Gerry,

I wanted to drop you a note and provide some feedback on the recent trip to Rye Patch, Nevada.  

As the owner of a White’s MXT, my first thought going out to Rye Patch was that I would not meet with much success.  No surprise there, as you stated prior to the trip that there were no guarantees of anything being found.  This was no big deal as far as I was concerned and, primarily, my purpose for attending was to learn something that I didn’t already know.  Did this happen?  Yes, for what it is worth, I learned a great deal about the MXT that I couldn’t learn from reading the training manual or from watching the video.

The first thing that I want to comment on is that prior to the training I would be out there in the field with my eyes glued to the display on the MXT, waiting for some signal that would tell me I had hit the mother lode. I had never considered the idea that I should be listening instead of watching.  So, the first thing I learned on the trip was “zip-zip”.

During one of your instruction periods, you waved you hand and wedding band over the coil of the MXT to demonstrate the sound that we should be listening for while detecting. Now, this wasn’t the shrill, high-pitched squeal that I had somehow associated with detecting gold in the field; instead, it was a simple “zip-zip” sound.   Prior to this demonstration, I would never have stopped for this sound. In fact, I’ll sit here and say that on my numerous trips into the field, prior to the training, I had heard noises like this before but never thought about stopping to investigate.

Okay, so you’ll say, “Well, if Gerald was looking at the display all the time, then he should have noted on the display that gold had been detected.”  This brings me to the second thing that I learned on the trip.  When I recovered that first gold nugget, initially, my display did not show that there was anything present.  It was only after hearing the “zip-zip” in the area of the nugget that I had an idea of where to dig. It was not until I was closer to the nugget that I received anything on the display.  Wait, that sounds like I’m talking about the “zip-zip” noise again but I’m not.  The thing I learned was that the visual display will not always tell me that there is a target present.

The third thing that I wanted to point out to you was the importance of the one-on-one training.  I believe that this was crucial to the learning process and taught me what I was hearing as I was using the MXT.

Gerald: “What was that?”
Gerry: “Ground noise from bumping the coil.”

Gerald: “Was that a zip-zip?”
Gerry: “No, just a zip. Good job though, I would have gone back for that sound as well.”

Gerald: What the hell is that?”
Gerry: “Check your ground tracking.”

By going over the various noises that are heard while detecting, I learned what I would need to know to actually find a nugget.  In addition to this, I learned about ground tracking, approaching targets from different angles, that small dips in the ground may generate different noises, that the coil works better over an area that has been cleared well enough to swing the coil over the target area, and that a hole, without sufficient space to move the coil, may make the search a little more difficult. All good things to know if your intent is to actually find something.

In closing, I wanted to say that I definitely learned something during this trip and feel that every aspect of the training was valuable to the learning process.  I also learned that patience is the key to success while nugget hunting and, most importantly, I (re)learned the importance of keeping good company as we had a great group of guys to hang out with for a couple of days.  Finding a nugget, an old coin, some old relic; these things are just icing on the cake when you’re having fun spending time with friends.

Thanks Gerry!

Gerald L. Wade
Boise, Idaho