Anyone here ever dig in super hot ground? I'm talking about heavy red clay, super mineralized stuff. I know that everyone and their mother digs with a TDI at all the Digging in Va digs in Culpepper Va.The ground there eats eagle buttons for lunch. I have a site in very heavy red clay that I know objects are there but I can't seem to find them. So will the E-trac handle it?
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Hot Ground?
- Thread starter ynpto804
- Start date
detectorfreak74
New member
yes I live in utah where if you dig a hole and put a magnet in the hole the magnet comes out with iron on it and I have the red dirt or clay here as well and I have no problem with the etrac in this ground
I'd like to hear some more comments on this myself. I go to the DIV hunts and have very similar dirt here in TN. All the VLF machines I have tried here will read non ferrous items AS ferrous. More precisely, anything from about the conductivity of a dime on down to foil, will read as iron beyond 5 or 6 inches in this dirt on every VLF machine we've had in it. The Explorer machines are notorious for not being heavy hitters at the DIV hunts. I personally had the Explorer II and dug some deep things with it in our better ground, but never anything to amount to much in the reddish dirt. The Culpeper dirt is a tad worse; I've actually had minie balls IN MY DIRT PILE still read as iron on the VLF machines I've had in it. A minie ball on most detectors will read somewhere between TAB and ZINC penny, so that gives you an idea of how high up from iron that they actually are....so the dirt is extremely bad for it to be causing detectors to read them as iron, about like that of a square nail.
If anybody could provide any input to this I'd like to see it. I am thinking about trying the eTrac myself because when I had the Explorer II, I hadn't figured out the red dirt yet. All other VLFs require you to run in all metal mode to get the signal for the target...then its up to you to decide whether to dig or not. Some machines, it is impossible to tell the difference between an actual nail and a bullet READING as a nail, until you dig everything. I don't want to be in that position. I never ran the Explorer II in all metal mode; I always ran it with the disc level just enough to knock out a square nail, and now I know that I was probably walking over a bunch of relics 6+ inches deep that I never heard because of it.
Lets hear it eTrac guys. If any of you are within reasonable driving distance of Southeast TN and have one, I'd like to get with you at one of my sites and see how it does first hand. Open invitation. No competition, I'm just curious to see how it will do before I take the plunge into one. I have the GPX 5000 so I gotcha on depth anyway lol I'm just wanting a lighter weight machine with some form of ID for trashier sites.
If anybody could provide any input to this I'd like to see it. I am thinking about trying the eTrac myself because when I had the Explorer II, I hadn't figured out the red dirt yet. All other VLFs require you to run in all metal mode to get the signal for the target...then its up to you to decide whether to dig or not. Some machines, it is impossible to tell the difference between an actual nail and a bullet READING as a nail, until you dig everything. I don't want to be in that position. I never ran the Explorer II in all metal mode; I always ran it with the disc level just enough to knock out a square nail, and now I know that I was probably walking over a bunch of relics 6+ inches deep that I never heard because of it.
Lets hear it eTrac guys. If any of you are within reasonable driving distance of Southeast TN and have one, I'd like to get with you at one of my sites and see how it does first hand. Open invitation. No competition, I'm just curious to see how it will do before I take the plunge into one. I have the GPX 5000 so I gotcha on depth anyway lol I'm just wanting a lighter weight machine with some form of ID for trashier sites.
ryanchappell
New member
Just a bunch of us red-clayers here just wondering!!! I have done the hole thing in black dirt and had little black pebbles stick to it!
The coins just disappear after about 5 inches. I detect all these parks, sidewalks, apartments, and schools that are 80-120 years old and find TONS of 1970s coins 3-5 inches deep, but that is it mysteriously there are no older coins. These sites do not appear to have been filled in either, not all of them could possibly could have. I have found a 1889 wheat, a 1916 cent, a 1917 cent (eyeball find on the surface), 6 other wheats, a 43 war Nickel, and a 70-90 year old sterling broach. I am thinking that those coins are proof that I am hitting good sites that have not been completely, and probably found because they were lighter.
I probably need to spend more time trying out settings from Andy's book, I think his description of the junky fair site matches us, but he lists settings of - -2 auto sens,and pitch hold, among the usual trash -Hi, Grnd - Diff, Recov - Fast, Deep - Off, Conduct sounds, Gain 18, var & tone limit - 30, disc - coins and jewelry modified.
Maybe I should just try to dig nails deeper that that. I will probably get a bunch of nails, but who knows maybe I will get my first silver dime or quarter two after 50 tries?
My dealer said that CW relic hunters in the Carolina's have been using PI machines like the ML 5000, and that someone tried a Whites PI in Tenn and only got 6 inches, that was with a machine that was getting 2 ft in the NE. Of course PI means no discrimination, but better mineral handling and depth, and relic'ers are digging more than we are anyway... but if I am trying to dig all the nails and coins that are pretending to be nails, then ...
If I could get away from detecting sites long enough I would put in enough time in my test garden to figure out better settings, but the last time I did that was with my ML 305 when I was bored out of my mind waiting on the ETrac to arrive last month.
Lately I have been using manual Sens at 24-27, and going with restrictive patterns hoping that it will see around the junk better, but now I am thinking I will try more of a relic pattern just disc'ing wrap arounds, and also trying some lower sens, sensitivity...
I need to put together settings for this; someone once said that threshold or gain can influence nails looking too much like coins, maybe that will work the other way around?
We should dive into Andy Sabisch's book and come up with some settings together for our predicament. If we rack our brains out and put in a lot of our own effort, it will be more likely that some experts will join in and help us. My experience is that a lot of those experts can't grasp what we are up against. I still want as much help as we can get, but just remember that we are the people that are getting single digit Auto Sens and average Auto Sens in the teens. As someone here said that is what he gets when detecting in "cinder" fill.
I created a group on another forum in hopes of accumulating the knowledge we need, I think I am the only member still, but feel free to congregate there or we could just all subscribe to this thread.
http://metaldetectingforum.com/group.php?groupid=129
Maybe Andy will have some specific advice.
The coins just disappear after about 5 inches. I detect all these parks, sidewalks, apartments, and schools that are 80-120 years old and find TONS of 1970s coins 3-5 inches deep, but that is it mysteriously there are no older coins. These sites do not appear to have been filled in either, not all of them could possibly could have. I have found a 1889 wheat, a 1916 cent, a 1917 cent (eyeball find on the surface), 6 other wheats, a 43 war Nickel, and a 70-90 year old sterling broach. I am thinking that those coins are proof that I am hitting good sites that have not been completely, and probably found because they were lighter.
I probably need to spend more time trying out settings from Andy's book, I think his description of the junky fair site matches us, but he lists settings of - -2 auto sens,and pitch hold, among the usual trash -Hi, Grnd - Diff, Recov - Fast, Deep - Off, Conduct sounds, Gain 18, var & tone limit - 30, disc - coins and jewelry modified.
Maybe I should just try to dig nails deeper that that. I will probably get a bunch of nails, but who knows maybe I will get my first silver dime or quarter two after 50 tries?
My dealer said that CW relic hunters in the Carolina's have been using PI machines like the ML 5000, and that someone tried a Whites PI in Tenn and only got 6 inches, that was with a machine that was getting 2 ft in the NE. Of course PI means no discrimination, but better mineral handling and depth, and relic'ers are digging more than we are anyway... but if I am trying to dig all the nails and coins that are pretending to be nails, then ...
If I could get away from detecting sites long enough I would put in enough time in my test garden to figure out better settings, but the last time I did that was with my ML 305 when I was bored out of my mind waiting on the ETrac to arrive last month.
Lately I have been using manual Sens at 24-27, and going with restrictive patterns hoping that it will see around the junk better, but now I am thinking I will try more of a relic pattern just disc'ing wrap arounds, and also trying some lower sens, sensitivity...
I need to put together settings for this; someone once said that threshold or gain can influence nails looking too much like coins, maybe that will work the other way around?
We should dive into Andy Sabisch's book and come up with some settings together for our predicament. If we rack our brains out and put in a lot of our own effort, it will be more likely that some experts will join in and help us. My experience is that a lot of those experts can't grasp what we are up against. I still want as much help as we can get, but just remember that we are the people that are getting single digit Auto Sens and average Auto Sens in the teens. As someone here said that is what he gets when detecting in "cinder" fill.
I created a group on another forum in hopes of accumulating the knowledge we need, I think I am the only member still, but feel free to congregate there or we could just all subscribe to this thread.
http://metaldetectingforum.com/group.php?groupid=129
Maybe Andy will have some specific advice.
ryanchappell
New member
Daniel Tn said:I'd like to hear some more comments on this myself. I go to the DIV hunts and have very similar dirt here in TN. All the VLF machines I have tried here will read non ferrous items AS ferrous. More precisely, anything from about the conductivity of a dime on down to foil, will read as iron beyond 5 or 6 inches in this dirt on every VLF machine we've had in it. The Explorer machines are notorious for not being heavy hitters at the DIV hunts. I personally had the Explorer II and dug some deep things with it in our better ground, but never anything to amount to much in the reddish dirt. The Culpeper dirt is a tad worse; I've actually had minie balls IN MY DIRT PILE still read as iron on the VLF machines I've had in it. A minie ball on most detectors will read somewhere between TAB and ZINC penny, so that gives you an idea of how high up from iron that they actually are....so the dirt is extremely bad for it to be causing detectors to read them as iron, about like that of a square nail.
If anybody could provide any input to this I'd like to see it. I am thinking about trying the eTrac myself because when I had the Explorer II, I hadn't figured out the red dirt yet. All other VLFs require you to run in all metal mode to get the signal for the target...then its up to you to decide whether to dig or not. Some machines, it is impossible to tell the difference between an actual nail and a bullet READING as a nail, until you dig everything. I don't want to be in that position. I never ran the Explorer II in all metal mode; I always ran it with the disc level just enough to knock out a square nail, and now I know that I was probably walking over a bunch of relics 6+ inches deep that I never heard because of it.
Lets hear it eTrac guys. If any of you are within reasonable driving distance of Southeast TN and have one, I'd like to get with you at one of my sites and see how it does first hand. Open invitation. No competition, I'm just curious to see how it will do before I take the plunge into one. I have the GPX 5000 so I gotcha on depth anyway lol I'm just wanting a lighter weight machine with some form of ID for trashier sites.
I forgot to mention I have an E-Trac, and no they have not figured out red clay and the iron mineralization that we have yet.
I would love for one of the Midwest or other silver hounds to come see you in East Tennessee.
I am finding silver with the E-Trac, but I have to go to virgin sites where some of the silver happens to be near the surface, or places that have been hit, but the E-Trac can work its See Through magic, and find the merc next to pop tops and nails. The silver I have found has all been 2-5 inches deep.