Fisher Gold Bug-2 User Manual

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

+ 22 hidden pages