A
Anonymous
Guest
My first use of a detector was an army mine detector with 4 transmit windings in KHE SAHN, outside the firebase. When it became our companies turn to mine sweep, I volunteered [against all old vets advice- NEVER volunteer]. The way we used it was to hold the 'head' about knee high, and walk as fast as you can without running. But it wasn't bad because you could see any digging from the night before
and in that case you stop and call combat engineers and they would blow it in place. NO, none of that probing with a bayonet they taught us in basic; this was the real world. It did not take me long to figure if it will hit a mine, it will find MONEY.
The first detector I bought was a D-TEX BFO, and it would find money, along with every other piece of junk imaginable. A friend had a FISHER 400 series VLF[NO DISC.], but it found everything also, especially trash, and did it at 3X THE DEPTH. I decided to do some serious research for my next machine. I contacted a guy named HERB JEFFRIES at his
drug store in Mission TX, and bought what I thought was the best hi trash discriminator on the market,
an A.H. ELECTRONICS Superpro with a 6" loop. Talk about bullet proof, the box was made of 1/8" aluminum, and it used 2- 9 volt batteries, 2X the size of a regular 9 volt, costing 4X the price, and only available at certain electronics stores. Now this detector had 8 knobs on the box and a fine tune knob in place of a retune switch. But I could follow the ground contours like you wouldn't believe. Only thing was that it drifted, and eventually you ran out of fine tuning, and had to back it off all the way, then increase the coarse adjustment, and you were ready to hunt. Now if I was in sunlight, it drifted louder, and in the shade it got quieter.
Another feature popular at that time was the VLF ground control doubling as the disc. control in TR disc mode. If you switched back and forth it had to be completely retuned, each time. But boy did I find the silver dimes in among the trash.
A friend had an old White's Coinmaster TR and the disc control faded in & out, causing it to disc right sometimes. It might correctly disc a tab , and 5 minutes later, without touching any knob, disc a silver dollar. One day he decided to get a serious detector, and I read everything, and recommended a GARRETT'S Deepseeker, which also had push button retune. The first time we go out with it, we hunt a parking lot for Jefferson County courthouse, and he finds 6 silver dimes and 4 pennies in one hole. Talk about beginner's luck! One day when it was cold and rainy, we decided to go hunt a football field, and I really wanted to hunt, even with tonsilitis and 101 temp.
After about 2 hours I completely wore myself out. I went to lie down on a bleacher, and a little later he called me over to check out a signal. I turned on my machine, and get no signal at the tab setting, and I
couldn't even get a signal at no disc. and full sens.
So I retune my detector in VLF All metal, and listening hard and knowing where the signal was, I got the barest whisper. Now he was using 3/4 sens., tab reject, and could pick it up 2 or 3 inches above the ground. So he digs it, and it was a sterling silver mouthpiece for a Tuba, about 8" deep.
The next day, I did 2 things, went to the V.A. Clinic, and borrowed enough money from my bank to buy 3 hi end detectors from Kellyco, and become a class 2 dealer. It was time to find out what worked, and what did not. Needless to say, one of the machines was a Deepseeker, and the 2 others were a Red BARON-7, and a FISHER 553. I wanted a Garrett Grand Master BFO with a multicoil, but they convinced me it would be impossible to sell. I still regret not getting one just to play with. Sold my Super Pro to some guy that lived at Gilchrist, TX. A.H. also made some radically
new machine called the QUINTRON, and to this day I don't know how it worked, but regret not getting one to try out. I HAD to get a RED BARON, because after reading their catalog, you thought it was a detector from another galaxy. While it was heavy, it did work as advertised, but you had to whip it about as fast as someone cutting sugarcane with a scythe. That thing must have used 8 filters or more, and it still loved steel bottlecaps; you had to go to aluminum screwcap to get rid of them, MAYBE. But I found out that on the ones that were turned into more rust than metal, the detector would null out in ALL METAL. And you could temporarily change modes when using the button in the end of the handle, AMAZING! more later
and in that case you stop and call combat engineers and they would blow it in place. NO, none of that probing with a bayonet they taught us in basic; this was the real world. It did not take me long to figure if it will hit a mine, it will find MONEY.
The first detector I bought was a D-TEX BFO, and it would find money, along with every other piece of junk imaginable. A friend had a FISHER 400 series VLF[NO DISC.], but it found everything also, especially trash, and did it at 3X THE DEPTH. I decided to do some serious research for my next machine. I contacted a guy named HERB JEFFRIES at his
drug store in Mission TX, and bought what I thought was the best hi trash discriminator on the market,
an A.H. ELECTRONICS Superpro with a 6" loop. Talk about bullet proof, the box was made of 1/8" aluminum, and it used 2- 9 volt batteries, 2X the size of a regular 9 volt, costing 4X the price, and only available at certain electronics stores. Now this detector had 8 knobs on the box and a fine tune knob in place of a retune switch. But I could follow the ground contours like you wouldn't believe. Only thing was that it drifted, and eventually you ran out of fine tuning, and had to back it off all the way, then increase the coarse adjustment, and you were ready to hunt. Now if I was in sunlight, it drifted louder, and in the shade it got quieter.
Another feature popular at that time was the VLF ground control doubling as the disc. control in TR disc mode. If you switched back and forth it had to be completely retuned, each time. But boy did I find the silver dimes in among the trash.
A friend had an old White's Coinmaster TR and the disc control faded in & out, causing it to disc right sometimes. It might correctly disc a tab , and 5 minutes later, without touching any knob, disc a silver dollar. One day he decided to get a serious detector, and I read everything, and recommended a GARRETT'S Deepseeker, which also had push button retune. The first time we go out with it, we hunt a parking lot for Jefferson County courthouse, and he finds 6 silver dimes and 4 pennies in one hole. Talk about beginner's luck! One day when it was cold and rainy, we decided to go hunt a football field, and I really wanted to hunt, even with tonsilitis and 101 temp.
After about 2 hours I completely wore myself out. I went to lie down on a bleacher, and a little later he called me over to check out a signal. I turned on my machine, and get no signal at the tab setting, and I
couldn't even get a signal at no disc. and full sens.
So I retune my detector in VLF All metal, and listening hard and knowing where the signal was, I got the barest whisper. Now he was using 3/4 sens., tab reject, and could pick it up 2 or 3 inches above the ground. So he digs it, and it was a sterling silver mouthpiece for a Tuba, about 8" deep.
The next day, I did 2 things, went to the V.A. Clinic, and borrowed enough money from my bank to buy 3 hi end detectors from Kellyco, and become a class 2 dealer. It was time to find out what worked, and what did not. Needless to say, one of the machines was a Deepseeker, and the 2 others were a Red BARON-7, and a FISHER 553. I wanted a Garrett Grand Master BFO with a multicoil, but they convinced me it would be impossible to sell. I still regret not getting one just to play with. Sold my Super Pro to some guy that lived at Gilchrist, TX. A.H. also made some radically
new machine called the QUINTRON, and to this day I don't know how it worked, but regret not getting one to try out. I HAD to get a RED BARON, because after reading their catalog, you thought it was a detector from another galaxy. While it was heavy, it did work as advertised, but you had to whip it about as fast as someone cutting sugarcane with a scythe. That thing must have used 8 filters or more, and it still loved steel bottlecaps; you had to go to aluminum screwcap to get rid of them, MAYBE. But I found out that on the ones that were turned into more rust than metal, the detector would null out in ALL METAL. And you could temporarily change modes when using the button in the end of the handle, AMAZING! more later
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