Attention Old Timers!!! I need your help!!!

[BigWaveDave]

I met a guy in my local coin club, he's like 70.. and we started talking about tectin...

He tells me about the 4 machines that he has, but his favorite, best ever detector needs to be either overhauled, or repaired. He tells me that the name of the machine is a "Jersey Skeeter" He has had the unit 30 or 40 years, swears its the best detector ever invented. So there I go, telling him that I would prolly find something online that would point him in the right direction...NOT! I cant find anything other than a baseball team.

The $64,000 question....Has anyone ever heard of this Jersey Skeeter? I got his number, but I don't yet want to tell him that I need to see it to get more specific info.

Anyone able to help?

 

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[beendetected]

AND... our scoops were just coffee cans on a branch :P
AND.... you had to pick tree bark from your eyes....
AND...

We licked our finds to clean them... no wussy puss water ... did not even have any to drink. :P

Magnets, coffee cans? U privileged people give me the willies, don't get me started. At Xmas we got half a brick and a peice of string to detect with. The rich kids got a whole brick! And if we broke it we'd have to wait for next Xmas.



Sent by carrier pigeon

 

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[Anduril]

Sight unseen, my strong opinion is that a 1970's era metal detector uses transistors, not vacuum tubes.

For something like this, I think all you would probably have to do is swap out ALL the capacitors and check any diodes.
The capacitors will be all dried out by now (or mostly so), and exhibit high series resistance.
Several 1970's-era diodes (especially those made of glass) were easily damaged, either via physical shock, static, over-voltage, or the passage of time.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Great advice... Holding this thread for my friend, I am anxious to get his reaction when he sees this.

 

[BARKER]

Hi cudamark; Yup, believe it or not the TV Repair Shops are still around. You just have to look for them. Now one shop serves 3 - 4 Communities. Just depends on which Community it is in. I'm lucky in that there is one about 12 Blocks from my house. I don't have any call to use them now but back in the day they were indispensable.
Hey Anduril; Maybe you or any of our Electronics guys here could send the OP a PM and work with him to get it fixed. I believe he would love you guys for it. BigWaveDave, can you get in touch with the guy and point him to Our guys here ?? I think it is a Worthy Cause that would speak volumes about the kind of Folks we have here on TNet. What say ye Folks ?? Shall We help this guy out enmasse' ?? I think who ever here walks him through it would be Worthy of an Honorable Mentions Vote from all of Us here as well. A WIIN - WIN Situation. What say ye Folks ?? I await. PEACE:RONB

 

[BigWaveDave]

It's a long shot at this point, but I will try.
The fellow is a snowbird, my contact for him is through my coin club, meets once a month...

 

[BARKER]

Hi BW; Did you say you had his phone number ?? If so, send me a PM. I will give you my Address and number. Then you can have him mail it to me. I will be glad to take it upon myself to bring it to the local TV Repair guy and get it fully fixed for him ok. It's the least I can do.
Hey AARC; Your starting to bring tears to my eyes from the fond Memories.!! Thanks for the Memories. PEACE:RONB

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey Barker, since you've been detecting since the 1960s, do tell a few things:

a) What kind of depth could you expect to get, on those BFO detectors, for coin-sized objects ?

b) What type places were you hunting in those days ? (eg.: turf? beaches? ghost-townsy ruins/relicky sites? etc...)

c) In your area, who was into it before you ? And how early-on do you know that detectors were hitting your geographic area?

The reason I ask, is that I got a chance to hear from the brother of the first known md'r in my area (1963 or '64-ish). Saw an ad in the back of a "True West" magazine, and sent away for a mail order BFO Whites. Their depth , at the time, was probably only a few inches tops. But everything was virgin and silver ! And they never had the presence of mind to try any place exotic (stage stops, etc...). They simply stuck to the old school yards in town, sandboxes, etc... They actually got a high percentage of big silver back in those days (quarters and halves), because the very nature of those beasts was they were insensitive to small targets. But tended to get the bigger ones (quarters and halves) better And for several years, till the later 1960s, they never saw another detector in our town.

Looking back, they said that, even then, they'd be doing good to get a few silver in a day. Because there was no way to knock out foil, etc.... And the lack of depth, the bear they were to keep balanced/tuned, etc....

 

[ascarang]

I met a guy in my local coin club, he's like 70.. and we started talking about tectin...

He tells me about the 4 machines that he has, but his favorite, best ever detector needs to be either overhauled, or repaired. He tells me that the name of the machine is a "Jersey Skeeter" He has had the unit 30 or 40 years, swears its the best detector ever invented. So there I go, telling him that I would prolly find something online that would point him in the right direction...NOT! I cant find anything other than a baseball team.

The $64,000 question....Has anyone ever heard of this Jersey Skeeter? I got his number, but I don't yet want to tell him that I need to see it to get more specific info.

Anyone able to help?

Hello, yes I have heard of the Jersey Skeeter. I owned one, well my father did. I knew someone that worked for the place that manufactured them in Pennsauken N.J. by Cooper River Park. My father eventually gave the detector to his brother when we purchased a white's in the mid 1970s. I must say you could easily pinpoint with that detector because of the rectangular shaped loop. It was decent on depth for it's time and we found plenty of coins.