HI all ! Some help needed :)

[Golden.newbie]

Hi

I am new to this forum and also to prospecting . A couple of weeks ago my girlfriend bought me the fisher F75 ltd for my birthday . I'm having a lot of fun with it but still having a hard time finding anything good . I have found a few chunks of iron lots of bottle caps a few keys and a couple of coins . My girlfriends dad owns quite a bit of land in Scarsdale which yesterday I spent about 6 hours digging crap out of the ground (bullet casings , cans . And lots and lots of nails ) all I ended up achieving was making lots of holes as I dug every time I heard a beep which now I feel like someone ran over my wrists and now walking like I just had a hip replacement haha and yet I'm still not turned off by prospecting but more eager than ever . I'm currently trying to look for a bit of gold and heard that Ballarat /Scarsdale and bendigo is a great location to find what I want . Only problem is I havnt a clue where to start and also think all my settings are wrong ......

Should I be using all metal mode or discrimination ? And if discrimination what numbers should I set to find gold ? If I could get any advise I would truly appreciate it :lol:

 

[the duck]

All metal if looking for gold but i suggest you tube to learn how to ground balance your machine would be a start and get some gold maps they will be a great help

 

[Goldpick]

Steve Herschbach has a bit of a speel on the F75 in relation to gold prospecting, might be worth a read.

Take note of the section showing that you can run in all-metal mode and still read the ID numbers for target info, without having to use any form of discrimination (discrimination reduces sensitivity to small gold, so all-metal is usually the preferred setting for gold prospecting).

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/436263-fisher-f75-strikes-gold-twice-row.html

 

[Goldtarget]

Bit of a beast to master and it will chatter like a housewife on candy on higher mineralization.

All metal, ground balance with the trigger pumping the coil up and down (will be in the manual) . Next adjust your gain (sensitivity) somewhere between 50 and 80. Higher is not always better some evenness is ideal. Out on the Goldfields you'll be closer to 40 and 50 than 80 but on the quiet quartz and white mullock you could come up a ways. It's pretty sensitive anyways not big difference in higher to lower gain unless your in mild ground.

You can swing quite fast but don't be in too much of a hurry. It will chirp and squawk, but keep your eyes on the target id numbers. I would start in dE (default) mode before boost or jewelery etc, the front end gain again is something you want to slowly get used to. Too much noise for too long usually leaves the haters of these f75 missing how good it can be. Run the bigger 10 inch DD to quieten it down.

I've found that gold in the ground comes in around 20 to 35 target id. That can be unreliable though, it will be tough to pick up anything under a gram, nearing the gram mark it comes in alot more solid. I suggest picking up a test piece just over a gram size to test. Anything solid from 10 to 15 forget it definitely steel.

Good luck mate. It's a beast you'll just have to learn how to tame it.

 

[Golden.newbie]

Thanks so much for the replies

Every bit of info is making me understand the machine a little more just bought some gold nuggets online so I can test out the sounds in the ground before I hunt next time

I also think I need to go to a class or even a day trip where I can Learn from other prospectors . There is only so much I can read and watch on YouTube before I get the itch to get back on the field

I may just hit up the maribyrnong river tomorrow in moonee ponds to play around with it a little more seeing as it's a nice day and that's where Iv found a couple of old coins

Also thanks @ Goldtarget
That was exactly what I was looking for info on what numbers I should be on . And to be fair I havnt used all metal mode yet . Yesterday I spent 6 hours in the bush on discrimination mode

But ! Stuck my detector down a deep huge rabbit hole and got some high tones at around 90 on the screen . It may be rubbish but I'm so curious! That should take a day to dig (at least ) so much Quartz which makes it a bastard to dig

Anyway !

Thanks for the advice people the more the merrier !

Peace