I took a GS 5 for a walk in a park

[Reg]

Hi All,

Well, I posted this on a different forum but decided to post it here also. Now, I recently added the ability to be able to turn off either of the tones and as such, I wanted to see how well it would work in a park. Well, I will let you decide.

I ended up stopping at a spot where the grass was about gone because the park was somewhat crowded and that location was empty. Anyway, once out of the car and ready to start, I noticed someone had dug a few older bottle caps, so I used them as a test target and set the ground balance such the caps were ignored when operating using the low tone only. I then checked to make sure I could readily detect a dime and once that was determined ok, I headed of hunting in the low tone only.

I only spent about a half hour total but it was enough to let me know how well it worked. In that half hour, I dug 8 objects, which included the following; 1 screwcap, one copper fitting, 1 clad dime, 3 newer pennies, and two mercury silver dimes, a 1918 and a 1944. Ironically, the 1944 was the deeper of the two at about 8 inches or so. The 1918 was about 6 inches deep.

The nice thing was I dug no other trash at all. I could have dug a lot more surface coins but decided to try to target objects I felt were deeper. That is how I ended up with the copper fitting which was down about 5 inches or so.

Anyway, I haven't coin hunted for some time because it has been getting harder to find any silver. So, today was a fun day.

Although I only spent a short time, I have decided I now want a tone reversing switch on my older GS 5 and I need to build a smaller coil. So, those two items are on my list of things to do.

I did try operating with both tones but that drove me nuts. Besides I couldn't tell the low tones from the high ones after a while. Operating in the low tone only was really quiet. I also reduced the threshold so the detector ran almost as quiet as a top notch VLF discriminator, except the GS 5 did a better job of discriminating iron junk.

The GS 5 is turning out to be a nice detector for coin hunting.

Reg

 

[AmericanGMaxx]

Thats the way it should be. That switch is a great addition. So many high tones in a park.

 

[alex]

for gold only ? No coins or siver only gold tone.....??
alex.

 

[Reg]

Hi Alex,

I am sorry to say that that doesn't appear to be possible. Gold, especially nuggets or even rings for that matter vary greatly, so some react much like coins, while others react more like the trash items. That is what makes it so difficult. A nice heavy ring or nugget will be detected just like the coins, while very small nuggets in the gram or two range, or very thin rings can respond much more like the iron junk. It is this small stuff that will be the hardest to separate from the trash. I think there is an answer to this problem also, but it will take a while to find.

Now, the coin technique will work in a gold field and work well providing the ground mineralization isn't the absolute worst. Even then, just raising the coil a little will minimize that problem. I also think that when set up to find coins, it will also find $5 gold coins and larger. Unfortunately, I also suspect the smaller $1 and $2 1/2 gold coins will be ignored.

When iron is ignored, the ground balance is very close to ideal, but not perfect, so there can be some ground signal in the worst cases. Here in the US, I don't see it to be a problem in most places, but I can't speak for what would happen in OZ.

Keep in mind this doesn't just id iron but actually causes the detector to appear to ignore iron. You can pass over a tin can, a washer, a bottle cap, a screwdriver, or a pair of pliers and simply get no response at all yet sound off nice and clear on low tone objects such as coins or larger nuggets. That is the beauty of this simple mod.

Reg

 

[alex]

n/t

 

[Reg]

Hi All,

I couldn't stand it and had to take the modified GS 5 to the park again even though I only had about 20 minutes hunt time to spare. That is the problem with having to work for a living and 12 hour shifts don't leave much time to begin with.

Anyway, in the short time, I dug no trash, a few newer pennies, a cheap earring, and a nice 1914D Barber dime. This finding silver is getting fun. I just hope it keeps up.

A few months ago, if someone would have told me to hunt a park with a PI I would have thought they were crazy. Even with the high tone/low tone separation it is difficult and even borders on impossible in real trashy areas. However this ability to turn off a tone is the cat's meow. It makes all the difference in the world.

Reg

 

[Reg]

Hi All,

Well, I couldn't stand it and so it was back to the local city park. I wasn't there more than 5 minutes when I dug up this massive gold ring that weighs 44.5 grams. It is obviously very old.

Now, to top it off, I did find two Indian head pennies, two Mercury dimes, a few wheatbacks, and some newer change. For junk, I dug 1 small piece of wire, one screw cap, one button, and one dart tip.

All of this was done in less than an hour.

I am getting real spoiled with this GS 5.

Reg

 

[GoldenRoyBoy]

Man, that ring's a beaut! You paid for your detector too!
Great story; great hunt!

GRB

 

[Eric Foster]

Well done Reg. That ring makes it all worth while. What is the stone?

Is this park well hunted by other detectorists?

Eric.

 

[Reg]

Hi Eric,

I found the ring in the local city park that has been hunted to death by people with detectors. My guess is it probably ID on a TID VLF detector as something between a pull tab and a screw cap or maybe something close to that. Larger gold will do that depending upon the size and shape. It was a very loud signal so I am sure people had detected it before, but passed it as junk. So, it is difficult to say just how many people passed it up.

The stone appears to be a high quality turquoise of all things. I was hoping it was 18K but it appears to be 14K. At least, that is what the stamp appears to say.

What is also turning out to be great is how well the GS 5 is working out in finding silver and old copper coins. I am finding many more now per hour than I used to find many years ago when I decided to quit coin hunting. It used to take me a couple of days to find the same amount of older coins in this park. So, it is clear the GS 5 is detecting coins deeper than my previous coin detectors, since even I hunted this area quite well before.

Now, I have the sound dialed in on the older and deeper coins. I am now sort of cherry picking the good sounds that I feel are silver coins. The older deeper coins have a nice smooth mellow sound to them that is easy to distinguish.

Reg

 

[AmericanGMaxx]

The same thing holds true for relic hunting. It ia all about the sound and how you hear it.

 

[Reg]

Gmax,

You are going to love the single tone only mode if you get it added. I can't describe just how much more effective it makes the ability to differentiate targets.

Reg

 

[alex]

n/t

 

[gef12]

Hi Reg
Ye well done mate ... nice looking ring .. keep it up ... will be out there soon I hopes swinging the magic wand
gef

 

[fredm]

WOW!!! that is a great ring Reg...you have certainly tweaked your machines to get the max proformance from your gs5's....gold and "turgoise" is unusal and very beautiful....coin hunting with a PI machine on dryland, amazing! you da man.

Fred