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We should donate to R&D...

A

Anonymous

Guest
If I ever hit the lotto or find the gold from the galleon that crashed off Waldport Ore., I would like to create a Research and Developement fund for Eric Foster. Even beter yet, if all who view and appreciate this PI forum sent a dollar or two to an account for r&d, I'm sure that we would all benefit. I would also like to raise enough to convince Mr. Foster to develope a new gold prospecting machine. Why should such genius have to fund his own work when it is us who are to gain the most from it? There are others out there who have great ideas and share them so freely, I would fund them also. How much does it cost to take an idea forward to a production phase? Let's all think about forming a cooperative to help push out some new machines. Please think about it, anyhow. Maybe some sort of low key stock system? or preinvestiture? HH
 
The time has come for something like this to happen Brian,count me in. Eric's been very kind in sharing with us his design info and advice, and yes we sure could benefit from the fruits of such an R&D slush fund (anyone checked on the latest price of the Minelab's lately?).
Randy Seden WD6ELU
Simi Valley,CA.
 
How about posting his address and we can send a check or money order directly to him. If everyone here sent in, say, $1000 we could have a discriminating PI in no time. $2000 and we might have a tv screen showing us what's in the ground. Just some ideas... <IMG SRC="/forums/images/biggrin.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":D">
Seriously, I would be willing to contribute as well... post his address...
 
I think we all would be interested but it would be up to Eric to see if he is interested. Mel Fisher had many who supported his efforts and in the end they were all very pleased with the man of vision.... Maybe Mr. Foster sees something in this and maybe he does not; I would suspect he is reading this and thinking....Most people of vision use the seeds planted by problems as the need to find the cures. I would think that the information gathered by the users of the product strikes the nerves of the inventors. Frank
 
I hope that I did not create a problem with this R&D thing. I know personally how difficult it is to finance new projects. I am a bit worried about any unforeseen consequences in all of this. If this could cause problems for Mr. Foster, then it is all for not. If it shows our support for our hobby and its furtherment, then that is the true purpose. There are others out there also worthy of an R&D grant...Randy Seden for one. If anyone out there is familiar with the organization of such a grant, and if Mr. Foster is willing to accept such, then we should move forward. I'm not talking about profit sharing or Big money amounts, just something from those interested in helping our hobby move forward for all of us. I personally await a new PI prospecting machine and am willing to invest in its developement, even if it seems that a few greenbacks are not much, think if we could all send just a few...to an account for this work. The power of this comes from us masses.(excuse my English) We all stand to benefit. HH
 
Hi Brian and All,
I feel honoured to receive such a consideration for a development fund. Development, by its very nature, is always a difficult area to deal with in many respects. I have headed up development groups in the past and trying to put a price or a time-scale on a new project, is usually a finger in the air exercise. Often, projects over-run both in time and cost, due to unforeseen problems that crop up along the way. However, there are ways of managing development projects so that a successful product results in a reasonable time-scale. I do have the benefit of many years in P.I. metal detection in all manner of different applications so, large parts of a new development have often been covered in a previous project. Developing a new product involves a lot of quality time in thinking out the various possibilities in achieving a result. Doing tests which don
 
My Web Page is now a bit dated and in need of re-doing with the latest products.
Eric.
 
Eric, I think Brian, Randy, and myself were serious about coming up with a way to help out. I, for one, am not worried about "shares" or even "accountability" for any "donation" I might make. It's not easy trying to run a "one-man" show, I did it for 10 years. All I would ask is that any donations be earmarked by you for R&D. I'm not sure that a new gold machine is what I'm hoping for, but perhaps that is the avenue that would open up new technology toward that discriminating PI many of us are wanting to see. Maybe it's just not do-able, but when VLF first came out the manufacturers said that ground canceling and discrimination simultaneously wasn't possible either. Now look at what we've got today.
I guess I don't know enough about PI yet to say what I would really like to see. Heck, I've never even used a PI unit yet but I'm guessing that that is where we will see the next "break-through" in detecting and I see one in my not too distant future. Already, they go deeper than anything else we're using, if I understand what I'm reading and seeing on the PI Classroom. For starters I think I would be happy if they could selectively eliminate iron, if I wanted to, and not loose any performance. When I started out in the hobby, that was what we dealt with back then. My little Compass 94-B was a great little machine that would eliminate the iron and got great depth in my neutral soil in Michigan. After using a machine like that for a while, you learned to hear the slight differences that various targets would make and you could guess with extreme accuracy what the target was before recovery. If I could do that with a PI that had the depth and performance that I've read your Deepstar/Aquastar has I would be one happy detectorist as I'm sure many others would as well. Unfortunately, mineralized soil killed the performance of that little Compass and when I moved to Colorado, I thought I would never be able to detect here. That's about the time the first VLF/GEB units appeared.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that I would certainly be willing to "kick-in" a modest amount toward helping you improve what you have or follow new ideas. It won't be a lot, but as Brian mentioned, if enough of us do it it could add up and perhaps make a difference. I know I waste plenty on things that never amount to a hill of beans and would rather see it go toward the betterment of our hobby. Well, Eric, give it some thought and if you would prefer to email me directly, please do so. Take care and good inventing... <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)"> <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
 
I was self-employed for the last 23 years and now retired. Some men cannot work withing the fields that the farmer owns. If the farmer feeds you, provides shelter and provides health care he can take you to the slaughter house anytime he wants as he owns you. Mr. Foster has worked for himself many years and I can see a bit of reluctance in his part as he has been his own many for many years and makes his own decisions and lives or suffers by them, but he is free to work on what he works on when he chooses to do so. You are correct Otto and Brian if such a fund was made possible he would by nature (I believe) have to have a free hand and those that donate to this would have to understand this and be patient, if not....no one would gain. However a suggestion box by the donators I am sure would be appreciated by Mr. Foster but he should be under not obligation other than it be a "suggestion box" and do with as he pleases. The feedback from the users is always needed by men with 'visions' others do not see. Frank
 
Thank you Eric and Frank, With what has been discussed so far, Let's not call it a R&D grant but change it to a R&D prize. Let us place not limitations on it. No stated performance guidelines, No time limits, and no expectations. Let us simply award it as a prize for good work and to honor those who have given so much back. I get more out of this forum than the daily news that I pay for. Somehow, I think that it would be great if we could establish this as a prize awarded yearly to individuals who have gone out of their way to freely give their time and expertice to us. Let us not incumber the winners with any demands as to how the money might be spent but simply award it as a token of appreciation and achievement. I mean this as to be no bigger a thing than getting to see a picture of Terry's Hawaiian finds, or Mel's gold bars. Just something that shows that we are thankful and appreciative. To be spent as seen fit by the winner. Awarded yearly by popular vote. In that it mearly keeps the creative juices flowing. HH
 
I intend to make any "donation" a gift to the person that I think has the best chance of coming up with what I want. As far as I'm concerned there are maybe two entities that might be qualified to deliver the kind of technological advance I hope to see. One is Minelab and the other is Eric Foster. Minelab is a large corporation with plenty of revenue to assist them in their efforts. Eric, on the other hand, is a small independent entrepreneur that may know more about PI than anyone else alive. I just as soon put any donation I make directly with the source with no encumbrances including, but not limited to, "prizes". When you first mentioned this "idea" it was to donate to Eric Foster so he could come up with a gold machine for you. Now you want to add voting and prizes etc. I can't support that... <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
 
Okay Otto, It was my original intent to donate something to Mr. Foster. I do believe that you are right to suggest that he is our best hope for something new in the PI world. Yet, there are others with good ideas worthy of promoting. I have an alterior motive in my desire for a hot Pi gold machine. I just don't want to put any devices attached to the fund. Let it stand on its own as a token of esteem and show of support from those of us who are passionate towards our hobby. In a rush to be first in space/or on the moon, lives were sacrificed on the launch pad. Let's not go that way just to seek our wants. Yes we do know what we want, but let's not incumber the road to creativity for our desires. I think we are fairly close on this Otto...HH
 
dying on the launch pad, I will start with one each of rare first editions of Western Treasures - V.1 # 1 Summer '63 and True Treasure - V.1 # 1 Spring '66 (shown below). These usually go for upwards of $30 to $35 each.
Get the word out and tell your friends to email a bid to me. Whatever I get for them will start off the fund, if Eric will accept. I know it's not a lot, but it may just be enough to purchase a particular component he may have wanted to try or whatever he sees fit toward the common end.
I'm sure many of us have things lying around we no longer need or want that could add to the fund... <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="http://www.geocities.com/ottospage/we_1_1.jpg">
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="http://www.geocities.com/ottospage/true1_1.jpg">
 
Hi All,
If an R&D fund is to work properly, I feel that it has to be formalised to some degree. I don
 
Not only would I be willing to fork over some money but if it were possible, I would be willing to help out. In other words, If I had the equipment and knowledge to do perform the task, you could specify a circuit and what tests/measurements you wanted performed and data you want provided back. I'm sure there are many on here with the proper background and posess the equipment to help out in that manner as well. I know its very time consuming to buy parts, breadboard a circuit, and perform tests.
Just a thought,
Charles
 
That is the way things get done, The R & D donations should be freely given, look at the time that has been spent on this forum discussing the issue, this is a great idea and I will reasonably contribute. I am primarily a nugget hunter and would gladly see new technology come forth that would improve my chances of making a find and I believe a lot of folks would be willing to take that opportunity also. Glad I stopped by. Geo
 
I have been watching this message with quite a bit of enthusiasm. I and an associate about a year ago embarked on making a PI Detector to rival MineLabs with a view to selling it on the market at a more realistic price (around AUD 2-3,000 or less!) I talked (email) with Eric and also John Kah of coiltek, who kindly donated 2 14" Coils (DD & Mono). We finished the cct and was held up on further development by other work commitments and funds. I would be very interested in finishing this project and would also like to allow Eric to view what we have done and see if we can improve or get his vast experience in the PI field. IF Eric agrees I would send him the schematic and PCB for comments and then with any donations produce prototypes that would go to knowledgable prospectors here in Western Australia for "Debugging" and testing. As I already have all the parts and have only been held up by making the PCB the amount of funds we are talking about is in the hundreds and not thousands of Dollars. So what say you Eric are you willing and have the time to liase on this project? The design is probably more in line with the GP than the SD's but having only seen the patents that do not reveal much and listening to the problems from prospectors we feel that we have covered most of them but would still like an opinion from Eric and we feel that due to the public nature of this forum and Eric's ethics we would not feel threatened about losing our design...
Regards Ismael Yahya
 
Hi Ismael,
Sounds an interesting idea. There are a few people out there who have some very good ideas on how to take PI detectors up (down) to the next level, so to speak. A hi end gold prospecting machine is a good candidate as, unlike beach and water hunting machines, choice is limited and a bit more competition in the marketplace would not be a bad thing. I have done a certain amount of work to this end but I am happy to look and advise on other designs. Perhaps we could do some sort of cross licensing deal whereby any features that I have developed that are incorporated could be balanced by my using some of your features if applicable, but for a different use. Although very interested in gold prospecting,I have no great desire to manufacture gold detectors, as my production capacity is limited and I have enough other applications to keep me occupied. So, to answer your question; I am happy and willing to liase. Time is always in short supply but I
 
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