Sven
Well-known member
Looked outside this morning, saw frost, opened the door for the cats, they refused to go out for even a second.
Checked the weather forecast. Brrr 29 degrees, freezing rain on the way.
Thinking to myself, not going out, decided to tinker.
grabbed the Tesoro Toltec II, replaced the internal 1 turn ground balance control with a multi-turn. Only pot I could find in my stash was a 25 turn.
Preset it to Tesoro 1 turn trimpot preset and soldered it in place. Turned it sideways just a bit so the adjustment screw can be seen in the hole in the control housing.
After all that, was still itching to get out. Now 11:45 am, outside temp still 29 degrees.
The urge to see what the Toltec was going to be like, got the best of me. Bundled up good, grabbed my gear and headed off to a schoolyard. Got out of the car, wind was
blowing, gee colder than I thought. Put on my extra layer of clothing, hunting jacket. Walked over to the grassy area and started to play. Set the GB slightly neg, this machine is has a nice smooth threshold. One reason I like older analog detectors. 15 minutes go by and dug a number of targets, some pennies and trash. Felt like it was getting colder by the minute and didn't know how long the batteries were going to last in the cold. Switched my hunting from all metal to disc. mode. Not digging anything that the meter shows in the foil range or below. Going to cherry pick targets that fall right on the edge of nickel and pull tab line and on up.
Spent 2 1/2 hours digging targets, managed some good clad finds. Loonies and Toonies always fall in the yellow meter area. Depending upon composition, they will lock on or on left to right sweep will lock, and sweeping back over will drop into the green nickel meter segment. My feet and hands were now getting way too cold, it was time to quit, sneakers and a few pairs of socks don't cut it. Will have to go out and get a pair insulated (non steel arch) boots. Dug one last penny, then headed off to the car. Good timing, just then the freezing rain began to fall.
Now this is the first time out with my s-handle replacement mod, and mounting the control box under the armrest. The Toltec is still a bit heavy but, balances perfectly, after the hunt, my elbow had no complaints. If you plan on doing a similar mod, would suggest as I am going to do is build a rear control box support. Have the new support absorb all the weight when the detector in set on the ground.. Currently all the weight is being placed on the front edge of the control box. There could be a possiblity of breaking the box mounting bracket if too much down pressure is placed on the s-handle.
This was my second time out with the Toltec and found it a very enjoyable detector to use, definitely a keeper.
Checked the weather forecast. Brrr 29 degrees, freezing rain on the way.
Thinking to myself, not going out, decided to tinker.
grabbed the Tesoro Toltec II, replaced the internal 1 turn ground balance control with a multi-turn. Only pot I could find in my stash was a 25 turn.
Preset it to Tesoro 1 turn trimpot preset and soldered it in place. Turned it sideways just a bit so the adjustment screw can be seen in the hole in the control housing.
After all that, was still itching to get out. Now 11:45 am, outside temp still 29 degrees.
The urge to see what the Toltec was going to be like, got the best of me. Bundled up good, grabbed my gear and headed off to a schoolyard. Got out of the car, wind was
blowing, gee colder than I thought. Put on my extra layer of clothing, hunting jacket. Walked over to the grassy area and started to play. Set the GB slightly neg, this machine is has a nice smooth threshold. One reason I like older analog detectors. 15 minutes go by and dug a number of targets, some pennies and trash. Felt like it was getting colder by the minute and didn't know how long the batteries were going to last in the cold. Switched my hunting from all metal to disc. mode. Not digging anything that the meter shows in the foil range or below. Going to cherry pick targets that fall right on the edge of nickel and pull tab line and on up.
Spent 2 1/2 hours digging targets, managed some good clad finds. Loonies and Toonies always fall in the yellow meter area. Depending upon composition, they will lock on or on left to right sweep will lock, and sweeping back over will drop into the green nickel meter segment. My feet and hands were now getting way too cold, it was time to quit, sneakers and a few pairs of socks don't cut it. Will have to go out and get a pair insulated (non steel arch) boots. Dug one last penny, then headed off to the car. Good timing, just then the freezing rain began to fall.
Now this is the first time out with my s-handle replacement mod, and mounting the control box under the armrest. The Toltec is still a bit heavy but, balances perfectly, after the hunt, my elbow had no complaints. If you plan on doing a similar mod, would suggest as I am going to do is build a rear control box support. Have the new support absorb all the weight when the detector in set on the ground.. Currently all the weight is being placed on the front edge of the control box. There could be a possiblity of breaking the box mounting bracket if too much down pressure is placed on the s-handle.
This was my second time out with the Toltec and found it a very enjoyable detector to use, definitely a keeper.