TIPS and Information

for Prospectors and Treasure Hunters.

HEADPHONES AND WHICH ARE BEST. ## Constantly we are asked which are the best headphones to use. This is a hard question to answer. It can vary with different detectors. One headphone will work better on a particular detector but not as good on another unit. Trial and error is usually the best way to find out. What suits one person, will not necessary be O.K. for someone else. I would recommend to start with headphones that have been designed for detecting and carry a detector brand name on them. The reason is similar to video tapes. A company that sells other products and puts their name on accessories can not afford to have shoddy products. This would be like SONY or AKAI putting out bad video tapes. If they had a lot of problems with their tapes, the particular brand name would get bad publicity and sales on their main products would also suffer. This is also the same with headphones. The small cheap lightweight type headphones that are like the ones used on Walkmans, etc are not really suitable for detecting. They will work, but not really effectively. They are not designed to take the wear and tear that they will receive during detecting and generally they do not fit the ears properly which can effect hearing the very faint signals. Make sure that the headphones being used, fit the ears and head properly, as uncomfortable headphones will effect your concentration and could possibly lead to signals being missed. High or low impedance headphones, which ones to use? is a common question. This again depends on the detector. Some models will not work effectively with high impedance headphones, (some won't even work ) and really, only by trying these out on a particular unit can it be determined. I have a particular brand of high impedance headphones that most detectorist haven't heard off, but a client tried them on a Whites Goldmaster 11 and was so surprised at the increase in sensitivity to small targets that he bought them. I have since spoken to him and he is wrapped in the operation of these headphones in the field, giving very good responses on small gold. I must point out, that these headphones are studio quality and retail for approx. $300.00. Remember, headphones play a very important part in detecting, and if you want results, don't be governed just by price. You have probably paid quite a lot for your detector, so don't be let down by your headphones. Remember , you are the one who makes the final decision.

AMERICAN VERSES AUSTRALIAN DETECTORS. ## How many times have you heard some dealers say to buy only Australian detectors as the American detectors have not been designed for our conditions and won't work. Beware of this statement as it is not correct and there could be some ulterior motive behind it. Tell the many users, including professionals, that their detectors will not work because they are American made, and be prepared to be laughed at and possibly some other comments. The Whites Goldmaster II and the new VSAT detector happens to be one of the most used detectors in Australia for locating the smallest pieces of gold. The Fisher Goldbug is about seven years old and has been quite successful here with many numerous finds to its credit. Tesoro detectors have made their presence felt in Australia, and the latest detector, the Dingo was specially designed for our conditions. The Garrett Scorpion has proved itself in the goldfields many times over. A professional in N.T. has purchased a second Scorpion due to the gold being found with it. If you look at past records, more gold has been found in Australia with the Garrett A2B / Groundhog series detector than any other machine. The A2B was the first detector by Garrett, to be designed for our conditions ( that is what the "A" stands for). This is still currently one of the most popular detectors of the earlier designs. Remember, the largest nugget known as "The Hand of Faith", was found in Victoria, by Kevin Hillier with a Garrett Deepseeker which is an American Detector. There were other American detectors previously available in Australia, but didn't shape up so well. This is why they are no longer sold here. The saying, "Time Will Tell", is true and if the American detectors didn't work here, they would not still be available and professionals would not still be using them. This is the same with the coin detectors. Both American and Australian detectors should be considered when purchasing a detector. A detector should be selected for the persons requirements and not just on Brand alone.

LARGE COILS. ## When using the Bob Hollins 18" coil and the Minelab 11" coil, slow your detection speed down. These coils tend to work better when they are used at a slower pace. If high mineralise ground is encountered, try raising your coil a few inches or more above the ground. Believe it or not, you will find that any target picked up will be heard easier. When we were at the Echunga Goldfields, testing out the detectors, we buried a two ounce sinker in fairly high mineralised soil. Several people using these coils during the test were having trouble picking the target. A friend who mainly uses a 18" coil in W.A., told these people to lift their coil higher of the ground and that they should pick it up easier. By doing this, the target was quite easily heard. Just think how many people have detected close to the ground with these coils and if they had known about this, more gold may have been detected.

DISCRIMINATION. ## Many people ask me how much discrimination should they use when detecting in the goldfields and others say that they do not want to pick up rubbish such as wire, pulltabs, etc. but just gold. I'm sorry to say, but my answer to these types of questions are always the same and that is, no discrimination should be used at all. There are numerous types of discrimination available on detectors, but none should be used whilst detecting in the goldfields. The old TR type discrimination loses depth in high mineralisation and has trouble operating in this type of ground. The type of discrimination that uses ferrous modulation and causes the audio to break up when going over iron targets is not reliable. This type of discrimination has indicated iron junk targets when in fact it has been a large target. Motion Discrimination ( sometimes known as G.E.B.) loses depth and any discrimination adjustments can and will lose gold. The only time motion discrimination can be used in the goldfields is when there are a lot of hot rocks about. What you can do if this occurs and these hot rocks are giving signals similar to small nuggets, and your detector has motion discrimination is to ground balance it slightly positive first (that is a slight increase in audio when bringing the coil towards the ground) and then turn it to motion discrimination. Make sure that the discrimination control is turned to off. This is normally fully anticlockwise. By doing this, you will normally not pick up the hot rocks but still will pick up ferrous and nonferrous targets. In this operational mode you will not detect as deep as non motion and not quite as small targets either. This was done in W.A. when grading and all the standard detectors were continually going off over the small hot rocks. One person grabbed his brothers top brand coin detector which was a motion detector and used it in all metal mode. The hot rocks were eliminated, but only metal was detected which was either gold or pieces of the grader blade. If you decide to use this mode of operation for gold prospecting, I must strongly emphasise that no discrimination be used. When coin hunting, it quite a different matter. Discrimination is highly desirable. If using TR discrimination, the coil must be kept at a constant hight. With motion discrimination the coil does not have to be held at a constant height. When using these types of detectors that have a rotary control for discrimination , depth will be affected as this is increased. With the new multiple notch microprocessor controlled discrimination, depth is not affected as any target not wanted and is discriminated out, is just not audibly reported. All other targets are still detected at the same depth as if no discrimination is being used. This is handy, as a very highly conducted target can be discriminated out without affecting depth on lower conductive targets. Several brand of detectors use this form of discrimination. Remember, only use the minimum discrimination that can be gotten away with as to much will help loose good targets.

BACK