1st real outing with etrac - am I doing something wrong?

[ot1138]

I just spent a few hours out at a 100 year old lot that has produced a number of wheats and a couple of silvers for me in the past. It was my first "real" day with the etrac (I spent a few days playing around in the yard as well as a junk lot). I only found six wheats and dug a lot of junk, much more than I was digging with my Ace 350. I'm hoping that perhaps someone can help point me in the right direction... I honestly expected to find some silvers today!

Discrimination pattern: Andy Sabich's coin pattern
Sensitivity: auto
Recover deep: on
Recover fast: on

My first few targets were really shaky... target id jumping all around the place. I dug them anyway just to see what they were and to practice pinpointing. All junk as you can imagine. Eventually I got sick of that and decided to wait for really stable, reproducible signals. After each hit, I would go super slow and then switch to quick mask (all metals) to get some more information about the target. In most cases, this revealed high ferrous content. Most of the holes I dug then ended up having pennies after that point (Co values ranging from 36 to 43, which I thought was odd). Even my solid 12-43s ended up being wheat cents (not quarters as I would expect).

Pretty frustrating but I know I'm still learning the ropes. Any pointers?

Edit: thought I would add that the wheats dated from 1937-1956. The oldest penny I found was 1982 (but that was in a newer section of the lot). I know there's gotta be silver in there!

 

[Goes4ever]

ok I answered in red below

I just spent a few hours out at a 100 year old lot that has produced a number of wheats and a couple of silvers for me in the past. It was my first "real" day with the etrac (I spent a few days playing around in the yard as well as a junk lot). I only found six wheats and dug a lot of junk, much more than I was digging with my Ace 350. I'm hoping that perhaps someone can help point me in the right direction... I honestly expected to find some silvers today!

Discrimination pattern: Andy Sabich's coin pattern starting out I would NOT use this disc pattern, I would use a simplerer one, like the stock ML coin program
Sensitivity: auto
Recover deep: on
Recover fast: on deep on will cause more unstable readings, I NEVER use deep on......use fast ON but turn deep OFF

My first few targets were really shaky... target id jumping all around the place. I dug them anyway just to see what they were and to practice pinpointing. All junk as you can imagine. Eventually I got sick of that and decided to wait for really stable, reproducible signals. After each hit, I would go super slow and then switch to quick mask (all metals) to get some more information about the target. In most cases, this revealed high ferrous content. Most of the holes I dug then ended up having pennies after that point (Co values ranging from 36 to 43, which I thought was odd). Even my solid 12-43s ended up being wheat cents (not quarters as I would expect). quarters would be 12-46 not 43

Pretty frustrating but I know I'm still learning the ropes. Any pointers? start with a LESS open disc pattern till you learn your etrac more, Andy's program will allow a lot more thru and you will hear it chirp a LOT on iron making you think you passed over a coin, when it is just falsing on iron, so use the Minelab coin program that is loaded on the etrac for at least several outings till you feel more comfortable with the etrac, go slow, real slow, if you think your not going slow enough then go even slower! All good targets will NOT be solid signals, pay more attention to the tone and less attention to the numbers, when you get a solid signal, turn 90 degrees and if your still getting a solid signal then dig it!

Edit: thought I would add that the wheats dated from 1937-1956. The oldest penny I found was 1982 (but that was in a newer section of the lot). I know there's gotta be silver in there!

 

[NebTrac]

Great advice Terry. The only thing I think I could add, is to try a coin garden if you haven't done so. This will greatly help on your sweep speed as well, especially when running in Auto! You'll find your opitimum sweep speed.

Other than that, you're headed in the right direction by digging all those targets. Best learning you can get!

NebTrac

 

[khouse]

I would suggest to set the Trash to High and the Ground to difficult. In addition to the already mentioned Fast to off and Deep to off. I would also run the Bill_S trashy park program.

 

[Goes4ever]

I would suggest to set the Trash to High and the Ground to difficult. In addition to the already mentioned Fast to off and Deep to off. I would also run the Bill_S trashy park program.

I always run fast ON, I have NEVER been on a site yet in over 3 yrs that was clean enough to NOT use fast ON..lol

if your at a park or old house, using fast ON will greatly help recovery speed

 

[khouse]

When I'm in a real trashy place I stick my 7.25 inch 800 ML coil on. It seems like my numbers were a little more stable with fast off. I'm not opposed to trying fast on again though.

 

[ot1138]

Great advice guys. I will turn Recover deep to off and switch back to the standard coin program. Seems like it would miss some big silvers though... should I open up the top right a bit more?

I'll be heading back out on Saturday and will let you know how it goes!

 

[khouse]

Set it to - Ground difficult
and Trash to high
Then try this disc pattern
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?63,1694421,1694421#msg-1694421

 

[Goes4ever]

here is my EXACT settings I have used since day one....been working for me for 3+ yrs now!

sensitivity auto +3
threshold limit just barely audible
volume limit 29
volume gain 29
response normal
tone id multi
sounds conductive
variability 29
limits 29
threshold pitch 28-29 makes silver scream out
deep off
fast on
trash high
ground difficult

 

[CT Todd]

I type with one finger and I'm tempted to say quite a bit in answer to your questions but after reading the responses from 4ever and others they have it well covered. Listen and learn

 

[khouse]

Looks like my settings except for the fast on. I personally feel the two most important settings are ground - difficult and trash - high. Sometimes I have to reduce the auto sens to A in several places I hunt because of power lines. It's funny how most every setting on the etrac is a "set it and forget it" setting. Really only my disc patterns are changed. Which I really use just a few of. I have a tight coin program. One loose coin program. Coin and Jewelry program. One semi open screen. One near open screen. I don't use any pre loaded patterns.

 

[cahil_2]

Also, look at where the cursor is on the screen. If it is buried in lower right corner it is iron, even though it sounds good.

 

[shawnIN]

I am far from an expert with the Etrac. I came off an Exploere XS and have had miy Etrac for about a couple months now. I ran in to a similar situation as you as I was digging very little except for a few coins and a lot of trash. With the explorer I could tell what I was digging based on the sound and cursor. With the Etrac I was looking for text book ferris 12 and then what ever the conductive was supposed to be. I was getting a little frustrated and started watching a lot of YouTube. Then it clicked. Learned a lot about numbers and that they will very a bit. I started paying attention to the sound. That was a big one for me as that was what I was used to. If it sounded good, then I payed attention to the conductive numbers and would take the ferris into consideration,. If the sound was good, the conductive number was in the range of good targets and the ferris was close I dig. My find count started to go up. I don,t even pay attention to the smart find any more. I find it a little small and not that much help to me. Just my preference. Another thing I did was get with a hunting buddy who has an Etrac and compare targets in the field. If he found a target he would call be over and get my opinion and I would do the same if I found a target. I actually started finding more coin than he did be because I let my conductive and ferris numbers vary more from the textbook numbers. Good luck and don't give up on the Etrac. Find a buddy with one or spend some time on YouTube. Great entertainment and a good source to learn from.

 

[Goes4ever]

good advice Shawn, TOO many people get hung up on numbers, when in the real world they rarely are perfect, too many things that can vary that.

 

[Tenspeed]

This is a great thread! The ETrac is pretty much a turn on and go machine with minor tweaks every now and then depending on the site you are hunting.

I will share with you the training from Andy when I first got my ETrac 4+ years ago as well as what I have learned on my own.

From Andy, the purpose of the Deep On is to amplify the volume of that weak signal so that you are more able to hear it. Be careful with really high volume gain because it can make your machine false more in bad soil. Andy told me high volume gain is like having your bright lights on in the fog...soil mineralization will cause it to chatter more. I actually vary that value from 23 up depending on the site.

Andy told me the tones don't lie when hunting in conductive. If you get a repeatable great tone, ignore the numbers and dig it (you usually will be happy with what you get). If the tones aren't consistent, you have to use the ID to attempt to validate the target. On an eleven inch deep Standing Liberty that I dug 14 months ago, the tone was good, but the ID was all over the place.

I have seen wheat pennies go as low as 39 in some soils (which is into the Zincoln range). I have seen corroding Zincolns go from a normal 38-39 as low as 30 when they corrode. This is what kills me when I am trying to find an Indian!

Lately my silver has all been popping up at 46 with that "great" tone (It will always "scream" and be 45 or greater for dimes and above). Yesterday though, I was hunting in TTF and got what I thought was going to be a penny (12-44) and was surpised with a 1911 Barber dime in a "hunted out" yard. I didn't verify the sounds in conductive.

Silver nickels are strange though. I have had them come in 12-13 all the way to 12-15. You just have to gamble sometimes with digging a pull tab if you think silver nickels could be in the area you are hunting.

I have used Andy's coin pattern from day one and like you say, it does squeak more from halo effect on iron, but it has served me very well. I now swap back and forth between conductive and TTF because of the large amount of iron in the ground where I live.

You will never regret getting an ETrac. I like mine so much that I just traded for another one as a backup!

Happy hunting and learning (it took me about two years to really be comfortable with what my ETrac was telling me). All I can tell you is to hunt a lot and dig strange signals every time you go to a new place because soil differences can change ID of the target from site to site. Eventually you will learn what to ignore and what to pay attention to.

Also, after you are familiar with conductive hunting, learn TTF. TTF is harder because because it is VERY busy and you need to know target ID's to really know when to dig.

Hardy

 

[ot1138]

I am far from an expert with the Etrac. I came off an Exploere XS and have had miy Etrac for about a couple months now. I ran in to a similar situation as you as I was digging very little except for a few coins and a lot of trash. With the explorer I could tell what I was digging based on the sound and cursor. With the Etrac I was looking for text book ferris 12 and then what ever the conductive was supposed to be. I was getting a little frustrated and started watching a lot of YouTube. Then it clicked. Learned a lot about numbers and that they will very a bit. I started paying attention to the sound. That was a big one for me as that was what I was used to. If it sounded good, then I payed attention to the conductive numbers and would take the ferris into consideration,. If the sound was good, the conductive number was in the range of good targets and the ferris was close I dig. My find count started to go up. I don,t even pay attention to the smart find any more. I find it a little small and not that much help to me. Just my preference. Another thing I did was get with a hunting buddy who has an Etrac and compare targets in the field. If he found a target he would call be over and get my opinion and I would do the same if I found a target. I actually started finding more coin than he did be because I let my conductive and ferris numbers vary more from the textbook numbers. Good luck and don't give up on the Etrac. Find a buddy with one or spend some time on YouTube. Great entertainment and a good source to learn from.

I started out that way but Andy's book helped a lot. I set up an air test and found quite a bit of variability in the numbers so I don't put too much stock in them (I haven't been able to distinguish copper pennies from dimes or quarters to be honest). I'm looking largely for a lack of variability - if a target jumps up and down on the FE scale (for instance, 1 to 23 or anything above 2 I pass. I also look mainly for high conductive targets when coin shooting because I don't care about nickels.

I took your advice and pulled up a few Youtube videos on this subject yesterday. I have an idea of what a "clean" signal sounds like now. I'll turn recovery deep off and try again tomorrow morning.

Edit: I learned one thing from the Youtube videos... wet ground will cause a lot of variance in the target id. It was absolutely soaked yesterday due to heavy rains in the Midwest. I'm guessing things might stabilize when the ground is dryer.

 

[ot1138]

This is a great thread! The ETrac is pretty much a turn on and go machine with minor tweaks every now and then depending on the site you are hunting.

I will share with you the training from Andy when I first got my ETrac 4+ years ago as well as what I have learned on my own.

From Andy, the purpose of the Deep On is to amplify the volume of that weak signal so that you are more able to hear it. Be careful with really high volume gain because it can make your machine false more in bad soil. Andy told me high volume gain is like having your bright lights on in the fog...soil mineralization will cause it to chatter more. I actually vary that value from 23 up depending on the site.

Andy told me the tones don't lie when hunting in conductive. If you get a repeatable great tone, ignore the numbers and dig it (you usually will be happy with what you get). If the tones aren't consistent, you have to use the ID to attempt to validate the target. On an eleven inch deep Standing Liberty that I dug 14 months ago, the tone was good, but the ID was all over the place.

I have seen wheat pennies go as low as 39 in some soils (which is into the Zincoln range). I have seen corroding Zincolns go from a normal 38-39 as low as 30 when they corrode. This is what kills me when I am trying to find an Indian!

Lately my silver has all been popping up at 46 with that "great" tone (It will always "scream" and be 45 or greater for dimes and above). Yesterday though, I was hunting in TTF and got what I thought was going to be a penny (12-44) and was surpised with a 1911 Barber dime in a "hunted out" yard. I didn't verify the sounds in conductive.

Silver nickels are strange though. I have had them come in 12-13 all the way to 12-15. You just have to gamble sometimes with digging a pull tab if you think silver nickels could be in the area you are hunting.

I have used Andy's coin pattern from day one and like you say, it does squeak more from halo effect on iron, but it has served me very well. I now swap back and forth between conductive and TTF because of the large amount of iron in the ground where I live.

You will never regret getting an ETrac. I like mine so much that I just traded for another one as a backup!

Happy hunting and learning (it took me about two years to really be comfortable with what my ETrac was telling me). All I can tell you is to hunt a lot and dig strange signals every time you go to a new place because soil differences can change ID of the target from site to site. Eventually you will learn what to ignore and what to pay attention to.

Also, after you are familiar with conductive hunting, learn TTF. TTF is harder because because it is VERY busy and you need to know target ID's to really know when to dig.

Hardy

Awesome advice. This is going in my permanent notes ;-)

 

[ot1138]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your comments. I managed to get out for about an hour today and changed my settings per your advice. Specifically, I turned recover deep to off and changed my threshold and pitch to make the higher conductive targets scream out.

I think the trash park settings worked nicely. I was in the cleanest yard ever - a house built prior to the 20s which had never been torn down. I could hardly even detect any metal in large parts of the yard. But I stuck with it and looked for repeatable signals that didn't run to 35 FE when I turned quick mask on. I passed up a *lot* of crap signals. In the end, I dug 7 holes and 3 of them had coins (1945 Wheat, clad penny, clad quarter). So the ratio is great.

Moreover, the trash I dug was pretty reasonable. I got a clear quarter signal on a stainless steel washer. Some aluminum. One really iffy signal had a 12-46 reading in one direction but then had high conductive in the other. I dug it just to see what it was ... a large rusty disk (6" diameter).

I hope I'm doing it right. Seems like I was super selective but I searched the entire area high and low and that was it.

 

[Goes4ever]

I have had yards like that trust me, some places have virtually NO targets, sounds to me like you did everything right! keep up the good work!

 

[khouse]

Did you adjust it to Ground - difficult and Trash - High?