How do you go about it??

Gday all,

Just wandering how some of the more experienced and successfull guys go about their detecting? Ive been spending a fair bit of time on the ground lately with nothing to show for it, i know im in decent areas (old workings, leases nearby etc) but just cant seem to score a thing Im thinking its the way i go about it maybe.

I generally park the car up and basically wander for hours on end and must cover 5km's plus at a time i reckon. I generally check all the likely looking spots (gullys, around workings,around contact zones etc), the not so likely spots and make a real effort to detect the harder to get to areas (overgrown areas, steep areas etc). Now i generally only do a pass or 2 over theese areas (low and slow) before meandering on to the next spot that takes my fancy. Now i obviously cover a lot of ground this way but dont really cover any one spot real well, is that where im going wrong??? Should i be picking a spot and meticulously covering that completely before moving onto the next?

Ive been getting quite frustrated lately so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hey pilbarachad,

1. Turn on your detector.....only kidding.
2. Look up chaining. You basically grid out an area you are interested in and attach a chain to your belt and it leaves a trace on the ground to show what ground has been covered.
3. Go low and slow, you may be swinging the coil too quickly and missing signals. Make sure the coil is only just above the ground too high and you wont be going deep enough into the soil.
4. Do research on area to find old diggings and then target these, especially the mulloch heaps of their old tailings.
5. Keep your chin up it will happen its just a matter of time before you hit the gold.

Regards,

Grant

Thanks Grant,

Im happy with all those points and familiar with chaining but cant say ive done it.

So when you are out do you just pick a single spot and chain it???

Hey pilbarachad,

I generally use landmarks in the area I am interested in to make up a rough grid ie. tree or rock marks each corner. I dont own a chain so I just scuff the ground with my boots as I go. That way I know what area I have already covered.

Here is a link that explains it better than I can:

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Remember to dig every signal, dont try to discriminate you may miss a nugget.

Hope it helps get you onto the gold.

Regards,

Grant

Ok

So Grant has given you some really great info there man - cheers Grant great job man.

Here's the bit i reckon your missin out on, your not playin the game with the best hand you could
deal yourself "ie" SETTINGS and coil selection within those settings, to make it sound easy, there is not one single
patch or area in the whole of Australia be it east west nth or even shitty sth oz that with the right coil/settings
for the known relevant LEFT gold on that area, you will get colour - even if its only a 0.2 bit, and them lil bits can
lead to some whicked 50oz snatches..

Lets start from the CORE

Whats your Tecta model ?
whats the coil you usually swing or have available to fit = list all you have
external booster used ?
Earphones or Ext Speaker ?
Back problem ?
Hearing problem ?

Please dont think i'm bein impertinent mate cause i aint, to build a perfect machine all aspects
need to be known man, your gonna be the next TERMINATOR on the field you hit arnt ya ??

Drop me this info back man and 30x EMU EXPORT and we will build ya into ARNOLD GOLDINATOR!

Forget the beer man thats just BS mate or is it ? , but honestly lets know the answers to what i asked ay..

There is one major over looked thing that most blokes n gals dont think about and that is "POSITIVE thinking"
Here's a simple example - a good member on this very forum once said to me "peanuts ? are you a monkey?"
and at 1st i had a grin, but 3 days later it actually hit me, do you want to work for the ring leader or be the
Circus owner ???
Business owners put in a shit load of work and the monkey just does the least he can get away with

Enough for now, i'm sure a whole lot of yaz get the drift

The one last thing is - get in ya zone, be it Neck Oil - pot - bible - or tea, get into a zone..

Pete

Good equipment
Good research
Good advice
Good technique
Good luck. Crap. You make your own luck.
The more time you're on the ground, the better you get.

Robert

emu export pete jesus they don't call it red death for nothing lol

Gday PC,
Great points made by Pete( settings & Attitude) and Oneday69( Ground depth ).
Here is an easy way to check the wash level isnt too deep. If there are old diggings or test holes,check there depth and if they have shear walls,look to see where the wash level is and if its too deep for the coil your swinging. Same goes for old mine shafts or erroded creek/gully banks,the wash level will be clearly visable in the side walls.
The other way is to dig your own quick test hole to check how deep the caprock,bedrock or clay layer is. Hard work,but it may save you time.Obiviously the ground will be shallower closer to the ridge lines,but not always.
Good luck Mate

Hi , not wanting to tell grandma how to suck eggs, but do you regularly check the operation of your machine? Presumably you have a small test piece of gold or lead to check. By placing your test piece next to a rock,lump of wood 6"high or thereabout, you can slide your coil to and fro while altering your settings to get the best signal sound knowing that you,ve kept the coil at constant height.Don,t know the Extreme but yuo may have GB between changing some settings. Sometimes switch can be accidently bumped into cancel mode- been there!!Chin-up and just think about the unfortunate people who can never be out there for whatever reason. Good luck, john

Thanks for all the replys guys.

Im running an extreme and my go to coil at the moment is a 18.5 x 12 coiltek goldstalker mono, i also have an 11'' DD, 18"" coiltek DD and a 20" NFA mono but they dont get much use. I was using some sport type ear plugs but have recently gone back to using my Koss headphones, dont use a booster( should i be???) and dont have any hearing or back problems or anything.

I dont have a test piece although have been meaning to get one sorted for quite a while, generally just grab a 5 cent coin and only occaisionally bury it to test signal, i know thats not ideal. Settings?? well i guess maybe they could be better???, i run in fixed 99% of the time and only stay in tracking over particularly noisy ground (Ive been thinking about throwing on my 11" DD and going back over some of this noisier ground). I run signal in high, boost deep or normal may go shallow when noisy, soil in normal or sensitive again dependant on ground noise,and i tune it every time i use it.

I do get a heap of signals and dig ALOT of junk, im quite amazed at some of the smaller stuff im starting to pick up with only a slight change in tone.

Oneday- i cant say i really know many other detectorists in Hedland, there definately not as active on the forums as you karratha guys, so dont even know how i would chase them down??

start by putin an add on the south hedland notice board in the shopping centre that would be a very good start.

U never know ya luck..put the add up for 2-3 weeks



Regards

Oneday69

YEP HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT IT !!!!
put up a notice for two or three weeks and you will get ??????
wot are ya lookin for !!!
get out there and have a real crack.
dont sit and listen too old farts give it a go.
if you dont do it i will!!!!!!!!!!!
good scratchin
cheers the speciman

Hey Pilbarra
With the Extreme you most definately need to use a booster, example last year a mate & I found a little patch I use an SD2200d 20"NF mono with booster & external speaker, he use's an Extreme 14x9NFmono "booster broken" speaker unit, each time he got a target I checked it with my unit which gave a better signal 90% of the time 2g, 3g nugs 4" to 6" deep.
Get yourself a test bit a small lead sinker 1/2 the size of a pea & pea size should do the trick until you find a bit of yellow.
Good luck remember you need to walk over gold bearing ground to find gold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers
Lee
ps try test panning the gullies to make sure there is gold there.

mate if u r in Ktown drop in at the workshop and see what I can russell up for u--[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

BBq friday arvo with me and wazza-gut feeling..[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

old film canisters are great to house your finds--trust me color will come--u just have to b in the right place--have a look what Ktown swinger nailed last weekend..and he wasnt really trying..

catch up with u oneday



regards

oneday69

Thanks rc62burke,

I gotta heap of small split shot sinkers in with my fishing stuff, ill definately make sure i throw a few in with my detecting gear before the next time i head out.

As for the booster, I have found gold, 6g at about 10" or so, so thought finding the smaller stuff closer to the surface wouldnt be an issue, coupled with the fact i find small junk at decent depth aswell, i didnt think it would be necessary?? Youre not the first person to suggest the booster though so i guess ill look into it. Whats the best booster to get do you reckon?

Panning sounds like a good idea and i actually just bought a couple of pans a few weeks ago. I havent really come across any one that does it up this way and ive heard that a lot gold bearing country up here never really produced any of the finer stuff you look for when panning, i could (and probably am) wrong though! If panning creeks/gullies that have been dry blown would i still expect to find anything?? Water would be the other issue and have to be carried in, wet season has only just finished and already all but the major rivers are bone dry.

Thanks for the tips man

Thanks crazy pete- that looks pretty close to what i run.

Oneday, ive been meaning to come in and say hi to you for a while but never seem to make it to k-town, we always seem to turn off and the spend the day around point samson, cossack etc. (dont suppose any golds been found over that way :?: , i know Roebourne has a history of gold)

Anyway Ive got this friday off and was going to go detecting, hopefully with some of theese tips ill do a bit better.

Hesperian did Gold & Ghosts too, I've got Volume 1 on loan from the library at the moment, if anyone wants some old details on an area, PM me. 99% of the good spots would have ML's on them now.
Zap.

Mate,
When I used to swing the Extreme and the 3000 I was running a Voltage regulated system as well as a booster. It runs on a 12vlt battery,regulated down to 6.7vlts for the Extreme,so your running at full power all day,not just for the first few hrs like with the old dome top batteries. Coiltek make a good one and you can get them S/H fairly cheap these days.
Nothing wrong with the 18x12 Goldstalker,a great coil. Got some of my biggest bits with mine and at Hell depth.

pilbarachad wrote:Gday all,

Just wandering how some of the more experienced and successfull guys go about their detecting? Ive been spending a fair bit of time on the ground lately with nothing to show for it, i know im in decent areas (old workings, leases nearby etc) but just cant seem to score a thing Im thinking its the way i go about it maybe.

I generally park the car up and basically wander for hours on end and must cover 5km's plus at a time i reckon. I generally check all the likely looking spots (gullys, around workings,around contact zones etc), the not so likely spots and make a real effort to detect the harder to get to areas (overgrown areas, steep areas etc). Now i generally only do a pass or 2 over theese areas (low and slow) before meandering on to the next spot that takes my fancy. Now i obviously cover a lot of ground this way but dont really cover any one spot real well, is that where im going wrong??? Should i be picking a spot and meticulously covering that completely before moving onto the next?

Ive been getting quite frustrated lately so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

that is the same with me, i park car up and wander for up to 8 hours. thanks for all the replies to this guys, i will trying again this weekend and see what i turn up this time.

Jack

If i'm ever out your way and passin thru to cooly or further mate, lets meet up for a chat.

2 hrs chattin to me equals 40 yrs experience in ya flute, course if we could put some ground work in
that would cut the curve real drastic like..

We met once only for a brief chat one day last year, you seemed to put up with my stank
so hey, when are ya next into the Ptown mate, send me a pm and lets catch up for a chat.

Pete

PS its not that hard with the right ammo

Hi pilbarachad,

I can't add much to the great advice and encouragement you have gotten.
Perhaps my small tip is more suited to GPX's etc,
but I have found one of the most overlooked aspects of detecting is not
paying close attention to ground balancing properly.
Now that being said, I don't know the first thing about ground balancing an Extreme,
so perhaps someone can jump in and educate us both.

In any case,
best wishes and don't lose your good attitude.

Flak

Balancing the GP Extreme/3000 is the same technique as all other machines "ie" pumping etc,
with the only difference being you must put the switch into Tracking and keep your finger on
the switch as you pump up n down to balance, then without lifting the coil up from the ground
when balance is achieved you flick back into Fixed GB.

Pete