Etrac hints for super mineralized ground

[sunraysux]

hey guys....needed a bit of field wisdom from the more seasoned Etrac vets out there if possible
where i normally hunt, i virtually never run into the sorts of conditions i have the last several days....and as a result, i am woefully unequipped to deal with it
so i like to hunt in open screen...do like nulling to smear signals or override them
my normal set up is AUTO +3 and open screen after i run the pre-check noise cancel program....
business has taken me into the Carolinas this week and OMG!!!!
every single place i have gone and secured permission has been rendered worthless to me because ALL the Etrac does is thump thump thump thump!!!...wowwwww
i have dumbed the AUTO down to -3 and still thump thump thumpthump
like there is nothing but nails in every inch of the freaking state!!
and yet when you put it in all metal....no signal!!
so there is no metal per se....just hellacious amounts of minerization
so surely many of you grizzled Etrac veterans have run into sites or multiple locations where the ground sounded like it was loaded with nails...but it wasn't
it was just crap ground apparently
so is there some trick i am missing?!?!?
as stated earlier, thank goodness i do not have to deal with this foolishness in my normal hunting areas!!!!!
any and all suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated and i thank you in advance

it really is a darn shame too because i was invited to hunt on some amazingly historic sites and huge victorian era estate homes with amazing yards!!!...surely these yards have incredible histories with awesome goodies to be discovered
most had never been detected; got permissions through contacts i have so i was stoked!!....and now, i am beyond frustrated and agitated
and i literally could not get a signal no matter what i did
and i switched into Andy S and other programs that blank out all the high iron number north of say 26-28.....and the machine was entirely quiet!!!!!
it was on perpetual and perma null

 

[IDXMonster]

Open screen IS “all metal”. Define your version of “all metal”.

 

[sunraysux]

i run the TTF//2 tone when running my open screen
what i meant was i put on the pinpoint function and it does not find any actual metal there

 

[Gilligan110]

I don’t get thumps with iron, just lose threashold. After the FBS course this summer, I’m more than ok with threashold going away. Go slow with a small coil and pick the better parts of the location. Also helps to cross the area from several directions as the iron can mask the target. TTF can help if you want to hear everything (crap and targets)but it really dummies the audio response of the signal down. I think of Auto as killing off extraneous noise. I’ll keep it as high as I can stand (which is fairly low extra noise).

Don’t fear the null! It just a silent crappy sound.

 

[IDXMonster]

i run the TTF//2 tone when running my open screen
what i meant was i put on the pinpoint function and it does not find any actual metal there

So you have manually selected Ferrous Sounds? You have manually selected 2 Tones? The screen does not have ANY discrimination applied?
If those are true,do you maintain a threshold if the coil is on the ground and NOT moving? Then the second you move the coil it nulls out?
If all of the above are true,I’m going to suggest a factory reset. Save any patterns into XChange and reload when it’s reset. No matter what,no way,no how should it null in a completely open screen unless you have a circumstance I have never heard of before.

 

[sunraysux]

lol
thats what i was thinking
but you are misunderstanding me a bit
probably due to the way i have explained
it does not null in open screen
if i keep it still...it has a perfect threshold
then when i start moving it, it just thumps like crazy
and again, this is ONLY in the southern soil i am not familiar with
at home in the mid-atlantic, i can get into areas where there is a bit of thumping
but not perpetually...i can always work through it and find tons of stuff
but in NC and SC so far this week, it has been the same every time sadly
i am at a loss....doing the same set up as i always do at home
but the dirt seems to be entirely different
so i thought some of the more experienced guys on the forum might have a few tweeks//pointers
for when you run into really crap ground

***i always run in open screen....2 tone ferrous.....and either AUTO+3 or MANUAL as high as she will take

 

[Gilligan110]

Are you noise canceling with your coil on the ground prior to starting and about every 30 mins?

 

[IDXMonster]

lol
thats what i was thinking
but you are misunderstanding me a bit
probably due to the way i have explained
it does not null in open screen
if i keep it still...it has a perfect threshold
then when i start moving it, it just thumps like crazy
and again, this is ONLY in the southern soil i am not familiar with
at home in the mid-atlantic, i can get into areas where there is a bit of thumping
but not perpetually...i can always work through it and find tons of stuff
but in NC and SC so far this week, it has been the same every time sadly
i am at a loss....doing the same set up as i always do at home
but the dirt seems to be entirely different
so i thought some of the more experienced guys on the forum might have a few tweeks//pointers
for when you run into really crap ground

***i always run in open screen....2 tone ferrous.....and either AUTO+3 or MANUAL as high as she will take

Ok,gotcha! You have continuous low tone responses in open screen all the time. Do you ever get a high tone that repeats reliably? What is your suggested sensitivity number?

 

[sunraysux]

hmmm.....didn't check that
so i guess what you are suggesting is that i am running it too hot??
so yes...i do infact run N/C upon turning it on
and when it is just perpetual crap ground, constant grunting like iron, i do not even stay there for a 1/2 hour
its a total waste
after i run N/C, i put it in AUTO+3....
and then i start to slowly knock it back till i am at AUTO-3
and still constant grunting
and a chirp hear and there
but nothing smoother or repeatable
and there sure as heck are tons of targets in these areas i had permission on
but i couldn't get her to behave so i hung it up in total frustration
have never ever had this problem up North
and i run her in MAN sens 22-26 and have dug targets over a foot deep

 

[IDXMonster]

If you had a suggested sensitivity of say,10 or above,I’d do a test really quick. Dig a good 6” plug that stays together,pull it out and place a coin in the bottom. Stomp it in and starting from a few feet away,approach it and see if it hits like you would expect. It’s the only way I can think of that would tell you IF that soil and your current settings will produce a coin.
If it hits,you may have few to no targets available. If it does not hit,that just plain sucks. Remember,this is all with 10 or higher on that suggested sensitivity.
If this soil is the same soil from the fabled DIV soil from the Virginia hunts that people talk about all the time,you’re in for a rough ride...according to some. People use PI machines in competitive field hunting for deeper bullets and relics because of this soil problem.
Using TTF you should be getting a hit on SOMETHING,even if it’s a pull tab. To have NO repeaters is a head scratcher...

 

[Bayard]

Try a small coil. I've been in trashy old yards where I couldn't get a threshold with the pro coil. Switching to a 6 inch coil solved the problem.

 

[utmike]

Agree with Bayard, I would look into a small DD coil. The "blade" of the signal will take a smaller look at the mineralization and other interference.