etrac descrimination

[texastreasures]

I have a question about the idea discrimination settings for the e-trac. What discrimination settings do you use when hunting in very trashy ground? Do you keep the discrimination open, or run a very tight discrimination pattern? Or maybe somewhere in-between?

I haven't been very successful with my e-trac in areas that have trashy ground. My best targets have all come out of very clean ground where I run my machine open,without any discrimination, and at maximum sensitivity, and then digging very deep good-sounding signals.

Using this technique, I've found mercury dimes and silver quarters almost a foot deep.

The problem is that when I try to hunt in trashier ground, running my machine with zero discrimination is not ideal.

My question is for those of you who have been very successful at picking out good targets in very trashy ground.

Do you run a discrimination pattern with everything discriminated out except for a few specs where the good things are? Do you run with minimal discrimination just to cancel out the most ferrous signals?

I know that a very slow sweep is ideal in trashy areas to seperate targets, that conditions at different locations, and that reducing sensitivity can help too, but what is some general advice for discrimination settings in trashy sites?

Thanks!

 

[rluckadoo]

I have grown to like the minelab "coin" stock program with the bar in the top right edited out for the larger silver coins. I use conduct multi sounds/long and have found that in trashy areas, even with the stock coil, it will pick out and "lock onto" a coin and give you enough of that high pitch on the first swing to double back over that area with another slower swing or two. If you are looking for silver in those really trashy areas, you just have to set your ears for that high pitch, and if you hear it, double check that spot from several different angles. If there is a coin there, I promise it will lock on and pick it out of the trash.

One other tip that I have found helpful is that highly conductive iron will give a high pitched chirp on the first swing across the target sometimes, making you think that the coil may have passed a coin. I open up the discrimination and hit that spot from a couple different angles to double check. If there is a coin there, the conduct numbers will be very consistent and the ferrous numbers will be much more consistent from various angles than if it is just iron trash. I have picked several coins out of iron trash using this method.....with the stock coil. Be sure to go at the spot from different angles though, starting your coil outside the target radius and going toward it with very short swings until you pick up a signal with the leading edge of your coil. Check the numbers, then move around the target radius 90 degrees and do the same thing, check the numbers and repeat. If there is a coin there, it will find it, and you will see a difference in the consistency of your numbers on the screen. With a piece of iron trash only, there will be no consistency in the numbers, especially the ferrous side.

Hope this helps!

Robert

 

[akelley]

I don't change my discrimination pattern based on trash or clean ground. But I've seen others do that with good success, so there's no hard/fast rule here. I believe its best to combine tight discrimination with a smaller coil so that the added separation will contribute to a better signal on good targets.

The best adjustment I made recently was to turn down the volume on my headphones so that I could better concentrate on the high conductivity signals over longer periods of time.

Compared to pull tabs, bottle caps, etc. I feel iron is my #1 enemy, because it can squeal in the high tone range causing you to have to go back over the signal very carefully. I would rank aluminum screw caps next, because they too cause me to have to go back to take a second look. But they're easier to discern by simply raising the coil to see if the target still sounds off.

Hope this helps

-Alex

 

[Nick A]

I run preset coins mode and have not had trouble picking up deep coins in trashy sites. Silver just jumps out at you. I use multi-tone and listen for the high tone mixed in with the jumble. You have to go slow, especially in the trash. The E-Trac has excellent target separation and will get the goodies next to/on top of/in trash.

You can also run a tight pattern, this will work too, but you will pass up potential iffy signals that may be good. I believe in the preset patterns there is a trashy coin setting that tightens up the discrimination. You may want to give that a try. If you are digging a lot of silver at great depths, my inclination would be to keep it more open, go slow and watch the depth meter. Any high tone peeps at good depth need to be investigated if the potential for deep old coins is there.

 

[moseng]

Depends on what you mean by very trashy ground? Normally a few pull tabs and bottle caps (3-6 signals per sweep) are not bad and I use Andy's coin pattern and auto sens (0) because I will dig pull tabs in hopes of getting gold.

For me though very trashy ground is when you sweep the coil and it sounds like a (lower tone) machine gun being fired. Meaning at least 8-10 or more signals per sweep. When I am in this situation I decide, hmmm... do I want a headache after about 30 minutes or maybe a chance at pulling a few coins from this pit? For this situation I use a slightly modified version of the "Park Pattern" I got from the beep goes on site (link below) which discriminates all but coins and I use auto sens (-1 to -3 depending on the chatter). I also change to long tones sometimes and put on my 8x6 SEF coil but usually normal tones and coil work good enough. Oh yea, and slow way way way down. Do I get every coin? I seriously doubt it, but I don't get any headaches! In fact I have gotten quite a few silver coins, and wheaties doing this since most people would not even bother searching some of the garbage pits they call parks around me!

Anyway, hope this helps.



http://www.thebeepgoeson.com/display.asp?page=E-Trac_Patterns

 

[gregliss]

For me it's the swing speed that is most important in trash. I slow it right down, 6'ish seconds per swing or slower, the etrac loves a slow swing, in trash give the processor a chance to do it's thing, you will be amazed. Quite often the first pass of a coin will be the slightest "squeak" amongst the low tones so you need to check those.

I run a slightly modified version of Andy S's coin program 99% of time and don't make any changes for high trash.

However, if I'm in an insane Iron patch that is different, typically this where an old home has been demolished or out the front of a stable, I narrow right down to the default coin program.

If depth is not critical I'd suggest a smaller coil for better separation, I've got the 5"x10" Coiltek Joey that performs really well. But typically if I've been slow and methodical with the Pro-coil, a smaller coil only squeezes out a few more.

Cheers,
Greg