New E-Trac User Questions

[detectingmetal]

I just bought an E-Trac a week ago. I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I went from an old Whites 6000D to this, so it's quite a change for me.
I have a question about the conductive numbers. The numbers on my machine tend to be off from what I see others reporting, is this normal? I'm using the factory settings on the coin mode.
For zinc pennies and Indian Heads I'm getting 12-38, copper pennies and dimes both read 12-44, quarters read 12-46 or 11-46, nickels read 12-14.
Just want to make sure it's working properly.
Thanks.

 

[sandnsea49]

Those are good numbers. Everything looks ok.

 

[detectingmetal]

Thanks for responding. I should have looked at the chart at the top of the forum list first, duh. I kept seeing Indian Head numbers reported lower and I'm not seeing any difference with silver coins, so I thought mine might be off. I guess the numbers I'm getting are normal range. Will keep practicing here.

 

[Bilko]

The first bit, the FE number, can change dramatically according to soil conditions

 

[Southwind]

Your numbers look fine. Over time you'll find that you can, to some degree of reliability, tell the penny from the dime and silver from clad. Generally what I see is when you get a CO of 45-46 that may be mixed in with a lot of 44's you've likely got a silver dime. Bilko is right about the FE. I pretty much ignore it unless the target is very shallow. The CO is very accurate even on really deep targets, you've just got to learn the patterns(change in CO numbers) and you can call your targets pretty accurately.

 

[UtahRich]

Same numbers as me, too.

Don't forget that the audio is important as well. Listen closely as you go over that target. Lift the coil some as you sweep back and forth. What does it sound like as the coil gets further away from the target? It the target already deep? or is it shallow? or is it big?

And don't go by just the numbers as they can vary with the local mineralization and co-located trash. I've noticed that my conductive numbers tend to be a little higher when the ground is saturated with water. Too, I see quite a bit of ferrous variation depending on where i am hunting. For example, I've recovered a number of coins with very High (more ferrous) ferrous readings. i.e. 23/45 or 26/45, and the ferrous number will bounce around maybe down to a 10/44 or 11/43. The key though, is that the conductive reading stays somewhat constant. In this example, it is varying between 43-45. That is pretty steady. The fact that the ferrous is all over the place makes me aware that I may have iron in the hole with what I think is a coin or there may be a large iron object in the immediate area.

It will come with experience. Don't be afraid to dig targets that you aren't sure about so you get an idea of where things are falling on your grid. I also recommend a good pinpointer, if you don't already have one. It will help in finding those coins that are hiding in and amongst the rusty nails and such. Many of my deeper coins come out of the ground along with nails and other rusty items.

Rich (Utah)