Hi all from across the pond! I've recently acquired a Tesoro Scout (renamed 'Laser' Scout in the UK) and I'm looking to convert it to the 'Thames' version. This was a conversion available for seaching high trash areas particularly the river Thames in the UK. It involved a slight modification of the circuitry and utilising the 4" coil with the 5 pin connector.
Does anyone have one or know of someone who has one of these gathering dust & who would be willing to sell it? I'm exploring all avenues in the UK but they are very limited especially as the company no longer exists. Thanks for reading guys & do contact me if you can help. Regards Mark.

Mark Crane said:

Hi all from across the pond! I've recently acquired a Tesoro Scout (renamed 'Laser' Scout in the UK) and I'm looking to convert it to the 'Thames' version. This was a conversion available for seaching high trash areas particularly the river Thames in the UK. It involved a slight modification of the circuitry and utilising the 4" coil with the 5 pin connector.
Does anyone have one or know of someone who has one of these gathering dust & who would be willing to sell it? I'm exploring all avenues in the UK but they are very limited especially as the company no longer exists. Thanks for reading guys & do contact me if you can help. Regards Mark.

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I thought you werent allowed to detect the Thames ??? I thought it was eye only ???

Donna(NJ said:

I thought you werent allowed to detect the Thames ??? I thought it was eye only ???

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Hi Donna, I hold a standard permit which allows me to detect on permitted areas. I can still only dig to 3” (7.5cm).

You have my Interest.
Having never been across the pond.
(And today not sure I'd want to).

I had to look up that machine.
Never heard of it.


It runs and sounds like the Compadre.
With a sensitivity pot mod.

I have the Compadre and Mojave.

Get your hands on both.
Do the sens pot mod and coil plug mod on the Compadre.

And between the two you can run most every coil made of 4 & 5 pin series.

The Mojave I believe was the best machine they made of the sweet beep and digs.
It's mineralization switch is perfect.

This video is frustrating to me.
He sets his disc in iron.
I wish he would have taken the time to show just where the coins disc out thumbing the pot.
I'm certain they came in around foil for the gold and higher for the other coins.
I run mine just above iron and below foil.

To me these machines are the best ever made in nail infested sites.
The only thing that fools mine are copper and aluminum bits of wire.

Digging only a few inches.
You don't need more than 3-5 on the sensitivity.
And will still hit hard on a copper penny at 5-6 inches.

I see much more tonality at that setting especially with headphones.
Most won't run headphones for how loud they are.
I use headphones with a volume control.
And Good headphones really bring out those subtle unique sounds.

And what makes the Thames so special to be off limits ?
I thought y'all finding history was more important over there.

Do they have treasure police watching 24/7 measuring your holes ?

If you do go this route.
PLEASE DO NOT.
Mess with the discrimination micro pot on the circuit board.
These were precisely tuned at the factory.
You'll Never get it right again if you mess the adjustment up.

Good Luck in your adventures.
Hope to see more of your finds post here.

Mark Crane said:

Hi Donna, I hold a standard permit which allows me to detect on permitted areas. I can still only dig to 3” (7.5cm).

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Who's measuring ??? ))))))))

Guess something is better than nothing. I sold my 4" hockey puck to Bill in California. Maybe he wants to sell it !!!!
How do you get a permit ??? I have hunted Norwich area many times. Mudlarking sounds interesting.

Good Luck,
Donna

Odanscoils said:

You have my Interest.
Having never been across the pond.
(And today not sure I'd want to).

I had to look up that machine.
Never heard of it.


It runs and sounds like the Compadre.
With a sensitivity pot mod.

I have the Compadre and Mojave.

Get your hands on both.
Do the sens pot mod and coil plug mod on the Compadre.

And between the two you can run most every coil made of 4 & 5 pin series.

The Mojave I believe was the best machine they made of the sweet beep and digs.
It's mineralization switch is perfect.

This video is frustrating to me.
He sets his disc in iron.
I wish he would have taken the time to show just where the coins disc out thumbing the pot.
I'm certain they came in around foil for the gold and higher for the other coins.
I run mine just above iron and below foil.

To me these machines are the best ever made in nail infested sites.
The only thing that fools mine are copper and aluminum bits of wire.

Digging only a few inches.
You don't need more than 3-5 on the sensitivity.
And will still hit hard on a copper penny at 5-6 inches.

I see much more tonality at that setting especially with headphones.
Most won't run headphones for how loud they are.
I use headphones with a volume control.
And Good headphones really bring out those subtle unique sounds.

And what makes the Thames so special to be off limits ?
I thought y'all finding history was more important over there.

Do they have treasure police watching 24/7 measuring your holes ?

If you do go this route.
PLEASE DO NOT.
Mess with the discrimination micro pot on the circuit board.
These were precisely tuned at the factory.
You'll Never get it right again if you mess the adjustment up.

Good Luck in your adventures.
Hope to see more of your finds post here.

Click to expand...

Hi Odanscoils,
Many thanks for your reply and the technical information on the Compadre. If you're familiar with the Tesoro range the Scout is similar to the Rapier but without pinpoint mode or threshold control.
It's just a switch on & go machine but has incredibly good discrimination, especially when fitted with the 4" coil narrowing down the search area to a few centimetres. An area as small as this doesnt require a pinpointing facility.

The Tesoro Scout was re-badged as 'Laser Scout' for the UK market and the Laser Scout Thames edition evolved as a specialist modification of the standard Tesoro-designed Scout model, specifically engineered for the challenging, iron-infested conditions of the Thames foreshore in the UK. We still have a chap who used to work for the UK branch of Tesoro who can re-tweak a standard Scout to give it maximum performance with the 4" coil.

The evolution of the standard Laser Scout to the specialized Thames edition was driven by the specific needs of "mudlarks" who are licensed members of the public who are actively involved in searching the Thames foreshore for items of historical interest. Most search 'eyes only' but there are a few who actively use detectors which come under the standard foreshore permit. They required a machine capable of effectively detecting targets of interest amidst a high concentration of iron and other historical debris and the simplicity of the Scout fitted the bill perfectly.

What makes the Thames so special is that it contains the history and detritus of human occupation going back to 50AD with the Romans being the first settlers. As a result the Thames is classed as an archeological site hence anyone activly searching the foreshore for historic items requires a permit from the Port Of London Authority. In answer to your question 'Do they have treasure police' yes the PLA do have regular spot checks for anyone activly digging on the foreshore. Its not an arrestable offence but they can confiscate your permit (if you have one for another area), remove you from the site, and theoretically prosecute you for breaching their bylaws, potentially leading to fines, as it's illegal to search without one.

Detectorists in the UK have been arrested & imprisoned for removing items from arceological sites & attempting to sell them on privately instead of declaring them to the local Finds Liason Officer who will insure they go through the proper pathways of recording and preservation. 95% of detectorists/Mudlarks are honest folk & will declare their findings but theres always the few that are in it for a quick profit. Thankfully they are in the minority. There is always the concern of foreshore erosion if holes/trenches are dug too deep. Before permits were issued folk could dig without restriction on depth and in the early days (70's/80's) there was no restriction on what could be taken and precious little was recorded & lost to history hence there is now a limit to the depth of digging to preserve the integrity of the foreshore.

Going back to your advice re not messing with the micro pot I'll definitely not be playing with any detector adjustments myself, I'll leave that to our resident expert here in the UK!

Thanks again for your interest and technical advice! I will also make sure i get headphones with a decent volume control! I will indeed post photos & videos of my future outings with the Scout!
Best wishes
Mark

Donna(NJ said:

Who's measuring ??? ))))))))

Guess something is better than nothing. I sold my 4" hockey puck to Bill in California. Maybe he wants to sell it !!!!
How do you get a permit ??? I have hunted Norwich area many times. Mudlarking sounds interesting.

Good Luck,
Donna

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Hi Donna, The rules on depth of digging came in to preserve the fragility of the embankments and to preserve history that might otherwise get washed away should the structure of the embankment be compromised due to too much excavating.
Its a rule that the greater majoroty of mudlarks are happy with as we realise too much digging can alter a very fragile foreshore. You can still find lots of relics in the top few inches of the soil and with every set of tides (2x daily) something new always appears!
With regard to acquiring a permit there are 4,000 annual permits live at any one time and as the waiting list has surpassed 10,000 the PLA have temporarily paused the acceptance of new applications.
I hope you had good success in Norwich?
Best wishes
Mark

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Mark Crane said:

Hi Donna, The rules on depth of digging came in to preserve the fragility of the embankments and to preserve history that might otherwise get washed away should the structure of the embankment be compromised due to too much excavating.
Its a rule that the greater majoroty of mudlarks are happy with as we realise too much digging can alter a very fragile foreshore. You can still find lots of relics in the top few inches of the soil and with every set of tides (2x daily) something new always appears!
With regard to acquiring a permit there are 4,000 annual permits live at any one time and as the waiting list has surpassed 10,000 the PLA have temporarily paused the acceptance of new applications.
I hope you had good success in Norwich?
Best wishes
Mark

​

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OK thx for an explaination I heard & read about Mudlarking. Would be an extra ad on to the normal detecting trip. Havrnt been in 3-4 years do to family issues. Hoping I get to go this year.
Norwich has been very good to me over the years. Nice assortment from bronze age axe up 20th century silver. 2 gold coins, one gold mourning ring and lots of nice hammies, Recent standouts,
Queen Mary groat with full bust, William the conqueror penny, Henry 8th sixpence. Its always great fun detecting in England.

Cheers,
Donna(

Donna(NJ said:

OK thx for an explaination I heard & read about Mudlarking. Would be an extra ad on to the normal detecting trip. Havrnt been in 3-4 years do to family issues. Hoping I get to go this year.
Norwich has been very good to me over the years. Nice assortment from bronze age axe up 20th century silver. 2 gold coins, one gold mourning ring and lots of nice hammies, Recent standouts,
Queen Mary groat with full bust, William the conqueror penny, Henry 8th sixpence. Its always great fun detecting in England.

Cheers,
Donna(

Click to expand...

You can potentially search most rivers if you have permission from the owner of the land the river runs through but the Thames comes under a professional jurisdiction hence the permits required.
There are still companies that provide organised group trips to the foreshore so you learn the history as well as potentially finding something worth while.
It does definitely sound like Norwich has beeen kind to you! Most of us can only dream of the variety of finds you have collected!
Good luck with future trips to England, theres still plenty of treasures yet to be found!
Best wishes
Mark.
Ps, if you're still in touch with Bill, do ask him if he wants to sell the 4" coil to me!