Live in north central, North Dakota in the great white north. Have been metal detecting on and off for 34 years. Started at 10 years old in 1978 with a Whites coin master I received for Christmas. Graduated to a Garrett Freedom III CDC in 1989. Found allot of coins with that machine in college. Then it was a Garrett Grand Master Hunter CXIII which was an OK detector but I never really "connected" with it. Purchased a Minelab x-terra 70 in 2007 and it opened up another new chapter in detecting and re-established my passion for the hobby.
Posted a week or so ago and received great info and have ordered a Minelab E-trac and Andy Sabischs' book. Have been doing allot of research this winter and have located and mapped within a 4 mile radius of my farm 23 abandoned farmsteads, three abandoned country schools sites, two abandoned ghost towns, two abandoned church sites and two abandoned picnic/fairgrounds. Some of these areas have een detected by me over the years and some not, but all are infested with iron(very little pulltags, can slaw or higher conductive trash).
I have been reading and following posts on this site for awhile and have a great amount of respect for its posters(Goes4ever, etc). Actually was going to order an E-trac in 2009 but a bout with colon cancer @41 years of age, resection surgery, post operative infection and 12 chemo treatments slowed me down a bit. One of my highlights during treatments was to metal detect when able. I still remember after my 9th treatment the joy of pulling out an 1876 silver 25 ore Norwegian coin from an old farmstead(allot of Norwegian immigrants in my area).
Now that I am more physically able I am excited to learn this new machine and apply it's abilities to these iron infested sites. Have downloaded the manual and established a plan of attack but would appreciate some guidance and constructive criticism on settings, etc.
I plan on leaving quickmask completely open.
User Mode 1 - Goes4ever ttf program
User Mode 2 - Bill S trashy park program.
User Mode 3 and 4 - Andy S programs after I have studied his book.
Of course I may modify some of these after I become more familiar with the machine.
I am somewhat familiar with Minelab tones after using the x-terra. Have used the 3khz coil to try to pick high conductors out of the iron. Hopefully the e-trac won't be too much more difficult to operate.
One question I have for e-trac users is in two tone ferrous, where should some of the other settings like volume gain, variability, limits, threshold pitch, deep, fast, trash, ground be set. Another question. Sometimes for a complete change of pace I like to hunt wood tot lots for coins and jewelry. What program and settings would be best for this scenario. I am keeping my x-terra 70 so maybe this detector coupled with the small 18.75khz coil I use would do as good or better in these spots?
To close I plan on purchasing a small coil in the future. Have to save up for awhile as I had to purchase a ultra-swingy thingy(surgery and bad back). After research I think I will go with the Sunray X-5. Other than the Minelab wiggle for pinpointing is there any other tricks for using the pro stock coil in trash?
Thanks so much in advance for your time and consideration.
Posted a week or so ago and received great info and have ordered a Minelab E-trac and Andy Sabischs' book. Have been doing allot of research this winter and have located and mapped within a 4 mile radius of my farm 23 abandoned farmsteads, three abandoned country schools sites, two abandoned ghost towns, two abandoned church sites and two abandoned picnic/fairgrounds. Some of these areas have een detected by me over the years and some not, but all are infested with iron(very little pulltags, can slaw or higher conductive trash).
I have been reading and following posts on this site for awhile and have a great amount of respect for its posters(Goes4ever, etc). Actually was going to order an E-trac in 2009 but a bout with colon cancer @41 years of age, resection surgery, post operative infection and 12 chemo treatments slowed me down a bit. One of my highlights during treatments was to metal detect when able. I still remember after my 9th treatment the joy of pulling out an 1876 silver 25 ore Norwegian coin from an old farmstead(allot of Norwegian immigrants in my area).
Now that I am more physically able I am excited to learn this new machine and apply it's abilities to these iron infested sites. Have downloaded the manual and established a plan of attack but would appreciate some guidance and constructive criticism on settings, etc.
I plan on leaving quickmask completely open.
User Mode 1 - Goes4ever ttf program
User Mode 2 - Bill S trashy park program.
User Mode 3 and 4 - Andy S programs after I have studied his book.
Of course I may modify some of these after I become more familiar with the machine.
I am somewhat familiar with Minelab tones after using the x-terra. Have used the 3khz coil to try to pick high conductors out of the iron. Hopefully the e-trac won't be too much more difficult to operate.
One question I have for e-trac users is in two tone ferrous, where should some of the other settings like volume gain, variability, limits, threshold pitch, deep, fast, trash, ground be set. Another question. Sometimes for a complete change of pace I like to hunt wood tot lots for coins and jewelry. What program and settings would be best for this scenario. I am keeping my x-terra 70 so maybe this detector coupled with the small 18.75khz coil I use would do as good or better in these spots?
To close I plan on purchasing a small coil in the future. Have to save up for awhile as I had to purchase a ultra-swingy thingy(surgery and bad back). After research I think I will go with the Sunray X-5. Other than the Minelab wiggle for pinpointing is there any other tricks for using the pro stock coil in trash?
Thanks so much in advance for your time and consideration.
