DetectingWales.com

As requested by Neil.

I have to thank a very good friend of mine now sadly deceased Peter Whitburn
GW4EAI a radio ham of true quality and an avid VHF DX Chaser mainly 2 and 6 meters for setting me on the path of Metal Detecting.
I myself was a Radio ham GW6VZW/MW5VZW and was greatly encouraged by the above gentleman to whom i dedicate this Epistle.
During one of our many discussions on all things Radio Peter also knew i had an interest in history and mentioned an article in the"Practical Wireless" Magazine which
featured an article on a prototype of a very basic B.F.O. Metal detector for locating items buried in the ground.
This discussion resulted in Peter building for me this basic design which did not benefit from Faraday shielding and therefore was extremely unstable in use.
This lack of shielding resulted in noises every time you moved the search head through grass especially when wet.!!!
But despite the odd noises was functional...
Maximum depth was a horseshoe at 3 inches and less for smaller items lol.
During use in 1962 i was amazed that i could find metallic items in the ground.
Everywhere i went the ground was littered with pre decimal coinage mainly pennies and silver and brass threepence,s....also very common finds were military badges not so today lol.......I did manage to find loads of coinage dating back to early Victoria on the dry sand on beaches loads of silver joeys and viccy pennies including a manky gothic florin at Barry Island...those were the days.
Wet sand was not possible with this detector this set me on the path for The hobby.
Permission was even harder to get than today !!! Cos people had not grasped what metal detectors were and were very loath to let people wander over the farms with "that there detecting thingy" lol.
This basic machine lasted about 16 months until the elements got the better of it
I then read about a company called Garrett in the U.S.A. who produced a basic Green coloured metal boxed T.R. Machine which i purchased from the States and thats when i started on the long walk towards Metal detecting as we know it today...
Just a potted history but may be of interest to some...H.H. to all PaulB. 8)

cqdx cqdx lol.used to do a bit with cb radio

Almost the same for me was GW4IED  built a practical electronics  IB detector "Magnum" found a few victorian coins but then due to work and other things left it in the corner it worked 30 years later!! only just returned should soon have a whites. Then over the winter will build a cople for myself and some very light simple ones for the grandchildren.

Nice to hear from you Bob where you based i live in Cwmbran but originally from Pontypool...was a big friend of G4JZ from Birdlip in Gloucs  cheers PaulB.

in Newport near beechwood park moved here for the vhf take off south hi hi long time member of newport club also used to sell solar panels and bits at rallys

Was a member of pontypool and blackwood radio clubs i was mainly a 6 metre man got the first class B DXCC in Wales as GW6VZW  from a hole in the ground lol...did a bit on HF as MW5VZW but now a built up area and RF probs got too much for me 73,s
PaulB.