As promised, I'm giving the high school a "good working over" as the year winds out. Since my detecting compadre, Hal, can't stand foil ball and pull tab hunting, I'm toughing it out alone. 
Today I swung the Golden again. I thought I might push it a little and so ran the SENS and THRESH quite high...
SENS: over 10
THRESH: 3/4 scale.
The point was to see what difference it made. Well, I won't be doing that much in the future. It really only made the Golden into an ill-mannered beast. Against most of my own advice about excessive gain, I persevered with this, but the Golden was a popping, chattering fool for most of the hunt. Eventually I began to wonder if maybe something was wrong.
As it turns out, it was.
After pummeling my eardrums for several hours, I started to tire. It was also time to get on back to the house, so I ended my last pass at the bed of my truck. Prior to this, I noticed the Golden was acting kinda funny, with a clipped response and not really hitting right. This in additon to the boosted gain I insisted on holding high. But I was in the Zone, man, so I just kept on swinging.
But finally, I got next to the truck, where I bumped the battery check accidentally. Guess what happened? Nuttin!
I got one, sorry sounding beep, when I should have heard a string of 6 or 7 of them. I couldn't believe it, but my battery was nearly dead!
Of all the numb skull, newbie things to let happen. Since I tend follow my own advice, it turns out I had two fresh 9V in my 'possibles vest' - don't leave home without them. I popped out the old cell and angrily stuck in a fresh one.
The result? As you'd expect, the Golden came back charging strong. Signals were now sharp and I was getting what seemed like better depth. So now I have to wonder....
How much of what had been written off as excessive gain was due to a nearly deceased battery?
More importantnly, what did I leave behind?
As testimony to how well a Golden works, even with severely discharged batteries, here's the gleanings:
[attachment 113970 DSCF0024.JPG]
The ring is gumball machine junk, the little artists palette charm is plated brass. I got 73 coins total, for something like $3.17.
Two more days and counting on 2008's coin total.
And, as usual, here are the Nasty Trash Meanies:
[attachment 113971 DSCF0022.JPG]
Lots of foil, tabs and screw caps. A few nameless keys, too. Mike Hillis says I dig too much trash with the Golden, and, well... he's right. But I'm a digger at heart. When gold shows up, I'll be ready.
Hopefully with new batteries, tomorrow will be THE day.
Today I swung the Golden again. I thought I might push it a little and so ran the SENS and THRESH quite high...
SENS: over 10
THRESH: 3/4 scale.
The point was to see what difference it made. Well, I won't be doing that much in the future. It really only made the Golden into an ill-mannered beast. Against most of my own advice about excessive gain, I persevered with this, but the Golden was a popping, chattering fool for most of the hunt. Eventually I began to wonder if maybe something was wrong.
As it turns out, it was.
After pummeling my eardrums for several hours, I started to tire. It was also time to get on back to the house, so I ended my last pass at the bed of my truck. Prior to this, I noticed the Golden was acting kinda funny, with a clipped response and not really hitting right. This in additon to the boosted gain I insisted on holding high. But I was in the Zone, man, so I just kept on swinging.
But finally, I got next to the truck, where I bumped the battery check accidentally. Guess what happened? Nuttin!
I got one, sorry sounding beep, when I should have heard a string of 6 or 7 of them. I couldn't believe it, but my battery was nearly dead!
Of all the numb skull, newbie things to let happen. Since I tend follow my own advice, it turns out I had two fresh 9V in my 'possibles vest' - don't leave home without them. I popped out the old cell and angrily stuck in a fresh one.
The result? As you'd expect, the Golden came back charging strong. Signals were now sharp and I was getting what seemed like better depth. So now I have to wonder....
How much of what had been written off as excessive gain was due to a nearly deceased battery?
More importantnly, what did I leave behind?
As testimony to how well a Golden works, even with severely discharged batteries, here's the gleanings:
[attachment 113970 DSCF0024.JPG]
The ring is gumball machine junk, the little artists palette charm is plated brass. I got 73 coins total, for something like $3.17.
Two more days and counting on 2008's coin total.
And, as usual, here are the Nasty Trash Meanies:
[attachment 113971 DSCF0022.JPG]
Lots of foil, tabs and screw caps. A few nameless keys, too. Mike Hillis says I dig too much trash with the Golden, and, well... he's right. But I'm a digger at heart. When gold shows up, I'll be ready.
Hopefully with new batteries, tomorrow will be THE day.