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**Melbeta** · 06-12-2024, 07:55 PM

Here is some old old material, from the very first Compass forum, that existed before the Phil's Compass Forum of todays time period. I took it back in the days of the past, secured it in .Pdf files way back in time.
So here it is today, for today's readers...I will just stick it into this forum, copied it from the past documents. I will stick it right below, into this forum of today! Some of the posters below, worked for the old Compass Electronics company in the days past! I made up booklets, copyrighted them, then cut and pasted the copyrighted material, and stuck it into this forum. My art work, my copyright you see...Some of these guys are still alive, many of them are deceased today though! It is all definitely OLD INFORMATION, that is from forums that disappeared over time. I stuck some updated information, so one does not go and email someone from years and years ago!!!
MELBETA

HERE IS A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION ON COMPASS METAL DETECTOR'S . THEIR 1ST DETECTOR'S WERE THE
1. RELIC MAGNUM'S @ AROUND 4 KHZ
2. AROUND 1979 WERE COIN MAGNUM'S @ 5.73 KHZ
3. RELIC MAGNUM 7 @ 3.4 KHZ
4. THE MAGNUM 420,320,220, and 240 WERE @ 10.5 KHZ
5. THE DETECTOR'S WITH THE B MARKING OR THE "B" SERIES WERE AROUND 100 KHZ.
6. THE XP SERIES WERE AROUND 13.77 KHZ
AND BEFORE I GET TO MY FAVORITE COMPASS DETECTOR OF ALL TIME AND WHAT I AM REALLY LOOKING FOR !!! THE NAMES OF THE LAST OWNER'S WERE STEVE AND SUE GOSS. THE NAMES OF TECHS OR DEVELOPER'S THAT CAME UP WERE JOHN EARLE AND KEITH WILLS............ O.K. , NOW THE NUMBER #1 DETECTOR I AM LOOKING FOR IS THE COMPASS X-200 CHALLENGER !!!!!!!!!!!!! A DUAL FREQUENCY, 6 and 14 KHZ. ALL I COULD FIND WAS SOME OLD BLURRY BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS.IT REMINDS ME OF THE OLD TECHNETICS COIN-COMPUTER. THE XL-200 IS BIG AND GREEN IN COLOR . SO ANYONE OUT THERE WITH ONE OF THESE "BEAUTIFULL BEAST'S" SEND PLENTY OF PHOTOS INSIDE AND OUT !!! THANK-YOU..........................EUGENE

The 77B, 77 auto and Compass auto legend are 100KHZ units. They are the best of the Compass TR units. They don't go as deep as newer VLF's designs and have no disc except they do not react to small nails, they are the best units to use in highly iron nail areas and have great see through ability. I don't know where to find any schematics on them other than the maybe the website above. Steve (in MS)

Coin Magnum:
In my opinion this would go to the Coin Magnum it was really misunderstood at the time!! It was the first Non-Motion VLF Discriminator! I was one of the first ones to get one in the Houston area around 1979 or so!! Sometimes I would do very good with it and other times its response was not that good. After about 6 months I traded it off. for 25 years i questioned that I really did not know how to use it and after reading a lot of articles written about it was convinced that sometimes I accidently set it up right and other times it was not set right. so that was why I had very good to very bad responses when I used it!! After 25 years I found one on Ebay and took it to a very old homestead!! Instead of using the Discriminator dial to knock out the square nails I used the 10 turn Ground Balance dial and basicly set it up to ignore a small square nail!! Set up this way it is a very good Relic detector. .setting the Discrimination at zero but knocking out the square nails thru the GB dial. Also a deep coin would make the meter barely to deflect. this knowledge was out there but evidently ignored or just no patience to use it. most did not understand the limited discrimination and would get mad at finding a pull-tab at 4 inches while in pull-tab discriminate!! So although it was an advance in technology for the time it was eventually discontinued because of its unpopularity after about 3 years or so!! The Relic Magnum and later the X Series would be a lot more popular. their technology was more to the liking of the general public!! Joe

Compass Coils:
Will the coils on the Relic Magnum work on the Coin Scanner? No,they will not. They operate at different frequencies. You can tell one coil from another by the letter (s) etched between the coil ears.
RM = Relic Magnum – This is not the Gray decal coils. Is RM, RM5, RM6, and RM7 detectors.
Mag = This is the Grey decal coils for the 420, 320, 220, and 240 Magnum detectors. The white coils that came early with these Magnum were Tri-Planar coils, and the Grey decal coils are concentric coils and go much deeper.
CM = Coin Magnum, special coils, the early one were white Tri-Planar coils, later on some Grey decal coils, which are concentric coils, and go much deeper.
X = Challenger X-70, X-80 and the Gold Star series - 6.875 khz - Green decal
S = Coin Scanner series, Challenger X-90, X-100 and X-200 - 13.77 khz - Gold/Black & Red/Black
S = Has an “S” with 3 points, Gold/Black decal, it is from a Scanner pro II.
XX= Challenger X-90, X-100, and X-200 coils, 13.77Khz. The older X-100 had Gold/Black decals, the newer units have Red/Black decals, and have two “XX’s”. The Scanner “S” coils will work on the X-100 and vice versa.
Xl for Challenger X-90, X100 and X200 (13.77 khz). These will also fit the scanner series. These coils use a shorter cord however. Now if it only has one “X”, it is for the older Challenger series, but “X1” is for newer Challengers.
NOTE: If the company didn't etch the letters,they used a black marker instead. The X Challengers loops will not work on the scanners. The X 70, X 80 and Glodstars freq. is 6.875 KHZ. However this “X” Challenger coil should work on the X-200 Challenger if it is switch to that 6.875Khz coil frequency. All scanners are at 13.77 KHZ other than the AU52 (52Khz) and AU2000 (52Khz and 13.77Khz).
Compass AU52 and AU2000 Gold detectors:
The AU52 and AU2000 were designed for gold primarily, utilizing the 52khz frequency which was found to be very sensitive to smaller targets and lower conductors such as gold. It finds these smaller, lower conductors deeper as well as than the lower frequency detectors. AU is the symbol for gold on the periodic tables from your chemistry classes. It is an abbreviation for the latin word Aurum, which means gold. Compass also added to these machines, their famous Vari-Filter discriminator circuit from the earlier, stellar Scanner designs and came up with another pair of winners. They do well on coins with superb iron rejection whilst retaining small gold and micro jewelry targets. The AU2000 had the added ability to switch it's operating frequency from 52khz back to the standard 13.77khz Scanner frequency for more stability in extreme mineralization and a broader hunting versatility. The AU2000 is basically, a combination the Gold Scanner and the AU52 all wrapped up into one machine! Brilliant! The earlier round coils made for these machines were prone to falseing when bumped in the rocks and wet grass. The later elliptical coils made were improved and I find no problem with them whatsoever. Compass also made accessory coils for these AU scanners, which were DD coils. The AU-52 apparently holds the world's record on the smallest nugget ever found by a metal detector, it's in a piece of quartz rock matrix. The gold is the size of a dot of a small letter i in this post. The specimen is on display in a casino in Nevada somewhere.

If your asking if the gold probe coil will work on your Coin Magnium like the standard coil, yes it will work without re-calibration. The Gold Probe or sniping coil has different freq. for some other models, so be careful when buying the gold probe, for some are made for magnium units and some for different freq other Compass units. Keith

I looked at the X80 on E-Bay and it has the metal connectors and will interchange with the Goldstar detectors. As for the 3 and 12" loops -they are the black plastic! The connector would have to be changed to a metal one if wanted to be used on the Goldstar units. A few weeks ago I talked to Steve Goss and he is still repairing Compass detectors. He was a repair tech for compass. He is about the only person out there that can repair any older compass correctly. He has a lot of years in the repair end of it. He still has the old compass phone number in which can be reached 503.357.2111 and he is still in Forest grove. I hope this will give you some insight and be sure to check between the lower rod ears (on the loop)and there should be a branded mark in between the ears telling you what the loop will work on. Allen Cannon

One way of knowing how many filters is uses is scan a coin across the coil, If it has a super slow recovery speed then it's a four filter and if the response is quick it's a 2 filter. You'll know, it is very noticeable.

Compass developed autotune and Compass (The engineer at this time was Don Dykstra and his initals were DD) developed the DD coil The above info from Jim Straight,

I was helping someone a while back that needed instructions on how to operate the Judge 2 and Judge 6 to do this I got out My Judge 2 and basicly gave a step by step on how to operate this detector. This triggered some old memories. When the first discriminators came out. I remember that a lot of old timers were complaining and did not like the idea of discrimination .so I believe this is why Compass installed a toggle switch on the Judge 2 STD basicly put the detector back into the 77B mode while the DISC mode put it into the then new discrimination mode. I guess that the fear of the old timers was that discrimination would mask out some of the intended desired targets. Also people tend to hate change . I was tired of digging all of the foil, cigarette wrappers, rust, pull tabs...etc. I started on the Garrett SideWinder which basicly was a junior version of their famous Hunter Line. it was similar to the Compass 77B in the fact that it would null over small iron like square nails. but me and my Dad were Detector Signal crazy and would dig all of the signals positive and negative.. BACK TO MY ORIGINAL QUESTION. Has anyone tried to use the 77B coils on the Judge Series?? Would it work?? I think that the frequencies are the Same!!?? I have both so will try to see later if it would work but was eager to find out if anyone already knows!! Joe

Yah thay should work on it they run at the same freq. Golddust

Judge 2 Instructions:
I have a Judge 2, do not remember what is different, so everything stated may not apply. Make sure your batteries are good, there should be a battery check knob for each battery pack. it should read 100 or more on the meter. Set Discriminate on 4, set STD/DISC switch on DISC,m Set MAN/AUTO switch on Man. (I like Manual). Set Ground Condition on NORMAL Turn POWER/VOLUME knob on and rotate it to MAX. Push in and hold the Push Button retune switch (on the end of the handle). now turn the Tuning Knob until you hear the Threshold sound. this is basicly a faint but comfortable sound. using headphones helps. Now release the Push Button retune switch and take off. No motion is required to operate this detector unless you are using it in the Auto Mode. .AND SLOW DOWN AND TAKE YOUR TIME. One more trick is to find some ground that is metal free. and just rehit the retune push button, this basicly tunes the detector to the ground. and if you use the Scrub Technique .you can avoid the up and down squeals that a TR detector makes covering the terrain. ONE MORE TIP. Shallow targets will be loud while deep target's sound will be soft and faint if you practise either with a bench test or with a Test Garden you can get use to what sound to be on the look out for. Also in my case I have 1000's of hours logged in and I usually just dig the very faint and very loud targets. Very faint equals deep targets like coins and loud targets is generally new drops mainly new coins and new jewelry. I know that some may have a big problem with leaving any target undug but some sites are so debri littered that it is impossible to dig everything. If you ever decide to Relic Hunt flip the STD/DISC toggle switch to STD, this basicly puts the detector into a 77B type mode, in this mode the discrimination reject knob is inactive. this is an all-metal TR mode but it will null on small iron like the old square nails. Joe

If you keep it in the Auto mode, ground tuning does not matter!! To get more depth take it off Auto and ground tune the detector!! Ground tuning is just the same as air tuning except place the coil on the ground and rehit the push button retune switch!! (MAKE SURE THAT NO METAL IS UNDERNEATH THE COIL). Now if your soil is very mineralized, ground tuning may not work very well! Ground tuning works best in Neutral to Medium Mineralized soil!! I have one but usually prefer to use my Relic Magnum 6. The RM6 is a VLF/TR which means that it has one mode that can ground balance/compensate while the other mode is the Discrimination mode and with a switch can move back and forth between the 2 modes!! Now if you even move past this detector the Compass Coin Scanners using a slow motion mode can discriminate while ground. Joe

Compass Judge II:
Hi. I had (still have) a Compass Judge ll in the '70's. I hated it at first. On automatic, it retuned itself so slow, it was worthless. One day, I found on manual, if I held down the push button in the handle for reset, the detector became a fast auto unit. I pulled the pushbutton out and replaced it with a toggle switch that was "down=full time fast auto, center=manual, up=momentary fast auto for manual reset." Really worked great. Maybe I'll take it out of moth balls and take out in the front yard. Ron.

Setting Ground Balance by Keith Wills:
After reading some of the problems some of you are having setting your ground balance, I thought I might explain how it should be done, which is not exactly how it is spelled out to you in the manuels.

As many of you know, first find a good clean area of ground to preform a ground balance of your detector and do this in the all metal mode.

Second: set Power Level to preset, go to All Metal mode and you can use either auto tune or manuel tune which ever your more comfortalbe with, but remember auto tune means that within less than a second it will retune itself, so you must work faster and pay close attention to the threshold your listening to so to hear an increase or decrease or no change in that threshold as you lower the coil to the ground.

Remember, the purpose of ground balancing a detector is so you can match with your detector the ground matrix (or make up/mineralization) of that ground you'll be hunting in. Proper ground balancing will make the detector more sensitive in depth if set correctly and more sensitive to smaller targets such as nuggets, gold chains and etc. If your coin hunting,your GB is not as critical as if your looking for much smaller objects.

Step three: Adjust a notable threshold sound (louder than you would use in hunting) and lower your coil from knee high to 2 inches from the ground listening for a threshold change.

Another note here: if your threshold increases and then just before you get to a few inches above the ground it decreases, this is called Porpoiseing. To eliminate this problem you must start your ground balance procedure at the point where you heard the increase and not at knee high. Your soil has some major negitive minerals (such is the case with salt) and cause you to get an increase in threashold and suddenly a decrease before you finish your lowering the coil to the ground.

Step four: You are looking to hear an increase or decrease in audio threshold as you lower your coil within 2 inches of the ground. OF course most of you know you adjust your Ground Balance control opposite--if you get an increase, then you adjust the GB control couterclockwise and if you got a decrease, then you adjust your GB control clockwise. The result your looking for is to lower your coil to the ground and have little or no change in audio threashold, thus you are Ground Balanced perfectly!

NOW HERE IS WHAT THE MANUEL DOESN'T TELL YOU: After you adjust the Ground Balance control each time YOU MUST press the all metal button again before you try the procedure again or the adjustment you just made is NOT confirmed by the logic of the metal detector--not accepted by the electronics of the detector. THIS IS A MUST to be successful in ground balancing with any detector!

Now once you have achieved prefect ground balance--if there is such a thing--then you are ready to hunt--but only for nuggets in all metal mode. For if you leave your ground balance in this position, you will find you are digging more targets that are not there. For you have achieve a perfect ground balance for finding very small objects but not so perfect ground balance for finding coins, jewelry and artifacts. For now the detector is ground balance to see any object very small to large. By setting your ground balance a little positive (clockwise) about one single turn on a ten turn control (1/4 turn on a 3 turn control and one notch positive on a single turn control) this will make your ground balance more positive and give you a slight positive increase in threashold as you lower your loop to the ground, yet it will eliminate small flakes of rusty iron and metal shavings that would cause you many problems in the field not neccessary for searching for larger objects other than very small gold nuggets and such.

Another Note: You also may find areas (such is the case with Texas coastal beaches) that when you try setting your ground balance, it doesn't change at all. This is due to the fact that there is NO mineralization for you to ground balance to. In the case of the Compass Gold Scanners, you'll find it is best in such areas to simply set your ground balance one turn "counter clockwise" (negative) from end of the control positive. Just turn the GB control all the way clockwise and back it off one turn.

Now you have just recieved my usually one hour seminar on Ground Balancing your detector--less my charts that show you the difference it makes in the ground after Ground Balancing. Keith Wills

Judge 2 vs 77b detector:
Keith run it in the STD mode, after locating a target switch it, to low discriminate and you can eliminate some of the iron targets. Of course in the STD mode (77B) it is discriminating the small iron anyway by nulling on them. Of the older compass machines I like the RM6 the best because it is a VLF/TR, both modes are running at 4.0 KHZ, so even though the TR mode is a separate mode from the VLF side it is operating on the same frequency, hence it is powerful enough to punch down and find those deep targets. I favor the VLF/TR's for many reasons and even the Judge 2 (100KHZ TR), weak targets usually equals deep targets, also one can profile the shape and size of the targets in just a few seconds which may be easier with the VLF/TR's since both modes can be used back and forth to determine target depth, size, shape and even the conductivity of the target.

This can be done very quickly, also many of the accessories are easily obtainable via ebay and other sources. Some detectors were not made with a lot of available accessories, so obtaining these things can be frustrating and difficult. Some detector do not have any accessories at all, so it is wise to do your homework before getting a detector. Many people buy an older detector via ebay mainly cause it is cheap and then find out there can be some major problems. We are lucky with the Compass detectors, Keith Wills and othere others can fix most of them, although on some the parts are hard to find. Keith is one of the few repair shops that stock a lot of the obsolete parts, in fact a lot of times when a Detector Co. goes bankrupt, he acquires most of their parts department. Also in collecting and using older detectors is good to have several sources of getting parts, in the Houston area there is a big Computer Store that stocks a lot of the surplus electronic and computer parts, and with a lot of patience and a good sodering iron, a lot of repairs can be done for cheap. Most of the repair bill is for the Cost of Labor NOT the parts. Sorry that I rambled on but one thing led to another. Joe

Judge 2 vs 77b:
I am stopped Cold in my tracks it is a Product Report:
THE JUDGE 2 TR DISCRIMINATOR. "THE CONTROL PANEL OF THE JUDGE 2 IS SIMILAR TO THE 77B, EXCEPT FOR THE DISCRIMINATE CONTROL", which is true. Alot of people do not know but if one flips the toggle switch for STD/DISC to the left for , it is operating in the 77B mode, which is a straight TR mode, and at the flip of the toggle it can be engageed for Discrimination. Because of this the coils of each detector are interchangeable, you may need a correct connector for some of the different coils. GET A JUDGE 2.....CAUSE IT IS ALSO REALLY A 77B IN DISGUISE. JOE

Plus it is an Automatic which was the inspiration for the highly sought after 77B Auto and Auto Legend. The Judge 2 Auto is kind of overlooked. Oops speaking of being overlooked, that was a nice gesture you made there Paul, your a man's man! FoilFinder

Compass had the B series 94B, 77B...high frequency 100 khz and did not discriminate beyond small iron.Wide scan loops 3,5,8 and 12 inches. The 77B is still used because although it has little depth compared to modern machines you can detect where they won't go. Two or three or more nails will be ignored, if theres a coin under them it will pick up the coin.

The Judge Series, also 100khz, were TR discriminators and would reject or rather bypass much iron that would have to be positively discriminated out with other machines. Drawback heavy and only really suited to low/medium mineralisation areas.

The VLF Magnum Series:
Coin Magnum Ground eliminating VLF discriminator. 5.73khz. Eliminated ground effects in discriminate mode when all other machines could only do it in all metal. Could detect nickels and rings while rejecting ring pulls. Drawback as always they were heavy. Discrimination system was odd. You could pick up a deep nickle in ring pull reject but shallow would be ignored. It did detect as deeply in discriminate as non discriminate but like the off resonance (O.R.) detectors that allowed ring pull discrimination whilst still allowing most rings to be found, you had a little bit of hype. The O.R. machines (A.H.Proline, C & G Technology etc) did do as claimed but the depth was poor and likeways the Coin Magnum could detect as deep in both modes but neither mode was as good as some other machines. Then there was a problem with the principle on which it worked. Good near surface discrimination, you could discriminate out bottlecaps fine down to four or five inches, but any deeper and they would be indicated as a good target. So on a site with lots of near surface rubbish you could do well but on an old site with deep rubbish the other Magnum's had the advantage of discriminating at a greater depth. I often wondered what happened to Don Dykstra the manager/co-founder who invented the first widescan coil.

Relic Magnum 7. 3.73khz (I think). Excellent for relics in the super deep all metal mode.

Magnum 420 10.5khz. Not the depth of the Magnum 7 but better discrimination. 8 and 12 inch widescan coils. There were cheaper less powerful versions of the 420, the 320 and 220. Weight 4lbs and used 6 AA batteries.
One drawback with most of the models was the Tri-Planner coils used. Most of the machines weighed 4 to 4.5lbs. The coil put a lot of the weight at end of the machine, the last place it was needed. Hip mounting or fitting an arm rest solved the problem.

There's also the motion range most of which have been re-introduced since they had the fire and restarted the business. Unfortunately the Challenger range...X70, X80, X100 are no longer made though they were the flagship machines of the company so well worth looking for.

Three Judge 2 versions:
Here Come The Judge!!! Compass had 3 different 100 KHZ models in the Judge 2 line up. The first early judge did not have any push button tuning and very few were made before the updated Judge II came out . What I call the original Judge II Auto had a small red push button on the end of the handle . The control panel was laid out different and the auto tune had a very fast recovery speed. (much faster than the later Judge). The discrimination was OK but if you maxed out the disc. control, then just about everything would be rejected.

The later Judge II auto was more mellow and depth was not as great as the second generation Judge II A. They have a 8 inch loop that was totally different than a DD loop (& only work on the Judges) was also heavier than the standard 8 " DD loop. The only other loop other than the 8" was a Judge 12" and not to many of them were ever made. Along with the 2nd gen of Judges was the Judge I auto and it was like the Judge II 2nd gen other than it did not have a meter and did not have the same controls. It was a very good fast hunt unit. The Judge 6 replaced it. As matter of fact the auto tune from the Judges was so good is why the the 77 B auto was made. When the controls of a 77 A were set, it was really a turn on and go detector. Allan.Cannon aka Tucando

Greetings. If you are searching for a Judge 2, there was 3 different judges that came out. The very first Judge was a manual tune and not very many of these are out there. The first Judge 2 Auto had a small red button at the end of the handle and these were the best with very good depth. The only 2 drawbacks with these was the auto tune was very fast and the circuity was raspy. However I feel these was the best of the Judge 2 Auto.. Then Compass made the 3rd generation and they switches around a few controls and used a larger black button and they mellowed out the circuity. I feel they were not as responsive as the 2nd generation. (You need to see the control panel to verify if they are the older or newer generation due that many had the red button replaced with the black button).

As for the Judge 6 / Well, they were OK but I would stay with the 2nd generation if you can find one.. A much better detector if you are lucky in finding one. Or better yet! find a Judge 1 auto. Just a scaled down version of the 2nd Gen. Judge2 Auto with out meter and sensitivity control. Hope this is helpful Allan Cannon

Upon closer scrutiny, it appears the Judge 1 I have is a very rare 1st generation, non Auto and not the 3rd generation as there is no auto tuning reset button in the handle. PennyFinder

PENNYFINDER ON YOUR BATTERY CHECK CONTROL KNOB DOSE IT SHOW 6A 6B 6C.? THAT IS THE WAY BOTH MY JUDGE 2 s ARE, IT WILL WORK ON 3 9Vs, BUT THE BATTERY HOLDER IS SET UP FOR 3 4 PACKS OF AA AND WORKS ON THAT SETUP. AND FITS IN THE HOLDER. dangeorge

Dangeorge, I have a 2nd generation Judge 2 as well as the manual, illustrating the 2nd gen. Judge 1 as well.
The batteries on the Judge 1 first generation are different and has only two battery connections, A & B along with 2 separate battery test buttons. You are right, it runs great with two 9v but the holder is way too large. PennyFinder

Thanks for the tips guys, she runs fine on the two 9v batteries, with the ol' foam in the housing trick! The 9volts are the only way the red indicator light,lights up when the battery check button is pushed. PennyFinder

100 Khz units:
Just wanted to say that all you hunting out there may be using your new improved, latest and greatest in which is wonderful. However there is some older detectors that are still bread winners in which lower freq. discriminating detectors can fall short. Take the old Compass 100KHZ unit as where a house burned down or being tore down. Nails all over the place .Well the 100 KHZ unit will zip through those nails with out a sputter. If the nails are large like a spike or glob, then you will find these. If a coin or ring is below the nail, you should be able to find these targets as where a motion detector will see the iron and try to reject it, maybe you will find it or maybe not. (depending on the operators skill). Compass always tuned the 100KHZ DD loops so a average nail will be ignored. Of course iron target in the ground will rust and change through out time and you might see some targets.

I am not knocking any ones more advanced detector, all I am saying that the 100KHZ moment in time has came and gone. But they are so good under the right conditions. That is why I still will use my old Compass 100KHZ knowing that not much escapes its path. It may not have the greatest depth, but it hammers out those small gold rings that everyone seems to miss in around the bark chip areas. Lots of older units still can be found out there. I am always looking for the older odd ball one that fills a niche along with my other detectors. Allen.Cannon qaka Tucando

Compass X-200 Challenger:
"The X-200 Challenger is a manual ground balance, full-time target ID detector with three independent search modes. These include a true non-motion All-Metal, a motion discriminate, and a non-motion TR discriminate mode. In addition, an operating frequency of either 6 Khz or 14 Khz can be selected through a toggle switch on the control housing and a 1 or 3 filter motion discriminate circuit can be selected through touch pads on the meter face. It features a unique 3-piece shaft assembly which collapses to less than 24 inches in length allowing users to transport the detector in a carrying bag, backpack or suitcase without taking it apart.

The X-200’s operation is controlled by six knobs and two toggle switches on the control housing and five touch pads on the meter face. Starting in the upper right corner of the control housing and moving clockwise, the knobs are: POWER LEVEL (provides 5 different sensitivity settings for varying levels of ground mineralization); TRASH-OUT (used to set the desired level of discrimination); TONE (allows the user to vary the speaker tone to their personnel preference); GROUND NULL (used to cancel out the effects of mineralized ground); TRASH-OUT SENSITIVITY (turns the X-200 on, varies the detectors sensitivity in the discriminate mode, and adjusts the target ID meter’s response and sensitivity), and TUNER (adjusts the audio threshold heard thru the speaker or headphones).

Two of these knobs have features which deserve additional explanation. The TUNER knob has a position marked “Auto Tune” at the fully counter-clockwise position. In this position the X-200’s circuitry will automatically maintain a slight constant threshold by continually retuning the detector as ground conditions change. This feature, active only in the All-Metal mode, is particularly useful when searching saltwater beaches or for electronic prospecting.

When the TRASH OUT knob is turned fully counter-clockwise, the Auto-Notch circuitry is activated. This setting, designed primarily for coin-shooting, will automatically reject most trash items such as tinfoil, pull tabs, screw caps, and iron while still accepting nickels, pennies, clad, silver coins and some jewelry items. There are PRESET marks on each of the controls for hunters that want to get out and use the detector as quickly as possible. Even with the controls left at these settings, the X-200 will still provide above-average performance.

There are two toggle switches located on the right side of the control housing. The lower one labeled FREQ. is used to select the frequency at which the X-200 will operate. Unlike conventional detectors which operate at a set frequency, the X-200 can operate at either 6 or 14 Khz. 14 Khz is the preferred frequency providing more accurate target identification and greater sensitivity to small targets, particularly those made of gold. The 6 Khz setting is more sensitive to larger coins and silver objects and will also operate smoother in trashy areas.

Directly above the FREQ. toggle is another one labeled DISC MODE. This switch allows the operator to select either the motion discriminate or TR discriminate mode of operation. While the TR mode is affected by ground mineralization, there are a number a of applications such as hunting certain types of saltwater beaches, searching in confined spaces where the coil cannot be swept easily, and electronic prospecting where this mode will provide users with finds that may otherwise be missed.

The target ID meter, located at the end of the handgrip, provides the operator with a wealth of information. In addition to providing the probable ID of the detected target, signal strength and target depth is also indicated on easy-to-read scales. Below the meter are five touchpads which are used to select the operating mode (ALL-METAL or DISCRIMINATE), number of filters used in the motion discriminate mode (1 or 3), and turn the backlight on/off. The built-in backlight can be extremely useful for beach hunters who are forced to hunt after the beach empties at the end of the day.

As with selectable operating frequencies, the ability to select either I or 3-filter operation allows targets to be detected that other hunters may have passed over hundreds of times before. The 1-filter circuit is designed to allow for accurate target separation in high trash areas while the 3-filter circuit handles mineralized ground more effectively than the single filter can.

As with any manual ground balance detector, it is extremely important that the user takes the time and accurately balances the detector BEFORE beginning the search. By taking a few extra seconds, the detection depth and stability of operation will be greatly improved.
The X-200 is powered by 12 AA penlight batteries. Nicads are included and can be recharged without removing them from the detector. Battery strength is indicated on the meter each time it is turned on. Fully charged nicads will provide approximately 10 to 12 hours of use and alkalines almost double that amount. The use of headphones will further extend battery life and a standard 1/4 inch jack is located in the rear corner of the control housing for this use. "

I have a X-100 @13.77Khz. The DFX or MXT@14KHz should be not that hard to make the DFX coils work on the Compass? I have the connectors and have tried tried different things,But no luck. A friend of mine said that John Earl said a 22uf cap. on the white wire should work? But are the wire colors the same on Whites and Compass?How can you tell without a scope? If anyone would make a adaptor they could sure sell alot of them....... PaulWVa

I am a Compass distributor and repairer. Compass use TUNED coils, Whites do not. The MXT and DFX are WIDEBAND untuned coils, you will need to put a capacitor across the Tx and Rx coils to make them resonate at the frequencies you want to run the machine at. SeanGoddard

Compass Scanner “modifications”:
For many years now I have been doing a mod on the Compass Scanner to help you get more depth in the ground and yet keep the units stability. It has worked out very well for many of you, but there is something I should explain. When Compass factory was still in business, I started doing these mods on the vari-filter units.

Not long after, Compass created the two filter units with tone ID like the Coin Scanner Pro. The first production or two did not have the mod I was doing in those two filtered units, then the factory changed and installed my mod in the rest of the production.

So if you have a two filtered unit in most cases it has already been modified for better depth. Best way i can tell you to test this is to use a copper penny, set the disc on 3 and the power level on preset and if you are getting 8 inchs or more at perset on the penny, then the mod is done to your unit. If you are only getting 5 to 6 inches it has not yet been done. This is done as an air test only.

You can use the same test if you purchased a varifilter unit as well to see if the mod has already been done to it. On most that we do the mod to, the unit from the factory is showing 6 inches on power level preset and 8 inches on max power level. When the mod has been done--most units will show an increase to 8 inchs or more on preset and 11 inches or more on max and still will be stable.

Only units I have found that this is not true is some of the units made after the factory closed. It seems many of those units vary greatly and calibration can be difficult or none responsive. Those units can be recognized by their decals -- it will have no red color in the decals. Mod cost is $50.00 plus shipping but we clean controls and boards, touch up calibration, and field test before we ship it back to you. If we find other problems or parts needed the cost of repair does go up, but we call first if it is going to exceed $100.00. Hope this helps, Keith

Compass Scanner Pro “inside switch”:
i checked my coin scanner pro on my brother in laws test garden saturday. the scanner pro could not touch a quarter at 8 inches even. the items he has buried have been in the ground for 20 years this year. had the sens turned all the way up and the disc turned all the way down. wanted to know if this is average or is there anything i can do to help the pro to react to the quarter. my mark 1 had no problem reaching down there and was surprised that the compass didnt sound off or anything on this coin. any help would be appreciated. thanks a bunch and happy hunting...
Kasparov747

It should hit the quarter at 8". If it's an after the fire model you may want to talk to Keith Wills about this. I have an after fire model R&C that he did the depth mod on and it will hit a quarter at 10" in my test garden. Hits a nickle at 8" no problem. Gary

See if the small switch in the back beside the ground control is set so the ground balance is working with the motion mode. Paulwv

I Forgot the gold scanner has the ground control on the front but make sure the switch is set so the ground balance is working with the ground control. Not all scanners has the small switch, if not then the ground is pre-set in the discrimate mode and they won't work in my soil as deep. Paulwv

its a before the fire model. the decal is gold, black and red. i will check the switch inside to see where its set and flip it the other way and check the quarter. thanks for the input. Kasparov747

before i open my coin scanner pro and slide the switch do you guys think that may make a difference in the detection depth of the machine? the soil we have around here is about as good as you could want. if it is switched to the side that would be for heavy mineralization would flipping it to operate for light mineralization make a noticeable difference? thanks for any help and happy hunting... Kasparov747

The switches are located in the back of the housing (where the coil plug goes in). There is a little plastic convexed rivet type plug you pull out with your finger nail to access the 2 micro switches. The switch broadens your discrimination range deeper in the iron range. With less discrimination , you will get better depth and sensitivity to smaller targets. Don't be afraid to experiment on the bench, don't forget which way it was in the first place. Share with us your findings. Perhaps some of the other guys will have more to add. FoilFinder

Smallest Coil for Compass Scanner series is 3" Coil. Their literature says 3"/6"/8"/12"/16". Does anybody have a 16", I've never seen one.

The 6 inch Compass Scanner Coil is pretty rare!!......Try finding an old Cue detector ....that coil will work.....just needs the connector changed out!!......JOE

After Market Coils:
The only aftermarket coil that was made for the compass was the Kellyco HotHead. It was a 12" coil. That was back in 1989-1993. They are about as hard to find as a black pearl.

Coil interchangability with other detectors:
Some of the older Whites(from a 4900) coils will work on the Wilson's. The D-Tex Coin King Coils will work on the Garrett Groundhog. and also some of the Gold Mountain Coils can be interchanged withe the D-Tex Coin King and the Garrett Groundhog. the D-Tex Search King Coils will work on the Garrett Deepseeker (ADS 1,2, or 3) also been told (although I never tried!!) that the Tesoro Golden Sabre coils will work on the Gold Mountain King Cobra's. Also the Teknetics coils (9000, 8500, Mark I) will work on the Whites 6000D, 6000DI,etc. not sure about the Compass coils. but if all of the above are interchangeable. Some other coil might work on the Compass?? but the above list is just a start. I'm sure there is a lot that I do not know about!! .Also if you get into some of the Modification Forums .some diehards actually build their own coils . usually it is a size that is not readily available from the manufacturer!! P.S. I even offered a lot of money for some to build me a special coil and have never gotten any offers. Joe

Meteorites
Here is a test on good meteorite detectors, the RM7 is compared.
http://www.whiteriverprep.com/meteor/shootout.html

Early Compass Models:
The Compass Nugget was called the 84ib, the ib series pre-dated the b series 100khz detectors when the Coin Hustlers were produced. The ib circuits are very close to the b circuits. My brother's 94ib matches my 77b for depth.
The early Yukon 94-IB and final 94B.

Posted by Monte on 9/12/2005, 9:46 am, in reply to "Compass Yukon 94B" 67.169.209.221
It had great small iron handling. The 'original' 94-IB had the squarish 'U' handle and the fixed-position coil mounting and retailed for $124.50.

The 94B had the more rounded 'U'-shaped handle and the handgrip portion extended to be even with the front of the control housing. It also had the adjustable angle coil design. It had increased to $144.95 in 1978, and $179.95 by September of '82, which is about the last time I showed it being produced (and unchanged from the '78 design).

The 94IB & B versions lacked the meter Zero adjustsment of the 77IB/B, because they lacked a meter. The 94 also lacked the Ground Condition Adjustment of the 77.

But, both of these models had two things in their favor for dealing with iron nails and similar small ferrous junk. One was the fact that they operated at 100 kHz, and the other was the "widescan" (Double-D) coil they came with. I used both of these models, a LOT back in the early-to-mid 70's, and saw only a little 'edge' in favor of the 77's. My favorites were the 77-Auto and 94-Auto verions with their autotune circuitry to help maintain the audio threshold.
If you have an iron infested site, get that good old Compass out and give it a try! Monte

Compass BFO’s:
There were three of them, the Compass 41 BFO, 46 BFO and the last one is either a 54 or 55 BFO, can't remember. It has been a many a year since I seen one and would love to have a copy of the owners manual, one manual for all three models. Just wondering! Keith

Teknetics Mark 1 vs XP-Pro:
Hi Frank, I was the third highest bidder on the same XP-Pro you were high bidder on, Glad it went to you someone who shares the same passion we do. Depth wise, I would give the Mark 1 an edge over the XP-Pro under normal ground conditions with low mineralization and the notch on the Mark 1 fares better as well. The notch is good on the XP-Pro but the Mark 1 notch has a much wider window.

But in areas of mineralization the XP-Pro will perform better especially as a relic detector, It'll handle the mineralization or detecting in areas laced with iron having much better separation over the Mark 1. Iron will mask targets and the Mark 1 isn't as good a detector as the XP-Pro for these type of detecting situations, Each has it's place you just need to know when to use the right detector for certain hunting conditions.

Hope the XP-Pro you are getting is working correctly, I was willing to take a chance on the unit and even if it didn't work like Gary mentioned Keith Wills can look at it, And I can always use it for parts if it was too far gone. Check the coil connector first and go from there, Could be a bad coil connector and luckily this unit comes with another coil if the coil connector is the problem. Keep us posted with the XP-Pro, Hopefully everything turns out well. Paul (Ca)

Coin Depth Comparisons (Coins are U.S):
Compass X-200 Challanger
Coil 29 cm
Setting 6 KHz 14 KHz
1cent 32 cm 35 cm 2.5 cm = 1 inch
5cent 30 cm 31 cm
10cent 32 cm 34 cm
25cent 38 cm 40 cm

White's 5900/Di Pro SL
Coil 9.5 (24 cm)
Setting disc all metal
1cent 30 cm 30 cm 34 cm 30 cm
5cent 31 cm 31 cm 36 cm 31 cm
10cent 28 cm 28 cm 30 cm 28 cm
25cent 32 cm 32 cm 38 cm 32 cm
1/2 $ 37 cm 37 cm 42 cm 37 cm
1 $ 38 cm 38 cm 47 cm 38 cm

Garrett GTI 2500
Coil size 9.5" (24 cm) 5"*10" (eliptical)
coin disc all met disc all met
1cent 27 cm 37 cm 21 cm 22 cm
5cent 30 cm 36 cm 21 cm 25 cm
10cent 29 cm 34 cm 20 cm 22 cm
25cent 35 cm 36 cm 22 cm 27 cm

Compass Scanner Coin Pro II
Coil size 20 cm
Coin All Metal Disc
1cent 20 cm 17 cm
5cent 22 cm 17 cm
10cent 19 cm 14 cm
25cent 22 cm 14 cm

White's 6000Di with pro BM950 - 9.5" (24cm)
Coil size 9.5"
Settings GEB/NORM GEB/DISC TR/DISC GEB/MAX
Coin
1cent 28 cm 22 cm 30 cm 32 cm
5cent 27 cm 22 cm 31 cm 34 cm
10cent 26 cm 20 cm 29 cm 32 cm
25cent 28 cm 25 cm 32 cm 38 cm

Garrett ADS
Coil 7" 12.5"
1cent 20 28
5cent 19 25
10cent 19 28
25cent 21 31

Garrett -Master Hunter ADS7
Coil 18.2 cm 34.5 cm
Setting disc Gnd Bal disc Gnd Bal
1cent 17 19 - -
10cent 17 17 26 26
25cent 20 21 32 32
1/2 $ 22 20 35 35
1 $ 26 23 38 36

The fire was the last of the Red and Gold label detectors. The Green box Challanger X series we made in the late 80's. In my 1990 Compass brochure there is a Black Box X-100 listed as the Flagship detector.
http://n2.nabble.com/What-really-happen-to-Compass-Factory-td1003274.html#a1003274

I agree with FoilFinder about the green boxed Compass metal detectors. The last green colored model was the Challenger X-100 made in 1988. Compass as a company was destroyed after the 'Fire'. It did not get moved into a bigger facility as the flyer proclaimed. Here is a link that I found that might prove interesting. It has something to do with Compass and SOHAIL MASOOD. I'm not sure if it's current. Ninestein
http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/fii_query_dtl.disp_program_facility?p_registry_id= 110004784207

What you are about to read is FACT and a post I made not long ago on another forum to answer someone that was mislead. As you read this, you'll know why I know this. Keith

Re: Was Compass being back in...
Posted by K. Wills on 8/24/2008, 10:54 am, in reply to "Was Compass being back in..."
207.70.191.118

I don't usually keep up with the forums now days so I was forward this post by a friend that knew my long connection with Compass in the old days. We still repair Compass detectors here, but have found it near impossible to make all customers happy because of the lack of special manufactured parts such a meters and touch pads for the Compass units, but we continue to make every effort to help folks with problems with their units so they can enjoy their Compass detectors in the future and to seek out substitute parts so to continue helping even more. Hope many of you understand the great amount of time it takes to search for comparitive parts that will do the job and still continue to be relyable. In short: the parts don't grow on trees!

As far as Compass units being manufactured after the fire, we have found that if you own a black and gold decal Compass Scanner, then it was manufactured after the fire. If the decal is black, gold and red; then it is one of the orginal Compass Scanners built before the fire. Those units built after the fire, many had missing components on the boards or changed values of components just from our experience of repairing them here. Many would not and will not adjust into specs on calibration, so we have had a bad time trying to undo what was done and change the unit in to a orginal as close as we can get it--in some cases.

At the time of the fire at Compass, for better than two years I was their only distributor left in the US. For that, Compass offered a special deal to me and a contract for me to be paid a percentage of all Compass units sold in the South, of which I never saw any payment for that two years. However, being a distributor of Compass, as all distributors do, we have a running account with the manufacturer in purchasing product. At the time of the fire, I owed Compass a small amount and the new foreign owner of Compass at the time wanted to collect. Yet when I told him how much he owed me and I had a sign contract from Compass, I never heard from him again. Shortly after that I contacted him just before he flead back to his country after collecting insurance for the fire, selling the coil winder machine that made the compass coils (which belong to another company and was leased to Compass) and more; I ask to purchase the remaining assets to Compass and move the company to my location. I still have all the asset paperwork and company specs in a file around here somewhere---papers I needed in order to aquire financing to buy what was left of Compass that Bill at the factory sent to me. The foreign owner told me by law in the US, if new product still existed and had been sold, that he had to set up a repair station in the US and was force to do so by the US government. He stated he sold this repair to Steve Goss but that Steve didn't know that the US government was forcing him to do it and Steve would of got the repair business free-of-charge if he would of known. Now this is what the owner told me, plus more.

I can tell you this: before the fire, Compass was and still is a very good unit. Many times I wished I could of bought it and continued the name and dependable product line, but I'm most likely better off not getting involved with that foreign owner by far. Keith Wills

Keith... Yes, I know that the coil will not work on other Compass models, as the connector on the end of the cable will only connect to the Coin Magnum and not the Magnum 420. The connectors are different on both models.
BC Joe

Keith, What was the date of the fire? The Compass unit I have, RM7A, is of the early 80's vintage I believe. I still have the operators manual, but it has no print date. I have some sales literature with a 9/82 price list. It has neither Black & Gold or Black, Gold & Red decals, it's decals are dark Green & Orange with Black borders. Just wondering if the unit was pre fire and worth messing with, or whether trying to operate it for coin hunting would be more of an excercise in frustration. After purchasing new batt holders from Radio Shack, I got it up and running enough to locate the metal loop handles on the lids of my septic tank. When I dug out the instructions for the detector, there were a couple of books on coin hunting and the use of VLF detectors. Got to reading them and it kinda spurred my interst. Thanks in advance. JJD

I can't remember the exact dates of the fires, but it was in the mid 90's and only the plastic housing type Compass Scanners and X200's were being built by Compass at that time. Your unit is 1983 model long before the fire. Hope this helped, Keith www.brokendetector.com

Post Compass detectors:
Joe, George Payne helped designed the 'Coin Scanner' series metal detectors back in 1990. He was the project engineer responsible for the Coin Scanner Jr,Coin Scanner Pro and Coin Scanner Pro II. They had new features such as 3 target tone modes,auto notch,8 penlight batteries for longer life and surface mount technology. This information was taken from an ad in the Oct. 1990 issue of W & E Treasures magazine.

As far as telling pre-fire units to post-fire units...the pre-fire unit scanners had what I call a capital (I) foam grip on the upper rod. The post-fire units built by Steve Goss were different. His was more of a (l) shape. He also used a gold colored decal on the searchcoils. The later models also had different control box decals. I purchased a Coin Scanner Pro II from him (2002) and it lacked the depth of a true Compass metal detector. I could only get a penny/dime at 4" tops in air tests. Talk about pathetic! I sold it at a great loss. I was so ticked off that I told my TH'ing partner that the next Compass I'll be getting would be one for directions and not one for detecting. I changed my mind earlier this year and acquired 3 1993 Compass metal detectors. 2 X-200 challengers and a Coin Scanner Pro II (pre-SG Franken-unit).

Below is a post George Payne made on another forum a few years ago in response to a question about which Compass models he designed.
I designed the Coin Scanner Pro and Coin Scanner Jr while working for Compass in 1991/92. The Coin Scanner Pro was based on the Big Bud detector that I had designed for Teknetics. The circuit designs were very similar. The main difference between the two designs was the discrimination range. The Big Bud stopped at salt water / foil discrimination. However, the Coin Scanner discrimination range went way down into the ferrous quadrant. The Target ID circuits were for practical purposes identical. Also, both of these designs were (very) simplified versions of the Teknetics Mark 1. George Payne

Compass 71b:
I have an old non-working Compass Yukon 71B that I just picked up. When I turn it on it just gives a steady tone and the needle pegs all the way over to the right. Adjusting the coarse tuning does nothing. Battery check works properly. I opened it up and I checked for broken wires etc. and it looks OK. I suspect a problem with the board.

Does anyone have a schematic for the Compass 71B? The IC's on the board inside have the numbers filed off. There are 2- 8 pin DIPs and 2- 8-pin can ICs. Typical 70's copy protection.

I have a schematic for a Compass 77B and it is probably similar to the 71B. The 77B schematic that I have is hand-drawn and it is hard to read. According to the schematic, it looks like IC1 is a 741, IC3 and IC4 are 1458's. I can't tell what IC2 is. It looks like 1?8?. This is the schematic that was on the Geotech forum. Geotech seems to be down, 404 not found. Can anyone help with a 71B schematic or help with identifying the ICs in the 71B? James

JAMES, THE SMALL METERS SEEM TO HANG UP A LOT. I have a RM6, .sorry don't have a copy of the schematics for the 71B. These detectors seem to be notorius for having problems due to the batteries or the battery holders or connections!!JOE

I managed to fix the problem. The connection from the tuning control to the circuit board was bad. It looks like something spilled on that area at some time and the socket had green corrosion on it. I cleaned that up & sprayed some contact cleaner into the socket and it is OK now.

I replaced 2 of the battery connection wires because the 9v style connectors were worn out. I also replaced 2 of the battery holders. I need to find a couple of those plastic clips for the battery cover because they are broken.

I would still like to find out what the ICs are if anyone can help with that. I traced some of the circuit and it is pretty similar to the 77B except the tuning circuit is different. The date on the circuit board is 1973. I have some nail-infested spots to check as soon as the snow melts, hopefully next week. James

Also these detectors are relatively cheap right now. In fact, I just received a Compass Coin Hustler which was given to me. I just had to pay for the shipping!! The Coin Hustler is very similiar to the 71B. The Coin Hustler is a more stripped down version. No Meter and only one knob, which makes it very easy and simple to use plus light weight!!.JOE

Merry Christmas. First thing to do is change loops if you if you have another loop. It could be that the loop has shifted and out of tune. You can't always go by whats the number is on the IC. Compass had many IC made and they were bogus # so the competition would use the wrong IC and it would not work properly. The person to have that information would be Steve Goss in Forest Grove at Compass repair. He can fix them. So you might contact him.
Hope this helps. Merry Christmas All! Allan Cannon

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com 3/15/2006
Greetings group. Can anyone please supply a copy of the schematic for a Compass brand "Coin Magnum" metal detector. Thanks, Russell Griffiths.

Making your own coils:
There is a transmit coil, a receive coil, and sometimes a “bucking coil”. The bucking coil is there to make sure that your receive coil only picks up targets, and not pick up the transmit coil. If you make a DD coil, you would overlap the transmit coil and the receive coil, and adjust them, until you receive a “null” point. The bucking coil is for the same thing on a concentric coil.

Compass Scanner XP Pro:
The Compass Scanner XP Pro operates at 13.77 Khz frequency. I want to build a bigger search coil. Do I just measure the impediance of the 8” coil? And then just build one bigger? I want to build a 10” or 12” coil.

Answer: If you just check the impediance you will get a close match. The only thing that can throw a monkey wrench into the thing, is there is sometimes other parts in the coil, such as a capacitor or two. The number of turns, wire size, coil size, type of insulation, type of winding, all will affect impediance and affect frequency.

Man I robbed this from another forum. Seems that Compass used tuned circuits on both the Tx and Rx circuits. You should xray the coil, to see what they have inside the coil itself. You can use the guts of an old coil, just remember that you need to reduce the number of coils of the windings, by half doubling the size of the coil. Determine the Hays Electronic’s housing, and measure the Z and H of the coil, and go from there.

Glue Coils Together:
Use Locite Super Glue 3, there is an applicator pencil, to be crossed on both edges, then apply glue on only one of the edges. The alternative is to go beyond the resin by-components stage of filling, to delay the lid by supporting over, as the surplus ofresin will cover joints, it will then be necessary to file joints and sand the coil.

Merry Christmas. First thing to do is change loops if you if you have another loop. It could be that the loop has shifted and out of tune. You can't always go by whats the number is on the IC. Compass had many IC made and they were bogus # so the competition would use the wrong IC and it would not work properly. The person to have that information would be Steve Goss in Forest Grove at Compass repair. He can fix them. So you might contact him.
Hope this helps. Merry Christmas All! Allan Cannon

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com
3/15/2006

Greetings group. Can anyone please supply a copy of the schematic for a Compass brand "Coin Magnum" metal detector. Thanks, Russell Griffiths.

Compass Scanner XP Pro:
The Compass Scanner XP Pro operates at 13.77 Khz frequency. I want to build a bigger search coil. Do I just measure the impediance of the 8” coil? And then just build one bigger? I want to build a 10” or 12” coil.

Answer: If you just check the impediance you will get a close match. The only thing that can throw a monkey wrench into the thing, is there is sometimes other parts in the coil, such as a capacitor or two. The number of turns, wire size, coil size, type of insulation, type of winding, all will affect impediance and affect frequency.

Man I robbed this from another forum. Seems that Compass used tuned circuits on both the Tx and Rx circuits. You should xray the coil, to see what they have inside the coil itself. You can use the guts of an old coil, just remember that you need to reduce the number of coils of the windings, by half doubling the size of the coil. Determine the Hays Electronic’s housing, and measure the Z and H of the coil, and go from there.

Coin Scanner Pro “red switch”:
FF, have you open the control box of the Coin Pro Normal? I'm curious to know how is set this in your detector. Do you set it on Preset or Balance?

Setting Ground Balance:
Here's how Keith Wills describes how to ground balance, I hope this helps, he posted this awhile back:

"Watching some of your responces I see that ground balancing needs to be explained...if I can... Remember, ground balancing is only a discriminator for mineralized size particles in the soils you hunt in, it discriminates out various amounts of mineralization found in some area soils so to allow your detector to operate smoother in those types of ground where otherwise it would make a detector seem erratic. The smoother the operation the more you can determine if the signal you just heard is a dig-able target.

In my book, manuel ground balance is the best unit to own, where you manuelly learn to adjust your detector to it's peak preformance and depth on targets; even smaller targets. If not adjusted correctly it can make your detector not hear larger objects like a silver dollar or miss many of your smaller targets like a one dollar gold coin. How many have you dug of either?

The key is learning to adjust it correctly for the soil your hunting in. Obviously you do not have to continue re-adjusting every step you take, for most ground mineraliztion stays close to the same in that area that your hunting at that time, moving across country or out of that color of soil tells you that the minerialization has changed and you should change your manuel GB so to get peak preformance from your unit.

As for per-set Ground Balancing or auto ground balancing as it is sometimes called, that is set by the manufacture on a trimmer set on your units circuit board and is only an estimate as tested by their proto types in the field as being the best settings for that unit. Which means, you could be off as much as 10% plus and minus on your ground balancing for your detector at any given place. Thus you could see a 20% total bad calibration in your ground balance while hunting a site. The way to tell this in the field is to simply go to all metal mode on your detector, search for a clean area to check your ground balance in and raise your detector coil to knee high of the ground, press the all metal mode AGAIN to RESET the mode and lower the coil to one inch from the ground. If you hear your all metal threshold audio increase or decrease then you know your detector is not adjust correctly for the matrix (make-up) of that ground and you are not searching at full abilities of your detector (peak preformance). This is NORMAL for all factory pre-set ground balancing detector or auto GB detectors. This can be the reason why a lesser detector in the field is beating you in nice targets found.

It is understandable that many prefer auto GB detectors, for learning to manuelly ground balance a detector is possibly the hardest to do in your detecting. However, someone knowledgable can teach you in minutes and practice makes you even better. You soon see your finds will increase in the field. If your not into that learning curve, then that is why they make auto GB units, simplier to operate.

As for those of you that question the YO-YO type balancing units, it really is the same as manuel, but you have a circuit that does the adjusting for you. Reguardless what you are told, it will not keep adjusting the GB for you as you hunt, that is truely a myth if you could see the circuits and understand them. One of the tale-tale facts of changing ground balance is a beep you get when the circuit see's a change in GB manuelly, which of course you would also see if such a continues GB was taking place as you swing. Haven't you ever noticed when you bump something on an end of a swing you get a beep, this is your unit seeing a sudden change in your ground balance because you bounced off an object or hit an object on the end of a swing your changing directions on.

Also it will help you to remember those of you manuelly ground balancing; if you do not hit your push-button or trigger switch each time you raise your unit after making a change adjustment to your ground balance settings--then you HAVE NOT allowed your detector to accept the change you made before you test it again by lowing your coil to the ground and see if you get a increase or decrease to the all-metal audio threshold. You MUST bump your unit into all-metal mode again to accept the change you just made to the manuel Ground Balance, or you'll be outside all day trying to ground balance with little success. This is not well described in the owner manuels out there, but you'll soon see it is so much easier to adj. if you will try this. Also remember, if your in an area, such as we have here on Texas coastal beaches, where there is NO mineralization at all, then you will always find no matter where you adjust your GB no adjustment will work. Usually the best adjustment is at 3:00 position on sigle turn GB controls and 1.5 turns off full clockwise if you have a 10 turn GB control. These are considered PreSet positions and where there is no minerialzation it is best left in that position, for no adjustment will help you. Remember, the GB control is nothing more than a low discriminator for particles in the soil and if no mineriaztion exist, then the GB discrimination won't work. Hope this has helped you understand GB better. Keith"

Coin Scanner Pro II
I like the efforts George Payne made to improve the original Coin Scanner. The original one was based on the XP-Pro's 'varifilter' circuitry. The Coin Pro and Coin Pro II (the 'II' having manual ground balance) feature a two-filter circuitry that is very Bounty Hunter-like in performance. With the internal toggle in the standard setting the discriminate range does not extend down into an All Metal accept range and does not go as low as the Classic's or LST's (All Metal range) or the Bandido/Silver Sabre II/ShadowX2's ED-120 lower-end limit. It has a higher discriminate setting when at "minimum" than many models and might not do as well in some serious nail trash sites as some competitive models.

It IS a slow-motion detector, and with a smaller search coil it will pick among the trash *okay* but, I think the ShadowX2 or Bandido II MM or Sidewinder or ???? will do better. Now, since target ID is the added feature of the Coin Pro II over the other models mentioned, I can only think of the Toltec II that might be considered a comparable unit. The Toltec II has the better ED-120 discriminate circuitry, but it has a small, hard-to-see (aging eyes!) meter.

To be honest, that is one gripe I have with any TID Scanner model. The visual display is a bit smallish. With ANY target ID model you might get a flicker of the needle, or you will usually get a more solid iron reading, since the iron has a greater effect on the signal. The three tone audio, which is the Coin Pro II's strong point in my opinion, can and will usually be 'fooled' by the combined target reaction.

The Coin Pro II offers the option for the user to have one tone, two tones or three tones. That is a plus for it over the three-tone CZ models because you can select a single tone which will eliminate some of the fooling responses in high trash.

The CP-II is a good detector. I just don't want anyone misled in thinking that a TID or Tone ID model is going to be a whiz-bang performer in nail infested sites. Perhaps it will do okay, like most, when nail/coin targets are occasionally encountered. If you didn't like the Toltec II, was it due to the target ID meter?

Naturally, a serious hobbyist will have at least two detectors to cover a wide variety of applications. If you do get the Coin Pro II, I will be interested, as well as many others, to hear how it works in your area. Up here it's quite mineralized but you might have more favorable conditions. Overall I like the Coin Pro II. I almost got one myself, but the new White's 6000 Pro XL does more of what I want in a wider variety on environments. The Compass might be more what you are looking for. Monte

A clear explanation of why you're considering the Coin Pro II. I am not a big fan of hip/belt mounting, but I know it used to be quite popular. The belt mount clip on the Scanner series was my redesign concept to keep them from popping off the belt and fitting poorly on the rod.

With the stay-inside weather we've had for most of the last several days I have done more rethinking. The only major drawback I have to the Coin Pro II is the weight/balance as I consider it for my wife. I've tried to think of which detector she would enjoy the miost to get her out detecting with me. She likes notch discrimination because she doesn't like to dig a lot of trash. I might get one for some of MY uses, but especially for her due to the great notch system.

If you're in a lower mineralized area you'll probably love the Coin Pro's AUTO NOTCH to knock out a preponderance of trash. At places where you want to run lower disc. for the deeper or hidden oldies, turn it off.

My friend's Coin Scanner Pro II is such an impressive performer that it's hard to not consider it. I don't care for the smaller TID meter, but then I don't use a meter all that much and it does offer the 1, 2 or 3 tone audio.

He lives almost directly under some high-power transmission towers and virtually every detector we have tried there is terribly bothered by interference. This is especially true of the latest MicroMax models, and the 1235-x he had was noisier than all get-out! XLT's I used there had to be cut way back in several sensitivity settings, and his CZ is slightly hampered. The Coin Pro II, however, remains silent at full power and outperforms ALL others we have tried there on both signal quality and TID accuracy with the interference.

I like the manual GB feature and I am considering an early-year shift to the 6000 Pro XL, Bandido II MicroMax and Coin Pro II Scanner. I just wish they would get a good working 6" coil for it. Maybe Keith has one or two sitting around down there? I'll have to check with him, unless you already have. I think you'll like you decision. Boy, the old days were sure exciting! More finds than what most newcomers would believe, but there are some left-overs to be found, too. The best to you. Monte

Matteo, This is what I have found on how to ground balance the Coin Pro II:

A. Turn the Ground Balance control fully Clockwise untill it stops: this is the preset position. For very low
mineralized soils this is the preferred setting and no other ground balancing adjustment is necessary.

B. Set the other controls to their preset positions. The detector is now turned on and will automatically select to the
motion discriminate Trash Out mode.

C. Hold the search head 12" to 18" above the ground and away from all metal objects. Press and release the Pin
Point (white) tactile pad to put the detector in Pinpoint mode.

D. Lower the search coil towards the ground. The audio signal will either decrease, increase or stay the same. Note
the change. If there was no change in the threshold, then the detector is properly ground balanced. If the signal
increases or decreases significantly, then ground balance adjustments are necessary.

E. Adjust the Ground Balance control counterclockwise, to smaller numbers, if step D produced an increase in audio
threshold upon lowering the search coil. Or adjust the Ground Balance control clockwise, to higher numbers, if
step D produced a decrease in audio threshold upon lowering the search coil.

F. Raise the search coil back to a 12" to 18" height. Press and release the pinpoint tactile pad to restore the threshold
level and repeat step D,E, and F untill there is no change or just a slight increase in threshold audio when the
search coil is very near the ground.

G. The detector is now properly ground balanced in Pinpoint mode.

H. When the control is set to "mineralized soil" setting, the Pinpoint mode will become an all-metal mode and will
respond to all targets.

I. If the control is set to "salt water", the Pinpoint mode will become a ferrous/non-ferrous mode. The detector will
respond to non-ferrous targets but all ferrous (iron) targets will be ignored. Use Trash Out mode for blacksand
beaches, perhaps throttling back the power level somewhat. A Trash Out level of #2 will provide good target
signals from most coins , silver and gold jewelry.

George Payne:
Posted by George Payne on 11/24/2005, 5:23 pm, in reply to "George,I would like to know"
216.239.165.80

The only detector I designed while at Compass was the Coin Scanner Pro. The other detectors sold by Compass were designed by John Earle. I was with Compass only for a short time and did not become acquainted with the detectors designed by Earle. George

Coin Magnum detectors:
I bought one brand new back in 1979 or so. it predated most of the detectors that you mentioned except for the Relic Magnum Line and the Judge Series Line. this detector was probably rushed out due to competition at the time. it was also very much misunderstood. initially many were unhappy with it and wanted their money back!!. I kept mine longer than most and found some really good items with it including a few military buttons that predate the Civil War. they did make a Coin Magnum I and a II. not sure of what the difference's would be. I still have one in my Collection.. which I would Never sell. most show up on Ebay these days and sell for not much.. mainly for parts.. I think that this is mainly due to many not knowing how to operate these unsimple machines plus of course with time......some parts like capacitors could be going out!!......I think that these were all being phased out around 1982 or 1983 or so!!.....so that is probably when the CoinMagnumII probably came out!!...........I still think that it is still an excellent Relic Detector especially for the price ......if one can get a good working one for $75.00 or less......I got mine for a lot less a while back......This was one of the First detectors to work in VLF Discriminate while working in a NON-Motion Mode.......most do not recall........but motion was not readily embraced as it is TODay!!....The biggest problem is that the discriminator circuit was only effective for a few inches......so in reality in a field test one could set up the detector for coins only and still find pulltabs and square nails fairly deep!! This angered many people of that time. Most of that time did not know that the square nails could be eliminated by using the 10 turn ground control and basicly using the square nail as your soil and keep turning the ground control until the nail is either eliminated or at least NULLs Out. using this method I could go into many of the really bad Relic areas and find the small non-ferrrous buttons and small brass. .Also the meter was different. it centered in the Middle and would go right for Non-Ferrous and Left for Ferrous. the problem was that large Iron would still peg to the Right. also deep coins would not move much to the Right although a strong Audio would be heard. Much more to say. But if you have more specific questions. i will try to answer them. Joe

I want to think thr relic mag an the coin mags came out the same time i think the coin mag ran at a low freq in the 3s of 4s. The other relic mags came out a little later all ran at different feqs. The relic mag 5 is seldom seen machine.
GoldDust

OK...if you want an official instruction manual contact Keith Wills at www.brokendetector.com Now if you just need enough info to get started........9 or 10 pages back.....(not really sure where??)....I covered some basic operating instructions for the Coin Magnum.....even gave some important operating tips!!......this is a good Relic and deep coin machine. but if one sets it up wrong....it can cause a lot of frustrations. This machine is probably. the black sheep of the Compass line....not because it is a bad detector....mainly cause most do not understand it at all......after the 20th deep nail that read like a coin most want to wrap it around a tree.. most do not know that small nails and other small iron debri can be eliminated thru the 10 turn ground balance-all metal mode and not thru the discrimination dial. this detector is unique that I can discriminate out pulltabs and still get old nickels and gold rings deeper than 3 or 4 inches. but this detector needs a lot of TLC. most people today want a SET and Go detector.. I guess that is why a lot of detectors wind up sitting in one's closet!!..Joe

Halo Effect:
George Payne the KING of metal detector engineering (and Jack Gifford too) says that the halo effect ONLY APPLIES to iron or steel objects, and that it is electronically and physically nearly IMPOSSIBLE for other metals to have this effect. He also tells why. Look up his engineering notes and read about it. George should know, he is the "godfather" of all modern detectors and their circuitry. If you go to the Tesoro site you will find the same info., where Jack talks about coils.

I don't know Sandman, George (and Jack Gifford too, the Tesoro chief engineer) also says that an air test is the best indicators of how well a detector will find something in the ground regardless of the ground conditions, and he tells why too. It is about gain and the depth of the electromagnet field.

Covalent bonding VS ionic bonding, and the fact that precious and semi-precious metals have a more stable bonding of their electrons and do not give them up very easily to combine with other elements in the soil is why they give up little halo if any at all..

Iron is a highly unstable metalic substance and therefore it gives up (boils off) it's electrons much easier and quicker with many more metalic elements than do other metals. This is why iron rusts and silver and gold do not, and copper and brass corrode very little. Incidentally, when iron rusts, it is doing little less than when building a fire. Fire is nothing more than a much faster rate of oxidation while rust is a much slower one. They are both oxidations.

Very true. No halo with pure gold and worse, silver and copper can develop a patina as they become at one with the surrounding soil and this can reduce detection depths. Poor quality metals can react with acids in the soil and in my view this generates a small current that can slightly increase detection depth if the soil is damp enough. This seems to be the principle the Compass Depth Doubler worked on. When the soil dries out the process stops and the depth of detection drops. So we should all be detecting damp soil....except iron does produce a halo and that will increase target masking of good targets and upset the machines ground balance. I think Eric Foster posted that iron 'halo' does not affect pulse machines. If this is so then the next generation pulse discriminators could be the way to go as long as the discrimination abilities don't depend on the I.B. principle as used in previous pulse discriminators like the Pulse Analyst and the P.P.D.1. EasyMoney

Erik was also refering to the "eddy currents" that are produced when a signal passes alongside and wraps around a target, and a "ghost" or "eddy" or "little path" of current is produced on the other side of the target. A PI reads eddy currents only, not signal-to-receiver or transmit-to-receiver signal as VLF's and TR's put out. BFO's only radiate magnetic fields. An eddy current results because there is bleed-off and reduction of the main signal, much as when a current inside a wire always allows a miniscule bit of the signal (current) to escape outside the "insulation" of the wires. All electrical wiring omits at least some trace or eddy current and it is quite easily attested to by reading the magnetic emissions along the wiring while in use. To prove that, hold a compass next to the wiring when in use. The electrical current causes the boiling off of the electrons that are or have become magnetically charged.

And as you say, with gold there is basically no halo, and with semi-precious metals the effect can even cause a reduction on detector depth, especially if there is too great of a mass of the copper oxide leaching into the soil. This leaching causes the auto-track to often work too hard trying to overcome it's mass and therefore a resulting reduction in sensitivity. However, this is not the norm, and luckily this happens not all that often. Iron ores and oxides leach out and combine very well and easily with other metalic elements in the soil and do casuse a halo effect. Copper, brass, lead, etc do not, they create an entirely different compound than does iron. The iron oxides make the detector think that it is supposed to cancel more iron and hence the concentrated mass (the target) reads better and deeper. It always goes back to the matrix theory. Always. EasyMoney

I have a post buried somewhere on this forum concerning the Depth Doubler....in fact I hunted with a friend who invented it and probably gave the idea to Compass.......most people know that sites are very conductive after a rain storm.....but if there was also a few Lightning Strikes the ground seemed to be alive....well my friend noticed this and he obtrained an electric generator connected to a 5 HP engine all mounted in the back of his SUV on a sturdy piece of plywood.......he had several metallic stakes that he would drive into the ground all connected by wire to the generator ........he would zap the ground for 5 or 10 minutes and then we would go a hunting........very productive especially in a so called worked out area.........the prinicipal should be the same just zap the ground for at least 5 or 10 minutes and then go hunting.......to test it out........I would bury a few nice conductive targets.......and scan them before and after applying the electric charge.....the after response should be a lot more than the before response. Joe

Relic Magnum 7:
Hi All, I picked up a non working BH 550D off ebay a few days ago and decided today was a good day to fix it. After some frustration, no proper print, I managed to figure out someone messed up on wiring new battery snaps on the detector. So, after straightening that out, replacing a bad part and adding a new power switch since the old one was intermittent, I was able to get it going.

Like all TR's, this one is quite ground sensitive, so I decided to increase the autotune speed enough that tracking the ground was easier. This is a good way to improve one's sweep techniques BTW. The better the sweep techniques, the better any VLF motion machine will work.

Anyway, playing around with this mod, I remembered the old Compass Relic Magnum 7 had a variable autotune feature that could be adjusted to a very fast rate. By increasing the autotune rate, one has sort of built a quasi single filter motion detector. Technically, a motion machine has two channels, one the all metal channel and the other the disc channel. If the RM 7 is adjusted for a fast autotune speed and then put into the disc mode, one now has a single filter disc channel. This is crude but it works for those who have never tried it. Just thought some of the RM 7 owners might enjoy trying it. Reg

On this particular model, I sort of cheated and actually used the fast autotune button circuitry as a quick way to test my idea. The autotune for this circuit uses a circuit similar to one used by Jack Gifford on some of his Tesoro models, where he uses an opamp integrator for feedback and this integrator circuit has a very slow time constant. The circuit uses a 100 meg resistor and simply shorts it with the PushButton. So, add a resistor such as a 10 meg in series with the pushbutton and you have a quick autotune. I do have to hold the pb now, but may use a switch in the future.

I will have to change the design a little if I decide to add a pot. The reason is so I can use a reasonable value of pot. If I do that, I may add a second filter for fun.

I forgot to mention that in the process of repairing the detector I had a time when this little unit had see through capabilities just like the 77B. When time permits I will go back and figure out what needs to be done so this is a regular feature. Since this little detector has a 6" coil, I may add a couple of other tricks and make it a nugget machine I can use in real trashy areas. Reg

Melbeta, I used to modify VLF's a long time ago and have made some very unique mods to them, especially to some of my units I used for nugget hunting. Some of those mods added a couple of inches of depth in bad ground for coins also.

For the last few years, I have focused on PI type detectors where I have also made quite a few mods, many of which have been incorporated in a couple of detectors. I build my own coils for the PI's which work extremely well and I can control the weight of them to a major extent.

A few years ago before the TDI, I added ground balancing to a straight PI and used it for nugget hunting with great success. My low powered PI has still to be beat by any other PI in detecting extremely small gold. BTW, the TDI has a feature today that it didn't have in the prototype and was only added at the last moments before production. I know why since I added a feature to the TDI forerunner that expanded how the TDI works. That feature replaced a tone control. This simple mod really works extremely well. So, yes, I am still into modifying detectors. Reg

Melbeta, First, I have a Judge 2 so I tried the push button, to see if it increased the tuning speed well enough and it did. So, that is a simple way of doing it. Now, I think I have a schematic of how that works. If my schematic is correct, then modifying so it is adjustable shouldn't be that difficult. It looks like I could use a reasonable pot value. Use a pot with a switch and one could simply turn on an adjustable autotune speed or rate control.

As for your idea of autotune, the basic concept of this is simply, you have a threshold audio level set by a threshold pot. This will be the audio level or volume you hear without anything trying to change it. Now, as the ground or a target signal comes into the coil field, the threshold will increase or decrease, depending upon what the object is and how the detector is adjusted. Once this change occurs, the autotune feature will try to return the audio level back to the original threshold setting. The autotune rate will determine just how fast it does that. Reg

Melbeta,

Wow, that is a bunch of questions.

First, PI detectors can use mono coils, where the same coil is used for the receive or transmit, or they can use DD types or even concentric type coils. I design my coils by selecting an inductance for the application and then winding the coil to meet that inductance. As a general rule, a coil around 300 uh seems to work best.

As for your old hunting partners, I know a few of them. I suspect the Tom you refer to is Tom Stuart. I saw Swede a while back, but I think Hugh died, but I may be wrong. Anyway, some of the old timers now belong to the present Springs detecting club PPAL (Pikes Peak Adventure League).

I don't think much of the halo effect theory. Eddy currents require a solid mass or a conductive liquid to occur and eddy currents are what generate a signal from the target on non ferrous objects. The conductive mass has to have some depth to it also. BTW, eddy currents are electrical currents and not magnetic. Any magnetic effect is the result of the electrical currents.

If you want to make a VLF coil have more depth, you can do it two ways. One is to increase the windings of the receive coil and the other is to lower the windings of the transmit coil. A coil is like a transformer so using the two methods I mentioned will change the transformer ratio. Keep in mind that going too far will introduce a lot of noise as well as impact the ground signal. So, one can go too far.

PI's are a little different story. The design of the PI is usually made for the type of metal one wants to find. Gold doesn't need a long pulse but a long pulse works better for large iron or silver or copper objects. One can increase the wire size also which can increase the current of the pulse.

Now, keep in mind it takes a whole lot of current increase just to gain an inch of depth. A general rule of thumb is double the current may gain an inch on a coin size target. If I remember correctly, it takes 64 times more current to double the depth. This is why there is a lot of research into separating signals from noise. Increase the sensitivity to the right signal is an easier way to increase depth.

Want to cheat and gain more depth when using the disc mode of a VLF? Simple, I did that years ago on my gold machines. Change the mindset involved. Most VLF's use the principle that you need both a VLF metal channel signal and a disc channel signal to get a good response. Usually, the channels are biased off to avoid noise. Bias on the disc channel a little so the all metal channel is the one holding back a signal. By doing this, you can increase depth based upon the fact it will be the only signal that will cause a response. Now, very deep iron will also cause a signal, but up to that point, the iron signal is the strongest will cause a negative response sufficient to shut off the disc. So, much of the iron is rejected.

I suspect this technique has been adopted on some of the detectors today. I know it was something used on some of the Minelabs and as such, people thought they had super depth. No, they just cheated like I did.

For those of you that have a ML Advantage, you might take a piece of iron and check it for rejection. Move the metal farther from the coil and see if there is a point out far enough that the iron is now accepted as a good target. I know that did happen on some of their earlier models. As such, they appeared to have much more depth than other detectors.

There are different ways to increase the depth of a detector including changing the gain of different stages, or use something different like I mentioned. Reg

**Melbeta** · 06-12-2024, 08:17 PM

I have some more, older Compass documents, that I stuck into PDF files now in the past. Like I said above, so of the writers of these documents, are deceased now, and some disappeared from the postings in the forum. So do not know if alive or dead now. But very interesting material to read in todays times... Now I take old documents, perform artwork on them, enhance them, so they are not faded out, but really legible. Some I stuck into .PDF files. So I secured them as well, as I do not want to see my material inside today's books!
MELBETA
DEPTH_S_NP_001.Pdf
COMPASS Info_S_NP_001.Pdf
EZ_SAID_S_NP_001.Pdf
METEORS_S_NP_001.Pdf
Old Compass_S_NP_001.Pdf
Hope you guys and gals, enjoy reading the material from the old postings during the time of the existence of the original Compass Electronics which I was a dealer with them...
MELBETA

**millardcc** · 06-22-2024, 09:05 PM

What's going on Jerry? Nice information about Compass! Thanks! The old Compass Metal Detector Forum has lost of its members and just a few are left. I ran a contest for 6 months and the web site owner would like to see it ran a little different, so I stepped down effective end of this month. Millardcc (Charles)

**Melbeta** · 06-23-2024, 03:14 PM

Originally posted by millardcc View Post

What's going on Jerry? Nice information about Compass! Thanks! The old Compass Metal Detector Forum has lost of its members and just a few are left. I ran a contest for 6 months and the web site owner would like to see it ran a little different, so I stepped down effective end of this month. Millardcc (Charles)

Well Charles, I have no idea what is going on inside the Compass forum. For some reason, he shut me off from the posting, let me read the posts though, I think one member might have complained about my postings, not sure either though, so I left. Carl here offered me my own forum section, so I left and came here, do not regret it either, so I have been very happy posting here right now. I am busy at my house, lots of weeds, due to lots of snow and lots of rain. This forum is running excellent, as Carl is PRO FORUM BUSINESS. As you know, I have an tremendous amount of material stored in my archives, way back even into the older BFO metal detector days!

I think you will like it here, but not sure you should run a business here without asking Carl first. It belongs to Carl Moreland first and always. You see, the membership here is worldwide with all kinds of people in this forum. So no religious postings here I believe as members are worldwide you see, and there are many religions out in the world, so stay away from promotion of religious topics. It is a metal detector forum you see. Other then that, this place is growth galore! Where other forums suffer, this one grows......I think you can see it from my subject postings! But again, not going to say anything wrong regarding the Compass forum, that owner has his own ideas regarding the Compass forum I think, as I have absolutely no idea what is going on it in since I left. Tell all your friends to come here, if any are unhappy, it is a growing forum and I am very happy here. I think you will find that an answer to any question can be found within this forum area... Whoops misspelled a word!
MELBETA

**Melbeta** · 06-23-2024, 04:04 PM

Now I used to be a Compass metal detector dealer, with the OLD Compass, which was not involved with the current Compass forum, and back then, I did all kinds of Compass booklets, which I printed on my older offset printing press, and being business oriented, I printed them out, gave them to interested Compass customers, I do secure my copies, so they cannot be changed in digital format. I spoke, and I do not want my words changed, so I secured them, they read only material, not printable out, as I retain a copyright on the material I put together. But here it is. I called it the Secrets, as it was material I possessed, and was older, and no longer in print to be given out. But
Allan Cannon, was a former Compass employee, and said things, worth saving, so his words are inside my Secrets Booklet as well. And the photos, and graphics, I was a Printers Devil for Bradford Robison Printing and Publishing
Company in downtown Denver Colorado, so they taught me how to run old printing presses, and I rubbed elbows with the OLD TIME ENGRAVERS, who HAND ENGRAVED GRAPHIC PHOTOS for old time books. Yes, I knew many of them. In fact, on my business card, I had used one of their own time graphic engravings, of OLD DOWNTOWN Denver Colorado. I am old school. I like old things. I drive an old car, not into the modern vehicles. I change the auto transmission fluid in my automatic transmission, do it in 15 minutes of time. I use synthetic transmission fluid, I stick in one teaspoon of magic lubricant into the tranny, and it zips everywhere. When a person rides with me, they comment on how neat it zips around the streets and highways. Is over 140,000+ miles on it, and no one has touched it but myself. I run synthetic oil in the engine, also with one teaspoon of magic lubricant, and that doggone engine also zips around the area. I change oil in the transmission and the engine each year, and it takes me only an hour to do it on both the engine and transmission with fresh new synthetic fluids. I am aware of the older Chevrolet heads, wrote a booklet about which one you can use for power, which ones you can use for fuel economy, and since I used to own older Chevrolet RVS, and still own one today in a 1971 Chevy Pickup 4x4, with the best of the standard shift transmissions, and the engine all modified with Edlebrock products, i am going to stick in this forum, my CROWER CAM booklet, in honor of deceased Bruce Crower, and in honor of my late younger brother, who worked closely with Bruce Crower, who created Crower Cams for the modified engines. I enhanced the photos, for the best clarity, and this is a masterpiece if I say so myself!!! Enjoy the booklet here... I know I started here with Compass, but son of a gun, I like to stick it in where ever I begin speaking about something!!! First the BFO booklet I wrote, then the Compass Secrets booklet I wrote, then the CROWER Chevrolet Heads Secrets................ 1, 2, and 3 below....
MELBETA
[ATTACH]n425359[/ATTACH]
There it is above, an booklet I wrote back in the old days, about the BFO machines then.... Right above!
Now the Compass Secrets booklet, I wrote as a Compass dealer, below here...
[ATTACH]n425360[/ATTACH]

And now, last, but not least, and Secret booklet, that my brother and I, put together, back in the days we used to build hot rods, and dragsters.....And when Bruce Crower, of Crower Cams, was also still alive. The secrets of which
General Motors car heads, you should use, for power, or for economy and why........Not found anywhere in the world!!! But found here!!!!!!!!!!! Now it covers the 350 engines, but my 1971 Chevy has a 400 CID engine in it, and a heavey steel professional snow plow on front, and it pushes the snow way out of the way. I live in the boonies you see, where the bears, mountain lions, bobcats, deer, elk, etc come onto my land... yes, not kidding!!! Not always there day after day, but the mountains above my place, they are there, and they like to eat the grass on my land, and like to hunt each other too...Do I own guns? You better believe I do!!!
[ATTACH]n425361[/ATTACH]

Attached Files

1971 Chev 4x4 snow plow_001a.jpg (76.1 KB, 29 views)

**millardcc** · 06-23-2024, 11:03 PM

Thanks, Jerry, for your posts as I am sure most all here on this forum enjoy what you have to posts regarding many different types of metal detectors as well as a vast knowledge of Compass. The Compass forum has lost many members due to various reasons I recon. No, I have not even thought of selling anything here on this forum. Seems like a good place to visit more often. So Carl owns this one? For some reason in my mind, I thought Sven1 owned it. Maybe another forum. I have picked up some very nice like new Compass Metal Detectors over the past few months. Received 2 more in the ship box I have not opened and 2 more Compasses on the way. So, as you already know I am and will always be a big Compass fan and user when I can get out. I may have some compass parts I am not needing, I will look around as I can send to you if you will adopt them. I rather do that than to throw away as you know Compass parts are getting harder to come by and getting them off another Compass detector is always an option as long as the part is useable. Have you heard from Keith Wills lately. I heard a rumor that he may or has quite business and may move to out of Texas. Maybe just a rumor. Charles.

**Melbeta** · 06-24-2024, 08:20 PM

Originally posted by millardcc View Post

Thanks, Jerry, for your posts as I am sure most all here on this forum enjoy what you have to posts regarding many different types of metal detectors as well as a vast knowledge of Compass. The Compass forum has lost many members due to various reasons I recon. No, I have not even thought of selling anything here on this forum. Seems like a good place to visit more often. So Carl owns this one? For some reason in my mind, I thought Sven1 owned it. Maybe another forum. I have picked up some very nice like new Compass Metal Detectors over the past few months. Received 2 more in the ship box I have not opened and 2 more Compasses on the way. So, as you already know I am and will always be a big Compass fan and user when I can get out. I may have some compass parts I am not needing, I will look around as I can send to you if you will adopt them. I rather do that than to throw away as you know Compass parts are getting harder to come by and getting them off another Compass detector is always an option as long as the part is useable. Have you heard from Keith Wills lately. I heard a rumor that he may or has quite business and may move to out of Texas. Maybe just a rumor. Charles.

yes, i will accept the shipment of Compass parts. No, have not heard from Keith Wills lately, and not sure if he may or did quit buisness. last I head was he was still down in Texas. But I am not in touch with Keith myself. So what you heard as a rumor, could be true or not true. I do not stay in touch with Keith anymore am too busy right now attacking weeds on my property... I loved that current Compass Forum as well, it is a shame to hear they have lost many members for various reasons. But I am going to stay out of that stuff. So be careful with what you do. You are an really honest person Charles. I like to collect and save Compass metal detectors like yourself! As you know, I will pay for your shipping expenses if you ship them. I am at the same address. Not going to post it here though. Last I heard Sven was working with the owner of your former Compass forum. Sven is also an really honest person! Keep in mind, Keith gets older each day, just like you and I get older each day, and someday we all end up at the same place which is in the earth... Yes Carl owns it... Yes, Compass parts are getting harder and harder to find anymore...
MELBETA

**Melbeta** · 07-01-2024, 06:13 PM

Originally posted by Melbeta View Post

yes, i will accept the shipment of Compass parts. No, have not heard from Keith Wills lately, and not sure if he may or did quit buisness. last I head was he was still down in Texas. But I am not in touch with Keith myself. So what you heard as a rumor, could be true or not true. I do not stay in touch with Keith anymore am too busy right now attacking weeds on my property... I loved that current Compass Forum as well, it is a shame to hear they have lost many members for various reasons. But I am going to stay out of that stuff. So be careful with what you do. You are an really honest person Charles. I like to collect and save Compass metal detectors like yourself! As you know, I will pay for your shipping expenses if you ship them. I am at the same address. Not going to post it here though. Last I heard Sven was working with the owner of your former Compass forum. Sven is also an really honest person! Keep in mind, Keith gets older each day, just like you and I get older each day, and someday we all end up at the same place which is in the earth... Yes Carl owns it... Yes, Compass parts are getting harder and harder to find anymore...
MELBETA

I keep a directory on each person, and On KEITH, I got his material in the Keith Wills directory. I used to keep CD disks with the directories in them, but now I use Flash Drives. I run two older computers WIN XP and Win 7, not into newer computers, as my factory software which I bought and paid for will not run on the newer models. So I stick with the two I just mentioned. I am old school, not into newer machines. So FAR, what I do still works as I use older computers and older software to make sure nothing changes for myself... And so far, it still all works FOR ME!!! It may not work for others though...
MELBETA

**millardcc** · 07-06-2024, 06:27 PM

Jerry, I got 5 Compass Metal Detector boxes I have not gotten around to open, when I do, I will then be able to determine what I have that I can send you, just have not been feeling well lately, rest and sleep seems to help some. Gave up the contest I was running on the Compass Forum, and I will be surprised if anyone takes it on. Been checking in now and then to see what's been posted. Joe and a few others have been keeping the forum going mostly with their posts. Joe has been seeking gold, helped him get a Fisher Gold Bug 2 and he seems to be enjoying it very much.

I understand Keith Wills has closed down and rumors are he went to California for I recon to be with the next girl in his dreams. No way to verify that so I will just have to say it's a rumor! Does not answer the phone anymore and his web site taken down. Complaints from metal detectors users not getting their metal detectors back or back in a timely manner. Charles.

**Melbeta** · 07-07-2024, 02:39 PM

Originally posted by millardcc View Post

Jerry, I got 5 Compass Metal Detector boxes I have not gotten around to open, when I do, I will then be able to determine what I have that I can send you, just have not been feeling well lately, rest and sleep seems to help some. Gave up the contest I was running on the Compass Forum, and I will be surprised if anyone takes it on. Been checking in now and then to see what's been posted. Joe and a few others have been keeping the forum going mostly with their posts. Joe has been seeking gold, helped him get a Fisher Gold Bug 2 and he seems to be enjoying it very much.

I understand Keith Wills has closed down and rumors are he went to California for I recon to be with the next girl in his dreams. No way to verify that so I will just have to say it's a rumor! Does not answer the phone anymore and his web site taken down. Complaints from metal detectors users not getting their metal detectors back or back in a timely manner. Charles.

Charles, I hope you will feeling better, and on Keith Wills, I used to be in contact with Keith, he told me one time in an email that "You are the only one who knows the truth regarding Compass". Similiar to what I just stated, or close to it. Been years since I got that email. Time affects all of us Charles, the only one it did not affect was one person. Maybe Keith had a health problems, as that is main problem with one shutting down and not answering the phone anymore, and if the web site is also down, I suspect that might be the case. From my memory, Keith told me one of the owners of Compass, before he died, sold to Keith, the material about the Compass machines, so that is where Keith got his start for his service company. Keith was an very honest person, so I am going to suspect some health problems hit him.

As you know, if you ship anything, I always will repay to you the shipping charges. I can either do it by check, or by credit card, your choice, I only use one credit card, pay it off the beginning of each month, so i am rated very high with American Express. It is the only credit card I use. A few weeks ago, we went to western Nebr, for three days, and American Express paid for the hotel stay there. Now they do not do that for everyone, but they did it for me. American Express even set up the reservations for our hotel rooms. One for us, and one for our youngest son, who is a Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy and teaches cadets at the Academy. After that happened, my wife applied for an American Express card herself. So not sure if it was more for my card business or for our son Doctor so and so.......But I thanked American Express anyway.

Compass is very lucky that Joe stays at that forum. I tested the Fisher Gold Bug 2 up in the Gold Fields way north of where I live, it found a hell of a lot of trash in that old mining distict, so I sold it and bought no more of those models. A metal detector when I used to be a dealer, had to please me or I sold no more of them myself. I was very particular regarding what the manufacturers manufacture... Having retired the dealership, I no longer run an metal detector dealership. I enjoy my retirement very well by fooling around with detectors, vintage maps, vintage books, and vintage relics and coins. I still write some booklets as well...When I used to work for the federal government, the government used to send my vintage map folios and vintage leather bound books, as I lectured on geology. They were free, and they never charged me any shipping charges either. I would enquire and ask if they had any map folios on an area, and here would come rare books and rare map folios, free of charge. But today, I do not work for the federal government anymore, and I do not inquire anymore about do you have any material on so and so, etc, etc... The last time I enquired I received two paper shipping cartons full of old rare map folios and several rare vintage leather bound books of historical leather books. I thought, I bet the USGS really does have those things on Noah's Ark stored there... The leather bound heavy rare historical books, were those removed from federal libraries, and covered Colorado very well. I was an Historian working for the federal government back then... All I had to do was ask, and here came cartons of vintage rare books and vintage rare map foilios as well. I opened the cartons, unpacked them, and was astound what they shipped to me without my even ordering those rare books and rare map folios. I have three wooden book cabinets out in my large garage, and it is filled with those rare govt books and USGS rare map folios from the old days...I did not even have to go into the downtown library I had my own source material right from those two heavy shipping cartons...
MELBETA

**millardcc** · 09-07-2024, 03:22 AM

Jerry, Nice to hear you got the detector parts! I may have some parts later maybe the first of the year. No sure what I will have but will let you know! Losing interest in repairing detectors. Thanks! Charles

**Melbeta** · 09-11-2024, 07:09 PM

Charles, I do not blame you for not wanting to work repairing metal detectors. They are vintage models, and parts are vintage as well. Some parts are still availabe, other parts no longer are made and no longer
are available for vintage machines. I thanked Charles by email, sent him a check. Waiting to hear back to make sure he received the check in the mail. Charles is a really nice person. Pity that Compass
owner is letting the Compass forum run out of steam. But I like it here now. Carl really has it running well!
Melbeta

**DavidB** · 12-01-2024, 09:34 PM

Hey Jerry, good to see you are still around. Miss you on the Compass forum. Not the same place without you. It's hard to get much response out of people on that forum these days. You are not missing much by not being present there.
( Phase Shifter)

**Melbeta** · 12-02-2024, 03:35 PM

I just came in, and saw an email from you, and I responded to that email. Then I just noticed you found ME here... Boy oh boy are you welcome here David... I welcome you to one of my 2 SUB-Forms inside this GREAT FORUM. It reaches beyond the United States, and is WORLD WIDE. So Phil did me a great favor by freezing my POSTING, as I deleted my posts in the Compass Forum and came to Carl's forum here. And I have no problems posting here, and the reading of my posts is GREAT. Stay HERE!!! You will get a lot of RESPONSE and READER-SHIP here with your posts. Thanks for letting my know I was missed by you. And I know others from the Compass Forum are also here too, as they found me here as well... I have no animosity with PHIL, what he does is what he does, and I wish him well. And I do not miss much by not being present there, as I can see people here like what I post, and keep coming back again and again to read what I post. David, you possess an amazing grasp of metal detector ELECTRONICS, and your expertise is really welcome here and you will love it here...... Post anything you like in my sub-forum as I love it when I read the material..... And post anywhere in this forum, you will love it here!!!!!!

So what have you been doing and what have you created lately???????? Post it here or anywhere in this forum...
MELBETA aka Jerry..............

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