Hello all. New to forums and new to the ctx.

[bioman63]

Hello all. New to forums and new to the ctx. I live in the panhandle of Wv. I have been experimenting with the settings and patterns. I am currently working a civil war site. It's a soybean field. Most of the relics are 8 plus inches deep because of the churn from years of plowing. Any hints on how to maximize deep and secrets to finding deep targets would be great. Cheers

 

[ironman200081]

Best tip I can give is go to a trashy park and spend hours there learning the machine before you go to your honey hole. If you have zero experience with the E-Trac or Explorer II, you will need time to become familiar with FBS digging and the patterns. When you can mentally discern between a probable foil, probable pull tab, and probable coin based on the audio and TID from the machine, you will be ready for your field. Do not underestimate the need to practice and learn the machine.

What is your modern trash like at the site? If low, I would recommend a 5-tone pattern with everything open except for FE 28 and up. Recovery deep on. Go slow-ish and overlap. Do you have the 17" coil? It slaughters the farm fields BUT please learn to pinpoint with the 11" coil FIRST. Pinpointing with the 17" can be tricky if you don't have the basics under your belt.

 

[bioman63]

Thanks for your input. I had an etrac before the ctx so pretty good with the nuances. Yes new to the 17 inch coil and pinpointing is more of a challenge. Modern trash is low but lots of iron around a home site.

 

[LTDigger]

Ironman your pattern settings are what I use 90% of the time but I talk to guys sometimes who believe the "deep" "trash" settings are OK but not really that crucial more a function of coil size on a double-d. What says ye? thanks.

 

[IDXMonster]

Bioman…since we now know you have been with the etrac, the CTX (IMHO and it’s the truth anyway) will make things easier. Just start with modifying the first Mode….Coins. Switch it to the Combined Tone Profile and a totally open screen with the bottom iron bin set to 28 as Ironman says. Of course take note that you can make ANY of the bins any tone you want from 75-1200hz. I normally have first bin (upper left) 1-10 at 300hz, second bin 11-15 at 600hz, third bin 16-31 at 900hz and the last bin 32-50 at 1200hz. If you are a musician or have “musical hearing” this will make sense. Set your iron bin at the bottom of the screen to 75hz. Sensitivity Auto+3. Target Separation set to Ferrous Coin. Go hunt. This will keep it simple and interpretable. You can change around a bunch of stuff later. Make sure the Ground Balance is NOT checked, you want it to track unless in the nastiest of ground. The 17” coil is my best friend even in parks, ball fields and fairgrounds, it is PHENOMENAL.

 

[bioman63]

Good info. What are you using for sensitivity and gain?

 

[ironman200081]

Ironman your pattern settings are what I use 90% of the time but I talk to guys sometimes who believe the "deep" "trash" settings are OK but not really that crucial more a function of coil size on a double-d. What says ye? thanks.

In my opinion, and in MY dirt and conditions here in Mid-MO, I do not notice a difference in depth from the 17" and the 11" coils. I can hit a silver dime at 9" with both, and I can hit a .69 mine bullet at 14" with both. I prefer the 17" for its coverage, more area per sweep. I realize that results may vary in different soils.

I find that Deep ON and Fast OFF provides the best depth with either coil, and that is what I run in low to moderate trash. I also use a Pro Swing, which helps me get a consistent sweep speed. All of this seems to help the machine punch deep in my sweet, sweet sandy loam and glacial till dirt. I use Fast ON in high trash, and almost always use Deep OFF in such conditions.

Just my 2-cents based on my experience and my dirt.

 

[IDXMonster]

Good info. What are you using for sensitivity and gain?

Personally I ALWAYS have the Volume Gain at 30 which is maximum. I want those deepest of coins to speak to me. I do think the 11” and 17” coils are technically very similar in depth, but for me the 17” coil just hits those fringe targets easier, and of course….coverage. Ironmans other comment about the harness…take heed. This machine WILL get heavy if you’re an all day hunter, I don’t care how “ripped” you might be. Gravity has a way of not caring if you look like Mr. Universe, so the harness helps a lot. And it’s like a Xmas tree, you can hang a bunch of stuff on it.

 

[pulltabfelix]

Thanks for your input. I had an etrac before the ctx so pretty good with the nuances. Yes new to the 17 inch coil and pinpointing is more of a challenge. Modern trash is low but lots of iron around a home site.

yes, larger coil more stuff under coil, harder to pinpoint using the pin point function. I use the heel/toe method to isolate the good target with just the point of the coil. Solves the pinpointing problem for me.

 

[pulltabfelix]

Personally I ALWAYS have the Volume Gain at 30 which is maximum. I want those deepest of coins to speak to me. I do think the 11” and 17” coils are technically very similar in depth, but for me the 17” coil just hits those fringe targets easier, and of course….coverage. Ironmans other comment about the harness…take heed. This machine WILL get heavy if you’re an all day hunter, I don’t care how “ripped” you might be. Gravity has a way of not caring if you look like Mr. Universe, so the harness helps a lot. And it’s like a Xmas tree, you can hang a bunch of stuff on it.

yes for me a good place to attach the WM10 near my shoulder and then just run a small 6-8" coil plug to my headphones and not have any dangling wires like when I attached the wm10 to my belt.