Goldtarget
(AKA OldGT)
As TathraDJ had requested a bit of a write up I thought I should probably do one. My days of being on the end of a shovel had been numbered a while back and so I had to reconsider prospecting as a hobby altogether which didnt sit well with me.
During the virus lockdown I was feeling a bit like a caged cat, but it did give me a chance to do a fair few core strength routines, and have a little think about what I wanted to do once restrictions were lifted. The news from the last PT appointment was fairly optimistic and I talked over with him about swinging a detector. After giving me the amber light I started thinking that the SDC might be the best option.
After looking around I contacted Doug and his machine was still for sale. After a bit of trouble , all the fault of AusPost, it arrived at its new home.
Restrictions got lifted and I headed out. Basically this machine is as easy as it gets. Insert batteries, unfold, switch on, noise cancel, ground balance, detect.
First spot I went to was a small exposed gully with heavy ironstone and chunky mineralized quartz. To my surprise it purred along beautifully, snagging what seemed like endless pellet shot. It got to the point I was simply making the ground adjacent as I worked upslope. It then occurred to me as I reached the high flat top looking back toward the car I had forgotten a finds jar.
I went ahead any way and collected up the targets. It was coming on dark and to my surprise among all the lead popped out a little sub-grammer about 0.4. First day First Gold Baby! Pretty little piece shing from the red clay. I let a few choice words go in excitment and carefully placed it in my jacket pocket. Alas no further gold before I got in the car covered in mozzies, dirt and clay in the dark, and carefully navigated the goat track back to the sealed roads.
Upon returning home, i went and got 2 finds jars. I scooped up all the lead and then went fishing for the gold. Probably went on for about half an hour before I gave up, even retried the next night, before giving up completely. Jacket in the wash all I could do was ponder. Any way lesson learnt.
The rains came in that week and so there was no chance to return as the track became impassable. I went out to a couple of spots, plenty of lead shot, only to eventually decide go to one of my fav spots that has tiny gold on shallow ground. The hard part about detecting there is its very steep, and pretty rocky. But everytime it rains heavy it seems to show up just a little more luck of a new piece.
I swung gridding up a small washout zone that I and others have done over and over. The first time I ever saw an SDC out in the feild was in that spot aside from Grecky demo at Notleys at a PMAV meetup with one.
That day the bloke picked up 8 or so pieces and I remember being shocked thinking it was like electronic panning. Back and forth, boot scrapping, ground balancing, it was a bit of an eye opener.
Any way 5 odd years later, with hours left in the day it was my turn. Pinged three tiny pieces of shot all really faint signals. I must say coil to the soil is a definite must on the Sdc. Just a few mm too high and its the difference between "something" and not hearing it at all.
Next target up was just a tiny repeatable wobble in the threshold running the coil N/S, E/W. A little scrape to even the ground level out the noise started to break the threshold.
Next scrape a clear signal . This time the ground was rocky and undisturbed. This made me confident. Slow scrapping until I got it in the scoop. Unlike the shot, the noise was just a bit wobbly. Once I was down to half a teaspoon I could see its nose poking through. Now call me silly if you like but I think it was very happy to have waited all that time for me to come along and take it to a new home.
2 trips, 2 pieces. :Y:
Kept going for the day but no more luck. Came up pretty with a wash, and although all gold is beautiful I really love the colour from nearby. Tried Sunday with another PA member but no joy. Scrambled a couple of trips in after work but daylight has beaten me every time.
All fired up I went out yesterday. Scored 2 more from a mullock I had luck with the 4500 and GM. The bigger piece was porous and is exactly the type I have found in the gully nearby highbanking. Its almost spongy, sort of like steel wool but slivers instead of strands.
The SDC had no trouble saying dig me, in fact at first I thought it might be a flat piece of rusty tin. Good depth too, Had it cranked up to 4 after deciding 2 and 3 passes may be missing depth. On a sens 3 pass I got a small waver but only one way. Using 4 an hour later it was unmistakable. Maybe the 45 would never had heard it, hard to say, but I would have expected the Monster to. Because the ground is so quiet, white pipeclay and quartz, Ive done these Mullocks to death, so that to me is a huge tick to the SDC. Can confirm it will see gold clearly that the other machines havent, at least in my hands.
Went over the back and whizzed around the downslope of another heap further uphill. Again a clear signal both ways. Up popped a little speci. Was time to head off to get the new coils (10x5 and 14x9) and mounting kit as it was last chance for 20% off.
Went to gully in Bendigo Id washed in before, no luck, rhen back to a place Id never been detecting before and still no luck.
Back out this morning on some junky mullocks where I saw some detecting going on before lockdown. Popped out 2 tiny pieces deep running on sens 5 and raking just the one mound.
So in summary. Happy with the SDC doing what its meant to do. Coil choice has improved and look forward to hunting old spots with new tech. Have about 1/2 ounce of lead shot and that doesnt look like slowing down, but like fishing, you need bites to catch a fish. Definitely keeps my interest. Detecting is a confidence game and Im riding high. This would pair nicely with a gpx, no question.
Im inclined to run it hot to squeeze every mm out of it. The last target today was not present on 3 but came to life on 5. A small waver turned to two way sound with a decent scrape. Similar for yesterday. For clearing targets Im now convinced passing again in a higher setting is a must, but Im not sure I could hunt in it for hours on end. Next deep one Ill put the SP01 up and see if it can run in 5 constantly. Perhaps the larger coil might be another option.
The speaker is ok but headphones are better. Clear shallow targets are fine coming out speaker but I think you need to hear everything to be sure.
The Ugly.
The cover with stand insert is a godsend. This thing would flop around like a wet fish without it. Also got a knuckle protector, very much a must when using stock coil, christ youd wear through it in a matter of weeks otherwise.
Its a pain to swing, the balance is all off compared to every detector Ive owned, but as its not super heavy. The armrest annoys the hell out of me but easily modded. And lastly it baffles me how one minute its just quiet as a mouse then chatty as heck. Its like Jekyll and Hyde at times, but thankfully thoses target responses always seem to raise about the noise, something my 4500 could struggle with and ended the day early more than a few times.
So thats that. Just thinking about getting out with it makes me happy. Many more adventures to be had.
Cheers.
During the virus lockdown I was feeling a bit like a caged cat, but it did give me a chance to do a fair few core strength routines, and have a little think about what I wanted to do once restrictions were lifted. The news from the last PT appointment was fairly optimistic and I talked over with him about swinging a detector. After giving me the amber light I started thinking that the SDC might be the best option.
After looking around I contacted Doug and his machine was still for sale. After a bit of trouble , all the fault of AusPost, it arrived at its new home.
Restrictions got lifted and I headed out. Basically this machine is as easy as it gets. Insert batteries, unfold, switch on, noise cancel, ground balance, detect.
First spot I went to was a small exposed gully with heavy ironstone and chunky mineralized quartz. To my surprise it purred along beautifully, snagging what seemed like endless pellet shot. It got to the point I was simply making the ground adjacent as I worked upslope. It then occurred to me as I reached the high flat top looking back toward the car I had forgotten a finds jar.
I went ahead any way and collected up the targets. It was coming on dark and to my surprise among all the lead popped out a little sub-grammer about 0.4. First day First Gold Baby! Pretty little piece shing from the red clay. I let a few choice words go in excitment and carefully placed it in my jacket pocket. Alas no further gold before I got in the car covered in mozzies, dirt and clay in the dark, and carefully navigated the goat track back to the sealed roads.
Upon returning home, i went and got 2 finds jars. I scooped up all the lead and then went fishing for the gold. Probably went on for about half an hour before I gave up, even retried the next night, before giving up completely. Jacket in the wash all I could do was ponder. Any way lesson learnt.
The rains came in that week and so there was no chance to return as the track became impassable. I went out to a couple of spots, plenty of lead shot, only to eventually decide go to one of my fav spots that has tiny gold on shallow ground. The hard part about detecting there is its very steep, and pretty rocky. But everytime it rains heavy it seems to show up just a little more luck of a new piece.
I swung gridding up a small washout zone that I and others have done over and over. The first time I ever saw an SDC out in the feild was in that spot aside from Grecky demo at Notleys at a PMAV meetup with one.
That day the bloke picked up 8 or so pieces and I remember being shocked thinking it was like electronic panning. Back and forth, boot scrapping, ground balancing, it was a bit of an eye opener.
Any way 5 odd years later, with hours left in the day it was my turn. Pinged three tiny pieces of shot all really faint signals. I must say coil to the soil is a definite must on the Sdc. Just a few mm too high and its the difference between "something" and not hearing it at all.
Next target up was just a tiny repeatable wobble in the threshold running the coil N/S, E/W. A little scrape to even the ground level out the noise started to break the threshold.
Next scrape a clear signal . This time the ground was rocky and undisturbed. This made me confident. Slow scrapping until I got it in the scoop. Unlike the shot, the noise was just a bit wobbly. Once I was down to half a teaspoon I could see its nose poking through. Now call me silly if you like but I think it was very happy to have waited all that time for me to come along and take it to a new home.2 trips, 2 pieces. :Y:
Kept going for the day but no more luck. Came up pretty with a wash, and although all gold is beautiful I really love the colour from nearby. Tried Sunday with another PA member but no joy. Scrambled a couple of trips in after work but daylight has beaten me every time.
All fired up I went out yesterday. Scored 2 more from a mullock I had luck with the 4500 and GM. The bigger piece was porous and is exactly the type I have found in the gully nearby highbanking. Its almost spongy, sort of like steel wool but slivers instead of strands.
The SDC had no trouble saying dig me, in fact at first I thought it might be a flat piece of rusty tin. Good depth too, Had it cranked up to 4 after deciding 2 and 3 passes may be missing depth. On a sens 3 pass I got a small waver but only one way. Using 4 an hour later it was unmistakable. Maybe the 45 would never had heard it, hard to say, but I would have expected the Monster to. Because the ground is so quiet, white pipeclay and quartz, Ive done these Mullocks to death, so that to me is a huge tick to the SDC. Can confirm it will see gold clearly that the other machines havent, at least in my hands.
Went over the back and whizzed around the downslope of another heap further uphill. Again a clear signal both ways. Up popped a little speci. Was time to head off to get the new coils (10x5 and 14x9) and mounting kit as it was last chance for 20% off.
Went to gully in Bendigo Id washed in before, no luck, rhen back to a place Id never been detecting before and still no luck.
Back out this morning on some junky mullocks where I saw some detecting going on before lockdown. Popped out 2 tiny pieces deep running on sens 5 and raking just the one mound.
So in summary. Happy with the SDC doing what its meant to do. Coil choice has improved and look forward to hunting old spots with new tech. Have about 1/2 ounce of lead shot and that doesnt look like slowing down, but like fishing, you need bites to catch a fish. Definitely keeps my interest. Detecting is a confidence game and Im riding high. This would pair nicely with a gpx, no question.
Im inclined to run it hot to squeeze every mm out of it. The last target today was not present on 3 but came to life on 5. A small waver turned to two way sound with a decent scrape. Similar for yesterday. For clearing targets Im now convinced passing again in a higher setting is a must, but Im not sure I could hunt in it for hours on end. Next deep one Ill put the SP01 up and see if it can run in 5 constantly. Perhaps the larger coil might be another option.
The speaker is ok but headphones are better. Clear shallow targets are fine coming out speaker but I think you need to hear everything to be sure.
The Ugly.
The cover with stand insert is a godsend. This thing would flop around like a wet fish without it. Also got a knuckle protector, very much a must when using stock coil, christ youd wear through it in a matter of weeks otherwise.
Its a pain to swing, the balance is all off compared to every detector Ive owned, but as its not super heavy. The armrest annoys the hell out of me but easily modded. And lastly it baffles me how one minute its just quiet as a mouse then chatty as heck. Its like Jekyll and Hyde at times, but thankfully thoses target responses always seem to raise about the noise, something my 4500 could struggle with and ended the day early more than a few times.
So thats that. Just thinking about getting out with it makes me happy. Many more adventures to be had.
Cheers.
