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Low End Gear And Research Equipment


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On 9/21/2019 at 6:50 PM, JKH said:

f you have any interesting sounds, post them in the audio thread!

 

There's an audio thread?! Where? Cool. Audio fascinates me.

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Awesome, Redbone! if

 

I have a private audio file, if you want a listen. It's not mine, so I can't share it here, but I'd value your professional opinion.

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Most of the hobby grade units ($120 -$300) are very similar in performance, with the upper end of that range having more options to discriminate targets. Don't expect to detect small objects much deeper than 16" or so. Most models are designed specifically to locate coins and small jewellery items, while a few are more oriented to detect gold nuggets.

 

I've had a basic Whites model for over 30 years, and still use it occasionally, though kneeling down to retrieve items is getting hard on my 75 year old body! I used to be able to do that for hours on end, but now an hour or so is about all I can handle. My daughter has a recent model Bounty Hunter Tracker, which performs about the same as my ancient Whites, and we get out together a few times each year to search older local parks and lake beaches, with reasonable success. 

 

I've found coins all the way back to the 1890s, and a few nice rings and gold chains, but nothing worth more than about $100 in value. It is a fun hobby, helping to keep you in shape, out in the fresh air, and interested in local history. 

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I've used the cheapo model from Harbor Freight with decent results. Not thrilling, but it worked to find a lost wedding ring in a field of tall grass.

 

 

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5 hours ago, JKH said:

Hey folks, would like some info on experience with metal detectors. I'm interested, but not wanting to spend a whole lot.

 

I have a new Gold Bug 2 from Fisher Labs.   While it is optimized with a smaller search head to find gold nuggets it came with an 11 inch detection coil that works for coins and other larger objects.   I think the more expensive ones do a better job discriminating between a nail or other ferrous item and something of more value.    I know I had to teach mine what a nail was and with the discrimination circuit running it indicates the differences between ferrous and non ferrous pretty well.      A neighbor has a 10 year old Garret and it had problems with false positives when we were searching his yard for his lost wedding ring.   Mine did not have that issue.  

 

While the expensive ones have better discrimination circuits, then best discriminator is digging up the object and seeing what it really is.    A less expensive one would do that just fine if it is sensitive enough to detect the object in the first place.   You need a pin pointer to find the object in a pile of soil you dug up.    It is a thing like a large meat thermometer that detects metal with a small probe on the end.  

Edited by SWWASAS
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On 10/13/2019 at 11:12 AM, Madison5716 said:

Awesome, Redbone! if

 

I have a private audio file, if you want a listen. It's not mine, so I can't share it here, but I'd value your professional opinion.

I didn't see this post until just now. I'm hardly a professional, although my company pays for my Adobe Audition.

I probably would not work on anything that can't be shared. If it's something unknown, having more ears hear it increases the chances of getting an explanation.

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Small audio set up.  The pocket size recorder on the left has a silica gel packet in the empty battery compartment. Small, black  wind screen next to penny for size comparison.  The optional extra mic with about 25' of cable needs a 1.5 volt battery.

 

The second image shows the mic with wind screen clamped to a vehicle antenna. Third image shows the 'weather hood'.  It is a thumb off of a nitrile glove. Microphones of all sizes hate moisture. The nitrile ( or latex ) will attenuate some sound  but protects the mic capsule.

 

The last image is a nitrile glove and black latex balloon on an 18% grey card, on a stump, over 3,000' altitude in normal daylight.  The black latex balloon is cheaper than a nitrile glove but is too shiny for my likes.

 

The mic clipped to the vehicle antenna is an example of having the mic outside in the weather and the recorder in the vehicle ( out of harms way ). Put the recorder in a glove with dessicant for a remote placement. Some vendors to check out dessicants are Jakes marketplace for silica gel packets and Sorbent systems for more variety.

ATR 35s Olympus.JPG

IMG_0473.JPG

IMG_0470.JPG

black latex glove.JPG

Edited by Catmandoo
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It is 'short range'. Old and does not have removable memory. I use it for recording and playback. The corded mic gets the recorder far away and the little mic can be stashed in many places.  I have a different small Olympus recorder that is not in the image, VN-7000. The mic is by Audiotechnica. ATR35s.  Naturally, both are out of production and not supported. At the time, the set up was under $100.  It has a 'voice activated' setting so I can turn it on and it will 'listen' and start and stop recording with noise levels. Fits in a pocket / backpack. The long mic cord is easy to snag on / tangle. The recorder runs on AA alkaline batteries. 

I have other recording equipment but I scan the small pocket voice recorders. The new versions have a lot of bells and whistles and higher prices. I look for sane battery requirements, voice activation and mic jack. Removable memory is good.

 

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3 hours ago, Catmandoo said:

It is 'short range'. Old and does not have removable memory. I use it for recording and playback. The corded mic gets the recorder far away and the little mic can be stashed in many places.  I have a different small Olympus recorder that is not in the image, VN-7000. The mic is by Audiotechnica. ATR35s.  Naturally, both are out of production and not supported. At the time, the set up was under $100.  It has a 'voice activated' setting so I can turn it on and it will 'listen' and start and stop recording with noise levels. Fits in a pocket / backpack. The long mic cord is easy to snag on / tangle. The recorder runs on AA alkaline batteries. 

I have other recording equipment but I scan the small pocket voice recorders. The new versions have a lot of bells and whistles and higher prices. I look for sane battery requirements, voice activation and mic jack. Removable memory is good.

 

We are looking at one of these for directional recording.  It looked like a toy to me, but it seems that people have been pretty happy with its performance.  You can record to SD card.  It's pretty inexpensive, so I will probably give it a shot.

 

410fYtwo25L._AC_SY400_.jpg

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