e-trac learning curve

[texastreasures]

I've had my e-trac for a couple weeks at this point, and have put in my "50 hours" to learn the machine. I've also read through Andy's great book about the e-trac. All I can say is that I think I'll need 50 more hours. Although I've pulled a few silver coins and wheats with the new machine, I haven't found them with near the same consistency I have with my White's m6. Each time I go out with e-trac, I focus on a specific area, and then after covering that area, I come back to the area with my White's M6 and seem to start pulling coins deeper than I can with the e-trac. I've pulled one extremely deep wheat (around 10") with the e-trac, but that was in very clean soil that allowed me to easily pin-point the coin even though the signal was very iffy. However, in trashier ground, I seem to have a problem distinguishing between the sounds of extremely deep coins,, rusty nails, and falsing, and going purely by the audio seems to only work if I use an extremely tight discrimination pattern (disc screen blacked out with tiny boxes accepted the fe-co for the coins I expect to find). If I go to quickmask and simply block ferrous above 22 or so, I still get a bunch of junk like screw caps that produce similar audio to coins.

Overall, I'm finding lots of coins but they are all shallow by my standards (under 5 inches), whereas any time I hit up the same spots with my White's m6, I can find deeper coins. The e-trac does seem to separate well when hunting for shallow stuff (under 4 inches) in trashy ground, but for the deep stuff, it's not living up to it's reputation, yet. I'm going to keep fiddling, but I know I've passed my coil over some deepies and missed them since I find them later when I come back with my White's m6.

One thing I tried was to hunt with the White's m6 until I found a high-confidence coin signal at 8 or 9", and then I passed over those spots with the e-trac and the e-trac gave me a response indicating the coins were there but it sounded awfully similar to many iffy signals that turn out to be trash, iron nails, or falsing.

Are any of you guys able to ever get "high-confidence" coin signals with your e-trac at anything beyond seven inches? Or is every dig a gamble at that depth? I know when I get a smooth, faint whistle signal on my White's M6 with a repeating VDI in the 76-81 range, I can be fairly confident it's a coin even when it's 8" deep. I want this type of performance on my e-trac. Should I just put in more hours and study the sounds some more?

The paranoid part of me is starting to think my e-trac is defective unit! How is quality control on the e-tracs and how much might they very from unit to unit? I would have expected my e-trac to be outperforming my White's m6 by now!

And another question - In low mineralization soil, how much can I expect the ferrous numbers of targets to increase on extremely deep targets?

 

[rbholt80]

I was in your shoes a month or so ago and I was really thinking that i had messed up by buying the e-trac. I cant give a magic answer to the learning curve. Just lay all others units down and stay on the e-trac till one day it will click with you. I get signals that are very deep and im getting to the point that i can tell its really a penny or dime or quarter. I do dig more junk now than i did with my old detector but the ratio is turning around now and getting better. Once it finally clicked for me as to what it was saying i started doing quite well. Im not all about silver ether i like old relics to and i have been finding some neat ones from the late 1800's.
It took me 2 months and way over 50 hours to get this e-trac. so dont get upset just get determined. you wont regret it once the e-trac language make sense to you.

 

[unearth]

I've put in well over 50 hours on my e-trac and have yet to pull a 7 or 8 inch coin out. Since I've had the e-trac, about 8 months, I've only pulled out 2 silver dimes and NO other silver coins. I don't know if it's me or the machine. I keep trying different settings, but, so far, nothing has changed. Maybe it's the area in which I live, LA, or the parks I go to have been hunted to death. Maybe it's my hearing. I know that nothing is ever hunted out, but I'm not finding anything over 5 inches deep. Unless it's a piece of junk. I found a 3" dia. copper disk at about 10 or 11 inches. Any ideas on whether my machine is working correctly, or is it me?

 

[JohnTN]

Hang in there the two detectors you speak of I've owned both and one is a toy compared to the other.
When the Etrac clicks with you theres no going back. Those high tones are very different once you learn the difference.
You have to train your ears to hear it. The nails and deep iron has a tone that changes to my ears pretty drastically or nulls all together when you approach the target from different angles. The coin will remain pretty consistent in sound as you circle it unless it lies near trash. That is whole different ball game that you will learn as you learn the sound a deep coin makes it becomes easy to seperate from a co-located trash target.

 

[rbholt80]

The first few weeks i had mine I hit all my old spots and wasnt doing so well. I drove around and hit other parks in dif towns and still didnt do well. I finally made up my mind to get some new spots that were on private property. Once i did that the silver started coming and so did the old stuff. I have gone back to one of my old hunted schools. Its not big but has has been hunted by many guys sense 1985 so its hunted out. I didnt find anything the last time i went so im writing those old spots off for good and never going back. Find some new places to hunt and you will start finding stuff. Then once your in a place that has things to find like silver you will understand the e-trac and it should click with you.

 

[jeff & Maria]

You may not find anything deep. Here in Central NJ I find coins from as far back as the 1700's down only at about the 5-6 inch mark. The mid 1700's shoe buckle I posted last week was just 3 inches deep, no roots around it and in the woods where leaves would have contributed to compost. The soil here is a thicker clay. Specific gravity is what controls the sinking of items.

 

[texastreasures]

You may not find anything deep. Here in Central NJ I find coins from as far back as the 1700's down only at about the 5-6 inch mark. The mid 1700's shoe buckle I posted last week was just 3 inches deep, no roots around it and in the woods where leaves would have contributed to compost. The soil here is a thicker clay. Specific gravity is what controls the sinking of items.

In your soil, it seems like old coins don't get as deep as they do down in Houston! I wish I were so lucky as to live in a place where 250 year old coins were only six inches deep! Here in Houston, most soils will only yield a coin from the 30's or 40's at that depth. To get coins from the 1800's, I'll need to learn how to get more depth out of the e-trac, and that will only come with practice. However, I have found some very shallow barbers from the 1800's (3 inches or so) in oyster shell roads and extremely rocky dirt.

 

[JohnnyI]

Hi texastreasures. I'm kind of in the same boat with you regarding my new e-trac. Something you said intrigues me and I want to ask; you mentioned "iffy" signals which turned out to be coins. Can you describe those signals' characteristics more specifically? For instance, were they badly broken?; maybe only in one direction of the sweep?; not clear on both axis? Everything I will be digging for the time being will be deep and very borderline, so such information will be very helpful. Thanks.

 

[texastreasures]

Hi texastreasures. I'm kind of in the same boat with you regarding my new e-trac. Something you said intrigues me and I want to ask; you mentioned "iffy" signals which turned out to be coins. Can you describe those signals' characteristics more specifically? For instance, were they badly broken?; maybe only in one direction of the sweep?; not clear on both axis? Everything I will be digging for the time being will be deep and very borderline, so such information will be very helpful. Thanks.

Johnny1, the one 10" coin I dug gave a choppy but repeatable signal and was easy to pin-point because the soil there was very clean.

Most of the iffy signals I have encountered are much harder to pin-point and the only time I could tell they were coin signals was after I had swept over them previously with my other detector. However, had I not known they were coins, these iffy signals would have sounded like many signals that don't turn out to be anything good and I might have even skipped digging them.

 

[JohnnyI]

"Johnny1, the one 10" coin I dug gave a choppy but repeatable signal" Thanks Texastreasures. "Choppy and repeatable" would be a primo signal in the place I'm doing now. I guess what I'm wondering is, in the case where the ground is mineralized and there are many many square nails per square yard, is there any occasion where a blip (even a one way blip) may be a non ferrous object attempting to show itself, or are one way blips (on a sweep) always strictly ferrous objects. In other words, it is a given that there will be many square nails surrounding whatever is down there. Is there any very subtle distinguishing feature of a "bad beep" which may lean towards a non-ferrous object being there?

 

[M.L. Hinds]

They are not hunted out!!! Grid it and listen for high tones!! Sound first screen second!! Even a peep of high tone can mean silver or another goodie if its next to iron or another rejected target!! And slow down its metal detecting not a marathon... Be positive!!


Take Care, M.L. hinds

 

[rbholt80]

Heres what i have found. Some signals near trash or iron will hit on the side of the coil coming off the trash and passing over the wanted target. I also found by testing that a sense of 23 or higher will unmask targets closer to others. Another thing i found was that by running a tight pattern and useing long tones i can actually hit targets even closer to disced out junk. Thats a hard setting to master cause long tones can drive you crazy but if you get it down you will find more goodies. just ask texastreasures if i left anything for him to find at the spot iv been hunting lol

 

[texastreasures]

rbholt80 definitely cleaned his spot out pretty well, but he did leave me a 1969 penny, lol.

Had a good time, we should go out again. BTW, swung by a park on the way home a got a few wheats and mercs. Wife wasn't happy to have me getting home at 1:30 am.

 

[jeff & Maria]

Is that so much has been found through the years with less capable detectors.

 

[rbholt80]

Haha thats why i went home. If the wife aint happy then no one is. So wile you were swinging the beeper i was ----- well never mind. lets just say my woman is happy. Your a park king man. You could find a merc at any park.

I may get to go hunt this afternoon so ill call. I may have a new place to hunt but its tiny about 30 by 15.

 

[JCJEXPLORER]

Have not seen what your settings are, so I assume you are using the coin mode or a varint of said mode. My belief is that the more discrm you use the less you will find. Where you can, discrm out the Fer up to 34-35 and that is it. That will just about take the small nail out of the picture. Swing low and very slow, grid off an area and really cover it good. I'm a relic hunter mostly and love this setup. I have found plenty of old coins at considerable depth. Best to date is a 3 cent piece at 18+ inches in extremely wet clay soils. Also, the sizing pinpoint mode is deadly for helping id those iffy signals. All iffy signals deserve a 360 degree swing of the coil. Sound is the main reason to dig, not the numbers. Here are my settings that I find that work great.

Auto +3
Threshold 26
Vol Limit 29
Vol Gain 24
Response Normal
Multi Tones
Sound Conduct
Variablity 27
Limits 30
Threshold Pitch 19
Recovery Deep on
Fast off
Trash Den High
Ground Difficult

 

[buckeyetreasurehunter]

Texastreasures - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I think you made a great choice with the E-trac. I have been using the E-trac for about 3 months and my finds have greatly increased. I have a friend who hunts with a M6 and I showed him how to use the E-trac at 2 of his sites, I found a 1846 Large cent in the same hole as a nail and he found a barber dime at about 8 inches with it once I showed him how to use it. He was surprised because he was done with both sites, he had hunted them both very hard.

I have been hunting a school close to me that has been hunted a lot, I am only digging signals right now that are 6 inches or deeper and have found over 30 wheat pennies, 1912 barber dime, 1954 dime, several great relics, few indian head pennies. A friend bought an E-trac from me and he is even doing better, he found 4 indian head pennies that he says were at about 10 inches, 3 silver dimes, silver qtr etc.

I am no expert but here is some advice -

keep it simple starting out - hunt in basic modes and slowly start changing things up once you learn the basic programs, right out of the box it has incredible depth capabilities. the school I mentioned above is very trashy, i hunt in high trash mode, multiple tones, recovery fast.

I used to use Whites machines, something that took me a little time to learn - SWEEP slow! E-trac has incredible seperation ability of targets but you need to sweep slow, it should take atleast twice as long to sweep from one side to the other than most Whites machines

When I first started using the machine I would get iffy signals, dig down and find nails/iron - a great way to figure it out before you dig - sweep one way, if its iffy, try swinging at another direction, if signal is gone it s/b iron BUT to double check - set up your QUICK mask at 27 FE and leave it, now your going over that target and not sure, press your quick mask button and swing over it, if iron the crosshairs will jump a little but for most part will stay in lower right hand corner. When I first started finding these iffy iron signals it had me worried but I found that if you have a good target in the same hole the machine does seem to mask out the iron and you find the good target, I couldnt tell you how many times I have opened up a hole and found nails and iron in the same hole as a good target.

I hope this helps - if anyone needs help- feel free to PM! like i said, no expert but will help the best i can

 

[utahshovelhead]

Excellent information! you guys are makin me want to give that E tank a run on my favorite site. Hmm now if I could just get my wifes credit card....