Posts Made By: Larry Stange

http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n2264.html

Not sure how much "building" you want to do but a cheap way(my way)was to post a wanted on Astromart for a Philips pcvc675K Vesta CCD Ist., or shop on e-Bray for one just to play with for experience 2nd., or lastly, hunt at swapmeets for old junkers. Found a Philips color or color2 last week at one for $1.00, it came with a tiny Kodak scanner and no software. It is now working on the scope for fooling around while I build a case for the 675K (an e-Bray special for $35). Lots of fun in the garage making ideas work in the way of housings, e.g., a short chrome plated brass drain tube in a hardware store for a 1.25 barrel, etc. -LarryS

Herb is clearly correct.

1. This guy would be selling stuff he has no personal knowledge in. It could arrive in any condition.

2. An auction in progress is not ownership...Ownership is possession and legal title. Anything less is a civil matter.

3. If he had been smart, he would have.......WAITED.

Those are excellent software links Paul. Better than what I had found on my own....Better organized too!. I will be busy digesting these bytes. :-)

Go to QCUIAG web site and find two well written tutorials by Dr. Wainright (on the left column index) on using the shareware AstroVideo program to process CCD images. It has a beautiful graphical presentation that takes you step by step through all the settings and proceedure. You will not regret downloading the latest AstroVideo 21-day program and the Dr's OUTSTANDING tutorial. Money back guarantee!! -LarryS.

Where did I go wrong in life? You get that extraordinary image and I have seen the moon 4 times since I bought my telescope 2 months ago......it is raining now, low fog for the last 2 weeks....high fog & rain for the last month or so.

Now you know why I image(when I can)out the upstairs window.
No point in setting up outside....... \:=( -Larry S.
(in the Sub-Sunshine State..........Northern Calif.)

Funny you should ask that. I have had that as a hobby(among others)since 1960, building my own designs when Audio frequency balanced bridges and TR's were first started. This was way way before discrimination, VLF and Coin ID was even thought of. They used to pay me to give seminars "1981-85" on how to use the the various types. Was a Whites, Compass, Technetics, Garrett, and Bounty Hunter dealer too for many years during the 80's. Found the FIRST Gold coins for the Whites "new" Eagle Series of programmable metal detectors.(2-$5 1905 gold pieces). They ran a brief picture in one of their catalogs. I still have copies I believe, on 5 articles I wrote for Western & Eastern Treasures magazine during and before they were known as Western Treasures. Can send you scans on what I have. Some of the stories may be lost now but I have 4-5 of the old Treasure Mags that carried some of the stories. Most of my hunting started at old parks, base of old large trees, mountain cabin sites, old boating sites, old abandoned homes, jogging trails, football fields, early fair sites, Old sidewalk medians, Old cities that tore up the streets to resurface them, below the high water marks of the ocean, in the surf line etc. gradually becoming more selective in the late 80's at old ski resorts and abandoned tow-rope ski & sleding sites in the Sierra's because of the late 1800's coins. Final stages of hunting is confined strickly to 1850-1880 Ghost towns of Nevada where no trace exists now. Using old maps, library research etc. with GPS to locate and profile the site, (figuring out how the town or camp was built back then). As you do this over the years you don't hunt for common money or jewelry items anymore.....you find too much and there is no excitement in it. Yes, I have found Gold coins in the 1800's, 1900's, diamond rings, and Extremely rare coins(seated liberty). One of the coins was an 1874cc dime in fine condition...look that one up!. formed a club of 36 members once....but they were a mxed bunch that could not handle the tough work that a professional hunter must do to be successful. Still have my favorite detector...a Whites Di Pro SL with several rods for dedicated coils so that I do not have to switch coils. Modified the meter on it and scale to identify specific gold coins.(another science first). As you can see I get excited talking about this hobby....Yes I sell the coins....stopped displaying the thousands of coins and jewelry items after I quit being a dealer. That is when I started MAKING money in the hobby. :-) -end of salivation- P.S. Don't rush out and buy a Pulse Induction underwater detector...they won't detect a 1 carat Platinium Solitaire ring. I demonstrated that at a Whites Dealer Seminar. :-(

You are absolutely correct Bill. The Antiquities laws are unforgiving. One cannot disturb the "midden" anywhere other than on personal property legally. In Padre Is. Texas the confiscation is automatic....same in Indian lands etc. It is usually overlooked except at historical sites open to public visitation, like forts etc. Being a life member of an Archaeological Society I find most treasure hunters are distructive and cannot even replace their coin "plugs" so that the grass can grow back. The No-No EVER is to disturb a grave site let alone the MOST dangerous and virulent diseases can live in a grave site over 100 years. Only the weaker and less virulent diseases die early. It is a FELONY with MANDATORY PRISON for violation. Even the beaches are sometimes enforced because the City has a contract with a private clean-up and "screenng" crew that gets the lost items as part of their compensation. I did do a lot of on and off duty crime scene searching for local enforcement agencies & S.O. when I was with them for awhile. One must be both prudent and discrete at ALL TIMES. One of my hunts that was done in 105 degrees plus in the middle of a rotten tomato field just after harvest.....
.

You did very well. Dealer wholesale on that would have been about $420.

Whites has outstanding warrantee and turnaround time on any of their product repairs.

Your model is user friendly with pre-set modes. The programmable models are far more complicated and can really confuse non-professional users to the point that the detector is so far off on advanced settings that it no longer functions well. Preset illiminates this from happening.

Be cautious of the mixed mode.....I would not use it myself. It assumes you want to detect all-metal and discriminate at the same time. I cannot think of any situation I would ever use that mode in. If working a historical area you WANT all metal mode without discrimination. If just working a general area You DON'T want all metal mode working & telling you that you just went over a pull-tab or bottle cap by a sound change.

Be cautious in your "sweeps"!. The detector will record THE LAST THING you swept, not what it passed over before. Close together items must be cross-swept to separate and identify each of the targets.

Your model is somewhat similar to mine in shape....excellent for sweeping hours at a time without fatigue. Obtain a "Blue Max" or similar coil that is apprx. 1/2 the size of your 10" coil. It is VERY usefull in identifying close targets and working in tight places too without much weight at the rod end. It does not go quite as deep but will detect a silver quarter at 8" inches easily. Most old coins are not that deep....usually around 2-6 inches.

Notice that coins edgewise are difficult to identify or get a good signal from.....that is why you ALWAYS re-work the area at right angles to the direction you started with. You MUST mentally grid the search area and overlap your sweeps to insure finding everything. Complete the large grid or a large square section of ground before moving to another.

There is so much more to know about hunting that I will post a training story addressed to you and anyone else that could be interested. All of my stories were designed to "TEACH" how to become a professional. The magazine editor occasionally edited to far, or made language errors which pissed me off. I finally told them that IF the edited one more of my stories that would be the last story. That solved the problem.

The story I will post is an early one in Summer of 1988. An anniversary edition of West. & East. Treas. called Silver & Gold edition. Most of my storys were saved for anniversary issues. Anyway, the story title is "GO FOR THE GOLD WITH SECRET TECHNIQUES". It covers all the ESSENTIALS in using a coin reading detector properly & professionally without getting into detector adjustments. I will now begin the page scanning and will post to you via Part I, 2, etc.