Using Track Lock

[cx3]

I was hunting a trashy area in a local park and was getting a hit or two with every sweep of the coil, sometimes several hits per sweep. I decided to lock the tracking feature just to see if it would quiet things down. I figured locking the track would eliminate one of the gymnastics the V was having to do in regards to inhibit blocking the tracking constantly. I found a clean area, re-ground balanced and then locked the tracking feature. I then went back and hunted the trashy area again and was surprised that the detector had quited down quite a bit. You can still ground balance with the track locked just ground balance as normal over a clean area and continue hunting but the detector will not track the ground as lonmg as track lock is activated. The next time you hit an area that is trashy try locking the track feature and see if there is an improvement. I lock the track on my V3 whenever I use the 4x6 shooter coil. HH

Jerry Murphy

 

[Larry (IL)]

I will second the Lock Track Jerry, at least in my ground it runs quieter and it is a carry over habit I used with the DFX. My ground is pretty consistent and I just update the GB every half hour or so, even though it doesn't seem to need it.

 

[jbow]

n/t

 

[Monte]

XL Pro, XLT, M6, MXT and Spectra V3 almost always. At least 90% of the time. Also, I do not use Track Inhibit on the XLT and prefer not to have it function on the V3, either. I'll have to spend more time tinkering with it on the V3, but with the XLT I experimented early on and reached some interesting conclusions.

I seldom use a coil smaller than the 6" (5.3 BullsEye) on an XLT, but there was one site that our club used for a last-minute competition hunt site. The fairgrounds hadn't mowed the TALL grasses where we were supposed o hold our hunt, but they had just tilled a large area nearby. So, we took advantage of the tilled dirt and marked off the four hunt fields. Then we got busy planing them. This was 11 or 12 years ago and with the price for silver coins lower than today, we had an impressive number of total coins and especially silver in all of the hunts.

We busily planted the fields early that morning and then felt we were ready for a great weekend of competition hunts. Within 5 minutes of the start horn, however, many savvy detectorists had figured out that the tilled area was a former trash dump, or something quite close. It was NASTY! The iron junk was so terrible I bolted from the field to swap my 7" equipped Troy Shadow X2 for my trusty White's Classic ID w/4" 'Snooper' coil. A few others also made the decision to give up some hunt time to swap detectors. Unfortunately for some, they found that their generally good "hunt detectors" were close to useless in those fields. The result was that some of us had much better success in total target count.

After the weekend hunt was over, I used the following two weeks to make daily drives, two counties away, just to patiently search those hunt fields as I knew there had to be a LOT of missed targets there due to masking, and I was well rewarded. Besides, I had fun, AND I got to learn more about the XLT and my custom programs.

I have slightly modified them since that time, but the two weeks of worked and re-working it with a few detectors (almost side-by-side as I moved them along with me) showed me the merits of the Classic series, and also the better ways to milk the XLT for more performance. One was learning to use or not use the Track Inhibit feature. You have to keep in mind, too, that the V3 and other all digital detectors work ... differently ... from the good-ol' analog models. The blended designs, as I refer to them, like the M6 & MXT also have their strengths and weaknesses to learn.

Anyway, what I found, by using the XLT and top-end headphones, and listening very closely, was that I could actually hear subtle little "clicks" as the electronic functions were turning Off and the On using Track Inhibit in the very trashy environment. I was using both the 4" Snooper (65%) and 5.3 BullsEye (35%) and making use of the smaller coils and hot sensitivity settings and a proper Threshold, I could hear how busy the XLT was with the constant Off and On clicking caused by the Track Inhibit.

Logic, or simple logic to me, says that if I asked the XLT to forget about doing that "busy work" it might be more attentive to the task at hand of detecting small targets in among junk. I was right! I was using Auto-Trac and had tried various Track Speeds and once I found the best range for the coils and conditions, I then tinkered with the Track Inhibit feature and determined that I much preferred it OFF. Besides, there really wasn't a tracking problem caused by GOOD, desireable targets, only by the rejected iron trash. Especially the older, rustier, and abundant iron litter!

Once I determined I didn't care for the Track Inhibit function I started to concentrate on the use of Auto-Trac at alol. In the end, I determined that I got much better performance with Auto-Trac turned OFF and I just took responsibility for setting and maintaining a 'proper' and functional Ground Balance. That's how it is today as well, but I will spend time with the V3 and a few more adjustments after I get back from vacation.

It is a 'fun' detector to learn, isn't it.

Monte

 

[cx3]

n/t

 

[shwebb]

I am having trouble with a lot of false signals. I have toned done the RX gain and sensitivity and am still getting some false signals. Are you saying to turn off autotrac and turn on traclock and then reground balance?
Thanks
Steve

 

[cx3]

n/t