X-Terra 705, any use at all on a goldfield?

[DAN77]

Hi guys,
Now I've read previous posts and know that I haven't bought a gold detector, but I have a couple of questions regarding my machine and its usefulness. It will be my first time looking for gold and I have a friend that will be using a SD2100, so we have a capable gold detecting machine that will be on the site as well. He has a few coils, an 8 inch and an 18 inch mono, and an 11 inch DD.
Using the 18.75khz 10x5 DD coil on my 705, would I actually cancel out any of these coils?
Should I be going through an area first, to clean out any junk items? Then come through with the SD, Or would I come through second?
Am hoping that the two of us can work as a team and cover as many bases as possible with one sweep.2 machines must be better than 1.Any advice will be appreciated.
I'm sort of assuming that NSW soil isn't as mineralised as Vic's or WA's, but I might just be grasping at straws, in hope that my 705 will be of use.
Cheers DAN

 

[AussieGamer_Ben]

just remember to tune them properly, otherwise they will interfere with each other.

 

[DAN77]

The 705 will tune easily. The 2100 I'm not so sure

 

[Goldtarget]

Never say never.....Just have a look at show and tell there's some bigger ones close to the surface that get picked up occasionally, but you would have to have luck or a work ethic in the trash to get them.
You can always hire if it gets the better of you. What you have to keep in mind is most places will have seen the gpx and sdc go over them, possibly even a GPZ. ....and that decreases your odds dramatically.
Good luck mate.

 

[dunollyman]

705 will be very noisy in the gt

 

[grubstake]

705 will be very noisy in the gt

Fortunately for Dan and as he said in his post, he's in NSW, not the Victorian Golden Triangle.

 

[KarlS]

I been using 705 in few places in Central NSW and in most of places it works fine. I had found couple grams of gold , few pennies, Chinese coin and lots and lots of bullets.
Karl

 

[jamie]

give it a go mate, if you aren't out swinging the coil you wont find anything anyway, just make sure you are going low and slow and most of all enjoy your time out with your mate, that's the real gold the metal is just a bonus

 

[Twapster]

While some may say this is bad advice im happy to provide my opinion, Id be using the SD to find the targets, then the 705 to help check the target if you don't like digging everything. The 705 should in most cases give you an indication if its ferrous or non ferrous. Now I don't want to open up a can of worms but I personally don't like digging out iron objects on the off chance my detector is wrong. You may have interference issues when being too close to each other so either walk 20m behind and both detect, or only switch the 705 on to cross check targets found with the SD. If you can get your hands on say a .5gram piece of gold (ebay)....and understand how the 705 reacts to that, then in most cases the gold under your coil will react similar.

In NSW you will most likely be digging every few metres if you "dig every signal", a sure way to put you off detecting quickly. Yep they will all tell you to dig everything and sometimes I heed that advice and sometimes I think I know its not gold so I move on without digging. Yes I might be wrong moving along but ill give you a practical example with my VLF......I know gold is a reading of say 10/12, I know iron is a reading of around -8. If its a deadset -8 , probability is its not gold. If its jumping from -8 to + 30 on each swing ill have to dig it, but its most likely mineralised ground. If its a stable "positive figure", i'll dig it. If its a stable negative figure, Ill give it a miss.

Not sure how experienced your mate is at knowing what's ground noise and what's a target, its all a learning curve.

Having said that, because you have never experienced different target responses, it would be in your interests to dig everything so you can look back and say " I now know what Twapster was talking about ".....A seasoned VLF user can confidently say...that's a ring pull, that's a $2 coin, that's a nail, but even seasoned users can get it wrong.

The ground is usually always highly mineralised in NSW gold fields.....that's a pretty good indicator that you are in a good spot, so yes the VLF will squeal like a banshee. The SD will be more stable on that ground and thus pick up deeper audible noises of interest, but wont be able to discriminate like the 705 as mentioned above.

So that's my 2 cents, use the detectors in tandem with the SD out front.

As mentioned above, its all about getting out there, learning and just having a go. Good luck!

 

[KarlS]

Twapster, I use 705 same way when I got my son with me. I swing SPP and he checks targets with 705. Only problem is that he gets bored after the while and buggers off to do his own thing.
Karl

 

[Digginholes]

The 705 will be ok I found I needed to ground balance it quite often.
You could run in coin mode and mark or dig all the targets maybe pull some coins and a heap of junk then flick over to prospecting and re sweep the spot then send the 2100 over it and see if there's anything you missed or the detector didn't see.

 

[Roverrock]

Hi mate me and a mate of mine go out together i have a xterra 705 and my mate has a SD2000 and he uses me to id what he finds before he digs, we only have interference when we r about 3/4 meters away from each other as a team it works great

 

[DAN77]

Thanks for all the advise guys, you've helped a lot.