Couple Interesting Facts I Learned Air Testing A Couple "OL TEKS!!!

[silverseeker 2]

Well it's raining in Chicago here and I decided to Fire up a couple Teks I have just to make sure they are still performing.The first was my Mark 1 Ltd. I was doing some air testing on different targets
and found this machine will distinguish a clad dime from a silver dime with great Tonal Audio. I had always heard this fact but found it to be TRUE! Nickels and square tabs are tough to tell though as
with any machine goes as far as my experience. A clad quarter and silver quarter had same tonal audio, so no difference there.This unit was surely ahead of it's time and still can keep up with plenty
of others out there.Here's the next thing I found when I fired up the Mark 111. A clad dime and silver dime had the same audio which was totally different from my Mark 1 testing.Now I tested a clad
quarter against a silver quarter and low and behold the Mark 111 can tell the difference between a clad quarter and a silver quarter which I found very interesting as I believe both machines were designed
by the All-Time great George Payne if I'm not mistaken.The Mark 111 has very good Tones also but not nearly as good as the Mark 1 Ltd. though. JMHO. Don't get me WRONG though as both these
machines are still great to use but mine see very seldom use as I have my go to machines and The "OL TEKS" for me are just for collecting as I have an assortment of Teks. LOVE VINTAGE!!!
I also collect Compass Machines and have a few of them also.Had a good time learning these facts that arose on my machines and wonder what others know or agree with my findings?
One other thing about the 2 machines tested is I believe one is a 4 filter and the other is a 2 filter. So I believe one will run much better than the other in high mineralzation .Don't have enough time
with these Teks to know all the ins and outs... Sorry for the long post but it's STINKING RAINING and I don't dig in thick mud...
silverseeker 2

 

[HaroldILL.]

What kind of air test you get on a Dime with every thing wide open and where does it I.D.? I hear so many different claims on the Mark I. Some say 10" and some say barley 6"? Thanks.

 

[Old California]

Enjoy the rain silver seeker, here out west Rain is a warm welcome

And thanks for sharing a piece on George Payne's Mark I and Mark III amazing ID feature, truly amazing technology back in it's day.

Ive experienced this before with the Mark I, out when searching deep park silver years ago. Not so much with the Mark III, I've only had it a few years.

Another thing I've noticed, air testing and ground change the ID. Try this, you'll get a slightly more change with the silver coin on ground.

That's my experience, somehow ground advances a silver coin more than an air testing when comparing with clad dime or clad quarter with silver.

Thank for sharing, it's great when seeing others enjoying the older teknetics models.

HH, Paul

 

[Tom_in_CA]

thanx for the nostalgic look back. Yes, the Mark 1 (circa 1985) was ground-breaking tonal quality for its era. Guys love the ability to sniff out silver, for things like turf hunting.

The depth is a little "dated" by today's standards. And it also didn't bode well in more-mineralized soils. Today's explorers will go deeper, and have their own style of tonal quality that lends the same type ID's (but in a different flavor, tones, etc....). I would estimate the depth to be akin to a 6000 Di pro. Hence perhaps 8" on a dime ? And that would depend on mineral content, of course.

 

[jtalley007]

I also thought the Mark 3 was just a stripped down Mark one but Paul would know? As far as depth goes the Mark One was no slouch, once dug a large cent near a rifle pit at measured 14"
It was also a 1-2 filter automatic that ran 1 filter in good ground and 2 if some minerals were there that's why it was so deep

To date I still think it is the best target and tone ID ever made. The Deus in full tones is like a Mark one on steroids and the tones remind me of the analog sounds on the Mark One

I really like the Deus but the target ID is no match for the Mark One but depth is 4 or more inches on a bullet and the weight is probably 1/3, LOL

Jerry

 

[Old California]

Hello Jerry,

Amazing machine the Mark 1 is, you're right it's no slouch that's for sure.

My Mark III is no slouch either, but I've noticed the Mark I has a slight edge. Not much, but it's there maybe 1/2" inch.

Totally agree, Audio is fantastic! And so are the Deus tone's, Audio is great as well.

Take care Jerry,
Paul

 

[jtalley007]

Paul, I have a mint Mark One Ltd that I made the mistake of using duracells and damaged a couple of clips.

I also have one that Scott Hughey modified on a whites rod and the meter is on the 6000 pod.

Even cooler is Scott made a custom meter background that was a blend of the 6000 and the blue and grey with coins and relics showing. Sadly he misplaced the artwork for it

Maybe some day I can post a photo.

A local dealer that sold them was so good with his he went to a park that had civil war camps, found out where confederate buttons read and only dug those signals and cleaned up.

Imagine if George would have made the micro mark one, can they make analog machines like that in small packages?

 

[Old California]

That's terrific Jerry you have Scott's Mark I, I remember his modified model. If memory serves me right, wasn't the battery pack separate in a hip mount form?

I think the idea of a smaller analog Mark I (Micro Mark I) was from Frank, he's good friends with George Payne. I think it's still in the making, Frank has the prototype.

Maybe someday we can work out a deal with both your Mark I models, the LTD and Scott's modified unit. Scott was great modifying Detectors, I have two of his creations.

HH, Paul

 

[UtahRich]

My first High End detector was a Teknetics Mark I. Mine was the Hip-Mount configuration. I had a pair of coils for mine; the standard 7 1/4" and the 8 1/2". I found the 8 1/2" to be the perfect size and used it pretty much exclusively.

The Audio Target ID was pretty amazing and the Meter was spot on as mentioned above. I thought it was easy to distinguish silver dimes and quarters from their clad counterparts. There was a certain audio quality, as spoken of by many Minelab Explorer users, to a silver coin.

I have to confess a little here that it was very easy for me to fall into an audio rut of cherry picking the high sounds and not registering in my mind the lower toned targets like nickels. I found a lot of higher conductive targets with my Mark I but few nickels and no gold rings. I just seemed to somehow miss them while concentrating on listening for those higher tones. At our club meetings, when each would bring a display of the months' finds, I was amazed at the number of lower conductivity targets the guys using the Whites machines (the 6000 series at the time) were bringing in. So, after using it for a couple years, I sold it and purchased one of the new White's Eagles. a detector I was very successful with at targets across the board.

And I have to admit, even to this day, I have to be careful about unwittingly tuning out the lower conductors in machines with audio ID. I can quickly fall into the cherry picking mindset and miss things I shouldn't.

Rich (Utah)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yup: When you have a machine with excellent tone ID's, your brain subconsciously starts to favor the "better sounds".

But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Because on land, in junky urban parks, let's be perfectly honest: What do you think that 99% of those low conductors probably were ? Foil wads, tabs, etc... Oh sure your "cherry picking" no doubt cost you some nickels and gold rings, sure. But who can argue with old silver ? And if gold rings were/are your agenda, you can simply go to swimming beaches, or types of hunt spots that have better odds of jewelry in the first place (ski lift lines, sand volleyball courts, etc....)

And even in relicky "dig all" situations (ghost towns, stage stops, etc...) the subconscious trend to start cherry picking is not necessarily a bad thing either. I hunted with guys , at new ghost-townsy spots we'd just researched/discovered, and spanked them 3 to 1 on good keeper targets (even though our end of the day conductive target counts, once you included junk, was mysteriously about the same). They accused me of "cherry picking". To which I adamantly denied. But later, found out JUST AS YOU FIGURED OUT, that that must've been EXACTLY what I was doing: subconsciously favoring the nice round signals. Doh!

And the subconscious trend to start cherry picking also works the same for beaches: When I'm hunting after storm erosion, when there's no shortage of signals to choose from, I subconsciously start favoring the mids and lows, and poo-pooing the penny/dime/quarter sounds.

So .... cherry picking need not necessarily take on a bad name ! ha