Anyone use a Fisher two-box?

[parrott]

Years ago I used a Vacuum-tube Fisher two-box (The boxes are separated by a five-ft pole)
Metallascope for prospecting.

For placer I used it to detect pockets or zones of magnetite and other heavy ferromagnetic
black sands that weathered out of the Volcanic county-rock in the Great Basin Provence of
Nevada, parts of California, Utah. Arizona and Idaho; but I mostly used it in searching in
California and Nevada..

A two-box punches deep; 5 to 10 ft. and can be set to follow accumulations of
magnetic black sands (Magnetite and other black-sand) that are associated with gold due to
both having higher specific gravity.

The Vacuum-tubes were replaced by transistors during the 1950s and the Fisher Gemini-series
are much improved. My tube-type Fisher needed expensive short life high-voltage batteries
to drive the five vacuum tubes and a replacement battery lasts only about 8-9 hours hours and
cost about $50/each. A two-box needs two; one in the transmitter box and one in the receiver box.
The Gemini-series only needs rechargeable AAA batteries and the unit is much lighter in
weight and has VCO and other mods...

I know their are Gemini-users out there? Anyone wish to post their success? This could
make a good thread about the prospecting virtues of a Fisher two-box.

 

[Mega]

I own and use occasionally a TW-5 twin box setup,i was lucky that someone had bought one including the 4ft pole and had never used it,so i was able to pick this unit up for peanuts and i mean very cheap about the same price as a stock 10'' coil,so you can see it was a bargain.

What do i use it for,well not the same type of detecting that you would use it for but i would use it for hoard hunting,currently have 2 potential deep hoard sites that are currently under crop,one is a Celtic gold stater and the other is a roman silver dinari scattered hoard,have picked up scattered coins with a VLF detector and by working out the pattern from the way the coins have been dragged by the plough you can try and work out what would be the centre of the possible container,not been back onto the site for 6 months as the crops are still in the ground.

Will it do the job in hand,well these twin box setup are certainly very deep,would i have bought one at the full market price ?? i doubt that i would have done as one has to take into account the cost/use and return on the investment for a special use machine.Then one also has to take into account the reward to effort ratio as digging down really deep is not fun,so one has to have done ones research and stack the odds in your favour,as all it would take is one decent find/s to make it all worth while.

They are not difficult as such to use,the skill is when too use them more than anything and getting the best from them and i guess understanding what they are telling you,these machines are basically for a specific use,are they any better than say a big heavy hitter Pulse machine,my reply would be they can be much deeper but of course only on bigger targets and the bigger the target the deeper they go,so basically total rubbish on single coins,but as you would have found the stray coins with a normal VLF/PI machine all ready then the twin box should then locate the bigger targets that is of course they are in the ground in the first place.

This is how i would use a twin box setup or why i own one in my detecting arsenal,of course we all have different target uses for them,as we dont have gold fields as such in the UK then we would use them for hoards etc,some countries dont have either so they would then be used for the commercial side of locating gas pipes.