My etrac education continues....

[Silverbackbob]

Gotta get a new camera. 2nd day out with the etrac. I bought Andy's book and read it and the manual. Never had an explorer(OK i bought a used one but sold it w/o taking it outside 3-4 years ago). I am not very technologically oriented and have to admit I'm in awe of what it can do and intimidated with all of the adjustments and how to go about them. That said, you can't just read the books, you have to play with the machine itself and run thru the adjustments in order to learn how to. Not learn how they affect the machine(I still have no idea or in field experience) but just how to physically scroll to a certain function. It's going to take me awhile as it
's summer and I'll probably only get out for a couple of hours at a time, hopefully 2-3 times a week. Mainy ratty old yards and the ragged sections of the parks where digging won't be so touchy.
Yesterday I got out to an old park and hunted the fringe sections. they have changed a lot since the park was formed. Nothing heart stopping was found but did manage one 1941 wheatie, a quarter, 3 dimes and 13 zincs. Also a small brass button and what appears to be an old black round gearshift knob. It was at least a foot deep in a side bank of the park. Not far from a road. Appears it broke off and was tossed. Also, I hate Pepsi from now on. I dug a huge hole in the same side bank and came up with a crushed pepsi can. How it got that deep so fast is a mystery to me. As I said, nothing great, but I could tell the zincs were zincs before I dug them due to the tone, meter reading and depth. I was in stock coins mode but jacked up the sensitivity to 28. Had fun before the heat and bugs got to me. Back to the books and forums. HH everyone. Bob.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

Crushed cans and the E-trac seem to be made for each other. How I tell if it is a can with the E-trac is crushed cans usually read in the area of quarters but the sound is a lot different.
Hard to explain how it sounds. Sort of like explaining a color. So you have to experience it. So what I do is have a crushed can in my coin garden. I then can compare the sound it makes with the sound of a silver quarter or a clad quarter.

Also i can tell if it is a can or not is if the depth reading is a lot shallower than the hole I am digging. The size of the target has an effect on the accuracy of the depth reading. A target the size of a can will read shallow when it is in fact a lot deeper.

And yes it is amazing how deep crushed cans can be. Not sure exactly why. Aluminum in general seems to bury itself down better than most metals. I have found modern Pepsi and Coke cans down farther than silver coins in some parks. Strange.

I can detect a can down to well over two feet deep. But now I know not to dig it.

 

[Silverbackbob]

of the signal that it wasn't the hoped for quarter that I thought it was initially. But the deeper I dug, the more stubborn I became to find out wht this signal was. Mystery solved. Maybe Michael Jackson getting his revenge since he was a big Pepsi sponsor back in the day??
Lots to learn and so little time. Won't outgrow it for a few years, that's for sure. Bob.