I guess I am learning

[WV62]

We were again at our worked out park seeing if we could raise some of the deeper silver. For the area I got off to a good start with 2 wheat pennies, but they were not all that deep, one was close to 6" the other about 4".

Then a couple of hours of nothing and my next dig was a 6" silver dime 1950D, first one for the E-trac. It gave me good tone but the ID numbers were not what would call good, it was just hinting that a good target was done there.

My biggest problem yesterday was pinpoint and getting the depth of a coin target. My fist target of the day was clad dime it came in with a pretty good Id 12-46 and locked, the depth it was giving me was at least 7". So I call my brother over with his F5 and he agrees that it is for sure a coin, but he was only getting 3" deep, so my hopes for silver were gone. As always he was right a clad dime at about 3".

I was thinking that the depth was given when running disc and it was kind on the fly. But now I am thinking it gives better depth in PP mode. When pinpoint if I take a little too long I will get what I call a step down tone change. So far I haven't figured that out, so I will be going back to manual for a re-read.

At least I am finding a little bit of good stuff while I learn. It is still heavy even after I added a second bungee to my sling which took off most of the weight. So what is getting me is the swing weight from stopping and starting in the direction change. I don't think I can fix that.

Ron in WV

 

[bertman]

I was thinking that the depth was given when running disc and it was kind on the fly. But now I am thinking it gives better depth in PP mode. When pinpoint if I take a little too long I will get what I call a step down tone change. So far I haven't figured that out, so I will be going back to manual for a re-read.
Ron in WV

I noticed this as well... I changed the pinpoint from normal to sizing and the signal strength doesn't change...

From page 76 of the manual...

Normal
After activating Pinpoint, the first sweep over
a target will generate a wide audio response.
With each sweep, the zero point, or baseline
of the audio response, is set to a new
level, just below the maximum signal.


Sizing
After activating Pinpoint, the baseline is set to
a signal level. From then on, the baseline and
the sensitivity are held at constant levels.

Hope this helps...
Robert

 

[WV62]

Robert,

Thinks, every little bit of understanding helps, I remember reading about sizing but I was thinking that would use that. I will for sure give that a try.
Now that I am getting some understanding I can pick up on these details better at first I was looking at everything and was a bit over whelmed.

Ron in WV

 

[sprchng]

Somewhere in the manual I believe it says that when in pin point the etrac locks onto the strongest target. I have found that many times when I get a good signal which gives a depth on the sidebar of say 6" and I pinpoint , the depth bar will drop to the very bottom. When I dig I usually find a coin at the depth indicated while sweeping and not while pinpointing. On a few occasions I have found another target at a greater depth below the coin but normally there is nothing , which leads me to the conclusion that the ground in my case , may be the strongest signal. The ground here is highly mineralised and variable with sensitivity in auto +3 rarely entering double digits. In most cases I have found the depth indication while pinpointing to be very accurate , much better than the F75 for instance , but there are occasions where it is way off.

 

[Explorer.se]

Somewhere in the manual I believe it says that when in pin point the etrac locks onto the strongest target. I have found that many times when I get a good signal which gives a depth on the sidebar of say 6" and I pinpoint , the depth bar will drop to the very bottom. When I dig I usually find a coin at the depth indicated while sweeping and not while pinpointing. On a few occasions I have found another target at a greater depth below the coin but normally there is nothing , which leads me to the conclusion that the ground in my case , may be the strongest signal. The ground here is highly mineralised and variable with sensitivity in auto +3 rarely entering double digits. In most cases I have found the depth indication while pinpointing to be very accurate , much better than the F75 for instance , but there are occasions where it is way off.

Yes the same here I wonder why the depth of the sidebar measurement is different from the pinpointing measurement? Sometimes the pinpointing measurement works for me though most times often it does not.

 

[WV62]

Here is kind of the way I did it yesterday. I kind thought of how I do the same with other detectors like my F75. I will first pinpoint the target which I use the d-tune method and then I either mark the spot with a poker chip or just get a good eye lock on the spot. Then I rise the coil and reset the PP and bring it right down on the marked spot and kind of push the grass down to get as close to dirt as I can and call the depth. Now the F75 is just flat off on depth so I take off 2" and I get pretty close like that.

So with the E-Trac I did somewhat the same, after I pinpointed I would lift the coil off the ground and reset the PP with the button and bring the center of the coil right down on target spot and a little push on the grass and I was getting really good depth readings late in the day.

Hope somebody else out there will give that a try and give us some feedback.

Ron in WV

 

[Explorer.se]

Here is kind of the way I did it yesterday. I kind thought of how I do the same with other detectors like my F75. I will first pinpoint the target which I use the d-tune method and then I either mark the spot with a poker chip or just get a good eye lock on the spot. Then I rise the coil and reset the PP and bring it right down on the marked spot and kind of push the grass down to get as close to dirt as I can and call the depth. Now the F75 is just flat off on depth so I take off 2" and I get pretty close like that.

So with the E-Trac I did somewhat the same, after I pinpointed I would lift the coil off the ground and reset the PP with the button and bring the center of the coil right down on target spot and a little push on the grass and I was getting really good depth readings late in the day.

Hope somebody else out there will give that a try and give us some feedback.

Ron in WV

Thank you WV I will give it a try for sure on Saturday's next scheduled hunt.

 

[WV62]

Sounds like a plan to me.

We have been doing Saturday's as our hunt day for the better part of the summer, but the next 2 weeks seemed to be booked up. So I will just watch for a open day and head out.

Thanks Explorer.se,

Ron in WV

 

[Explorer.se]

Sounds like a plan to me.

We have been doing Saturday's as our hunt day for the better part of the summer, but the next 2 weeks seemed to be booked up. So I will just watch for a open day and head out.

Thanks Explorer.se,

Ron in WV

Anytime WV I got a wife and I get out when I can I look forward to your finds. Ill post mine as well.

 

[WV62]

Targets not found, I had several that was giving me numbers Fe= 24 to 27 and Co= low to mid 40's. I was able to PP the targets but after digging down about 12 or so inches I was not able to locate any metal target trash or cash.

Any ideas on that issue??

Please don't tell me I left about 15 gold coins in the park. LOL

Ron in WV

 

[sprchng]

Those are bang up numbers for self tapping zinc/chrome screws like they use for roofing and duct work. If it's near a metal roof I usually don't dig too many of them if they are really common , but when I do there is usually something to find. It's possible you are digging a pocket of heavy mineralization that you break up when you dig it so it disappears,,,,you may be trying too hard to create a signal where one doesn't actually exist. I used to do that a lot when I was a raw etrac user but leave them for the next generation now

 

[WV62]

Those are bang up numbers for self tapping zinc/chrome screws like they use for roofing and duct work. If it's near a metal roof I usually don't dig too many of them if they are really common , but when I do there is usually something to find. It's possible you are digging a pocket of heavy mineralization that you break up when you dig it so it disappears,,,,you may be trying too hard to create a signal where one doesn't actually exist. I used to do that a lot when I was a raw etrac user but leave them for the next generation now

For sure trying hard to get some good signal.

Now your comment about the pocket of heavy mineralization seems to be best call, I did notice that my targets were gone after digging. Just wondering if I should disc out a few lines in the 20's? Right now from the bottom I have up to line 28 disc out.

Ron in WV

 

[happycamper08]

Those are bang up numbers for self tapping zinc/chrome screws like they use for roofing and duct work. If it's near a metal roof I usually don't dig too many of them if they are really common , but when I do there is usually something to find. It's possible you are digging a pocket of heavy mineralization that you break up when you dig it so it disappears,,,,you may be trying too hard to create a signal where one doesn't actually exist. I used to do that a lot when I was a raw etrac user but leave them for the next generation now

For sure trying hard to get some good signal.

Now your comment about the pocket of heavy mineralization seems to be best call, I did notice that my targets were gone after digging. Just wondering if I should disc out a few lines in the 20's? Right now from the bottom I have up to line 28 disc out.

Ron in WV

I have never found anything in the 20's fe that were anything but iron. Been using the etrac for 6 years now and it doesn't lie about what is in the ground around here.

 

[sprchng]

The ground has a lot to do with the Fe number. I have found a good number of good targets , especially nickels ,,, for some reason , which have given numbers will Fe readings that were in the 18 to 24 range coupled with Co readings of 12 to 14 but the tone in multi Co is unmistakable so I dug them. I usually run my Fe around 26 to cover the possibility of co-located target numbers. There is not much silver coinage in my sites as they are mostly modern

 

[WV62]

I have never found anything in the 20's fe that were anything but iron. Been using the etrac for 6 years now and it doesn't lie about what is in the ground around here.

I also got my share of rusty nails this past Saturday, I don't remember those numbers for the nails and chunks of iron. Also don't remember now the pulltab numbers but while I was hunting the E-Trac was dead on and was able to avoid digging them.

As you said the E-Trac doesn't lie, and my thoughts were it seems to be the most accurate detector I have ever had in my hand. Right now the E-Trac is teaching me more what not to dig than what to dig. So for now I am able to work around pulltabs and screw caps pretty good and have been getting a few coins.

My setup changes I am keeping to minimum, as Bertman suggested I changed the PP to sizing and I thought I would turn the fast recovery off for awhile. So I think I am good for my next hunt.

Ron in WV

 

[cz70pro]

The ground has a lot to do with the Fe number. I have found a good number of good targets , especially nickels ,,, for some reason , which have given numbers will Fe readings that were in the 18 to 24 range coupled with Co readings of 12 to 14 but the tone in multi Co is unmistakable so I dug them. I usually run my Fe around 26 to cover the possibility of co-located target numbers. There is not much silver coinage in my sites as they are mostly modern

Agree. Just happened to dig a Buffalo today that read 20-12. Iron in the ground with it.