hot, windy and a little uncomfortable, we still managed to find around 2.5 grams between us with the sdc's right up until i pulled the pin. I ended up giving it away because i get to stuffed to concentrate in the heat rather than noticing signals don't come as cleanly.
I can't speak for other machines though.
 
I went out to Stuart Town yesterday morning with my 4500. Started around 8am and finished up around 2. I definitely dug a lot more small targets in the first 2 hours than the following 4 hours (none of which were gold) . I do find the detector runs smoother before it heats up. But then again my concentration levels drop off after a few hours also. I think it's very possible that it's a combination of both :)
 
Hey Scrounger
Thanks for your experience with the SDC, and direct comparison to my example of yesterday.
Any idea what temp it was where you were?
I find it very interesting you find no difference because of heat.
I certainly agree about better concentration when you are fresh. That is a given.
I use head phones so bush noise or wind isn't so apparent.
The SDC very fast transmit, switch off and receive which makes it outstanding on small and mineralised ground may make it better in the heat.
It's all rather interesting.
BTW you did well lasting until 3.30, and 2.5 grams between the two of you. Well done!
We should catch up one day.
Cheers Dignit
 
NuggetNed said:
I went out to Stuart Town yesterday morning with my 4500. Started around 8am and finished up around 2. I definitely dug a lot more small targets in the first 2 hours than the following 4 hours (none of which were gold) . I do find the detector runs smoother before it heats up. But then again my concentration levels drop off after a few hours also. I think it's very possible that it's a combination of both :)
Click to expand...

Hi NN
It's interesting a number of people with a 4500 are finding the heat an issue. Interesting!
Yeah, could very well be a combination of both.
Thanks for your experience.
Cheers Dignit
 
Dig'n-it said:
Hey Scrounger
Thanks for your experience with the SDC, and direct comparison to my example of yesterday.
Any idea what temp it was where you were?
I find it very interesting you find no difference because of heat.
I certainly agree about better concentration when you are fresh. That is a given.
I use head phones so bush noise or wind isn't so apparent.
The SDC very fast transmit, switch off and receive which makes it outstanding on small and mineralised ground may make it better in the heat.
It's all rather interesting.
BTW you did well lasting until 3.30, and 2.5 grams between the two of you. Well done!
We should catch up one day.
Cheers Dignit
Click to expand...
Not sure, i think it was mid 30s. I use headphones all the time on the sdc, i find i can't concentrate on the feint signals with wind noise etc if i'm just using the speaker. It'd be interesting to get Tryhards feedback on this because he was using a 4500 for a while after lunch when it was pretty hot and windy. i know he ended up going back to the sdc but i'm not sure why.
 
Same here..seems the most productive times are when its cool and in the am hours When it gets to be around 11 or noon, EMI tends to increase. Regardless of a bit of EMI and instability I have found gold in the high heat. Here in the States, some have even gone to hunt in the dark, as they say the detectors seem to just run smooth and stable. I am pretty certain its not the detector as a few people I know had the same results with different machines.
 
I agree that tiredness plays a big role, and also that EMI will likely build during the day (distant storms in humid weather, local static discharges in dry heat with wind and increased HF radio activity). I don't believe that it's anything to do with ground noise changes.
I also monitor BOM space weather predictions for solar storms before going out, as these can be very noisy (http://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Geophysical/1/1/5). Coronal Mass Ejections send micro-pulsations through our magnetosphere (affecting PIs not using DDs). There's one on it's way now. (remember times are in GMT, so add 11hrs to the predictions), so could be a bit noisy out there tomorrow for some.
 
I find detecting in the heat to be far more problematic than in winter in the GT.

It's not the ground and it's not the detector that are noisy, it's me panting and wanting a cold beer.

So I made the common sense decision to make a choice, the beer won. So it's only the cooler months for me and there's less chance of a "moving branch" strike....
 
lol say it like it is condor. Can't say I've ever found enough gold to see a pattern emerge in relation to heat. Found my biggest nugget in WA at midday in 48 degree heat and I called it a day after that.
 
condor22 said:
I find detecting in the heat to be far more problematic than in winter in the GT.

It's not the ground and it's not the detector that are noisy, it's me panting and wanting a cold beer.

So I made the common sense decision to make a choice, the beer won. So it's only the cooler months for me and there's less chance of a "moving branch" strike....
Click to expand...

Hi Condor
Yeah a cold beer in the middle of the day sounds like the way to go. I only get out, typically for one day on a weekend, every 2 or 3 weeks. So when I do get out I really want to maximise detecting time heat or no heat. But if I'm not finding anything going down the pub definitely sounds like a great idea. Might see you down there for a frothy! Cheers :p
 

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