montana

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About montana

  • Birthday 08/02/1945

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    Yarnell Az

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  1. Steve and Chris. I've been saying it for years, the detector business is the only type of electronics manufacturer that is still stuck in the dark ages. cell phones , Ipads, computers etc. are all re-designed at least yearly with cutting edge technology upgrades. So POWERFUL and so cheap. The technology is there but the engineers with the PASSION go where the money and the glory is. I too am deeply grateful to our military and very happy that many of the guys are back home from Iraq or on their way and will be home for Christmas . There could not have been many pleasant days for them over there . Thanks!!!!----Bob
  2. Steve. Obsessive compulsive is exactly what Betsy calls my passions in life, and I must agree with her. I have discovered salmon and steelhead fishing here in Ca, and I've been making the 100 mile round trip every other day for weeks now. What a blast !!! The gold can wait for the time being but I'm going to have to find some gold to cover expenses soon. Here's a nice steelie I caught today 31 inches long and 9.5 Lbs. I hope the casting is keeping my arm in shape for detecting.----Bob
  3. Hey Bob,

    How are you doing?

    Just checking in. I haven't been on Rob's forum much lately since i have been in NV.

    I never told you it was good seeing you all at the Placerville show.. hope you are doing well.

    I may be going to New Zealand soon, And maybe i will get to go over to OZ... do you know anyone over there who is in business that is legit th...

  4. Reno Chris. The favorable ground extends to surrounding countries also. There will be more gold rushes in that part of Africa as people wake up to what is going on geologicly.---Bob
  5. CH. The 4000 is a fantastic starter for sure and will continue to be an excellant detector for years to come. No need to feel that you need to upgrade that's for sure.----Bob
  6. You certainly could auto tune first and manual tune from there . Like I said , I prefer to start at some point in the low 100s and tweek it up or down from there . I don't manually work through all the settings. Usually within a few clicks I find a suitable setting. I have found that almost without exception the best setting will be between 100 and 150. Sometimes I hit on a number that is extremely noisey but one more click away and it goes dead quiet. As I got used to manually tuning I found that it is much faster than auto tuning. Colorado gold man. It is possible that there could be a slight loss or gain of sensitivity depending on the number selected. Others have suggested this and there was a long thread on one of the Aussie forums about this. I spent hours checking it out by checking a target on each number . My results were inconclusive at best, but there were a few spots where I thought I could hear the target a tiny bit better, but at the same time the EMI increased to unacceptable levels. Even if there actually was something to this, I would rather run on the quietest setting I could find rather than stopping all the time to recheck random blips . I don't think sending your detector in at this point would be wise as I doubt that there is a problem with it if this was the only quirk you have noticed with it. You could run it warbling like crazy and find gold no problem if you don't go batty first. The dead smooth threshold that can be achieved with the GPXs and especially the GPX5000 has left me with no regrets about making the expensive upgrades. I want detecting to be a pleasant experience since I spend so much time doing it. The ratty threshold on the older machines just made me give up at times in frustration.----bob
  7. NVdirtdigger. The numbers depend on the type of interference and the proximity to the source. I really don't think there is any set of numbers which would apply to all locations. If you were to always hunt the same area there may very well be a certain range that would work the best. If you are trying to tune out another detector , the numbers would be far different than trying to tune out a power line or radar. I pay no attention really to what the number is that is working at the moment because sometime during the day it often changes. This would apply to all the GPXs . If you had it in your mind that you needed to keep the numbers between 90 and 110 there would surely come a time where numbers in that range wouldn't give you good results. With the GPxs the incredible amount of adjustability is what sets them apart from the older models. Along with that comes an increased need to know the detector well enough to recognize when something just isn't quite right and to know what to do to get it right . They are great detectors using just the factory presets and beginners or casual hobbyists can do fine with those settings but as time goes by and the detector is better understood , there can be many ways to maximize the potential of the machine. I lift the coil a few feet off the ground and point it toward the horizon since that is the position where the most EMI is picked up while tuning. You could , as some suggest, increase the gain and raise the stabilizer numbers to make the detector hypersensitive or switch to patch mode which does the same thing before tuning. I haven't found that neccesary so far but it would make the threshold even smoother if you could tune out all the EMI with it hypered up.----Bob
  8. I'll add another tip here. Once you get used to the GPX5000, forget the autotuner altogether! Use the manual tuner! It is way faster and much more effective than autotuning and I have yet to find a place where I can't get the threshold dead smooth. Once you get used to using the manual tuner it only takes seconds to find the best setting and it will be far better setting than the autotuner picks. I suspect that the 4500 and the 4000 would be better manual tuned also, I just never messed with it much, and trusted that the autotuner was doing what it was supposed to do. I think the problem with the auto tuner is that it scans way too fast as it zips through the entire range of frequencies. This would work on a steady EMI source , but it's those random spikes and wobbles that are the real annoying and distracting disturbances and the autotuner could not possibly pick up on those at the speed which it scans.I have found that you don't have to check all the frequencies, but just a few. I start at around 125 and usually within ten clicks up or down I find a real quiet spot. I then leave my screen set to manual tune as I detect and if I hear any EMI creeping in a click or two of the right knob fixes it and I do this without even looking at the controls. One or two seconds and I'm re-tuned with a smooth threshold. This has made detecting much more enjoyable for me and i think it would be well worth anybodies time to learn to do this quickly and efficiently. I'm not saying that the autotuner is bad , but it is just looking for something that it can't possibly find at the speed which it is scanning. A slower manual scan through a few frequencies seems to be far more effective and quicker than a fast scan through hundreds of frequencies. The autotuner works well with a constant EMI source like a nearby powerline or another nearby PI detector, but those intermittant, random spikes are best tuned out by the operator.----Bob
  9. Rob, Good thing you brought that up about the timing settings.Some people don't understand that you have to have the switch set on special to use the fine gold timing . Even though the screen may read "Fine Gold", if the switch is in the normal or enhanced position you are NOT in fine gold timing. It would have been better if the 6 special timings didn't appear on the screen while the switch is on enhanced or normal position. On the other switch, it would have been better to just label it 1,2,3, than deep,general, custom. As you stated, those two things cause the most confusion.----Bob
  10. Benz. It doesn't seem surprising any more to find out that in some countries mineral wealth has been ignored . They' ve been so preoccupied with holy wars , tribal squabbles, and just trying to scrounge a meager living that they simply missed the fact that there is wealth all around them. Just imagine what it would be like to try to detect in some of those areas where war has been a way of life for hundreds of years. Might be a few bullets lying around, not to mention bomb schrapnel and land mines . I don't think there will be another detector rush in Afghanistan like we saw in Sudan, but there will surely be rushes in some more peaceful countries as more people in backwards areas stumble onto these gold forums and realize the potential right in their own backyards . ----Bob
  11. Rick and Robin. Nice gold!!!! The half ouncer is just around the corner. Betsy has done it twice.Both were on patches I thought I had pretty much cleaned out.----Bob
  12. Doc. Your stepping up to bat for those who are having problems and let it be known is great , but what about those folks who don't frequent the forums or who silently sit in frustration waiting for their detector to get fixed right? Does the wheel have to be squeaking loudly to get some grease ? It shouldn't be that way . Everyone should expect good service without having someone intervene on their behalf. Did you inform Gary of the scope of the problem? Those who have related their bad service experiences are for the most part a handfull of frequent forum regulars . What about the thousands of Minelab owners out there who never post on the forums? The problem has to be huge. -----Bob
  13. With bees, one has to understand what they are doing when you encounter them. The big fast moving clouds of bees are called a swarm . They are in the process of moving the colony , and very rarely attack and sting. Feeding bees rarely launch an attack . Bees at a waterhole getting a drink rarely attack. The one situation that is really dangerous is when you get too close to a hive . They will defend it and the queen fiercely. I watch out for bees flying around the entrance of a small cave or opening in the rocks. A hollow tree is a favorite place for a hive. Steer clear of any bunch of bees around a tree trunk. Ron didn't get stung because that was swarming bees . I often find myself in a swarm and don't worry about it. I also often have to step over water holes where bees are watering, and don't worry about it. I also don't worry about sitting under a Palo verde tree where bees are feeding on the nectar from the flowers. I heard recently that the Africanized bees aren't nearly as fierce as they were 10 years ago. As they hybridize with the much mellower domestic bees and the wild north american bees the fierce aggressiveness is slowly getting bred out of them generation by generation. That being said, I agree that bees are more of a threat to prospectors than Mountain lions.----Bob
  14. If you take your dog detecting be sure to train him not to sniff your coil. Those dog tags can blow your ears out. Also in Az you have to watch for Javelinas . My friend Ronnie took his dog detecting one day and it chased some Javelinas. They had some babies in the herd and they turned on the dog . Ronnie rushed the dog to the vet and it took 43 stitches to close up the wounds. Myself, I detect alone all the time in lion and snake country. Never give the lions a second thought. I worry more about breaking a leg than anything. I watch where I step or put my hands while in snakey looking places. I never pack a gun. I have plenty of them , but would rather use the weight savings to pack an extra bottle of water. You are way more likely to die of thirst than to get eaten by a lion. We have bears even down here in the desert and I've seen more of them than lions . They were all moving as fast as they could to get away from me. Honestly, On my list of dangerous things are : breaking down in the desert, breaking a leg, getting stuck, running out of water. The last thing I worry about are the animals. I maintain my vehicles to the MAX. I really watch my footing and despite the care I've always taken, I've still taken some bad spills and that really scares me. I've had a broken leg and I know that nobody is going to make it very far before they either go into shock or pass out. All in all I feel that I'm much safer in the desert than in any city. I'll pack a gun in the city .-----Bob
  15. hey guys, Just click on the photo . it will enlarge.-----Bob