Ferrous Sounds

[Will1877]

Hey guys. I know the general consensus is to use stock program to start out, but I kinda thought it may be good idea to use different sounds so ones ears don't get to used to one sound. So any way I got to swing my detector in northern Virginia for several hours at some parks down there. I didn't do any good as far as older finds. Lots of clad. But I used stock coin program and it worked fine nothing was deep so no problems. What I did do was wander for few hours trying to find a trash filled area where I would loose threshold often. Once I located such a place I slowed down and used the two tone ferrous set up as described by Goes Forever. I feel I understand the concept and it seemed to work I was getting lots of lower conductor hits but was looking to have a hit that had lower conductor right next to higher conductor so I could switch back to stock program and see if I could still hear the higher conductor. Well this did happen several times and upon switching to stock pattern I nailed the Higher conductor every time once even had null then reading with accurate tone on a dime. What im saying is even through the null the machine pulled right out of it gave me a tone and an id. Im not doubting this tried method of two tone ferrous but where does this really shine? Cause personally I love the sounds the machine makes in conductive. Two tone sounds like the At pro I sold beep or boop which makes me sad to not hear the minelab silver tone.

 

[ironsight]

If i understand correctly what you're saying is that you find Mult-Tone-Conductive better than TTF. And you're new to the eTRAC.

If thats all correct then its no surprise. Here's my take, right or wrong.
MTC is more intuitive and i think shortens the learning curve for beginners. Thats why a lot of people recommend starting out it along with stock discrim. patterns.
Starting out with Ferrous Tones could be a frustrating experience for some. For one thing, using TTF requires constant monitoring of the ID depending on the discrim. pattern. The more open the pattern, the more monitoring required. Whereas one can just about hunt by tones alone using MTC which is what i think you're experiencing.

Ferrous tones might not be for some, its more of an acquired detecting style. I had many false attempts trying to use Ferrous tones, reverting back to my old trusty Conductive settings.

To answer your question though, IMO Ferrous tones shine in iron infested areas using an open or minimal discrim. pattern. I've found a lot deep silver that i walked over previously using MTC. Its a lot less intuitive than MTC requiring sometimes 'gut' feelings when interpreting iffy IDs on whether to dig or not. And that only comes with experience and a lot of digging. If you're only after the relatively shallow stuff then MTC with a discrim. pattern is fine. IMO MTC works best with a discrim. pattern and TTF works best with an open pattern. If you're after really deep targets, Ferrous tones and an open pattern is the way to go.

One example using MTC by tone alone is that a deep severely corroded nail with say a 20-47 ID could sound like a silver coin high tone whereas using TTF that ID would generate a low tone. This would obviously apply to an open pattern but i've found deep keepers usually brass medallions with that ID using TTF and an open pattern.

One experiment you might try is to use 4TF or even Multi-Tone-Ferrous. A coin will give then give you a high(er) tone and iron junk a lower tone.

 

[Will1877]

I can't say I like MTC better but you answered my question on where 2tone shines. What was happening I was still getting correct tone and number Id in trashy area. I was hoping mtc would produce a null and not let me hear coin in trash but two tone and open screen would. In this instance MTC with lots of disc still nailed target.

 

[Will1877]

By the way one thing you mentioned was paying attention to the numbers in 2tone. I'm really glad you said this cause I was and was hoping that was correct. Also I used relic pattern that's stock to set up 2tone as goes forever discussed