Do you still have your 1st detector?

[Coin Digger]

My first was an Ebay made in China junk. It lasted all of a about a month before it went into the trash bin.
My 2nd one I still have and will never get rid of, Whites Classic 3.

 

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[lastleg]

Duane B., Was your D-Tex a BFO or TR? lastleg

 

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[LuckyLarry]

Yep.

It's the first one I designed, back in about 1973, a BFO. It still works and so does the second one I designed.

I bought a White's back then, a TR, not an Induction Balance (White's calls IB's G.E.B.'s...same thing) and detectors back then only got 2" max, until the late 70's - using their all-metal more "advanced" Induction Balance AKA "metal/mineral modes. Even the Bounty Hunter Red Baron and later White's 6 and 6000 series only got 4" tops in high iron soils, and up to a whopping 5" in mineral free soils. I currently have a 6db and a 6000db which run perfectly and only get around 4" in my soil. But that's not much less than what detectors get when they are 2008 models, around 6" tops in most soils.

By the mid 80's though most detectors got got a tad bit better depth than 4" in all metal, and less than that in most cases , but those were the Garrett and Fishers mining detectors while using all-metal modes. They could get as much as 10" in high iron/salt beaches using all-metal in some rare cases. I remember digging several old rusty pennies on a salt beach at 10" -13" inches with my old Garrett Deepseeker, but of course the signal was extra wide due to the coins being spread out in a 2 foot area. These current detectors can't do that though because of many and various reasons, mostly because people want coin ID which slows down and impedes detector capabilities.

LuckyLarry
AKA "EasyMoney"

 

[Michigan Badger]

Yep.

It's the first one I designed, back in about 1973, a BFO. It still works and so does the second one I designed.

I bought a White's back then, a TR, not an Induction Balance (White's calls IB's G.E.B.'s...same thing) and detectors back then only got 2" max, until the late 70's -

I guess I misunderstood your post. Are you saying pre-(late)1970's detectors only got up to 2 inches depth?

 

[Duane B]

Duane B., Was your D-Tex a BFO or TR? lastleg

It was a BFO. It had a gold colored body with red coils. One of the big selling points was that it had a gold plated circuit board

 

[The Buzzard King]

Yep, a Bounty Hunter Tracker 4 I think.
I haven't seen it in a while. I loaned it to a friend.
Since I've loaned it to him, he's found more keeper coins with it than I ever did.
I upgraded about 6 months after getting it.
My girlfriend bought that Bounty Hunter for me as a Christmas present 4 years ago, after knowing I liked watching that "Gold, Gold, Gold" show on TV, and she's regretted it ever since!
She could have never imagined how obsessed I'd become with the hobby!
Currently, I'm addicted to my CZ-5.

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

No..................but I believe it to be in Larry's (ME22's) house! I think one day I might buy another one like it if the nostalgia kicks in.............that's how I am sometimes.

 

[LuckyLarry]

I may have mis-written something above, so to clear it up, here is the bulk of it: and I mean B-U-L-K.

Early 70's detectors could get a whopping 4" (or so) in light soil or woodchips, but in medium-to-bad soil ground they got that chopped roughly in half. By mid-70's though there were a couple of Fishers (400 and 500 series) and the old original Garrett Deepseekers that could get more than twice that depth in all-metal, but not in their TR discrimination modes. Compass and A.H. Pro had the best and deepest TR's on the market back then. .

The earlier TR's were incapable of penetrating bad ground well at all. In fact the BFO's and TR's of those days both got about the same depth. However, even the TR's and BFO's inproved somewhat later on- and for a short while the BFO's could find a gold pipe in a wrecking yard of of iron using advanced discrimination meters. The TR's though could not achieve that due to the signals being overdriven into the negative. It was a matter-of-fact, and nothing could be done to improve the designs any more. Hence, the invention of a lower frequency detector and later on the phase-shift technology to go deeper into the bad ground, which sidestepped the need for having to tend to the ground control so much in order to achieve more depth.

By the late 70's the A.H. Pro company developed a concept [invented by] Westinghouse Corp - known as "Ground Exclusion" or "Ground Balance". This term was created to suggest that (any) iron was of a certain conductive frequency that would enable the detector - to balance the positive effect of the opposite (+) iron materials (FE) by means of a potentiometer covering all reaches of both a positive and negative parameter, thereby creating a balance between the two parameters. Electronically, this means that al though a coil emits positive on top of the coil and negative on the bottom that the opposite effect is needed to counteract the effects of the material (or object) being balanced against. In theory and in fact it looks like this:

+ - + - + - + - when all the atoms are lined up magnetically (electronically) and physically.

What this means is that the question comes up "whch came first, the chicken, or the egg"?

Or, does the circuit start with a "positive" or a "negative".

In fact neither is true, but it works to say one way or another, just for giggles and fun.

By the late 70's most detectors being used had a vlf/tr mode in use. Except for the last 1978-1979 years there was little to do to remedy the poor depth TR's had, save for the invention of "fast retune", a design done by Compass Electronics. This helped minimally, but did help with smoothing the things down a bit in really tough (high Fe) ground. And yes, in MY soil 2" was still the max depth and lesser iron soils it was around the 4 or in some extreme cases even 5 inches depth, at best. Remember that by the early 80's even the best of the best in detectors had a rough time even getting 6" in air, until Keith Wills created his changes and improvements to the Compass line of detectors and the Red Baron was invented. As to this day my old Silver Saber and Golden Saber both running in prime condition only get 7-8" ait test on a US penny even with my own power modifications. Originally they got only 6" when brand new, or sometimes 7" (air) when conditions were ideal.

After the Red Baron was invented (by George Payne) the White's 6 and 6000 series pushed more gain into their vlf modes and a 10-11" all-metal White's mode was created. Garrett and Fisher though had White's by about 2" more back then.

But these detectors today seldom get better depth than they did in the early 80's. A couple of cz's, a Tejon, Nauties and of course a Nexus do better sometimes, but that about ends it.

LuckyLarry

 

[Michigan Badger]

I may have mis-written something above, so to clear it up, here is the bulk of it: and I mean B-U-L-K.

Early 70's detectors could get a whopping 4" (or so) in light soil or woodchips, LuckyLarry

Okay. This sounds about right.

I'm not as bad as some THers who double the depth of their finds. I limit myself to adding only 50%

Until the early 80's I was one of those who didn't really trust discrimination. I used all-metal most of the time. I'd flip to discrimination now and then but soon returned to all metal.

Can you believe my 1st really deep detector was a 1983 Wilson Newman GBIII (I think that was it). In TR discrimination it sucked but in all metal that baby would sing! I dug lots of IH's at 9-10 inches (minus the exaggeration maybe 6 or 7 inches).

Good article...thanks.

Badger

 

[LuckyLarry]

Hey mai plasir Badger..

You and I are usually about 90% or better on the same sheet of music, or so it seems. There aren't many of us old goats with miles of experience on them and worn out kneecaps from all our hunting either. One thing we both have learned is that most claims are about 50% true and the rest is a hunting campfire story.

I had an old Wilson Neuman too, the one with the elongated slender box turned on it's side, and supposedly had several "modes", of which only the all-metal one worked satisfactorily, well sort of satisfactorily.

In view of all that older stuff and those older days, I found more silver rings, wheaties, copper bracelets and necklaces, and silver coins with a Bounty Hunter 800 vlf/tr w 6" coil than with any other detector I've ever had in my hands. Only the Fisher cz-70 has found me more gold rings. Those were the days. weren't they?

I once found a big handfull of silver coins lost under a big oak tree that apparently another detectorist lost when he sat to eat lunch or have a smoke, etc. They were just under the surface of the leaves there. That was back in about 1990.

Wouldn't it be great to go back to those days just for a week or so?

Larry

 

[NGE]

Hey Guys, My first detector was a Radio Shack BFO, got it for my 10th. B-day, like ya said, only good in sand or woodchips, shallow hunter 1 to 2 inches max. Next machine was a Sears White's coinmaster w/ 4/DB coil, then a Compass 94-B, then Judge 1, Judge 2, Relic Magnum 7 (vlf/tr), Fisher 1260-X, 1265-X, 1266-X, CZ-5, Minelab Explorer - XS, Still have the "Shack" machine although some green crap oozed out of batt. compartment long time ago. It's at my mom's in the garage rafters. Still have my 1266-X, I have the Hot-Head coil for it, and I still have my Minelab EX, XS with 7 1/2 inch and 10 1/2 coils, both coils are factory, looking to get the Pro Coil for it............NGE

 

[Johnnysan]

Yeah; still got it. A real piece of ****. But, I did use it to find a wedding band owned by a co-worker who lost it while scraping ice off her windshield. It's a Nautilus LF; I think the 'LF' stands for 'Lotsa-luck Fella!' Noisy as hell; needed constant retuning. Has the depth of a high school drop-out. Plenty of knobs to keep you busy, and weight to build those muscles.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Hey that must have been a real sweetheart of a machine. I'll bet you were shocked at the difference when you got the White's.

That Classic 5 is a nice detector.

LL

 

[Michigan Badger]

Wouldn't it be great to go back to those days just for a week or so?

Larry

Ya Lucky I think about that a lot. In the late 50's and early 60's we never dreamed there was so much to find. I figured there was this shallow layer of silver and copper coins and that was about it. I also figured by the 70's everything would be dug and detecting would die.

Back then most found silver was lunch money. I recall finding a Merc and heading for the corner store for a Coke

Actually the big turning point for me wasn't until the early 80's. I saw where Fisher had developed a weird looking new style detector called the 1260-X. That machine totally revolutionised detecting for me. My first day out in the park with it was a turkey shoot. I was digging Mercs and Barbers one after another. I was one of the first to hunt the best sites in Western Michigan with a quality metal detector.

As I see it the 80's were the big turning point era for the hobby. In fact most of our detectors today are nothing more than glorified 1980's technology.

You mentioned your tree find. One day in 1968 while using the Whites CoinMaster IV I got a signal at the base of a 200+ year old pine. I dug down under a large root and pulled out several old charms (Civil War era) and a solid gold baby's ring (also several black powder pistol balls).

I wrapped them in tissue and put them in my drawer at home. Later my wife found the paper and thinking it was trash threw it away.

Badger

 

[Michigan Badger]

My first detector was the Garrett ADS Deepseeker, bought used but practically new. Still have it, always will...countless good times with it.

"I wrapped them in tissue and put them in my drawer at home. Later my wife found the paper and thinking it was trash threw it away."

Aw Badger, what a shame. Years ago I had a large peanut butter jar down in the basement, containing all my "worn" silver and older nickel coin finds from many years. Hundreds of coins..my young daughter located this "cache" and not realizing their value... spent nearly all at the local candy store. I took it in stride, decided she needed a hefty "raise" to her meager allowance, along with an education on TH'ing...

Jim.

Hey! Good ta hear from you Jim! Thought maybe you went and got a life or something. TNet is a disease and we should all be on total disability.

That's a bummer about the cache. I wonder how many times that has happened?

I know I've thrown away great finds because at the time I thought they were junk. I still haven't gotten over throwing away that Rolex pocket watch I dug back in the early 80's. I can still see it in my memory.

 

[LuckyLarry]

I know I shouldn't tell anybody this but one day back in about 1989 someone crawled through my doggie door and stole about $300 worth of old silver coins, maybe $200 in gold rings, about $400 in other gold items, a whole load of wheaties (a full quart) and a lot of clad, copper jewelry, tokens, knifes, etc, including ancient 12th century Chinese coins and Canadian coins from the mid-1800's that I'd found earlier. It seemes that the place I just started buying had a bunch of members from a certain gang out of LA, Cal move in right down the street about a month after I got there. Many people's yards were being ripped apart at night shortly after that. Rumor has it that a young girl about the age of 10 was the one who crawled through the dog door and was a gang member. Live and learn.

They were still good times though, especially for we low-life, welfare, money-grubbin', unemployed, uneducated, broke, bums and scrounges, lazy - metal detector nutcases. Or at least that's what we were called sometimes. I had a nun approach me once asking me "why are you taking the children's 'money' "?

My answer?

Oh, is there some money around here somewhere?

LL

 

[Michigan Badger]

I had a nun approach me once asking me "why are you taking the children's 'money' "?

My answer?

Oh, is there some money around here somewhere?

LL

Good answer!

I used to hunt a small very old rundown park in western Michigan. Somewhere near the park was a person who had nothing to do but watch that park. Almost every time I hunted it a couple of young state troopers showed up--following up on a complaint. Usually they just asked if I had found anything so I showed them what I dug and they left.

One evening two trooper sergeants showed up and they both must of had a very bad day. They were flat out nasty and I thought they were going to haul my butt into the station for digging on public property. I told them I had permission and they obviously didn't believe me. At one point I asked them if they were new (I meant new to covering that area) and one shouted at me and I thought he was going to belt me.

They left and about 10 minutes later I left. When I pulled out I saw they were watching me from across the street.

Finally after repeated cop meetings I could sense that it would be better for us all if I found a new site. I mean it just ceased to be funny after awhile.

I never did find out who that person was.

 

[lastleg]

Larry, that is a crying shame about your loss. A lesser man would
have given up the hobby for sure. When I moved to my present
home I met a guy while out detecting. He asked if I would stay
around, he wanted to show me something. He brought back a
cigar box full of gold jewelry and coins. He said this was all he had
left after being burglarized. Right before he got back I dug a nice
merc so I was pumped up till I saw what he had. He said most of
his collection came from Herman Park in Houston. lastleg

 

[NGE]

Michigan Badger, was that park in western Michigan happen to be Centennial park in downtown Holland? The park where they hold the huge tulip festival? If so, there was an old lady(she was in her 90's), across the street who would call the cops everytime she saw anyone detecting in that park. The cops would come out and say, (just to keep the peace) that it was illegal to hunt public property in Holland, then proceeded to tell me to go to the local school yard. I asked them if it was a parochial school and they said NO, it's a public grade school! Go figure. Any ways I was getting I.H. pennies everywhere, only 1/2 inch to 3 inches deep, Barber anything, everywhere. So I went to my sister's house in town, and made a picnic lunch, and asked my sis if she wanted to go for a picnic in the park. After I explained my situation to her, she said let's go for it. I used to own one of those Garrette hand scanning, body searching metal detectors. I also told my sis that make sure it was a blanket she no longer wanted. When we got to the park, we laid the blanket down in the area that I had been hunting. You guessed it, yup, uh huh, right through the blanket . All I used for retrieval was a thin bladed screwdriver, and never damaged any coins. We followed the shade that day, and I got over 200 old coins, silver included. She called me after a couple days and said she was keeping the blanket for my return, she said she calls it her Cathlic blanket because it was so "Holey".........NGE Oh and you couldn't see where I had been digging when we moved the blanket.

 

[lastleg]

Outstanding! What a great tip. lastleg

 

[NGE]

Lastleg, this could still work nowadays with a good pin pointer, one that detects objects at least 3 inches away. Not long ago I saw a 700.00 waterproof metal detector that you wear like a wristwatch. very discrete. I no longer have that Garette, I originally bought it to scan walls in old homes and cabins........NGE