Noob - introduction

Hi All,

I have spent some time reading the great forum you have here and have been very impressed.I decided it was time to stop lurking and sign up :-) I would have signed up sooner but dont really feel I have much to contribute at this stage of being a complete noob.

Thus far my experience is limited to 1 day away in the Newstead area with my father staying at a mates place. We hired a couple of detectors from Maryborough and had a go. We found heaps of shell casings, bullet fragments, cans etc and my father found one nugget that when weighed at the hire place the valed at $900 give or take.

Although I did not find any gold I had a great day, and I was pleased with my effotrs and gaining some kind of confidence - I was able to detect and find a miniture mechano screw which is quite small! We have another weekend planned for in a moth or so.

For a while I will continue to hire until I am sure it is a hobby I will continue with then I will purchase one for myself.

I look forward to becoming an active part ofthis onlne community.

Cheers
Uncle Duck

Welcome to the "Brotherhood".
I don't know how much you anticipate spending on hiring,but I would consider buying a Minelab SD2100(NOT MODIFIED) with 11" mono coil and 11" DD coil............you should be able to pick one up for $1500.00......I suggest approaching your nearest detector club so can "eyeball" the seller and get the full history of the unit.
The reason I suggest this approach is that if you decide that detecting is not your scene in the next few months you will be able to sell it and get your money back.
Be lucky!

Welcome to the forum Uncle Duck.... and to a great hobby. Sandy's comment are pretty spot on, especially about Joining a Prospecting/Detecting Club. I certainly agree about getting a ML PI machine 2100 upwards and buy the latest model you can afford. If in time you find the hobby does not suit you should be able to get close to your money back if you sell.

When at home concentrate on understanding your machine and do heaps of tests to establish to best settings. When out in the bush concentrate on the basics, low and slow, coil flat to the ground all the time and concentrate, then concentrate some more. Move the logs and check under the bushes. When you find a nice quiet soft targetresponse, try a few different settings to try and improve the signal response and threshold.

Cheers John

G'day Uncle Duck, and welcome! Nice ta meet ya! Hope you enjoy the forum and make lots of great mates!!

Welcome uncle duck & ditto prevous comments.

Hi all,
Thanks for the warm welcome.
After the next weekend away in a month or so when we will hire machines I will likely look to purchase after that or atleast start saving lol I need to find cheaper hobbies (Other hobby is aquariums/aquascaping and it can be very costly).
Since my first time out I have been reading and watching youtube clips etc and the advuce given here are leading me to think that a mistake I have made was to focus on strong signals. They all turned out to be bullet pieces etc so I will dig some weaker signals next time and see how that goes.
Thanks again for the warm welcome and advice.
Cheers
Ducky

Definitely dig all the signals.... particularly the soft ones. I have a mate with three oncer hanging on his neck. He very nearly walked away thinking it had to be a big bit of trash - only 3" down

John

Welcome Uncle Duck,

Seems to be a few ducks on the Forum now hahahahahaaaaaa the best of luck with your next outings....

Listen to the other members they are totally correct, make sure you even dig the pauses and breaks in the threshold even just a few scrapes with the pick can make that signal even louder, as well as dig the big signals.

Qauck...over and out!!!!

Hi Uncle Duck welcome to the forum good to see you have come out of the ''LURKERS CAVE''and are going to have in put to the forum. Don t be scared to ask questions no matter how stupid you think it is as a lot of us started by asking what we think are silly questions but you do get response to them cheers and look forward to see some posts from you Terry

Uncle Duck, life will be so much easier now that you have come out of the closet.
..-86

Now down to the real point. When does your father intend to start detecting tours? Is it tag a long, can I have an X marks the spot, blah blah blah.. just having a welcome shot mate, good on you
Phil