Advantage of Multi Tones?

[dgc]

I've never hunted using multi tone audio before I got the Etrac. I seem to be doing ok with it, but I wonder what the real advantage is. It may be hard to put in words, but could someone attempt to explain what they listen for in terms of telling a good target from a bad target or a target co-located with iron or just any advantage at all?

Thanks

 

[CT Todd]

its just more info. You have more to work with in your phones.Of course I walk around listening or I should say hopeing for a nice high tone but its just part of it.After the tone whatever it might be I check the numbers then I check out the size of the target and the depth.Its the whole package and the more I info I have the better choices I make.Of course if you don't dig everything you will miss good things and thats a fact.

 

[HaroldILL.]

I am probally one of the few people with the E -trac that prefers the 4 tone option to the multi tone's. I guess it is do to all the CZ'S I have had I just got so used to hunting that way. That was one of the reason's I never liked the explorer before was I couldn't get use to the multi tone's. It was just to much for my ear's at the time. One thing I have always wondered about though,is it true with the multi tone you can tell the difference between a silver dime and a copper penny? In the four tone's if they are deep they sound the same to me.

 

[captn_se]

You simply can't rely on the screen/ID all the time, especially on the deeper items and targets close to trash. The key to mastering the Explorers/E-Trac is SOUND!!! Tone is King on these machines. And as Todd mentioned, more tones give you more delineation of targets in the ground. Unless you're a "Dig it All" kind of hunter, the wide array of tones will help you to better find the items you want to target amongst many, many trash targets (aluminum, iron, etc..) in the ground.

I would agree though that there are situations where maybe 2 tone would benefit a hunter. For instance an area that was filled with iron, and you want to dig anything that's not iron.....perfect for 2 tone, ferrous sounds, all-metal. Also, for hunters who find all the tones confusing, maybe 4 tone would be better for them. I personally like to be able to tell the difference in tone between a nickel and a pull-tab or a copper penny and a screw-cap or a dime without having to rely completely on screen ID location. In my trashy city parks, you cannot dig every item in the ground...you have to listen carefully to tone and depth of the items. That's what I rely on most to find what I'm looking for.

One hunter I have spoken to online before is tone-deaf. He can't tell the differences in sound between items that were close in the conductivity scale. So he was relying more on the depth of the target and its ID on the screen to determine if he wanted to dig targets.

Becoming comfortable with multi-tones has its benefits, especially if you're hunting in areas where you do not want to "dig it all".

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Gaz]

....I personally cannot see any advantage to using to multi tones. If you are going to dig the target anyway....what does it matter. It's just too busy for me.
People can spend far too time trying to de-cypher buried targets rather than just hooking them out. It's quicker that way!!

Gaz.

 

[captn_se]

Trust me....if you were hunting in all-metal, ferrous, 2-tone at my local urban, trashy city parks, you would be quickly changing your settings. I'd be 100% certain of this.

You simply cannot dig everything that's not iron in these parks....way too many plugs...you'd be kicked out of the park for all the holes you made......for every swing there are at least 5-10 targets in the ground.....mostly aluminum based, along with shallower newer coinage....there's no way I'd want to keep looking down at my screen for every target ID to see if it's aluminum or a higher conductor ....makes no sense.....you gotta go by the tones. It's a different ball-game in these parks. I target deeper higher conductors at these parks (looking for old copper/silver coins). I don't looks for gold in the parks....way too much aluminum trash in the ground. Honestly, I can't think of one hunter out of about 70-80 different Explorer/E-Trac hunters here in California who hunts in all-metal and digs everything that's not iron at a city park....no way......sure, we may be missing a really good treasure in the ground, but we're guaranteed to have less trash and more old coins in our pouches at the end of the day if we hunt with multi-tones, and a simple iron-mask. Digging 7-9" plugs in semi-hard turf/weeded grass takes a lot out of you, so we want to give ourselves the best chance we can at determining beforehand our desired targets based on tone and depth. At the beach, I dig all targets that are not iron. No problem there. And I'm sure if I was detecting an old farm field, I'd probably be digging anything that's not iron either....2-tone, all metal would be my choice for that particular type of hunting too.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Gaz]

.....I hear what you're saying Dan and I agree that we hunt different but most trash such as ringpulls and aluminium come in the same as good targets. I have trouble understanding how you can decide if a target is a ringpull or a ring from multi tones??

I'm open to be converted. In my mind, if it's non ferrous, it must be dug surely?? There's too much left to chance if you don't dig. I get it that you may not dig low conduct numbers like we dig small thin hammered silver coins but this still comes in the small gold region.

I guess it's difficult across the pond!!!

Gaz.

 

[captn_se]

I'm sure in the areas you hunt, if I was hunting in those areas, I'd dig almost everything in the ground too. You can't do that in these parks I hunt here. I know exactly what I am targeting in my 70-100 year old parks. Old American coins (silver/copper/occasionally older nickels). All American silver coinage, wheats, Indian Head pennies, along with most silver rings will be in the mid-range to high range in conductivity. We realize our chances for finding a gold ring in a trashy park are very, very slim compared to the thousands of pieces of lawn-mower chopped aluminum in the ground. If I wanted to really find jewelry, I'd go to my local beach or swimming hole. There my chances are much better, and the digging is easier. I am well aware of the fact that I have probably passed up a gold ring (or 5 or 10) in the ground, but I have also minimized my aluminum trash to near zero, while maximizing my quantity of older American coins (mid range-high conductive) at depth. Occasionally, I will target a deeper low conductor, in hopes for an older nickel or maybe a smaller gold coin, but mostly I'm hunting for the older coins/relics in the mid-range to high ID's, which is all American, Canadian, Mexican silver or copper coins. That's why I thoroughly love multi-tones, because I do more listening than looking. We have no small hammered coins here.....well, not in CA...

I think we both have found the ideal settings in our respective locations we hunt. That's the beauty of the E-Trac and Explorers.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Gaz]

.....makes pefect sense to me now Dan!!

Did you guys ever produce any gold coinage or was the largest denomination a silver dollar??

Gaz.

 

[captn_se]

Yes, we have gold coins here, but they are very difficult to find in the ground. But they're out there still waiting to be found...I've seen other treasure hunters find them from time to time across the country on the bigger detector forums, including my local CA forum. More hunters find them in the "Gold Country" in N. Cali.

Many denominations..... $1, $2.50, $3, $5, $10, $20, and a few more very rare denominations. There's also gold bullion coins, along with some fractional gold coins from private mints during the California gold rush period.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Gaz]

.....that sounds really interesting mate. I bet when one comes up, people do naked cartwheels around the field...!!!!


....I don't care.....I do naked cartwheels when I find a ringpull.....I just like doing 'em!!!

 

[Barry NY]

Perfect exchange of ideas delineating the versatility of the E-Trac depending on location and digging conditions. That is what this forum is all about.

In a "dig everything that's not iron" environment, like a plowed farm field, I believe Gaz has set himself up for much success with his E-Trac. His settings are what
you need to use on those English countryside locations that he typically detects on. Those small hammered silvers will come in like foil - sometimes a 12-03,04 etc.
and small gold Celtic quarter staters come in at 12-06,07,08 - you really can't afford to pass anything up. FE 2 tone with a wide open screen.

I used Gaz's current settings my last time out, a few weeks ago, at a plowed field during our video shoot for the promotion of the Artifact Detecting Team and the Southampton Historical Society collaboration, www.artifactdetectingteam.com/Announcements, and came away with a 1787 CT copper and a King Georges 2 half-penny among some other items - those settings were the most efficient and the fastest method to separate out the keepers from the trash - there was absolutely no way you could miss a non-iron target even right next to the trash and there was no nulling delay at all.

Success in the dirt fields comes down to time efficiency - you need to dig it, bag it and keep moving versus stopping, circling, wiggling and looking at your screen - thinking about digging or not...

However, on any ground that is a mowed lawn - private homes, parks and public fields - then a more discriminating pattern is needed along with CO multi tone (like Andy's modified coin pattern and mode) and careful decisioning about whether to dig or not. Too many holes dug - not a good way to be admired by the property owners/users...

 

[grumpyolman]

The advantage to working with an all metal screen is that the machine never nulls. While it's nulling it isn't telling you anything except somewhere near your coil, there's something you have set your machine to discriminate. Anything nearby can't be heard until the null goes away. That's the reason that a lot of folks say slow and low. Sometimes I can only move the coil an inch or so and that causes the null to return. Going super slow, allowing the machine to catch up, I will sometimes hear that telltale chirp we all look for.
So...instead of nulling, in two tone, you get a beep and the machine goes back to work instead of running tons of data through its chip. The ultimate would be all metal and multi tones. But that would take a real master to reject whatever it is you don't want to dig and just hear the tone(s) you are after. Myself, and some others, go on brain overload pretty fast in all metal multi.
The bottom line is I (we) are learning that's this machine is almost infinitely adjustable and some machine settings work better than others depending on the target being sought, soil conditions, EMF, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The machine has been out how many years and only in the last few months have their been lots of posts about how successfully ferrous two tone is.
I think it would be pretty accurate to say the more discrimination, filters, sounds, etc., you ask the machine to do, the slower it will be able to respond to what's under the coil right now as it's busy sorting and reporting all the things you asked it to consider. jim

 

[chuck ky]

wouldn't you be able to hunt in full discrimination if you're only going to dig the high coins. i did that with the sovereign. a lot of mecury dimes i dug would only read around 136 but would sound off in full disc. haven't been able to do the same with either the t-2 or the explorer.

 

[grumpyolman]

I'm not the expert here. But to answer your question I'd say no. The null occurs when the metal detector senses some metal object you want discriminated. If you discriminate everything except the silve coins, you may not hear anything as the machine will stay in null. If, the ground is perfectly clean of all other metal, except the silver dimes, it'd work fine. The dimes will sound off but you probably won't be able to hear them if your machine is in a null state. Thus the slow sweep speed when in conductive multi tones. The machine will null on the piece of iron next to your dime, but if you slow the machine swing down so the processor can work, you get those 'iffy' sometimes only one way signals. In ferrous 2 tone the machine just doesn't stay in null as long and it's able to give you an audible report on what it senses a bit easier. jim

 

[grumpyolman]

I read your post more carefully Chuck and I think what I gave you was a bum steer. This is the E-Trac classroom forum so I guessed and just assumed you were asking question about the Trac. Your post says you run an Explorer. What I wrote previously may not have any logical application to the explorer. The explorer is a similar but altogether different machine. I think if you asked the same question on the Explorer forum or PMed Bryce (And there's lots of other smart experienced guys there besides Bryce) you'd get an answer that is probably a lot more accurate than what I posted. jim

 

[kered]

Jim, i hunt beaches with loads of nails staples on them from fires(pallets etc.) i mostly use ferous wide open(multi) in these places, after an hour or so it gets brain heavy as quite often you pass 15-20 grunts per swing, so for a break i switch to a couple of lines of disc on the ferous scale while i have a smoke. A good target will break through the null the same as it does on the sovereign, maybe not the very deep ones but lots will, sometimes you just get a chirp(like an iron false)but you get the message that something is there, by shuggying round it you can bring it through the null and get a perfect hit.