A blast from the past....

[bill88 6]

  mucker said:

was talking about the old collars with one lad a year or so back he told me about a trick he,d used of getting longer battery caps made up(brass i think) and doubleing the amount of batterys on a collar giving him and increased range of up to 20foot i think it was im sure he was refering to the double capped collars did anyone else do this?

Tried the same trick on a very old single collar,it never feckin worked again. Dont know if it was too much juice or what.I made the cap out of a maglite torch cap.

[waz77 15]

I WAS TOLD IF YOU PUT A CAP FROM A 15FT COLLAR ON A 8FT COLLAR IT'LL WORK TO 15,ITS ONLY THE CAP THATS DIFFERENT.SAME WITH BOX,ITS ONLY THE STICKER ON THE DIAL THATS DIFFERENT

[sirbeesting 4]

we used to use one similar when digging with carl lynch, got the depth but not very accurate.

[Wilky 0]

We used the double cap collars for years, they were all that were available and they worked as well as the later Deben ones, the caps were just the back socket from a co-axial aeriel plug and cost coppers to replace. At the time the collars cost 18 quid to buy brand new and there was a lad going round the F&M meetings selling copied ones for a tenner, if it was possible to make them up then, why can't some electronics buff copy the later Deben ones, there's still a massive market for them.

 

As for the extended brass caps on the Deben 15 foot collars, my mate has a couple and they hold three batteries instead of two and get a deeper reading, but the box isn't calibradted to read it accurately, so you're not really any better off, although if a dog was stuck just off the box you'd get a reading, so there is a benefit, and anyone with a lathe could knock them out. But if it's more depth you're after then it's got to be the B&F.

 

How many folk have used the home made sounder plate on the MK1 deben boxes that doubles the reading to 30 feet, these used to be quite popular round here on rescues, too big to use all the time digging, but excellent when needed, especially as Deben were all that were available.

[waz77 15]

Yeah i used the amplifier plate on 2 occasions,still could'nt locate dog both times,first time dog came out after 4 days to ground in a rock pile,2nd time never found dog

[Wilky 0]

I know that feeling waz, first time I used one, we never found the bitch but I have seen successful rescues using them, when a 15' box couldn't pick the dog up. It's like walking round a field with a dustbin lid in your hand

[J Darcy 5,871]

i have used the longer caps on the single deben ones. the reading were well off, i remember starting to dig on a 5 foot reading and breaking through after about 2 foot! big massive hole for a 2 foot dig. still, i dont use deben shite anymore so its all in the past..... that 2 cap collar was the best deben one i have used and i know my father had many digs with it also.