GOLD
P R O S P E C T O R ’ S M E T A L D E T E C T O R
BUG-2
OPERATING MANUAL
Table Of COnTenTs
About Your Gold Bug-2 ............................................................. pg. 3-5
Setting Up ................................................................................. pg. 6-7
Hipmounting ............................................................................. pg. 7-8
Control Panel .......................................................................... pg. 8-10
Mode and Mineralization Switches ....................................... pg. 10-11
Mode and Mineralization Switch Selection ........................... pg. 12-13
Turn On Procedure .................................................................... pg. 14
Ground Reject Procedure ..................................................... pg. 15-16
Searching ............................................................................. pg. 17-19
Pinpointing ............................................................................ pg. 19-20
Target Recovery ................................................................... pg. 20-22
False Signals ........................................................................ pg. 23-24
Operating Tips ........................................................................... pg. 25
Coin Shooting, Beach and Relic Hunting .................................. pg. 26
Battery Replacement ............................................................ pg. 26-27
Maintenance .............................................................................. pg. 27
Using Headphones .................................................................... pg. 28
Treasure Hunters’ Code of Ethics .............................................. pg. 28
Where to Use Your Gold Bug-2 in the U.S. ............................... pg. 29
Specifications ....................................................................... pg. 30-31
Warranty ............................................................................. back cover
The Fisher Gold Bug, the predecessor to the Gold Bug-2, was
designed and engineered by Fisher engineers from the ground up for
the sole purpose of finding deep, small, and large gold nuggets in highly
mineralized soil. Almost overnight, the Gold Bug became the standard
against which all other gold-hunting detectors were compared.
The next generation Gold Bug, the Gold Bug-2, is not meant to be a
replacement for the original Gold Bug. Your Gold Bug-2 offers many of
the successful features of the Gold Bug as well as some new features,
making it a distinctly different detector, but still designed for the sole
purpose of finding gold nuggets.
The first and foremost of these new features is the operating frequency
of the Gold Bug-2 (71 kHz). This ultra-high operating frequency is
extremely sensitive to small gold nuggets, and it also offers a side benefit.
Because the Gold Bug-2 operates at a different frequency, it can be
operated near an original Gold Bug without interference.
Also, a new mineralization switch on the Gold Bug-2 can be set for
high, normal and low mineralization ground conditions. When set for
high mineralization, this new circuitry allows prospectors to hunt in areas
previously off-limits due to high ground mineralization or numerous hot
rocks. Although the original Gold Bug is known for finding small nuggets
in highly mineralized soil, the Gold Bug-2 will set new standards for both
size and depth under many soil conditions.
Iron discrimination is another new feature. In the IRON DISC mode,
you can identify hot rocks and small trash items like iron nails and other
ferrous trash before digging them. Use this mode in extremely trashy
areas to check a target for its iron content.
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ABOUT YOUR GOLD BUG-2 (continued)
An audio boost mode, another new feature of the Gold Bug-2, makes it
easier to find smaller nuggets at greater depths. Already a successful and
proven feature of the Fisher Gold Bug line of land and underwater detectors,
the audio boost mode automatically increases the volume of any faint signal,
such as a small or deep gold nugget. It does this without increasing the volume
of larger, shallower targets
.
Here are some other features of the Gold Bug-2:
• Dust and moisture resistant control box.
• Removable control housing that mounts on your hip and
reduces the weight on your arm.
• Drop-in battery compartments for easy battery replacement.
• An elliptical, 10-inch, shielded search coil that’s lighter, covers
more ground and gets into tighter places than a circular coil.
• Optional 6.5- and 14-inch elliptical search coils.
• Lightweight design, only 2.9 lbs. with cushioned arm rest and
foam-grip handle.
• Built-in detector stand.
• Dual-knob, coarse/fine, manual ground-adjust control.
• Double-locking, fiberglass-reinforced, nylon lower stem.
• Quartz-crystal locked electronics.
• Built-in Fisher quality backed by 7
0 years of engineering
excellence.
The rest is up to you. You’ve got the right detector, but you’ll have to decide
where to search and then put in a lot of long, hard hours searching. And, of
course, you’re going to have to learn your Gold Bug-2, read this instruction
manual carefully and practice often. Drop us a line if you have any questions,
comments or exciting gold nugget stories. In the meantime . . .
Happy Hunting!
Fisher Research Laboratory
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ABOUT YOUR GOLD BUG-2 (continued)
Detector stand
Padded arm rest
Foam grip
Drop-in battery
compartments
Anodized aluminum
upper stem
Snap button
7-foot search coil
cable
Lock nut
Adjustable, ABS,
fiberglass-reinforced, nylon
lower stem
Nylon wing nut
Waterproof, ESI-shielded,
elliptical search coil
Figure 1. Gold bug-2
Cable
connector
Threshold
control
Velcro®
straps
5
seTTInG UP
The Gold Bug-2 comes to you just about ready to use. There are
only three steps required: sliding the lower stem into the upper stem,
connecting the loop coil to the control housing and adjusting the angle
of the search coil. Take a look at page 3 and familiarize yourself with
the parts of the Gold Bug-2 before proceeding.
1. Unpack your new Gold Bug-2 carefully. Save the carton
and inserts – they may come in handy for future storage or
shipment.
2. Slip the lower stem into the upper stem (see pg. 5 Figure 1).
3. Adjust the stem length and coil angle
so that the search coil rests flat on the
ground about 6 inches in front of, and
slightly to the right of, your right foot
(for left handers, to the left of your left
foot). Your arm should be straight and
relaxed with your grip held loosely (see
Figure 2).
REMEMBER: THE LONGER THE SHAFT,
THE MORE YOU WILL HAVE TO BEND
YOUR ELBOW AND TH E SOONER
YOUR ARM WILL GET TIRED. THE
GOLD BU G - 2 IS BAL A N C ED FOR
COM F ORTABLE SEARC H I NG IN A
TIGHT SEMICIRCLE IN FRONT OF THE
OPERATOR.
Figure 2.
Adjust the stem length and coil
angle resting the searc h coil
flat on the ground and about 6
inches in front of your right foot
(left foot for left-handers).
4. Tighten the lock nut and the nylon wing
nut on the search coil.
5. With the stem length properly adjusted,
wrap the loop cable tightly around
the upper stem and secure it with the
two Velcro straps. Connect the cable
connector to the control housing.
6
SETTING UP (continued)
CAUTION: MAKE SURE THE CABLE IS NOT PULLED TIGHT AT THE
CONTROL HOUSING AND THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH SLACK AT
THE SEARCH COIL TO ADJUST IT AT ANY ANGLE.
6. With the shaft length and coil angle properly adjusted, you
should be able to move into your “search” position (as shown
on page 6) by leaning forward very slightly and raising your
arm (still straight) until the search coil is about 2 inches above
the ground and 12 inches in front of your foot. The search coil
should be parallel to the ground and may have to be slightly
readjusted at this point.
7. If, the arm rest is too wide or narrow, you may bend it slightly
inward or outward to meet your exact requirements.
HIPMOUNTING
Your Gold Bug-2 is light and extremely well balanced; however, if
you’re going to be swinging it for more than a few hours, you may want
to “hipmount” it by removing the control box and strapping it to your
waist. Follow these procedure:
Figure 3.
The Gold Bug-2 control housing
can be hipmounted to reduce
weight on the stem and create
nearly effortless hunting. Belt loops
are provided on the underside of the
control housing.
1. Disconnect the cable from the control
housing and unwind all but the last 12
inches or so from the stem. Secure the
lower end of the cable with a velcro
strap at least 12 inches up from the
coil. CAUTION: MAKE SURE THAT YOU
HAVE ENOUGH SLACK AT THE SEARCH
COIL
2. Slide the control housing off the handle
by holding the hand grip with one hand
and pulling the housing toward you with
the other hand.
3. Reconnect the cable to the control
housing. NOTE: It is especially important
that the cable connector be installed tightly
to prevent false signals during hipmount
use. Never tightened with anything but your
hands.
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HIPMOUNTING (continued)
4. Put your belt through the slots on
the underside of the housing.
5. Left handers should wear the
housing on their right hip and
right handers on their left hip.
Figure 4.
To remove the control housing from
the stem, grasp the top of the control
box firmly and pull it directly toward
the arm rest while holding the Gold
Bug-2 handle.
COnTROl Panel
NOTE: if you’re working in shallow
water, you may want to strap the control
housing on your chest in a heavy
plastic bag, and seal it tightly around
the cable.
Figure 5.
1. SENS: This knob adjusts the Gold Bug-2’s sensitivity to targets,
and it doubles as a battery tester. By increasing the sensitivity,
you can detect smaller and deeper targets, however, you’ll
also pick up more false signals in mineralized soil or in areas
of electrical interference. The sensitivity control can also be
decreased to cut down on “ground chatter” and/or electrical
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CONTROL PANEL (continued)
interference. Settings less than 5 should not be used unless you
have already tried switching to a higher mineralization setting. In
the extreme counterclockwise position, the SENS control doubles
as a battery tester. A loud tone indicates good batteries, and a
faint tone tells you it’s time to change the batteries.
2. MODE:
This is a three-position toggle switch that can be set to
IRON DISC, NORMAL or AUDIO BOOST. (See the next section,
“Mode and Mineralization Switches,” for details.)
3. MINERALIZATION:
This three-position toggle switch has
settings for varying levels of ground mineralization: HIGH,
NORMAL and LOW. (See next section, “Mode and Mineralization
Switches,” for details.)
4. HEADPHONES:
This jack accepts most stereo and mono
headphones with 1/4-inch plugs. When using headphones
with a stereo/mono switch, put the stereo/mono switch in the
stereo position. Although, your Gold Bug-2 is equipped with a
dust and moisture resistant speaker, we recommend that you
always wear headphones while hunting to maximize the number
of targets you hear. Furthermore, we recommend our Fisher
Phones, which enhance faint-target response by blocking out
unwanted external noises, such as wind and vehicle sounds.
To plug in your headphones, unplug the detachable seal and
plug in your headphone jack. When not using headphones, be
sure to keep the seal plugged into the HEADPHONES jack to
keep dust and moisture out of the control housing.
This device is to be used with interconnecting cables/headphone
cables shorter than three meters.
5. VOLUME:
This knob turns the power on and adjusts the
signal-response volume. If you’re wearing headphones with
independent volume controls, set your Gold Bug-2 VOLUME
control to 10 and decrease the volume of your earphone
controls to a comfortable level. This will ensure the hottestpossible signal from your Gold Bug-2.
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CONTROL PANEL (continued)
6. GROUND REJECT:
This dual-knob control is used to
electronically tune the search coil to prevailing groundmineralization conditions. The small knob on top only makes
one revolution and is used for coarse adjustments. It has 25
fixed positions. The large knob on the bottom is for fine-tune
adjustments and is capable of 16 turns and an infinite number
of positions.
7. THRESHOLD:
This metal shaft is located on the rear of the
control housing. It’s purposely small and out of the way to avoid
accidental adjustment. The threshold control adjusts the level of
your threshold tone, which is set to a continuous, faint tone.
MODe anD MIneRalIZaTIOn sWITCHes
The mode switch on your Gold
Bug-2 offers three different operating
modes: IRON DISC, NORMAL and
AUDIO BOOST. Each mode offers
its own advantages and disadvantages in any given situation. It’s up
to you to find the right setting for
each of the ground conditions you
encounter.
Regardless of the MODE or
MINERALIZATION settings, your
Gold Bug-2 always operates in a
motion mode, meaning the search coil
must be in motion to detect a target.
Figure 6.
The two toggle switches on your Gold Bug-2
enable you to search in just about any kind of
ground condition. The trick is learning which
combination of settings is right for each ground
condition.
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