fv1609

At the cable entry there are two nuts. The one at the end is the cable grip & the other nut threads into the rubber body, undo this nut. Looking inside you will see a metal tube. Tap this down & the plug assembly will move out from the rubber body. When the edge of this tube is level with the rubber inside you need to choose something that is the same diameter as the tube & tap out the whole plug assembly. Don't choose anything too small as you may damage the backs of the pins. This will reveal a metal assembly that is unscrewed to reveal the pin connections to which the wires must be soldered.

Nope, slightly warm but saying that might be misleading. This is a representation of something bigger than it is.

Not an airborne item.

Graham it isn't, although I see what you mean. But you are sort of warm although things aren't quite what they might seem. This is 1/4 of the image, more to be revealed tomorrow.

Rick that is impressive. I would love to have a go with a Minelab Explorer although 'having a go' is probably no good. I'm sure you would agree it is the skill & experience of the operator with that particular machine that counts. I see its about £1,200. The idea of using multiple frequencies seems very sensible & amazing to do it with 30 frequencies. I was intending to design & construct a machine using no more than 3 frequencies. What frequencies to use was going to depend on how various test frequencies responded with various objects & ground conditions. Originally a metal detector or in the early days a "pipe finder" required a GPO licence as it was radio frequency transmitting apparatus. This responsibility then passed to the Home Office. I actually submitted the outline proposal to do multifrequency experiments & then to construct a machine. Detectors had to be of an approved design to be licensed. I can't find the proposal but here is the reply. I wasted a lot of time messing around with various set ups then gave up & bought a machine.

What you find is fun, but I'm always left wondering what I have I missed? I would love to see an in depth search done with a ground geophysics, CSI team etc. So in a few days I will go back over what I did today, by chance I may fill in gaps of my scanning. But I have a larger search coil which goes deeper & by definition covers a wider sweep, but of course it is heavier so I may have to go down to the normal head. My Mine Detector No.3 had two heads a very large one with a rear boom & counterweight, the a small head for zooming in, now all that was heavy - especially for a 12-year old. My heart sinks if I see another detector at work especially if it is a patch I wanted to do. I tend to either follow behind & pretend to find things that have been missed (& often they are) or go to a bad bit of beach & pretend to find things to draw their fire to free up the good patch! Sometimes I think where would a detector decide not to go? Then choose that area as it the chances of it being "done over" much are limited & may be better finds. But in reality the beach is a big place. BTW I think I have only found 2 gold coins on the beach. So I can't be much good!

Yes it gives you hope, like the lottery or something. The trouble is people's perceptions of other people's activities. I understand that US troops are demoralised when they return home as the first question they get asked is how many people did they kill? When they say none the questioner glazes over & loses interest. Not quite the same but with metal detecting people ask many Roman/gold coins/boxes of treasure have I found? When you tell them you spent 15 minutes identifying & unearthing an old 3d bit that had been lying for 30 + years near an ice cream hut built on ferro-concrete surrounded by heavily contaminated ground with a salt content with silver paper, pull tabs, bottle tops etc that has been missed by other enthusiasts repeatedly, they are not at all impressed! When I used to do a lot of microwave radio. People would ask if I could speak to USA or Australia, when I said I was not interested in that sort of thing they thought it was extraoardinary. When 35 years ago for a while I held the longest distance record in Europe on the old 21Gc/s band ie a wavelength of 1.5cm using just a few microwatts they were impressed. When I said it was 7.25 miles they blanked over pretty quick. But its all do to with personal satisfaction. When someone asks me about my MVs they are disappointed that I don't have a Sherman tank, which seems to be the publics expectation of a MV. Strange. If I had a mil bicycle that I restored it would give me more satisfaction than if I was given a Sherman tank that someone else had restored, well I think!

Ok then but the jewelry is an ear ring & the cash of coins was just two 1p pieces. Not enough to cover the £1.60 parking charge! Sorry if you're disappointed! But the coins were difficult to find. They were several feet apart, about 6 inches down & near ferro-concrete with the surface contaminated with bottle tops & pull rings. The satisfaction in finding them is more than the monetary value! And it got me away from the computer & the Shorland's problem with the bleeding brakes (and I mean that most sincerely!) The thing with "R" was from last week in Devon. At first I was very excited as I found that in 6 inches of mud on the D-Day training beaches in the estuary. What is that? is it oldish or just a modern car key fob thing? Last weeks haul in coins was just below £5. Often the coins won't be accepted in shops, but the heavier denominations end up in parking meters that have no such difficulties.

That's amazing. I just asked the mods to delete my posting as I thought it was perhaps a bit whingey & clearly of no interest to anyone else. Then you three appear! My depression has been lifted as I have just returned from the coast with some jewelery & some cash. It was a case of trying to learn new techniques, the book suggests at least 100 hours is needed & dig up everything you find to learn what things sound like. Well I did 2 hours & am sufficiently experienced to learn the sound of something large but deep versus small & near the surface, some partial digging can help with that assessment. To start off choose something that has adjustable discrimination against iron. Something not too heavy - a box of tricks costing £2K (oh yes!) is no good if you have to give up with an aching arm after 10 minutes. Variable sensitivity, if it is too sensitive you can get awful conductivity in wet mud/sand. Something that can use headphones. If you have a speaker people will follow you around, with headphones there is no interest for the public. Headphones cut out the sound of wind & sea, allowing subtle changes in tone, keep your ears warm, keeps your hat from blowing off & reduces the chances of silly questions. Your batteries will last longer too as powering a speaker against all the background noise is waste of power. A good place to pick one up is a carboot sale. As many people think you can wave it around & you will find a crock of gold & they get bored with it. From new you aren't going to get much of a machine below £50. It is a law of diminishing returns but above £150-200 I think you are just buying bells & whistles for the same basic detection principle. Having a fancy heavy machine is fine for a crime scene or you are in collaboration with an archaeologist. But beaches which are my favourites are so vast, you can afford to move around with a less than perfect machine. I choose beaches as there is no hastle about getting permission with contracts from owner, estates etc. I like the seaside & sand is so much easier to dig than compacted earth & stones, unless I suppose you work with a farmer after a field has been ploughed up. PS The problem with mine detectors is that they are robust, therefore heavy. Of course they are designed to find iron etc! So you will be in difficulties looking for coins where the is iron around. But you can get too clever with selectable filters, if you block out pull tabs you will miss 20p pieces & most rings!

Well, at least it is a Land Rover part number & searching the NSN reveals it was only used by UK forces. Sorry doesn't narrow it down much! PS Its 110 Defender found it in the IPC.

Sorry off topic. But FV1604A - I assume you own such a Humber, would nice to see some pics of it & its history etc on a thread sometime:)

What currently available metal detectors do people use? I have recently upgraded & regret my choice so I need to think again, so would appreciate opinions & experiences of others. I’m not into battlefields. I just do my garden which is full of annoying bits of aluminium foil & my own fields which have bad clay chemistry with lots of little rusty bits of iron. But my main interest is beaches & estuaries. The value of what is found is not especially important. It is the excitment of grovelling in the muck to find even just one penny! I started detecting in 1958 with a Mine Detector No.3. I had to buy the head from a surplus dealer & then identified the amplifier in a scrap yard. The 3 valves were missing & some wires cut, but as a 12-year old I felt pleased I had got it going myself. I have built 2 machines. One was my own design & another was a kit. I also played around with a phase-locked loop design to try to get iron discrimination. But 25 years ago I bought a C-Scope VLF 1000 this was top of the range at the time. It has served me well but needed to be retuned a lot. I was impressed with someone I met on the beach using a Garrett Ace 150. I assumed technology had really moved on & purchased the next model up the 250. It is a well made machine but to my mind has several draw backs. Motion detection -I didn’t know what it was until I started using it. But it will only ping as you move it over an object. If you hold it there is no sound. Once it has pinged it is stuck for 5 seconds displaying the type of metal & the sensor is inactive during this period. Then when it has recovered you can swing over the object again. The ping is just a preset contact noise irrespective of the size of the find There is a pin-point button, which allows a bar graph to show how to centre down on the object & the sound level varies as you focus down on the position. I like this feature, more how my old machine behaved. Trouble is that iron discrimination goes & you are then susceptible to all metals. The Garrett has a system to select types of metal from iron up to silver & annoying metal types can be notched out to your requirements. Although if you take foil, pull tabs etc you will miss rings & most current coinage. But it seems any machine discrimination will behave like this no matter how fancy the presentation of the selecting system. My C-Scope had knobs rather than the buttons. Discriminating against iron is pretty effective. The problem where it is large or rusty as you move any detector away from the centre of the iron, the perimeter of the iron area can present a signal suggestive of a “good” metal. On the C-Scope you tune it just below the point where it starts to ring as you approach an object this increases in volume. Pinpointing with the moving coil meter is immediate with the needle going up. Set with iron discrimination, iron will cause the meter to deflect down & the slight background ping goes quiet. Moving away from a large or rusty iron bit just at the perimeter of effect there is a simulation of a good metal kick up & pings just like a coin. But having just witnessed a low meter reading I can quickly identify what’s going on or easily scan back. Trouble with the Garrett is that the ping is a predetermined sound irrespective of the size of the object. Assessment is slowed down because its operation is suspended for 5 seconds whilst it displays what metal it thinks it is. It might indicate a good metal by being on the perimeter of a large or rusty bit of iron. If I press the pin point button I can find the centre of the metal, but pressing this looses my discrimination. I find the new machine encourages more rapid swinging of the detector head to get a motion ping & discrimination is slowed down by this 5 second delay on each contact. Although technology has come on, it seems only to be the presentation of information that has changed. I much preferred the non-motion detecting where I could judge more accurately & quickly what my lies below. So I’m looking for a current model that is non-motion detecting, has an easy to read meter or bar graph & can be set with variable iron discrimination. Any ideas please? I've tried looking on various detecting sites, these have a lot of manufacturers hype & it is very difficult to make comparisons within a brand let alone different makes where similar features are often dressed up in different ways.

Always used unleaded in the Humbers, never seen any damage on the valves I've looked at.

I do cringe when I hear some actors doing a multipurpose "Westcountry accent" that doesn't fit in with any regions I've ever heard. Devon accents are rarely heard on the media. I remember an old Devon farmer telling me how he cooked toast: "When ees broon ees cooked, when ees black ees buggered" I spent the first 25 years of my life in Devon & can remember Slapton Sands in the 1950s with little vegetation, just charred trees. it wasn't until later years that stories of loses & corpses secretly buried & moved etc

I went into the Braunton Museum hoping to see some archive pictures of how it all looked at the time or at least immediately afterwards. Although their were some interesting US training films disappointing that there were few archive photos. There a few & some sketch drawings done in 1947 in this book I bought: http://rtbassbooks.com/THIRD.html Says £15, I bought mine for £10 & it is advertised elsewhere for that. An interesting little read. Although NGRs are given for remains of structures, without a personal GPS I was unable to tie up what I saw with the book.

PS Paul, if no power, check the obvious earths etc & that your batteries haven't gone flat on you. But remember there are two thermal cutouts (30A & 10A) hidden in the Distribution Box No.1 Mk 1 ie the box with the inter-vehicle jump start socket. The 10A one supplies instrument panel & starter solenoid & this may have failed. But do go round checking all the bullet connectors are secure. But it is worth just unplugging one at a time to make sure the is no corrosion & that the lips each end of the double ended females do overlap the rubber rim of the plug. This ensures the plug is fully home & reasonably waterproof. It is so easy for the female lip to get caught & permanently distorted so that the plug doesn't go fully in & moisture can ingress. Even if there is no obvious problem, it does some good to connection mating surfaces to get disturbed once in a while. Often you can spot a failure that is about to occur! Whilst you are at it clean the yellow marking rings on the lead. If they are illegible your tying labels on or dabs of paint just so you know what came from where in the event of the leads getting tugged out by mistake. PS Just seen your other post. There are also fuses inside the top cap retaining plate of the Gen Panel No.2 but these effect charging. The batteries go through the two cut outs in the starter socket box.

Paul, I see that you have the winched version of the TF box. Not a problem provided that the winch dog is locked by a plate so it can't be engaged otherwise you would lose drive through the main output drives.

Depends on the era you want to depict. In a European theatre a Mk 1 would be high gloss DBG. Maybe a few in the late 60s might have had OD, but I doubt it. Mk 2 straight after conversion would have been DBG. I expect very rapidly repainting was continuously needed & that would have been OD. But after Dec or so 1980 would be NATO Green. The IRR properties were irrelevant to an urban environment so no doubt old stocks of OD would have been used up after that date.

Good guess. 57.8 litres 15.6 US gallons 13 Imperial Gallons Be very careful removing the drain plug. Not only can you easily graunch the brass plug, but you can rip the boss from the tank base. My normal solution to a stiff bolt is the blow torch, but can't do that here!!! I would syphon empty the tank then drop the tank down, there are only 4 bolts holding it. Obviously undo the fuel sensor leads, fuel pipe & breather first. Once you have it out & upside-down it becomes so much easier. I once had to file flats on the bolt to ensure I could get the proper application of a spanner. As you have a Mk 2 you could even have replacement tanks these have a different sized plug from normal, larger I think.

Yup. Picture taken from Crow Point to which MO No.95 relates. In the book, which I've stupidy lost, it explained that the DUKWs were stored & serviced over at Instow. After the war the Army & FVRDE continued to use it. It is now a RM Establishment. After the display of paddling, I went over to Instow the next day hoping for some action. Making discrete inquiries I found that, what I saw was the last day of a 3-day course & there would be no more action that week (last week) Oh well at least I managed to find a £2 coin on the beach as a consolation prize.

Yes, well done! These were dummy fortifications on what I think was called Blue Beach 2. This was principally the embarkation point up stream of Crow Point for the practice landings on the seaward side up to Saunton & Woolacoombe. Some landing area fortifications at Saunton Sands. I bought a book, which I have now lost. But that explained the local history in some detail. I read that were plans to requisition villages near this coastline so that these front line troops gained experience in some in-land fighting as well. But it seems the villages were not requisition after all as it was realised that most of these troops were not going to survive to get very far inland. Rather sobering, that it was all realised at that stage.

What was the purpose of this object? When was it built? Where is it?

A closer view of the action. Where is this then?

Yes very good, well done! I didn't deliberately blur the image it was a zoom in on this: