What is the most desirable frequency for picking up gold

[Dave45]

It seems all the gold detectors from different manufacturers have a different frequency which would be the optimum frequency

 

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[tallpaul]

uuummm no posts wonder why,,,
your most desireable frequency would be the one you yourself would desire,, or any one eles ie preferability,, as for optimization, the gold frequency goes as high as 71khz which i would say is far to high,, as with this frequency your iron minerals become more sensetive also,, so the higher the frequency for gold sensetivity the higher the frequency for iron sensetivity, guess you gotta try em all,, and decide what is your most desired frequency, ,, remembering that most detectors will not pick a gold grain up more than 1" depth, thats for sure,, the bigger the size of gold then the deeper it will detect,.

 

[Earl]

17 to 20 khz is good for all around and gives you good depth and mineralization handling capabilities, some new detectors go up to 71khz which is fine for very small pieces at shallow depth but if I were getting one I would opt for one with 17 or 20khz, just my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[Willy]

Seems to be a kind of balancing act. Higher frequencies giving a bit better sensitivity to gold while, at the same time, being more reactive to ground mineralization. Another thing to consider is the gain of the detector. I have a 1 grain test nugget that won't be picked up by most detectors on the market. Even on a nugget machine it's not the best sounding target. Strange thing is, I was testing the PP mode on a GTI 1500 I had..... and it picked it up! Now, here we have a detector operating at the "wrong" frequency for finding gold. The only thing I can figure out is that it was because of extreme amounts of gain. That's one way of getting better depth & it seems that more 'n more manufacturors are going that way. Only problem is, operation becomes more erratic, which might necessitate the use of a DSP. We might possibly see more lower frequency detectors being used for prospecting as detectors' innards get more sophisticated. ..Willy.

 

[neilo]

The best frequency to use depends so many factors, high frequency will pick up tiny gold but with less ?depth ?but that also depends ?on the type of ground you are detecting.You will find in ground with little mineralisation it will go deeper.There is a machine put out by minelab which has three frequencies it is switchable between 60 klhz.20 klhz and 6.4 klhz. I used one myself and used it for going over old diggings.I would initially go over a heap in the highest frequency picking up the tiny pieces of gold. But if there was a lot of interference from mineralised ground then I would ?switch frequencies firstly to 20klhz then if the interference persisted down to 6.4klhz. I always prefer the highest frequency remember the high frequency still picks up bigger targets as well as small. But the lower frequencies wont pick up the small pieces at all. When I find ?a piece of small gold ?I always scrape off a couple of inches of soil in the area a couple of yards square surrounding it and go over it again slowly, if you find more gold do the same again and gradually work your way deeper. There is always a chance that there is a big nugget sitting there which because of its profile , sitting end on, ?has been missed by the lower frquency machines.
The other factors to consider ?are coil size and types big coils miss small gold, mono coils are better at picking small gold but are more prone to mineralisation interference,double d coils handle mineralisation better but are not as good at finding tiny gold.
My preference was using a small double d coil on the highest frequency I could depending on soil conditions. It becomes a matter of compromise, I would sooner come home with a few tiny pieces of gold
than come home with nothing. There is a lot more small gold out there than big stuff thats for sure .

good luck hope you find a big one seeya Neilo ?

 

[tallpaul]

yep,, just looking at my post and willies,, and i forgot to mention about 20khz being high enough,, like the troy shadow x5 which operates on 19khz,, its truely enough,, and borderlineing being stable,, the troy shadow is an exceptional machine for gold,, i was out hunting round a very old fishing pond one day reported to have been there for hundreds of years with a friend of mine who uses the shadow x5, we were finding some great finds, he hit on a lovely chain only slim but quite long, this chain was 4.5"s depth and was layed out across around 6-7"s so it wasent clumped together,, i was impressed, since then ive been trying to find a new shadow and cant,, we all know they arnt made anymore i just thought maybe some dealer somewhere still had one,, troy shadow will be the next for a new machine there working on one at this minute for 2006,, so i hope its better than the x5 cos that is a excellent gold machine,, this is whats needed in a really great machine get the gold separated from all other metals and get the stuff ringing out like a piece of iron,, and depth,, can it be done i think it can,. all this tecknology arround us and we struggle to find a grain .5 "s depth lol ,, yet my machine finds lead air-rifle pellets way down,, I WANT GOLD NOT LEAD,, anyway have a good en guys keep the finds comin,,...

 

[Bulletboy]

The first gold nuggets I found were with a machine I had bought for coins and relics, the Minelab Advantage. Sensitivity and the ability to handle ground mineralization are important too. The Advantage runs at 5 khz.
I'm new to MDing and remember reading that the lower frequencies work deeper with less affect from mineralization than the higher frequencies but will not find the smaller stuff at depth. One of my little pickers was the size of a paper match head and was about 2 inches deep.
I believe manual ground balancing is preferred to auto. Auto tune machines like mine will disc out some smaller targets so I lock after I get a hit and unlock when I'm ready to move on. Sweep speed for me works best if I move slowly.

 

[Willy]

My first nugget, a 2 oz horse choker, was found with a CZ 6.. along with a whole pile of others, from about 2 grains up. When it comes to prospecting with a "coin" machine, a threshold based all metal mode with a decent autotune speed is best. Even then, you'll be listening to some pretty faint signals. With the MXT I was picking up "nuggets" under 1/3 grain, but I was more or less listening for a kind of "crackle"; not even a distinct signal. Sounded like just plain interference. Thing is, people are generally too used to coin style hunting, which generally provides stronger & more distinct signals. When out in the goldfields they expect a nugget to bang out with a nice clear signal. Might happen with a nice sized one, but more often not. Quite often, whilst nugget hunting, the detector is being run at the ragged edge with sensitivity jacked up way beyond what is generally used coin hunting. After a while a person becomes attuned to the detector & can differentiate between a good target & mineralization. I find that this gives a real advantage when coin hunting since the nuggethunting habits carry over & I'm pulling out great finds from heavily hunted areas. ..Willy.

 

[tallpaul]

yep,, a set of very good headphones is also a must,, alot of people and those not been in the hobby long dont realise how important it really is to have a reall good set of headphones,, this is as important as the detector,, cheep headphones will not let you hear those faint sounds which can be something very good and valuable,, so allways invest in good headphones, keep the volume up and listen carefully to what the machine is telling you,,.

 

[U.K. Brian]

I would say its an impossible question because no one knows what type of gold your going to be searching for ....flour,flakes,nuggets and on what sort of site. Minelab had a VLF that gave you a choice of 6, 20 or 60khz to try and cover all the bases. The Minelab P.I.'s (SD and GP's) I assume will be running nearly 200 frequencies if you use the harmonics method of counting that was applied to the Explorer.

 

[Willy]

The number of frequencies, in regards to a PI unit, is a bit of a red herring. From what I've gathered, basically ALL PI's have a whole load of harmonic frequencies being broadcast. What matters more is pulse delay and pulse width. In regards to the Eureka Gold/ Xt 18000, check out the AMDS forum & Steve's recommendations for the skinny on those (and other) detectors. ...Willy.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Quite agree Willy but people do like the multifrequency hype and for once a few frequencies does seem a better idea to cover all the bases. Reg Sniff continues to work on bringing the uS rating down (think he said he's down to 7uS now) which is supposed to be nearing the point where invisable gold becomes detectable but for Dave he's still stuck with getting the balance right between ground conditions and size of target. Thanks for the reference to the XT 18000 its so long since I tried one I couldn't remember what it was called. As it has three frequencies why can't Minelab modify it to scan between them in a similar way to the Sovereign but as an optimised gold machine ?

 

[Willy]

Judging by the performance of the 3 BBS machines I've used, I suspect that there's a tradeoff in sensitivity. I did a number of side-to-side tests between them and other detectors on low conductivity targets of varying sizes at different depths & found them sadly lacking. This was unfortunate 'cause I really enjoyed using them. In regards to pulse delay, I've read that, when getting below 10 us, PI's start to pick up the ground signal as a target. Therefor, a PI is little better than a VLF at really short delays. I believe that someone brought up the question of shorter delays with Eric Foster, and he mentioned such difficulties. Seems the ground signal doesn't have enough time to decay. Thing is, with my Infinium &, I suppose, the ML PI's, nuggets down to about 3 grains can be detected (maybe smaller). That's pretty tiny & most VLF's can't pick them up anyway. There's one dark cloud on my personal horizon though; the Pulse Devil should be released soon enough & I probably won't have the cash to buy one. I really, really, REALLY wish I had a timeframe (possible release date) and price range. That way I could save up my pennies & have the funds available. The only thing I've heard is that a prototype was being used up in Ak (successfully) and that one of the big guys bought up the rights to it. If they're smart, they'll get it out pronto & wipe out the competition in areas with a lot of mineralization, selling as many detecors as possible before someone finds a way to work around the relevant patents. ..Willy.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Hi Willy....I was told Whites was to produce the Pulse Devil but then C-Scope are being very cagey about their new land P.I. (C.S.4Pi) due out at the start of February. When they finally admitted there was a new machine all they would say was that it is rainproof, not waterproof.
There's also supposed to be a French P.I. on its way. As XP have swept Europe in the last few years it could well be one of theirs as it would fill a gap in their range and there are new versions of the Adventis (Adventis II) and Goldmaxx (Goldmaxx Power) on their way.

 

[Willy]

It would be nice if the Pulse Devil comes out on this side of the pond. Self serving, true, but paying duties on top of taxes is really lame & I'm Mr Empty Moneybags. ..Willy.

 

[gold_mine]

What do i need to change in my White XLT to make it more sensitive to finding smaller gold? A crystal between the frequency of 17 to 20 kHz?

I tried playing with different programs but didn't have that much success.

I was told that the XLT was not really that good of a detector at finding small gold. So i figure its time to operate.

 

[brz]

my minelab xt-18000 runs on three different frequencies of 6.4 for larger deeper targets, 20 for smaller shallower targets, and 60 for small targets. the lower the frequency, the deeper and larger it will find. the higher, the smaller. also, most detectors that do great for coins do not pick up raw gold very well. I have an explorer xs which is great for finding whatever I want except gold. It does'nt utilize the frequencies that pick up gold and it uses 28 frequencies from 1.5- 100 Khz. I even air tested 1 oz. of gold in a vile and it would only register if the gold was almost touching the coil. I hope the info was helpful. Brian