F75 LTD - How to co-exist when hunting next to an Etrac or Explorer :confused:

[Cal_Cobra]

I frequently hunt with friends that have Etracs, and occasionally Explorers.

Yesterday was a frustrating experience after my buddies Etrac jammed by LTD. I would walk over a 2" deep merc and not hear it, and here he was cleaning up after we just spent an hour busting our azz clearing a fallen tree to hunt a new spot at our lost camp (I think he ended up with 4 silver dimes and a silver thimble that I walked right over, but couldn't hear because of his Etrac was jamming my LTD). The area was small, about 20'x30' so it was close quarters and we were right next to each other.

I wasn't too sure how to remedy this, so we decided to do a few tests and I suggested that he hit his auto-channel selection (noise cancel I think it's called on the ET) while he stood next to me and I hit the pinpoint trigger so the F75 would be sending out it's maximum signal and crossed my fingers that the ET would no longer jam my F75. I think it worked, but by this time the Etrac had cleaned out our newly cleared spot.

Is there a better way for the F75 LTD to co-exist with the Etrac ?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

You make the Explorer dude noise cancel to your powered up detector BEFORE you start hunting.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

You make the Explorer dude noise cancel to your powered up detector BEFORE you start hunting.

I'm pretty sure he did that, but what I've noticed about the Explorer is that the noise cancel will pick different channels every time you hit the noise cancel button. Is it random or does it really sample for the best non-noisy channels?

Do you think that if I hit the pinpoint button so that the LTD is sending out it's strongest signal, and then he noise cancels the Explorer is the most effective way to go?

I think the most effective way is not to invite people to hunt with me that has these darn minelabs

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

Avoidance is always an option with any situation. Any time two guys hunt very close together regardles of the detectors involved, even if there isn't any audible interference, the possibility of one or both having diminished performance will be present. As for your giving it your best shot to hear any interference, listening to the Explorer go through it's different frequencies as it noise cancels via your detector in all metal with a threshold is about as good as it gets IMO. If targets are masked by ferrous objects and he runs with any IM or pattern and doesn't hunt at a snails pace, you have a great chance of winning the day.

 

[kurt-ks]

Did you try changing frequency's of the F75? I have had to do that a few times when hunting by my e-trac when my son was using it. I think F7 seemed to work best-hope you figure it out. HH

 

[Shambler]

Haven't had this problem with Explorers.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Avoidance is always an option with any situation. Any time two guys hunt very close together regardles of the detectors involved, even if there isn't any audible interference, the possibility of one or both having diminished performance will be present. As for your giving it your best shot to hear any interference, listening to the Explorer go through it's different frequencies as it noise cancels via your detector in all metal with a threshold is about as good as it gets IMO. If targets are masked by ferrous objects and he runs with any IM or pattern and doesn't hunt at a snails pace, you have a great chance of winning the day.

Thanks Brad, I'll try the AM trick next time out and see how that works. Having the ET noise cancel while I had the pinpoint trigger pulled seemed to do the trick, but I'll experiment with both next trip and see if one's more effective then the other.

Did you try changing frequency's of the F75? I have had to do that a few times when hunting by my e-trac when my son was using it. I think F7 seemed to work best-hope you figure it out. HH

I tried all seven frequencies, and it didn't help. I suspect the LTD's seven frequencies are too close together to mitigate the Minelab.

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

Brian, either mode will tell the story to a different degree. The reason I suggest AM instead of PP is with AM, it has the auto re-tune, but while in PP, you're more apt to need to manually re-tune in order to keep up in hearing the changes and or all the impact of the interference as the Exp indexes through it's freq's. Whatever freq the Exp winds up with shouldn't be "random" but "the best of the bunch" for interference avoidance to the Exp. There are probably a couple of them being equal as to if the LTD impacts it and at that point, it would pick one of them and not necessarily always the same one. Even in light of all that, keeping your distance in addition to his noise canceling is the best practice. Another thing you can do as he noise cancels and you're in AM, just do an air test with a dime or something small at varying distances (to the coil and the Exp), and you'll see more directly if and what the impact is of the Exp before the hunt.