Posted by Bob Sickler
on 10/23/2009, 3:29 pm
67.250.121.76
With recent talk on this forum about older detectors, I think it appropriate to finally publicly thank a good friend of mine...Joe Patrick. Here's why...
Back in 1991 when I started to write DETECTORIST, a new detector was coming on the scene... the Minelab Sovereign. The broadband frequency transmission concept was radical and I wanted badly to try one as I was writing my book. I was able to obtain one of the first production models privately and gave it a try. Keep in mind I was very much into single frequency detectors at the time. First try, the Sovereign seemed to me like a symphony of noise. The fact I tried to work the sensitivity control purposely beyond standard setting made it also seem very unstable. I found the target response time uncomfortably delayed as well. In short, I hated the machine and gave myself no time to get used to it and flat let it go. Not being impressed, ironically, almost prophetically, I gave brief mention to multi-frequency detectors in my book and stated it was a matter of time to see if they were going to better single frequency operation. Enter my dear friend Joe Patrick who has been using his original Minelab Sovereign for about 18 years now... During which time trying his best to get me to joing him and use the Sovereign as well. He made a truly valiant effort on my behalf detailing the virtues of the Sovereign and never gave up doing so. He had vision about the attributes of its operation, never gave in and learned the detector well. Joe likes other detectors too like we all do, but he remains faithful to the Sovereign.
In recent years, I can no longer focus at arm's length on any display or meter. In my younger days my total eyesight was an amazing 20/15. Today I'm left farsighted only. It's bad enough I have to constantly put on and take off reading glasses to retreive targets and see dates on coins and features of relics. You probably know what I'm talking about if you've been with hobby for many years. Surrendering to my limitations for visual ID and not wanting to operate a detector without some sort of ID, I had to come full circle and start using my ears again. I personally enjoy hunting pre and post Colonial era cellar holes. The rusted nail debris in these huntsites can sometimes bring the best machines to their "ground stands". A lot of this buried debris contains some really great targets if you can single them out. So I had to start thinking again about a machine worthy of the task and environment if I was to enjoy metal detecting again.
Losing a 20 year friend and local metal detecting partner to a heart attack back in 2003 almost made me give up metal detecting altogether. I retreated to my music/guitar building hobby roots for nearly six years. Now as I grow older, my diabetes gets a little stronger and the only way to fight back is exercise. I thought back to all the people I gave health advice to and realized I wasn't heeding my own words. So I slowly found my way back to the wonderful exercise in metal detecting and to what Joe was pounding me with all these years. We started talking again about the Sovereign, but this time I was ironically asking the advice of someone who always looked up to me for mine! Joe detailed his experiences with the Sovereign and shared his best settings. Determined, I dug in and found an original first model Sovereign in great condition.... Back to 1991 to start all over again.
This time I used Joe's advice/settings and ignored all my years behind single frequency operation. Putting aside preconceived biases, I was able to learn the Sovereign this time in short order. The machine is really quite excellent in the audio harmonics department. (I believe Bruce Candy, Sovereign inventor, was an audiophile by hobby.) Everytime the threshold nulls over a rejected target and resets, the returned threshold holds the tone pitch ID of the rejected target giving you a reference audio for the next target pitch. Just having a threshold in the hunt mode basically alerts you to lost metal in the area. Yes the signal processor timing makes for some odd ramps to the audio, but once you are used to this, you find yourself hearing good high pitches amongst a totally nulled threshold, meaning you are finding treasure amongst a lot of trash. You can actually use the Sovereign in the worst mineral ground and trash filled environments at a very slow sweep speed and hear things you've never heard before with single frequency detectors. I find the Sovereign amazingly quite stable in my area using Joe's advice for the "auto" sensitivity setting and you can really keep the coil touching the ground for the best depth. Fact is, once the Sovereign is set up for the optimum settings, it is a real true "turn on and go" detector. Hipmounted, it is comfortable to operate. Of late I made up two 2300 mAh NiMH battery packs for my Sovereign that last for days of all-day hunting before recharging.
Several weeks ago with my "new-old" Sovereign, I returned to an old cellar hole hunted years ago... The location not a secret to other detectorists either. Under an old knarly apple tree, I got what I call an "aggravated signal". The kind of hit that sounds like a good target, but you just can't be sure. All-metal sounded a little close to the surface, yet smallish in the VCO tone (probably the only VCO tone I've ever liked on any machine). Digging only a few inches down, I held an 1850's Coronet Large Cent in my hand. Rechecking the hole again normally, (remaining in the all-metal mode) I hear yet another target. Switching back to Discriminate, I hear the threshold null and come back low tone as I swept past. I dig around in the hole again to find a 4" long rusted iron nail-spike! Later that day an 1864 Indian and a brass, patent dated 1856 relic saw the light of day once more — Both with the same "aggravated" signaling as before, but much deeper than the large cent in softer sandy soil. I have returned to many former huntsites now and I continue to be amazed at what I've missed in tough conditions with other detectors. This is exactly what Joe was trying to drive home to me all these years!
At long last, a well deserved public "thank you" to my gratefully stubborn buddy Joe Patrick! Mostly because of him, I have regained my love of metal detecting and rediscovered a metal detector worthy of this praise. Joe and many of his Sovereign swinging friends have routinely walked behind others for years and quietly "cleaned up" so to speak. Joe and friends seem to favor the original Sovereign design over the later models because they keep repairing worn out parts on their old Sovereigns. They probably secretly hope once again Minelab will bring back the classic Sovereign. I too am now a believer because I've made some great finds with little effort in "beat to depth" huntsites, seriously. No, I'm not a Minelab promoter or do I have any relationship to the company, but I can tell you this, I have found new respect for an old detector and it's operating concept. Had I taken the strong advice of a dear friend back in 1991, who knows what I would have found different! Better late than never it has been said... Thanks Joe!
P.S....Incidently, Joe was the designer/creator of the Patriot TID meter for the Sovereign. Ironically I helped him with the graphics at the time. I guess people didn't believe much that somebody small in corporate stature could create such a good product and therefore it never was widely accepted... Or was it because people like me thought the Sovereign wasn't a good metal detector? I can tell you this, those who have one of his meters love them and those who didn't now want one badly and can't get one because Joe sadly gave up production of them. I missed out on a good thing as well.
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