A debt of gratitude to Mr. Bill..........

[Mark Sowder]

I have been bending Mr. Bill's ear for years about machines, and trying and experiementing in bad soil with PI units, VLF's, All metal VLF, FBS, etc. Today I received a Goldquest SS V.2 from Mr. Bill and had a full working knowlege of the unit from my correspondance with him and reading all the posts here on the forum. I used a HH pi quite a bit on the beaches in VA and NC, and it was fantastic, but it's combo setting lacked the versatility of the Goldquest and inability to go to DD coils limited its on land use for me in Purple dirt of Northern VA.

After unpacking it, I set up a rod mount with Velcro that is stable yet allows adjustment and some give to the headphone pigtail and cable connector incase I snag it on a branch. I am currently setting up three more identical rods for use with an 11 inch Minelab DD and 8 inch mono, and getting a 12x15 DD (used at 15us and above) and this rod mounted setup will allow for rapid changes in the field.

I highly recommend speaking with Mr. Bill at Surfscanner, and commend Eric Foster for a beautifully thought out and constructed unit that with a rod and coil feel like a Tesoro unit. I took it out in the yard, and my arm was not long enough for it to find the max distance on a nickle (exaggeration) but it was doing at least 14 inches set at minimum reject and mid SAT setting. This is going to be a great cannon ball machine and can't wait to go to the old fields that Scott from Maine and I hunted with 20 other machines and the deepest we could find a mini ball was 6 inches. Like hunting on a battleship.

If I can develope an ear for this I would use it most of the time, but will keep an MXT for kicks.

Now if someone could get me a six inch DD coil I would love to use it in the old camp sites.

Mark Sowder

 

[Eric Foster]

Hi Mark,

Great pictures, and a well thought out adaptation to shaft mount. Hope you do well with the unit.

Eric.

 

[Mr.Bill]

n/t

 

[Mark Sowder]

n/t

 

[Old California]

Beautiful setup Mark, I have a setup almost like yours, Picked it up from Scott when he lived in AZ a few years ago. The housing is different but it is Scotts old GQ SS with an added filter.

To help protect the plastic lid to the Goldquest SS V.2, Try to use the Whites protective rubber bumpers. They will help keep the plastic housing from scratching and keep the unit off the ground.

If you can, Try to get an inline probe if possible, I've found it to be a big help out in the field.

Congrats with your SS V.2.
Paul (Ca)

 

[Mark Sowder]

I just got a pack of those from Radio Shack yesterday, quite a coincidence. I also bought some thin guage aluminum tubing and was going to make a circular stand with a flat bottom surrounding the box to attach inline with the armcup bolt, after dipping it in black liquid vinyl. I'm really looking forward to going over all my old haunts with this set up and have an 11 inch DD and 8 inch mono to try also. Reg and I have been discussing the machine and he has given me some helpful tips also as has Scott. I have been talking to Reg also about a six inch DD coil to see how that might do in special cases. Good to hear from you,


Mark