How Howland Sees It…

This time around John Howland talks Garrett, a Viking hoard and would you believe tuna? 

Son of ATPro – AT MAX International

John Howland

My crystal ball prediction wasn’t a million miles off target. The fruit of the ATPro and ATGold’s loins produced twins – AT MAX and AT Max International! They look a bonny pair but we need to know a bit more about their futures and with whom they’ll likely be rubbing shoulders as they grow up. But for our purposes we’ll be looking AT MAX International.

Among the countless ATPro (USA) and ATPro International (European) owners worldwide, many own dedicated after-market NEL coils of various sizes representing sizeable monetary investments to the users concerned. These excellent after-market coils are specially tuned to the frequencies of the machine on which they are intended. The ATPro models for example operates at 15kHz*; the ATGold at 18kHz* and the new AT Max models at 13.6kHz* though NEL have yet to produce a range of dedicated coils for these new kids on the block it’ll only be a matter of time I suspect.

Some of you will already have ‘sussed’ where I’m going with all this particularly if you’ve invested a sizeable wedge of your ‘hard-earned’ in after-market NEL coils. The big question is will they prove satisfactory on the new AT MAX if you’re thinking of upgrading? It’s a bit of a conundrum and no-one yet, has a definitive answer. I put the question to Steve Moore, Garrett’s Marketing Communications Director.

He tells me; “The frequency adjustments are very minor tweaks, not that big a jump. As far as I know, the NEL coils should work […].” adding that he was scheduled to be out in the field with the MAX and would consider the question in more detail. Though I’m unqualified to give an authoritative answer to such a technical question; what I can tell you is that when I’ve swapped Garrett-made coils between my ATGold and ATPro bearing in mind these two operate at different frequencies, the results were astonishingly good. Consequently, and based on this coil swap experience, the differential between the two operating frequencies – 15kHz and 18kHz – certainly seems to bear out Steve Moore’s assertion that in practical terms it’s “…not that big a jump.” The implication is that NELs should be okay.

Pressing on for clarity, I had a word with Nigel Ingram, Director of Garrett’s UK distributor, REGTON LTD, who reckons it’s; “…too early to know what will work and what won’t sadly, my guess? Yes it will work fine, however, maybe not to the maximum potential as NEL are masters of making coils to exact frequencies enabling every last inch of performance.” So, it’s not all bad then.

Apart from being fully wireless, the MAX also sports a couple of great features lifted from the ATGold; an adjustable threshold tone and the more than useful Ground Cancelling ‘window’ allowing little or no change when say, moving from dry sand to saltwater soaked sand.

The Garrett blurbs have it thus: “Near-zero delay (17-milliseconds) from your detector to your headphones. Six times faster than Bluetooth speed, and up to four times faster than other wireless headphones.” I have absolutely no idea what 17-milliseconds is comparable to, except that it’s Speedy Gonzales’ “Ándale arriba” fast!

*Data source: – Garrett website (www.garrett.com)

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£2,000,000 Treasure Payout for UK Detectorist

Metal detectorist Derek McLennan who uncovered a cache (in UK-speak, ‘hoard’) of more than 100 gold and silver items of Viking jewellery in the south-west Scotland in September 2014 – who at the time of finding the fabulous cache was accompanied by two detectorists; churchmen Rev Dr. David Bartholomew, and Pastor Mike Smith – is now well on track to receive, quite rightly, a £2,000,000 Treasure Trove reward. The find is described by distinguished experts as Scotland’s most significant find of the Viking era.

Derek McLennan

The fabulous cache, duly and correctly reported to Scotland’s Treasure Trove Unit initiated an excavation by county archaeologist, Andrew Nicholson, assisted by Derek McLennan. Digging deeper they discovered further items jewellery. Following the initial removal, Derek McLennan undertook a further search with his metal detector and discovered more treasure buried beneath the first items.

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Sending Coins Abroad

Do you remember that Dupondius of Domitian that I wrote about some months ago? Well, it’s currently winging its way across ‘The Pond’ as a gift to a treasure hunting friend in Florida.

Dupondius of Domitian

If you ever send coins by post, anywhere and especially overseas, it helps to mark the envelope….’Numismatic Specimen’ rather than ‘roman coin’ thus helping to deflect the attention of prying eyes.

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Marinated Tuna Steak

…in a mixture of orange juice, soy sauce, and garlic.

Chef John

Got this from a pal of mine and thought y’all might like to give it a go. It’s brilliant. It serves four.

60ml orange juice (Tropicana with juicy bits is great)
60ml soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (NOT the bottled cr*p)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Four tuna steaks weighing about 110g each

Method
In a large ceramic dish, mix together the orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, oregano and black pepper. Place the tuna steaks in the marinade and turn to coat. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat barbecue to high heat. Grill the tuna steaks for 5 to 6 minutes (in one of those square fish basket thingies), then turn and baste with the marinade. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or to your desire.

Ice cold beer goes well too!

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Finally….

For some the ‘YooToob’ generation of treasure hunters, this will doubtless fall on stony ground…

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”.….

Colin Powell

 

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