New man lots of ?

[Grady]

Hi folks, my name is Grady Jarvis. I live in north central Okla. I bought some great maps from uncle ron a while back and love them. If you need any he is a great source. I bought a Whites XLT when I first got into this metal detecting BUT I am now wanting to look for gold. First of all I would like to know if the XLT is any good for this and second of all does any one out there know the closest place for me to go to get started looking for gold? One other thing, if not the XLT what is a good cheep beginer leavel dector for me? Does any one have one for sale? Thanks and glad to meet every one.

Grady

[grubstake]

The XLT has a prospecting mode, it will work on nuggets, but not the smaller stuff, an MXT or a minelab eureka would be a better detector for that. Depend on what you can afford. Look in the classifides on the forums, some real good deal sometimes. Grubstake

[Grady]

The XLT has a prospecting mode, it will work on nuggets, but not the smaller stuff, an MXT or a minelab eureka would be a better detector for that. Depend on what you can afford. Look in the classifides on the forums, some real good deal sometimes. Grubstake

[Grady]

The XLT has a prospecting mode, it will work on nuggets, but not the smaller stuff, an MXT or a minelab eureka would be a better detector for that. Depend on what you can afford. Look in the classifides on the forums, some real good deal sometimes. Grubstake

Thanks Grubstake, I see you are in a lot better part of the country for this kind of thing. I am wanting to go out to Az. but my son is leaveing for Iraq in 4-5 weaks and I am going to spend as much time with him as I can till then. After that I am afraid the weather may not permit. I want to see the grand canyon too and I will have 10 days. Do you know of any places a person can go any were close to interstate 40? I joined the GPAA So I guess I can hunt on there claims if there are any around there. I am going to be liveing out of a mini van. Will it get down the roads out there?

[grubstake]

Yes your mini van will do ok, if you watch yourself, and don't get in washs of lose sand, most of the roads are travelled pretty well, around kingman Az there should be some good places to hunt, watch out for claims, and DO NOT hunt in the Grand Canyon, you'll lose everything, van and all, and most likely go to jail. South of Kingman is Gold Basin, mostly claimed, but the GPAA does have some claims out thee or did. Some of the guys from AZ. will prob. jump in here with some better facts. Since I'm so far from there. I know alot of them have much better info for you if they will share it. Good luck, happy hunting. My Son-in-law is in the Army Scouts, they just sent him to South Korea for a year on the DMZ. Grubstake PS Grady, I forgot to tell you, I'm from Pauls Vally OK. All my people still live there

[Grady]

]

I use to live in Chickasha and worked in Pauls Vally. Didn't stay long. I was pipe lineing at the time. I have been a barber for the last 20 years. Thanks for the info about the grand canyon. I don't think I would do well in jail.

I have another question ( sorry ). I just talked to a friend of mine in N.C. that use to help me teach cadaver dog seminars and he has a Minelab Eureka. He said he had put a expensive meter of some kind on it. He said something about a solveride ( or something like that ) don't know what that could be. I think he said it had a 8 in. sun 2 coil. I can get it for 350.00 . It is in new condition but he doesn't know how old it is. He bought it used from a dealer friend of his. He doesn't know anything about them either and hasn't used it much. He said he found some horse shoe's on a sandy beach about three feet deap. He is a game ranger out there and a long time friend and I know I can trust him. Matter of fact he said he would mail it to me when he gets home ( he was on his way to a seminar ) and just let me play with it as long as I want to. It also has a batterie that you can put on your belt and head phones. You know anything about these?

Thanks for your paitents.

Grady

[grubstake]

The Eureka is a gold machine, the soverine is a coin machine, if he has the eureka, that will do alot better than the XLT as far as gold finding goes. $350.00 is a darned good price if it works well. But the Eureka never had a meter for it, the Soverine does. Soverine is great for coins, it has an iron reject, so does the Eureka. The Eureka is the better of two for gold, as its was designed for gold prospecting. Grubstake

[Grady]

The Eureka is a gold machine, the soverine is a coin machine, if he has the eureka, that will do alot better than the XLT as far as gold finding goes. $350.00 is a darned good price if it works well. But the Eureka never had a meter for it, the Soverine does. Soverine is great for coins, it has an iron reject, so does the Eureka. The Eureka is the better of two for gold, as its was designed for gold prospecting. Grubstake

I think he said it was a eureka and the guy before him had put a soverine meter on it. Is that posible and what would that be like?

Grady

I think he said it was a eureka and the guy before him had put a soverine meter on it. Is that posible and what would that be like?

Grady

How do I get the quote off this thing?

[grubstake]

I really don't know if a meter off a soverine would work on an Eureka, I guess its possible, but it would be the first one I'd ever seen, can't really see any atvantage of a meter. But only minelab would know if it would work. Grubstake

[Grady]

I will have him send it to me then let you know what I have. He hasn't seen it him self for a year. It is stored.

[dutch john]

Howdy Grubstake... I just posted on the the "Upcoming Hunt" forum....

Then I saw you were posting... I always view your posts... Great

Information and Good Fellowship!!!

Grady and Grubstake... Just a thought. I have a question regarding

the Eureka.

It could be the Eureka Dual Ace? One of the first Minelab VLF's.

I had one years ago... in a green box. It was a manual ground balance.

Or it could be the Eureka Gold?

[Grady]

Thank's Dutch,it is good to meet you. I am Grady. I guess all I can do is wait till he sends it to me and see for sure what it is. Do you or any one ealse know what you have to do as far as permits and stuff to get to use a metal detector on GPAA claimes in AZ. AND were any of there calims are near the north side of the state?

[Uncle Ron]

Hi Grady...

The nearest GPAA claims to Hwy 40 would be Gold Basin which is North of Kingman about an hour or so...There are four large claims, a full section each. There's still some good gold as well as meteorites there. There's not much in the way of gold, to my knowledge, in the NE part of AZ...You also could drop down Hwy 17 out of Flagstaff to the the Bradshaws which is SE of Prescott for a good number of GPAA claims...

You might keep your eyes open for a WHites Goldmaster 2, or a Goldmaster VSAT or Goldmaster 3...They can be had at a reasonable amount and probably would work better for you than a very old Eureka...

Also a Fisher Gold Bug is a good machine for a reasonable price.

Hope this helps, and thank you for the complements on my maps...I'm glad you like them...

Cheers, Ron (Also an Okie, born in Seminole and lived in McAlester my younger years)

[Grady]

Hey Ron it is good to here from you. Thank you for the info. I was wondering if you were still around. I haven't been on here for a long time. My son is going to Iraq and I have been spending as much time with him as possible. That and so depressed becouse of the whole mess that I don't feel like doing anything.

Are those calmes to were you can get to them in a mini van and can you spend the night out there? Oh and do you have to get any permits or anything besides the GPAA membership?

AND THAKN YOU for such great maps. I can't wait to get enough time to use them. My first trip out will be my first trip to AZ. ever and I have to show my exwife witch I live with again the Grand Canyon and maybe Hover dam if I can figure out were it is. I didn't even know it was in Az. till I was told last night. I have 10 days to play in. So I will go as fast and play as hard as a 50 year old in bad shape can do. How is the weather is the last part of Nov. out there? Thanks again for your help Ron.

Grady

[Uncle Ron]

Hi Grady...You can take in the Grand Canyon, then swing on through Kingman, turn north at Kingman, go up to Dolan Springs and then continue on out to the Gold Basin claims area...Your van will be just fine, but do be careful when it looks like you should be careful...After a few days of beeping the Gold Basin Claims, you can swing back out to the highway through Dolan Springs, turn right and be at the dam in another 45 minutes or so...

I don't remember which maps you ordered but there's the gold basin claims map on my website if you don't already have it..

Cheers, Unc

[Uncle Ron]

Grady...Here's a GM VSAT on eBay right now..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Whites-Goldmaster-V-SA...VQQcmdZViewItem

Cheers, Ron

[Grady]

Thank's Ron,that sounds like a great plan for my trip. I already told a friend of mine to send me that other detector now but I am going to keep an eye on this one and might end up with both and sell off the one I like the least. I went out and played with my XLT this evening and found some pennies out in the park. It has pro settings were you can set it any way you want to but it isn't as easy as turning knobs. It is more like seting computer settings. I wish I new what to set everything on for nuggets and save a setting in it so I could experiment with it. I am going to have to learn what all that stuff does sooner or latter. I bought an auto. becouse it was easy but I have been reading some post's were the guys were talking way over my head. It is the one that has about 8 pages of posts. I need to read and learn a lot. I learned just enough to know there is no machine that is great at gold and all the other stuff. I don't have a problem with keeping a machine for each purpose though. Looks like to me it would be easier than remembering the blind spots and how to set the thing up for every differant sercomstance. BUT like I said before I don't know nothing about these things yet. I am going to call my buddy tomorrow and see if I can find out more about the detector he has. He said they cost around $900.00 new. So if I don't like it or it doesn't do what I want it to I can sell it on ebay. Thanks again for all the info. I will check on the map thing. How late in the year can I make that trip with out running into weather my van won't make it to the claims in?

Grady

[dutch john]

Grady... Both Grubstake and Uncle Ron are most knowledgeable. Both

are very experienced and successful nuggethunters.

I will now respectfully add to their posts, to keep in mind however,

that no machine will "beep" gold if you are hunting in an area where

none is found. Also, your choice of detector is secondary to your skill

in using it. Whatever detector you use... learn it! Memorize the operating

manual and fully understand the function of the knobs and toggle

swiitches.

And... enjoy the hunt... the search... the friendships found along the

way. This is the real gold.... the memories you will have of long ago...

of times now gone... areas that are gone... but alive in your memory.

[Grady]

Thank You Dutch, I think you are right. If the fun goes out of anything you do it is time to stop. That is why I am getting into this. I trained and tought cadaver dog seminars for the last several years. I made a lot of friends all over the country but burned myself out traveling were they wanted me to be and now I am going were I want for a while.

I think my XLT can be set up in pro options with the right coil to give me a litte learning experince. I will buy one with all the knobs set up for gold when I find a good deal on an old one just to learn on. Then I will probubley get the best one made that I can get the money for. Like that minelab 4000 when I know enough to turn it on. Right now it would be like haveing a Hummer and no drivers license. Thanks again Dutch.

Grady

[dutch john]

Grady... one thing I have learned over the years... and since

you are a barber I think you will agree... using the right tools

for the job is only half the solution... you need to know how to

use them correctly... to get the best out of the equipment.

If necessary you can give a great haircut using only sissers

and a comb...

If all seems confusing to you, just (as starters) use the preset

prospecting program. The Spectrum XLT replaced the Eagle ll

and was simplified. But also with improvements. Thus the XLT

has a prospecting program that has been further expanded

over the earlier Eagles.

To keep this short: Your XLT operates at about 6.59 kHz, now

considered to have less sensitivity to the smaller and less

conductive targets... such as a gold nugget. But, they can also

go deeper for the larger nuggets and less affected by ground

balance "problems" in ferrous ground.

So do not become discouraged as to "what and why..." Since you

wish for a quick start... bite the bullet and read the glossary on pg

53 in your manual... then go to pg. 54 and setup the various options

as suggested for prospecting. Notice itis also similar to the Relic

programs.

However... keep getting out and using your XLT for local coinhunting.

With the standard coil and set up... it is possible to "beep" a smaller

nugget than nine-grains (see pg 8). With my more primitive Eagle ll,

and standard coil, I once beeped a 5-grainer on a drywash pile back

about 1990 at Randsburg CA area.

Naturally a "gold" coil could be a better choice... But for now it might

be better to hold off investing any money until you are able to make a

choice that works best for you. Barbers, like school teachers do not

make "big bucks." At present you own "lock stock and barrel" a higher

end "do all" that can be used for most any applications. Just learn its

"secrets" and you could be pleasantly surprized at what it is capable

of... lower frequencies may be making a comeback because they seem

to fill a nitche between the higher frequency VLF type and the PI-type

gold machines.

[Grady]

Thank You very much Dutch. I will do that very thing. I you can't cut with sizzors you had better leave the clippers alone. I will do a lot of studying with what I have. Then get a gold machine when I know more about what I am buying. I am hopeing when I make it out to real gold country I can lay my detector down and pick up nuggets like easter eggs any way.

Grady