OK New E Trac Fnally Arrived Now What?

[bottle collector]

My E Trac finally arrived earlier this week and I've only had a few minutes to play with it in my test garden. I'll have a chance to do some real hunting early next week and have a few questions. My plan is to hunt in the minelab coin mode and maybe with sensitivity in auto +? and with the option for 4 tones. My question is what is the best piece of advice or two you would have to offer to a newbie trying to learn the machine? Should I dig everything for a while or just concentrate on higher pitched tones if primarily looking for coins with a focus on silver? Thanks for anything you have to offer!

 

[Bilko]

Depends what you are going to hunt for and where? If you can dig everything...a mini spade is useful....then do it and remember the numbers but tones are equally if not more important

 

[bottle collector]

I will be hunting in my parents yard for coins. I've already hunted it hard with a Tesoro Cortes and pulled about 90 pieces of clad from it. Digging holes there will not be an issue. I also plan to go to a large park a few mornings and I will need to be more careful when digging there. I may have a chance to go to a couple other abandoned sites also where the digging will be not as restrictive as the park. All of the sites I have in mind date back to between the 1850' and 1890's. One of the sites is a former tannery that is abandoned that was in operation employing about 75 people in the late 1800's, so there is a realistic chance (still small) of smaller gold coins being present since they paid their employees on site in coin and I'm told often in gold.

 

[Dug]

If these are virgin sites, you may want to dig most signals that are even the least bit conductive, hoping to get nickels, rings, coins, etc. This also helps you get used to what the E-trac is telling you. If there is an overabundance of signals, then concentrate on one thing at a time; i.e. look for all the silver and copper coin signals first. Then go over it again looking for other signals. I do this pretty frequently at places with lots of good signals. One time concentrating on copper and silver coins I found an 1854 seated half dollar, 1911 Barber dime. 1927 Merc, a few wheats, and few Indians. Went back another day and concentrated on the lower pitched signals, and found a 1918 nickel, and a few pull tabs.

So, enjoy your new ET, and I wish you good success. I'll be watching for the posts and photos of your finds.

Doug

 

[utahshovelhead]

Just go out and have some fun. Dig any thing that hits consistantly on the 12 line and gives a solid tone and consistent numbers on every sweep. The temptation is to think every thing needs to be tweeked. Not so. Turn on...push noise cancell...detect.
have fun
utahshovelhead

 

[Goes4ever]

go slow, very slow, listen to the tones. Dig repeatable signals, don't really pay attention the the numbers. I'd just start with multi tone. If at an old house and you can go as much as you want, dig all repeatable signals, after you think you got them all, go over the yard again and start digging the iffy deeper signals. You will be surprised what all you find

 

[mickfin]

Bottel what is a Tannery???? I have a E-Track UPSing in tomorrow , Mickfin

 

[bottle collector]

It is a place where they used to tan cowhides into leather. It is a 12 acre site situated very close to a freshwater trout stream with about 20 foundations scattered amongst the trees.

 

[OhioCoinHunter]

Make sure you latch in silver dollars and then go hunting. Dig many targets so you get an idea about what the tones are telling you. I wouldn't focus on just digging what you think is silver because there are a lot of great coins not made of silver...for example, V-nickels, Buffalos, Indians - and, of course, gold. I found an 1852 U.S. silver 3-cent coin this year. The conductivity number was only 30. I recently dug my first Seated dime. The conductivity number was low - around 42 and 43. Worn Mercs also have lower conductivity numbers. Yesterday I dug an ornate sterling silver heart shaped pendant at about 7 or 8 inches deep. The conductivity number bounced from 27 to 28. Tips? I would definitely do a noise cancel on site before starting the hunt. As Captn_se has stated in the past, let the amount of trash in the ground determine coil sweep speed. If there are a lot of targets (trashy ground) then go slow enough so you can hear each signal individually. If there is little trash, you can hunt faster. Goesforever gave me a good tip recently. Dig everything that has a conductivity number of 28 or higher. By heeding his advice, I dug that sterling silver heart. Best of Luck to you!!!!

 

[mickfin]

Sounds Like the place to be, WTG, Mickfin

 

[bottle collector]

Thanks for all the great advice so far. I'll be putting it to use on Wednesday and Thursday- I can't wait!