TDI strikes gold for an amateur

[MDH]

Ok guys, long time reader first time poster in this thread... But now I feel I can with something (albeit small) to contribute. I recently brought myself a TDI pro to join the swingers club! Haven't had much practice with it yet but slowly learning my way, done about 3 hours or so entertaining my 2 littlies which they enjoyed, then took it out for a solo wander last week to try and sort out the issues I was having with false signals and to try and familiarise myself with the machine. Spent about 4 hours detecting in the afternoon and pinged my first little bit of small but glorious gold. I don't really care about its size but I was pretty chuffed to have found a piece in such short a time. I only hope now it wasn't beginners luck....

Big things come from small beginnings....

 

[Ridge Runner]

Congrats WTG, Now you have opened your Account Tell us more about the depth and setting ETC,

John

 

[Guest]

Thats great Matty.

That first find gives you confidence in your machine and the location you are searching in.

That piece will not be alone.

Be methodical in that area and slow right down and keep the coil to the ground, more will show up.

Keep us informed of your progess, thats why we are all here, we love these kind of stories1

Cheers

RS

 

[ProspectorPete]

Great work Matty, top looking piece too.

 

[MDH]

Thanks, I had the pulse at 10 and gain at 10 also and once I got the threshold nice and stable I backed it off to just off audible.... I have wal to thank for offering his advice on the gain and threshold settings, however I was running it in low conductivity because I am struggling at the moment to get a stable threshold anywhere near a satisfactory level for me. I guess that's where lack of experience comes into play and starts working against me.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Cool, well there is not much going to escape running it like that, And Wal Does Know how to get the best out of His Machine so your in Safe Hands,

Keep up the good work, ya Smokin Now.

john

 

[MDH]

Let's hope I am and it's the first of many more. Low conductivity and I can get it quite stable but when I flick it into all the balance goes out the window and that's where things will escape I think. I don't want to have to run in low to keep it smooth.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Let's hope I am and it's the first of many more. Low conductivity and I can get it quite stable but when I flick it into all the balance goes out the window and that's where things will escape I think. I don't want to have to run in low to keep it smooth.

Yeah I know what you mean, When you run it in ALL it opens 2 Circuits so you get twice as much Noise come through so what I do is Hunt in low then switch to high, other than that just drop the gain a little and switch to ALL and that should help But when hunting in all you have to decide which targets you want to dig that's another reason most use LOW first then Use High and go over it again, Good Luck,,

John

 

[walshie1000]

Great find mate, well done. I can't wait to find my first piece of yellow with a detector. I did pan some small pieces as a youngster at O'Brien's crossing in blackwood state forest. A bloke with a huge beard, pair of stubbies and pan emerged from the bush happy to give us a lesson in panning. He came from nowhere, no car in sight, no shoes, nothing but a pan and the shorts he wore lol. He took us to a little water hole upstream a little bit and was diving down and pulling up handfuls off the bottom for us to pan. We managed to get quite a few specs and some tiny pieces that would almost be called nuggets. Was a great day haha. Hopefully I can now have some luck with the new detector.

 

[Redfin]

Well done that man, the first piece is always memorable.

 

[MDH]

That it is... It may have to become the new test piece, and a good luck charm!

 

[Goldfield Joe]

Congrats Matty, great to see you found your first piece. Some people go a lot longer without finding any so you are off to a great start!

I use the TDI Pro as well and I know what you mean about using all. I found both my pieces using all and headphones on but find it is much more user friendly in Low. Also what coil did you use? I have a nugget finder 12 X 7 as well as the stock 12". The Miner John's coils are worth considering apparently a lot quieter and TDI specific.

Look at this thread, it is well worth the read:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7578&p=2

Read Post #45 onwards.

 

[MDH]

Good link, I'd actually seen that topic when it started but only when it was at a single page and didn't realise how it had evolved.
The little nug was found with a 6" coiltek mono coil. I don't have a lot of choice at the moment as I only have that and the 14x9 blitz besides the stock 12".

 

[WalnLiz]

Only use the stock 12" for treasure hunting and on the beach Matty. It's no good on the gold.

Wal.

 

[MDH]

Yes thanks wal, that seems to be the general consensus with what I've been reading. I would like to add another coil or two soon but don't know enough about detecting to just go and buy them.

 

[WalnLiz]

I've run the full range of NF coils on Liz's TDI and concluded you need only 3 coils to compliment the machine. 8"x6" Sadie, 12" round, and 14"x9" seem to have the best balance when it comes to keeping stable settings. The 14" round is at the top end of stability and when we ran the 16" and 18" we pushed beyond the machines capability.

Personally I would only run the Sadie and a 12" round. The TDI handles those two coils extremely well.

Wal.

 

[MDH]

Thanks again wal!! It seems either NF or razorback coils are the weapons of choice for this machine and a lot of praise seems to go in favor of the sadie especially.