Minelab CTX 3030- First Impressions
By Chris Valerio

Many years ago I was visiting a metal detector dealer who sold machines out of his house. It just happened that day a Minelab representative was also in the house! Boy it was my lucky day and I could pepper him all sorts of detector questions. So I did and one nagging concern was, “When will Minelab build a waterproof FBS Explorer?” His response was not exactly what I wanted to hear nor expected. He simply stated that Minelab was happy with the current FBS Excalibur/Sovereign technology. That’s all folks! Much to my disappointment, there would be no waterproof FBS machine on the horizon. I had often thought if the 17 frequencies of BBS performed well on saltwater beaches, then the increased frequencies of an FBS machine would be even better? Later the detector dealer implied that Minelab might be having problems with FBS in saltwater. That seemed reasonable, so I swallowed that misnomer hook, line and sinker. Heck, I was still wet behind the ears back then.

Despite this and as the years flew by, I kept an open eye for Minelab to release a new waterproof Explorer. With each Happy New Years, it did not happen; funny how time flies when having such fun? Yet on the detecting forums, hobbyists were converting Explorers for the deep. Even I delved into the possibility and purchased an older Explorer XS for such a waterproof project. I did all sorts of research to discover the many ways to accomplish this feat, from placing the electronics into a waterproof bag, to a customized box. I’ll never forget how one on line treasure hunter had made a custom form fitting Lexan type waterproof Explorer skin in his garage. It nearly looked factory and made me wonder in amazement how he did it? I pretty much salivated with envy at the sight and may even still have the photo in my treasure files!

To make a long story short I finally abandoned my Explorer project, coming to the sensible conclusion that to make an Explorer waterproof, was simply not worth the effort. Mostly because… I was having such great success finding all sorts of gold jewelry with my Excaliburs in the sea. Plus if a waterproof Explorer was such a great idea, Minelab surely would have done it by now?
Fast forward to 2012, and while I can’t divulge my sources, I had caught wind of a possible new Minelab waterproof wonder machine. Yeah right, just another rumor! Well that rumor actually turned out to become a reality and the Minelab CTX 3030 was born. Still somewhat in disbelief, my first thoughts were why was the CTX named after a famous Winchester rifle cartridge, which had helped to win the Wild West? And what was all this CTX stuff all about anyway? I had sort of expected something like Excalibur PRO, or Explorer Aqua… Get over it- Whatever… and CTX 3030 is now starting to stick.

As things turned out, I was not so eager to jump on the CTX bandwagon at first. I wondered about the possibility of bugs needing to be worked out o such a new machine, and also the somewhat expensive price tag, towering way above that of a new Excalibur. Yes the CTX price tag seems a bit hefty, and it is. But I rationalized with the current price of gold; it would not take too many finds to pay for my new CTX. Besides, I would find so much gold, platinum and silver with the new-fangled machine, it would be all worth it! Yup, I just had to own a CTX 3030 badly and made plans accordingly. Those plans included my selling 2 used detectors and some other Man Toys. Once I had the needed cash burning a hole in my pocket I called George Streeter, owner of Streeter Electronics in Marlborough NH about getting my hands on a 3030. (603-876-4443) A few weeks later George offered me a smoking CTX deal and one impossible to pass up. So I now belong to Club CTX!

I had often thought that a new CTX would make me a wonderful Christmas gift under the tree, but the CTX purchase was always delayed and simmering on the back burner due to a somewhat hectic life. Amazingly and like magic my new CTX showed up on Christmas day. I said Christmas day! I do not know for sure how this exactly happened, because I only expected the delivery well after Christmas or perhaps even in the year 2013! Yet there the CTX was on Christmas day and I was excited like a kid once again, like back in 1965 and a very good time to have been alive. That’s the same year my parents were among the first to own the most beautiful car on earth, a head-turning poppy red Mustang convertible with black top, horse head bumper guards, chrome trunk luggage rack and wire wheels… what good memories!

Minelab, please take a deep bow and my hats off to you! Clearly with the CTX you have brought the future of metal detecting to us. Why when I unboxed the CTX I thought I had jumped a time warp portal! Beam me up Scotty, what a futuristic looking machine… like its 3030! So I’ll party like its 2012! Minelab has definitely set a new standard with the CTX 3030, and I’m McLovin every second of it! The CTX 3030 has blown my dreams of a waterproof Explorer right out of the sea-park and into my eager paws! The CTX is really here, a fantastic looking and waterproof FBS machine. Most impressive to me is the slick carbon fiber shaft. I had always wondered if such a shaft, say on an Excalibur, would reduce false signals that a metal shaft might attract like an antenna? Then there is the TID screen in full color, with more target information options than one can throw a stick at! The new detecting concepts the CTX offers are simply amazing! They do take a bit to grasp at first, but promise to make detecting a much more efficient experience. Why dig all that junk in the sea and beach, when you can just dig the gold, silver and platinum? OK so I may be exaggerating a bit here, but the CTX may very well help you to find more treasure in less time! We shall see, but right now I’m simply elated with my new amazing 3030! With the CTX I can shallow water hunt to 10 feet deep, adjust target response tones, see target iron content, conductivity and depth instantly plastered on the screen, easily edit out pesky trash targets, know what the heck time it is even though no one may care, toggle between 10 fully customizable search modes and chart and plot my exact global position on our green and blue earth, search trail and finds/waypoints with the built in GPS! My CTX GPS got a position fix in less than 1 minute! Plus again and even though I didn’t care, I knew exactly what time it was! Like I said before, Scotty beams me up!

The CTX is a very well designed and quality made metal detector. It just looks cool and instills a sense of confidence. With a CTX one can use the same machine for some 90% of treasure hunting from coins to sea, while with practice becoming a professional treasure scooping fool. Like, become one with your machine Yoda! Plus one can download any new and better software upgrades offered by Minelab, such as the recent and worthwhile seawater and pinpoint settings. No longer does one have to worry that much about technology outdating your machine. The Minelab downloads will make your detector new again and again.
The future of detecting is here now. It’s called the Minelab CTX 3030. I expect to find lots of treasure with my new CTX. You can too and the best place to get your 3030 is from Streeter Electronics, where the deals are great and the knowledge is Free! Give George a call at 603-876-4443.  George  will go out of his way to help you and he may even invite you, on one of his famous Caribbean treasure hunting trips!

So where exactly does a Minelab CTX 3030 fit in? Well, it’s not like an Excalibur and most likely will not replace the Excalibur anytime soon. Neither is it an E-Trac. A famous Florida beach and shallow water treasure hunter recently told me, the CTX is more like a waterproof E-TRAC on steroids! I see the CTX as a great all-round metal detector for either novice or Pro. It can be easy or complex and can find most treasures on earth. With the new Minelab CTX 3030 the phrase, that was then and this is now really applies! May the Gold Gods be with you, Chris cabochris@msn.com    

Article  copyright and  written exclusively for Streeter Electronics and George Streeter. No copies without permission of author and Streeter Electronics.

"My 3 oldest silver halves metal detector finds & the one that caught a crook. The top, left and right are the oldest. Top is 1832 Bust, left is seated 1857-O and right is a Seated 1853-O. All were found with a Compass 99B in new Hampshire in the 1970s.
  On the bottom is the half dollar coin found in a crooks pocket after stealing my collection. It was originally found with my first Garrett Grand Master Hunter metal detector on a Brattleboro, VT common. I have been a Garrett dealer and user for a long time.  Years ago before i got the guard dog and close circuit  cameras, part of a collection was stolen.  After following police dog police found 2 men in a campsite and one guy had one of my coin books in his lap  In his pocket was one of the stolen coins, a 1908 Barber half dollar, which i had found in 1988.
  As soon as I get time will post more pictures and bits of news.

Hunting a Nebraska River Town
By Chad Novacek

I have had the pleasure of hunting with the “Streeter Gang” as I like to call George Streeter and his band of international sea hunters, on a couple of occasions in Guadaloupe, France.  George has always been a gracious and generous host, willing to impart the wisdom of treasure hunting on those who ride with him.  George takes his guests to some of the most exotic hunting spots replete with amazing beaches and warm ocean breezes…the perfect office for those able to make a living this way.  With George, I have personally found nearly two ounces of gold within two trips that includes my first gold coin, an 1892 British Half Sovereign.  I’m just an amateur, but those with more experience are sure to find at least an ounce of gold per week with the Streeter Gang.  And if you’re anything like the legendary “Goldmaster,” you’ll easily find over double the gold that an average bloke finds along with a few ship relics like hull spikes.

George and his crew have inspired me to continue the hobby of treasure hunting.  In October, I conducted my first land hunt in many years in the Nebraska river town of Brownville.  I chose Brownville because it is one of the oldest towns (1854) in a state that joined the Union in 1867 and I had permission to hunt a significant amount of land there.   I took a week off from work and dove right in.

The wooded, hilly landscape of Brownville is dotted with beautiful antebellum homes and a small creek (with plenty of relics) runs through the town.  Residents tell me there were many wooden shanties spread throughout at the town’s population peak in the late 1870s, so good metal detecting targets could be found anywhere.  Unfortunately, I had failed to do any meaningful research and my reach was limited to a handful of properties I had permission to hunt.

Brownville’s lifeblood was its steamboat river traffic, but the town faced a serious challenge in the late 1850s and throughout the 1860s when the railroads expanded in the west and major rail lines operating far from Brownville threatened to re-route cargo.

After a failed attempt to create a railroad from the town, Brownville was saddled with massive debt.  Local officials responded by raising taxes significantly and as a result, the population of Brownville declined precipitously throughout the early 1880s.

I saw Brownville as virgin hunting territory, a time capsule full of mid to late-19th century finds.   For my base of operations, I settled into my friend’s place, a two story home built in 1856 and uninhabited since the 1930s.  Not only did I initially have permission to hunt my friend’s six properties, but with each new person I met, I gained access to more and more land (more than I could hunt in a week).

Of course in this hobby, one has to be patient, be grateful for what they find and keep expectations realistic.  Most of us are not going to find a hoard of gold Roman coins or the Ark of the Covenant.  We've all dug our share of pull tabs and aluminum foil in our quest for the occasional great find that makes the hunt all worth it.  With each find is a connection to our past and a lesson in history.  Handling a recently unearthed relic or coin may be the closest thing we have to time travel, which is pretty exciting.

Within the first 30 minutes of hunting, I found what was to be my prize find, a Baggage Claim Tag from the St. Jo Omnibus Company with the additional inscription “H & St. Jo Packet.”  Limited research revealed that this artifact was possibly either from a stagecoach line operating out of St. Jo, Missouri or from a steamboat (packet boat) ferrying luggage from the Hannibal & St. Jo Railroad.

  
After the sixth, eight hour day of detecting in over 10 locations, the most notable relics included a massive unfired .45 caliber bullet (no rim markings and two exterior grooves on the bullet like a Minié ball), an ornate and beautiful woman’s hair pick, half of a gold locket (found four feet from an ornate purple glass and silver broach), ladies wrist watch, an aluminum thimble and a “pep club” pin.  My brother, who arrived, only to hunt for a half an hour managed to find a 2¢ Colorado Sales Tax Token.

My best coin finds included a well-worn 19th century Canadian five cent “fish scale,” a 1944 Mercury and a 1951 FDR dime and wheat pennies from 1915 and 1919 (x2).  The large cent I sought eluded me this time.

I’m convinced that the town of Brownville, Nebraska holds many more interesting finds and I can’t wait to go back.

This is the author of the Suzy jokes in the Treasure Hunter's Gazette

It was probably 20 years ago when George Streeter planted an idea in me that turned into a dream and eventually became a delightful reality. On one of my early visit’s to Streeter’s to pick up some prospecting supplies, George said he had found a more enjoyable way to find a lot more gold than by panning. Instead of going where nature had concentrated gold, go where human nature had concentrated it. No, George was not suggesting a bank heist. The idea was both legal and extremely seductive—go to a beautiful place with exotic shorelines and crystal blue water and recover the tiny treasures lost by well-heeled vacationers.

Over the years George has perfected this simple strategy for helping his customers turn their hobby into a paid vacation: 1st, sell the best detectors (Minelab) at a competitive price. 2nd, invite those customers to join George and a few friends on one of his treasure hunting vacations. 3rd, share all expenses. 4th, find gold. This sounds simple, but it only works because of George’s gracious personality, laid-back style and his skill as a detectorist.

Although George’s plan was simple, timing is everything. It took a while for the circumstances in my life to line up with this opportunity. Our children are grown, I inherited a little bit of money from my Dad, my brother’s were taking up my Dad’s interest in metal detecting and my wife and I were looking for something we could enjoy together. Step one—purchase a detector in memory of my father. This way I could relate to my brothers and we could check out metal detecting as something Cathy and I could enjoy together. We bought an Excalibur from Streeter’s and found some coins and jewelry at a nearby beach. So far, so good. Now the time was right to suggest that we might enjoy a trip to a tropical paradise. I am blessed with the best wife a man could have. She is frugal to a fault, and in her mind vacationing in the Caribbean is only for rich people. I told her that I had discovered a way for us to enjoy a beautiful spot with warm water at a fraction of the normal cost. We would share expenses with some other people and might find some jewelry to offset some of the remaining costs.

My introverted wife was more than a little nervous about sharing accommodations with strangers. I assured her that these strangers were hand-picked friends of George and all would go well. Besides we would be playing in the warm surf every day. Visions of snorkeling among glowing fish won her over and she consented to trust me. Sweet victory! St. Lucia, here we come.

Wow, everything was beautiful, the accommodations were excellent and the treasure hunting was a blast. In my opinion, George has found just the right balance between an intense focus on finding valuable lost jewelry every day and enjoying a relaxing, friendly vacation. On our first day in the water our little group found rings made of various metals: palladium, cobalt, tungsten carbide, and of course gold. By the following day we added platinum and silver, not to mention all of the coins. By the 4th day, George snagged a beautiful ring with a central teardrop emerald surrounded by diamonds. I was informed that we were not finding very much compared to previous trips, but the growing pile of precious finds sure amazed me and my wife. Of course, since we are brand new at detecting, we didn’t find as much as the others.

But we actually came home with gold and silver that we had personally plucked from the waters of our new treasure island.

I know it’s not right to gloat, but…. We were experiencing warm turquoise water, delicious fresh coconut, spectacular vistas, and the scent of exotic flowers while at home in New England they were buried under two feet of snow from a freak storm—sweet deal! OK, the weather wasn’t perfect every day, but even when it rained there were pleasant surprises. One day the sun was shining during a cloud burst and the raindrops hitting the water at eye-level created a surreal glittering diamond shower. My wife says the best parts of the trip were the simple natural pleasures like seeing a tiny hermit crab scamper across the beach, birds diving for their dinner, and silvery flying fish. And it’s hard to beat the sounds of steel drum melodies and peeping frogs rising between the rhythms of waves breaking on the beach.

Our trip was delightful—360 degree beauty, new friends, learning how to metal detect in the surf, and finding valuable treasure. Thanks George for sharing your secret for staying so kind and mellow.