Finally took the Etrac out today for first hunt...quick question

[DigDugNY]

Hey guys, so I took the new to me Etrac out for its first hunt(s) today. I went to two different places that I've hunted extensively and are really trashy. Managed to find a 1942 Merc at one and what looks to be a 1916 wheatie at the other. When using it and first turning it on i noticed the guy who previously owned it seemed to have a combo of Andy's pattern and goes4evers settings. I tweaked it some a bit and it seemed to be running fine. Obviously because these places are really trashy, the barrage of sounds was a little crazy to handle at first. What i noticed is that a lot of the signals I was getting had ferrous readings from 22-27 and conductivity readings in the 40's (some of them had what sounded like nice high tones). I know that a lot of coins read from 11-13 ferrous and 40's in the conductivity. I guess my question is should I be digging the targets with ferrous readings in the 20's? I did dig a few just to get an idea and most of what I dug up was bigger pieces of metal. It's going to take me a while to figure out if a coin is inbetween iron or not, I just was wondering what I should be lookin out for

 

[jarid]

Hey Bobby next time hit quick mask with an open screen and watch the FE # if it stays in the teens or low 20's with a fairly stable CO # go for it.

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

I go to a completely open screen and watch the cursor. If goes down deep into the bottom and or bottom right corner it's iron trash. If it's jumping up into the middle or higher area of the screen it could be a good coin next to or under iron.
Also sweep the object from a couple different directions and watch the screen. Once you do this and dig a few you'll see and recognize a potential good target from a bad target.

That's how I have done it.

 

[Goes4ever]

if your getting a signal in the mid 20's, do ONE simple thing.....turn 90 degrees sweep the target again and if your still getting a good solid signal dig it!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DigDugNY]

Thanks for the tips guys. So hitting the quick mask button will just take me to an open screen? And then to go back to the pattern screen I hit detect?

 

[north1]

To get back to the regular screen you hit quick mask again.

 

[Goes4ever]

Thanks for the tips guys. So hitting the quick mask button will just take me to an open screen? And then to go back to the pattern screen I hit detect?

yes...BUT, like I have said MANY times on here I do not like quickmask and here is why.

The etrac will lock onto the strongest signal that is not discriminated out. When you have iron disc'd out it will lock onto the coin and you get the crazy signal with the higher (mid 20's FE) but when you open quick mask it goes right to iron on the screen and you ASSUME it is just iron and walk away.

If the nail is at 4" deep and the coin is 6" deep in quickmask the etrac will lock onto the iron. But when in disc mode you will HEAR the coin.

that is why I say turn 90 degrees and if you HEAR a good tone, then ignore the numbers and dig! trust me I have dug MANY, MANY coins with a VERY high FE, some as high as 26

 

[DigDugNY]

Thanks for the tips guys. So hitting the quick mask button will just take me to an open screen? And then to go back to the pattern screen I hit detect?

yes...BUT, like I have said MANY times on here I do not like quickmask and here is why.

The etrac will lock onto the strongest signal that is not discriminated out. When you have iron disc'd out it will lock onto the coin and you get the crazy signal with the higher (mid 20's FE) but when you open quick mask it goes right to iron on the screen and you ASSUME it is just iron and walk away.

If the nail is at 4" deep and the coin is 6" deep in quickmask the etrac will lock onto the iron. But when in disc mode you will HEAR the coin.

that is why I say turn 90 degrees and if you HEAR a good tone, then ignore the numbers and dig! trust me I have dug MANY, MANY coins with a VERY high FE, some as high as 26

Thanks man, I think after some trial and error I will be able to accomplish what you are saying. I did dig some of those high FE's and it turned out to be big trash, but I did leave some alone that I might have to go back to. Some of those signals didnt really lock on either that's why I wasn't sure what to do. I am happy i got a mercury dime the first time using it so i definitely can't complain

 

[UtahRich]

I always watch for the bouncing cursor that holds a pretty steady conductivity reading, like in the 40's, but bounces between normal coin ferrous and ferrous in the low to mid-20's. These are often a coin with iron.

Rich (Utah)

 

[DigDugNY]

I always watch for the bouncing cursor that holds a pretty steady conductivity reading, like in the 40's, but bounces between normal coin ferrous and ferrous in the low to mid-20's. These are often a coin with iron.

Rich (Utah)

The ones i was getting didnt really switch in the FE numbers, they just normally stayed in the 20's or occasionally went down to maybe 18 or 19, but on some the CO number tended to stay in the 40's

 

[Sooper Dave]

Great job on your first Etrac silver! Many more will soon follow

 

[chuckycheese]

Hey guys,

As you all know i am new to this hobby and I am confused too on what to dig. I have been digging anything not at the bottom right! I am digging a bunch of crap, where does a Mercury dime fall? where will a silver dollar fall? I thought that that anything on the FE 12 line dig. I know that learning this is going to take time and I can handle that but I don't want to miss good signals because it didn't fall on the FE 12 line. Hope I haven't missed to much! damn.

chuckycheese

 

[Sooper Dave]

The Etrac is an awesome machine! But the numbers will not always be textbook perfect. When I first got mine, the advice I was given, is the sound is what you go by. I have dug silver dimes that read 22-45/24-45 but sounded like silver. If you wait for 12-45's - 12-47's you will miss a lot. I have had Barber dimes read like memorials and memorials read like quarters. Different soils, depth and other conditions will effect how it reads. The other advice I got was, the more you can learn to "open" up the screen on the Etrac the more you will find. If you run a tight discrimination pattern, you will miss good targets that are masked by junk or the good stuff just might fall in those blacked out areas for whatever reason. Also slow down your swing you will be glad you did. It takes a little time, but the more you go the more you will learn & the more you will find.
Good Luck!

 

[moonshine]

sound first (good tone and repeatable), numbers second.

deeper coins CAN "bounce". id say if you watched every number you might see something like 19-42, 15-43, 20-41, 12-42, 21-42, 13-40.

if I was swinging and got a good repeatable tone, and saw these numbers, id definitely dig this. probably a wheatie.

when you see rock solid numbers around 22-42 and the FE number is very steady and its a shallow target it is likely some kind of scrap junk. that's from what ive seen, im talking very steady, no bounce numbers. although you never know. from what I have seen, I would expect a coin to have some bounce to it and not have solid FE numbers.

that's why when people say they like to "open up" the disc. pattern, its because that first hit on a copper coin could be an FE up around 20 or higher, and you don't want to miss that first sound that gets your attention to investigate further. you also definitely don't want to ignore readings like "2-46" for example. usually from the very few big silvers ive found, the FE number drops way below 12. the last barber half I found read 2-46 - amongst other numbers.

you need to be patient and keep an open mind and dig as many targets as you can until you begin to understand what the etrac is trying to tell you its seeing in the dirt.

one other thing about the emulator, that's a "perfect world" simulation. the only time my etrac gives me such steady numbers is shallow coins in "clean" dirt.

repeatability is the key, not numbers.

 

[pilot]

Thanks for the tips guys. So hitting the quick mask button will just take me to an open screen? And then to go back to the pattern screen I hit detect?

yes...BUT, like I have said MANY times on here I do not like quickmask and here is why.

The etrac will lock onto the strongest signal that is not discriminated out. When you have iron disc'd out it will lock onto the coin and you get the crazy signal with the higher (mid 20's FE) but when you open quick mask it goes right to iron on the screen and you ASSUME it is just iron and walk away.

If the nail is at 4" deep and the coin is 6" deep in quickmask the etrac will lock onto the iron. But when in disc mode you will HEAR the coin.

that is why I say turn 90 degrees and if you HEAR a good tone, then ignore the numbers and dig! trust me I have dug MANY, MANY coins with a VERY high FE, some as high as 26

Is that what you do in conductive (good tone not high tone)? If so, would it help to switch to TTF instead of an open screen, or wouldn't that really matter?

Kim