I thought that it might be interesting to hear from other detectorists about how they first got into detecting, what if anything inspired them , whether it be long ago before the advent of powered flight as in my case or perhaps more recently . Actually the reason for this thread is that I happen to be rather idle at the moment, nursing a bad back .
For me I think that it all kicked off in about 1971.
I had, since an early age been fascinated with electronics and radio. Aged 6 or so I can clearly remember taking apart my Fathers portable Roberts Radio to see if I could 'fix it’ . Doubtless the radio probably worked fine before I opened it up to prod amongst the valves and immense batteries…
Even getting electrocuted aged 7 whilst ‘investigating’ the light fitting above my bed didn’t dampen my enthusiasm much and my electronics hobby lasted right through my school years until the present day ,eventually turning into a lucrative business.
But I digress…..So back to 1971. I decided to construct a small metal detector that I had seen advertised on the front of practical Electronics magazine. I believe the detector had been designed by a freelance, prolific contributor to the magazine, named Andy Flind. (We’ll come back to Andy later ). I duly collected together all the little transistors and resistors and capacitors needed together with endless yards of fine laquer- covered wire from which to wind the search coil.
The detector design suggested constructing the coil inside an 8” plastic plant pot base. I decided that it would be a good idea to construct the whole detector inside the plastic plant pot base !. My reasoning behind this decision was that I could then detect incognito as it were. Living in East London at the time I frequently drove out to Tilbury and other places along the banks of the river Thames . I knew of several ‘historically interesting’ places including the remains of an old Fort where I probably wouldn’t exactly have been welcomed with open arms !
Despite spending many hours scrabbling about on my hands and knees with this home made detector at various places (including Gilston Churchyard in Old Harlow at 1am in the morning) I don’t recall ever finding anything of particular interest, however we certainly did have a lot of fun and some scary moments.
My next foray into diy Metal Detector construction came in 1982 which coincided nicely with my first term at Uni as a mature student. In those days students got a tidy grant to study every term and mature students got an even bigger grant! Needless to say whilst most of the other freshers frittered their grants away on text books and in the student bar, I invested my first terms grant on the components to build Andy Flind's mother-of-all detectors the famous Magnum metal Detector !. A pin-pointing discriminating detector with ground balance as advertised in Practical Electronics 1980 .
Did the detector get built ? did it work ? did I continue my studies and get my degree ? or did I get arrested !. All will be revealed in a future episode of ‘Peanut’s metal detecting adventures’.
