Blog Archives - Doc's Detecing Supply

Making your Equinox purr like a kitten while detecting and roar like a lion on a target

admin — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:57:47 +0000

by G.M. “Doc” Lousignont, Ph.D.

Optimize your Equinox for peak “QUIET” performance.

We have a lot of new detectorists as well as detectorists who have never used a Minelab machine before going through a learning curve with the Equinox.

The most common problem seems to be that new Equinox owners feel the detector is noisy and they are not sure how to calm the machine down.

Here are some tips from Doc, your resident expert.

DETECTING TIPS: I know when you see detectors in pictures you always see the coil cable neatly wound around the lower and upper stem. The cable is usually secured with Velcro® wraps.

Don’t do it!

Run the cable straight up the lower rod from the coil, securing it with Velcro® wraps. Once you get to the mid rod, then you can start to wrap the coil cable, and secure it with wraps until you plug it into the back of the machine.

You want to be extremely careful about the wrap you put on the coil cable down by the coil. Make sure you leave enough slack so when you lay the machine down, with the coil flat on the ground, you have enough play in this coil cable that you are not stressing it.

Why do you not want to wrap the coil cable around the lower rod? Have you ever seen one of those enormous electro-magnets used in a junk yard to lift cars? Well inside that big disk is nothing more than a bunch of wound wire. When electricity is ran through it, it creates a magnetic field. Well the same thing can happen with your coil cable when it is wound on the lower rod. You turn your detector on, it sends energy down the coil cable, and when it is wound around the lower rod, you have created a magnetic field right above your coil. This can desensitize your coil as your detector struggles to adjust itself to a magnetic field it can also cause erratic behavior.

The other issue that can cause noisy operation is having the sensitivity too high. Sensitivity is a big issue. People assume the higher the sensitivity the deeper the detector will go. Not true. Run the sensitivity too high and the detector spends all of it’s time trying to adjust to an over-sensitive machine instead of finding worthwhile targets.

You must understand all of the fundamental operations of the detector. So download and printout that manual. You don’t have to memorize it all. But you should work through the manual with your detector in hand and learn all of the features the detector offers. A lot of the features such as the tone, you may set once and never set again. Other settings you may learn to appreciate and always use them in given circumstances. The manual is available for download on Minelab.com under Equinox.

Cell phones are another big issue. Seriously! A major issue. Turn your phone off and get it as far away from your detector as possible. Put it in your backpack, up and away from the detector.

Another issue is your Pin Pointer. If it is not a Minelab Pin Pointer, you can actually be getting interference from your non-Minelab Pinpointer EVEN WHEN IT IS OFF! Remember the wound wire, magnetic field problem mentioned above? Well most pinpointers have windings. These windings can actually pick up the energy from your detector and cause a magnetic field and drive your detector crazy. Especially if it is too close to the detector. Minelab actually identified this issue long ago. To that end they developed their DIF Technology:

Minelab’s Detector Interference Free (DIF) technology significantly reduces interference with an operating metal detector, when the pinpointer is switched off, by disengaging the pinpointer coil’s magnetic field.?

UNDERSTANDING THE NOISE CANCEL FEATURE:

Noise Cancel is a very important and critical feature of all Minelab Detectors. What Noise Cancel does is it searches for interference or lack there of. When it finds an interference free channel it locks onto it and uses it to provide you with a relatively noise free channel of operation.

Nothing is perfect, and neither is NOISE CANCEL, but you can help Fine Tune the Noise Cancel feature.

#1. Is there a known source of interference nearby? Another Detectorist. High Power Lines. Cell Towers or Antennas on the tops of mountains?

If so, do this:

Aim your coil at the suspected source of interference. Press the settings button, (It’s the GEAR looking icon in the middle under the screen.) Keep pressing it until in the lower left corner of your screen a circle with a hash mark through an up and down depiction of noise appears. That is your NOISE CANCEL mode. Now hold your detector steady, while aiming the coil at the suspected interference source and push the CHECK MARK / “X” button on the right side of the control pad just to the right of the “+” plus button (You can also push the “+” button) This starts the Noise Cancel procedure.

The detector cycles through channels looking for a clean channel. It will stop on what it thinks is a quiet channel. It will display a number from -9 to 9. These represent the channels. Is the detector still a little noisy? No worries. We are going to manually look for a clean channel. With your detector still aimed at the suspected source of interference. Push the “+” plus, or “-” button and you will go up or down the channel setting changing the channel. So let’s say that your detector ends up during auto-noise cancel on channel 7. When you push the “-” MINUS button it will go to channel 6, then 5, then 4, etc. When you press the “+” PLUS button it will increase the channel.

Often you will find during AUTO-NOISE cancel that the number ultimately displayed let’s say -3, may not be perfectly quiet, but the channel right next to it is. So manually adjust it to -2 or -4 and see if you can find a quiet channel.

#2. You don’t know where the interference is coming from or there is relatively no interference.

If so, do this:

Put your coil on the ground. Now leaving the back of the coil on the ground, tip the front of the coil up at about a 45 degree angle, So from the side your coil it should look something like this __\— That’s a bit more than 45 degrees but you get the idea. Now slowly turn around 360 degrees, make a mental note of where the most interference is coming from. When you find that noisy spot, stop right there. Hold your coil still and go through the AUTO-Noise cancel outlined above, and the MANUAL NOISE Fine tuning using the PLUS or MINUS button I described above.

Doing a Noise Cancel on the ground, is important. If you don’t know where the interference is coming from, chances are good it is micro-wave interference or EMI. These sources bounce around. You want to cancel them at ground level because that is where your coil is going to be doing the detecting.

After deciding on best channel, hit the DETECT button which is the BLACK button with the icon of a coil on the left side of your control button panel, to the left of the MINUS button.

Remember, every time you change your mode, or turn your detector back on, you must do a Noise Cancel again. Changing the mode, changes the sensitivity of the machine and hence your must go through Noise Cancel again to compensate for the new settings. Also, a note regarding the Equinox 600, it does not have the ability to manually adjust the Noise Cancel channel.

AFTER NOISE CANCEL:

Now Balance your machine. Once again click on the GEAR ICON until you cycle through to the ICON of a coil with an up and down arrow. This should be to the right of the NOISE CANCEL icon that showed up in the lower left hand side of your screen. At first hold the PLUS “+” button down and pump the coil up and down against the ground about 6 inches. Listen to the sound.

The coil will sound different either going away from the ground or going towards the ground. That is because your detector is not properly balanced.

If you are getting a louder sound going away from the ground that means your detector is NEGATIVELY ground balanced. THIS IS VERY BAD! You will lose a lot of depth and it will be noisy. If you get a louder sound going away from the ground hold down the PLUS button, because the way to get the detector out of a NEGATIVE BALANCE is to ADD POSITIVE ground balance, this is done with the POSITIVE “+” button. Likewise, if you are getting a louder sound when the coil goes towards the ground you are out of balance on the POSITIVE side. The way to get the detector back in balance is to hold the negative button down “-” as this brings the POSITIVE balance down and gets the detector back in balance.

You want to use the POSITIVE and NEGATIVE button while pumping the coil up and down until you are either getting no sound, or the sound is the same both going towards the ground and away from the ground with your coil.

I know it may be a bit confusing, but let me try to simplify.

LOUDER SOUND GOING AWAY FROM GROUND = NEGATIVE BALANCE – PRESS POSITIVE BUTTON To Bring the detector into balance.

LOUDER SOUND GOING TOWARDS THE GROUND = POSITIVE BALANCE – PRESS NEGATIVE BUTTON to bring the detector into balance.

SAME SOUND GOING TOWARDS OR AWAY FROM GROUND = PERFECTLY BALANCED DETECTOR.

When the detector is balanced, push the TARGET / DETECT button in the middle at the bottom of the Button Control Panel.

ADVANCED SECRET: Running your detector slightly out of balance on the POSITIVELY balanced side will give you extra depth, BUT it is quite noisy and prone to falsing.

I hope these tips and tricks will help new comers to get their Equinox to purr like a kitten while detecting, and roar like a lion when it finds a target.

Doc – Certified Minelab Gold Machine Trainer 26 years a Certified Dealer with Minelab.

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Gold Is Not Where You Find It, by Doc as appeared in GPAA Magazine

admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 02:48:51 +0000

Gold Is NOT Where You Find It!
by Doc as Published in GPAA Magazine

I am always dismayed when I hear about fellow detectorists who say that they have yet to find a piece of gold with their metal detector after one year, two years, etc.

I find gold almost every time I go detecting. I may get skunked one out of twenty times. That one time is usually when I am prospecting totally new ground, and just have not hit a new patch yet.

We all have heard the saying, “Gold is where you find it.” I think that statement is wrong, very misleading and harmful.

In fact, I think it may give newbies the wrong impression about prospecting for gold. It implies that gold is randomly dispersed with no rhyme or reason, and if you do happen to find it, it is only by some strange coincidence or luck. Nothing could be further from the truth. Finding gold is a science and an art, executed by people with the skill and experience who know what they are doing and where to look.

Let’s start with understanding some basic truths. All we are doing with a metal detector is processing dirt. The same way you process dirt with a dry washer, or a high banker. We are just doing it electronically. The more dirt we process the better chance we have of finding gold. But think of what a small amount of dirt we are processing with a metal detector. A column of dirt under the coil to an indeterminate depth and we sweep that coil back and forth. We do that for 6 to 8 hours a day?

Now compare that to the tons and tons of dirt you see the boys on the hit television show Gold Rush process. Yards and yards and tons and tons of dirt processed to collect their gold. It’s amazing that we find anything when you compare the small amount of dirt we “process” with a metal detector.

So, think about what a bizarre feat it is for a person with a metal detector to process such a small amount of dirt, and yet be able to find gold. It truly is akin to the old saying “a needle in a haystack.”

Yet, we all know experienced prospectors, who are always posting pictures of their gold finds. These are prospectors that have been around a while. These prospectors that consistently find gold with their metal detectors, become pretty well known, pretty quickly, because there just aren’t that many of them. They become something of celebrities. Many of these “legends” are featured at the GPAA shows to give informative and invaluable talks. So how come some of these people are more successful at finding gold than other people? Do we process more dirt? NOPE! We have a secret!

Our secret is we spend our time processing dirt that is more likely to have gold, than other dirt.

We have all heard go low and go slow when using a metal detector. I agree with that “go low” admonishment. You need to keep that coil on the ground. But SLOW? If you watch experienced detectorists, you will see that they vary their speed when they are “looking for gold.” They speed up in areas that their knowledge and experience tell them they are less likely to find gold. Then, they slow down in areas where that experience tells them there may be a greater chance for there to be gold. They spend their time more productively by processing only dirt that has a higher probability of having gold. When they find a nugget, they may turn around and go back over the area they went through quickly. This time they will go more slowly. They do this because they now know this area may be more likely to have gold too. So they invest their time wisely; only spending valuable time processing high probability ground.

Let me provide an outlandish example. You are standing in a paved parking lot of a large supermarket. Next to the supermarket parking lot are acres and acres of quartz strewn red dirt with all kinds of gullies where water has ran during the wet season. Where are you most likely to find gold? Are you going to spend your day in the supermarket parking lot swinging over asphalt? Experienced detectorists are constantly looking at their surroundings. They look at where they are going and where they have been. They are calculating the odds. Is this a supermarket parking lot, or a gold vault?

“Gold is NOT where you find it.”

“Gold is found in places it is most likely to be.”

Seasoned prospectors have spent their careers learning what those places look like. Now are we ever surprised to find a nugget in a place where we would never intentionally look. Certainly, but those are few and far between.

Most of the time when we find a nugget we have a pretty good idea of why it is where it is. We may observe contact zones of granite and quartz with iron staining, deteriorated quartz is everywhere, we detect on a bench, in a tailings pile, a narrow gully with high sides, in the bend of a gully, under a waterfall of boulders, behind a bush lining a gully, near an old mine or where there are indications the old timers were working.

I once was way off the beaten path on my ATV. I found an old canteen that said BEAR BRAND, Patent 1918; lid still on it, canvas completely gone. I stopped right there and detected the gully I found it in. I pulled out three nice little nuggets.

Let’s say after a year you finally find your first nugget. You find it under a boulder right on the side of a gully. From that day forward, you will check every boulder on the side of every gully. Why? You learned where to look. It’s no coincidence that after taking so long to find the first nugget, newbies generally find their second nugget soon thereafter. WHY? Knowledge and confidence. I have often said, if you don’t take at least 20 minutes with every nugget you find, letting it tell you it’s story, you are missing a valuable education. “How did you get here little buddy? Why did you stop here? Where did you come from? What’s different about this gully than other gullies I have checked? Is there a concentration of deteriorated quartz around here? A contact zone? You’re sort of rough, you didn’t travel far did you? Where are your little friends?”

I can almost bet that any experienced prospector will tell you that they can be riding on their ATV and they will come upon a patch of ground and their heart starts beating a little harder. They may even say to themselves out loud, “Oh man this area looks good.” After years and years of experience, we sometimes just “get a feeling.” It’s not voodoo, it’s just our subconscious telling us that at some time in our past, we came across a place that exhibited similar conditions, and we found gold there. We may not even remember the specifics of that area in our past on a conscious level, but our sub-conscious knows.

So what is the moral of this story? Buying a detector and expecting to learn how to become a successful prospector without training is like buying a 747 aircraft and trying to get it airborne when you have had no training.

I hear it time and time again. I’ve been detecting two years and never found a piece of gold. “Who trained you?” TRAINED ME? “Well I’ve done a lot of research and I have read a lot on detecting and prospecting and I have 13 books on prospecting in my library.”

You board a commercial airline and the captain comes on the intercom and says, “I’d like to tell you a little about my knowledge about flying. I’ve done a lot of research on flying an airplane. I have read a lot on aviation and I have 13 books on the history of aircraft development in my library.”

Ah, put on your seat belt, and make sure you know where the emergency exits are. Scratch that, just get off the plane!

Someone tells you they have not been successful with a metal detector. They go on to explain they have never been trained to use their metal detector, or been taught to properly prospect for gold. That is akin to someone saying, “I have had the worst luck with airplanes. I have owned five different planes and can’t get the darn things in the air; I have crashed every one of them.” Where did you get your flight lessons? “ME? LESSONS? YOU MEAN FLYING LESSONS?”

So boys and girls, my lesson for today is:

“Gold is NOT where you find it.”

“Gold is found in places it is most likely to be.”

So hang out with people who can help you and teach you WHERE to look!

A company who only sells you a detector, is doing just that. They are selling you a detector. There is nothing wrong with that if you are a seasoned veteran who does not need training, or if you have someone who is willing to take you under their wing and teach you this wonderful past-time.

However, if you are new, or not successful at finding gold, look for metal detector dealers who also offer training. Then you are not just buying a detector. You are investing in a relationship with someone who wants to make sure you are successful at learning how to prospect and find gold. Whatever you invest financially for training will pay huge dividends when it comes to being successful at finding gold.

I have been a metal detector dealer for 26 years. I have trained detectorists from all around the world. I have even gone to North Sudan and trained prospectors there. When I sell a customer a metal detector I recommend two things. Sign up for a training class and join the GPAA local chapter. Go to the meetings and attend the outings. Local GPAA chapters are a treasure trove of knowledge. They exist for one sole purpose: to make sure you become a successful gold prospector. A membership in the GPAA is the most valuable and least expensive investment in fun you will ever make.

G.M. “Doc” Lousignont, Ph.D. has a Ph.D in Criminal Psychology, a former law enforcement officer and a licensed private investigator for 41 years, his love of solving mysteries led him to prospecting. In 1992 he opened his prospecting supply store Doc’s Detecting Supply, located in a new 4500 sq foot warehouse at 1180 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 110, Henderson, Nevada 89074. Ph 1-800-477-3211 Doc is a leading dealer for Minelab Metal Detectors. His numerous training videos are available on YouTube on his channel Docsdetectingsupply

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Chris Coffee Spends a Day of Training With Doc on the Gold Monster 1000

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 05:58:37 +0000

February 16th 2019 was a beautiful day in Gold Basin Mining District in Arizona. The day started of with a crisp nip in the air. As the sun came up the day turned out beautiful as there was virtually no wind.

Chris Coffee, a long time detectorist had recently purchased a Minelab Gold Monster 1000 from Doc and traveled from California to receive a day of hands on training.

Starting with some basic information on geology, Doc showed Chris some of the basic things to look for while prospecting for gold. Most importantly this included spots where Doc had already found gold. Doc reports, “It’s extremely important for people using a metal detector to actually see locations where gold has been found. In this way you get a sense of the kind of conditions that give you clues where gold might be. Some of these things include contact zones of granite and quartz, deteriorated quartz reefs, meandering gullies that are not too steep. These gullies allow gold to gently move along the gully without getting washed out of the gully or being agitated to the point that they sink way way down to bedrock where they may be out of the reach of a detector.”

After a familiarization with basic geology of the conditions that may indicate placer deposits, Doc went on to familiarize Chris with an understanding of the Gold Monster 1000 operation.

Unfortunately the day went by way too quickly. Chris acknowledged the information provided was valuable and would help him in his search for gold when he got back to California.

It’s a great time when friends can get together and share an activity they both enjoy.

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Selfie Stick Tripod Combo with phone adapter, remote control, carry bag under 14 ounces

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 21:06:26 +0000

This thing is so cool. I do a lot of You Tube videos and I have always wanted to find a really lite weight selfie stick tri-pod combo. Well I found it! Only $23 FREE SHIPPING
SELFIE TRIPOD with Remote DETAILS

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Doc’s 4500 Sq Ft Warehouse Opens in Henderson NV March 2017

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 07:51:47 +0000

After 30 years in a professional office building Doc actually helped build on Twain Street in Las Vegas, it was time for a change. The building was sold the the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to be used as a Neighborhood Criminal Justice Center.

The unprecedented growth of Doc’s Detecting Supply, one of the premiere Minelab Dealers in the United States, called for a larger facility more suited to the large amount of merchandise Doc carries and sells.

In March of 2017 Doc secured a new 4500 sq.ft. warehouse located at 1180 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 110 Henderson, NV 89054. This makes Doc’s location the largest Minelab dealer warehouse west of the Mississippi. Because we ship an enormous amount of merchandise each day, from orders placed through our website, Ebay and Amazon, we do not have a showroom. You are always welcome to call for an appointment, if you know what you need. Because of the demands of filling a large amount of orders each day, we must limit appointments to a 20 minute duration. Insurance regulations prohibit customers from going into the warehouse and shipping area.

Always call for an appointment before dropping in. Our local Las Vegas number is 702-419-3070.

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Steve Herschbach from World Famous DetectorProspector.com forum review

admin — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 18:39:21 +0000

Steve Herschbach, a leader in the metal detecting industry, and the founder of the World Famous Metal Detecting forum: detectorprospector.com, recently wrote a review of some of Doc’s latest innovations, Covers for the Gold Monster 1000 and the Equinox, and the new QWEEGLE™ Bungee support cord. Here’s an excerpt from his review:

“Well out of the blue Doc or Doc’s Detecting Supply of Las Vegas sent me a goodie bag with some product to look over. Thanks Doc! Before I begin I want you to know I did not request this stuff. In order to not look like I am trading favorable comments for gear I am going to use this stuff as prizes in various forum contests I have planned (best finds, etc.). All these goodies Doc sent me will be finding new homes in the near future so stay tuned.

I already have a few of Doc’s products. I have one of his original Swingy Thingy support harnesses from over ten years ago. I don’t use it per se but it remains in my detecting kit at all time “just in case”. This is cool because Doc sent me the latest version of the Ultra Swingy Thingy to look at, and they are light years apart. The old one is little more than a strap and bungee. The new one is a full harness system.”

To read the entire review:
Steve Herschbach Reviews Doc’s New Products

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D’artagnon Jackson, long time customer of Doc, scores Beautiful Gold…

Yev yev — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 23:41:22 +0000

Gold Basin Mining District has a long and colorful history. Starting back around 1861 the road now called Pearce Ferry Road was the trail that took the old timers down to the Colorado River. The River separated Arizona and Nevada. The Ferry was the only way for travelers to cross.

Outlaws, Indians, cowboys and settlers heading to California were all part of the local landscape.

This is the area where D’artagnon Jackson found an amazing find with his Gold Monster 1000 on January 22, 2019. “Dar” had purchased his Gold Monster 1000 from Doc at Doc’s Detecting in Henderson Nevada almost one year ago in January of 2018. Doc had taken him to Gold Basin for a day of one on one training.

Dar lives in the state of Washington, and only gets to Gold Basin twice a year. He joins his brother, J.R. from Utah and they travel to Gold Basin to detect. Dar has been looking for elusive gold nuggets for 15 years with no success. He has owned every low end $200 detector on the market, with no success. However, armed with his Minelab Gold Monster, all of that was about to change.

As he was detecting, looking for meteorites , and of course his first gold nugget, if he could be so lucky, he stumbled upon a good target. At three inches he uncovered a pull-tab. Somewhat disappointed, he said, “I remembered what Doc had taught me. Always check your hole before you fill it back in, there might be another target.” Somewhat reluctantly Dar swung the 5 X 10 coil of his Gold Monster over the shallow hole. He got a good target sound, and it was registering as non-ferrous, however the pull tab also had registered as non-ferrous.

He started to dig deeper, and the ground started getting more hard packed. Ringing in the back of his head was Doc’s admonition, “When the target is deep and the ground is hard packed, it is less likely to be a trash target.”

At 8 inches, Dar saw a glint of gold. Could this be his very first nugget after 15 years? NO! It was something much more impressive that spoke to the unique history of this Gold Basin area. It was an 1852 U.S. Gold dollar with a “D” mint mark.

The coin was in amazing condition considering it was 167 years old. Needless to say, Dar, can’t believe that he found such a unique treasure, let alone, it was the very first piece of gold he has ever found.

Later, after getting back to a computer, Dar found out just how special this coin is. There are only 125, 1852 mint mark “D” $1 gold pieces known to exist today. Valued at around $900 to $1,400 depending on condition and this one looks pretty good.

Gold Fever? Yes, Dar has a really bad case of it now.

Congratulations D’artagnon!

UPDATE: D’artagnon, wins Minelab’s January 2019 Find of the Month contest.

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