Too many #%$^#@ blips and beeps

[nimbus]

I'm sure I could find an answer if I keep reading all the posts here, but I'm so excited to use my ET that I just want to get out and go, but could you please answer me about how to "read" the sounds coming out of my machine? I started with all factory presets using coin disc. well that didn't work well at all in a high trash park. I got so frustrated with hearing sssssssssssssooooooooooooooo many beeps and blips and tones of all sorts I had to quit this park I was saving for the day I got my ET. I know its a virgin park but I couldn't get the machine to find me anything.

So I went home and started doing some air and soil tests with all the "valuables" I found with my Fisher F5. This is what I could not understand:

All air sweeps were 4" from coil
All buried test were 4" deep clean soil


Foil bottle seal
air test 12-02 3 distinct Low tones one tone for the left outer coil, one for the center, and one for the right outer coil as the foil was passed at any height both right to left and left to right.
Buried test same

ring tab
air test 12-15/16 3 distinct med low tones as the coil is passed right to left the tones go High/Med/Low
as the coil is passed left to right the tones go Low/Med/High
Buried test 12-16 1 med low tone either direction

Ring
air test 12-45 3 distinct tones med/high/med
buried test 12-46 1 med tone

clad 25
air test 12-46 3 distinct tones med/high/med
buried test 12-46 1 high tone

nickle
air test 12-13 3 distinct tones low/low/low
buried test 12-13 1 low tone


Then I tried stacked coins and it blanked on alot of combos!

Why does the target sound 3 times when its a close target? and as you all know there are tones of shallow targets that will give 3 tones.
How can I get it to sound only once for each target?

Then I spread different coins and trash out on the ground and did continuous air tests, I was so shocked that it took so long for the target ID to change for each target! then I realized it would only read the target AFTER the entire coil passed over the target but did not ID the target if another target was too close. This really had me confused, but it was the exact same thing I experienced in the park earlier. The machine would beep and blip like crazy but the target ID would not change. Now I got out my F5 and it ID each target instantly and even got nearly all the stacked coins.

What in the world am I doing wrong with my ET?

 

[grouser]

-noise cancel
-sens to suto +3
-I like tones "long"
-or you could go to 4 tone
-slow sweep speed
-learn individual tones before trying to hear them all at once,,,,,, spread the targets out in your test garden
- make sure "trash high" is turned on
the etrac does not air test well and it is NOT an F5,,, take your time it can be frustrating
good luck

 

[hershey1]

With such a delay in response it sounds like your display timeout is on. Turn it off. And try to find a less trashier place to learn the E-Trac. If you bought a used or display machine I would do a factory reset first and then a Master reset. If you bought a new machine do what inside the front page tells you and set your sensitivity to auto +3. Try that for awhile. Don't get discouraged you have one of the best machines made. HH

 

[BarberDan]

Visit this website for some help: http://goes4ever.mymdforum.com/my-settings-on-the-etrac/

As for air test...they are useless. The only thing to do is get out and use it....learn it....love it. I wanted to wrap mine around a tree for the first week, but then it all started to make sense and my silver count has been climbing ever since.

 

[Ken in Georgia]

Goto 4 tone and Normal and slow down and see what happens....

 

[NebTrac]

It can be a little confusing at first, try The Minelab Explorer and E-Trac handbook by Andy Sabisch. It will answer almost all your questions.

NebTrac

 

[Jeff63]

It can be a little confusing at first, try The Minelab Explorer and E-Trac handbook by Andy Sabisch. It will answer almost all your questions.

NebTrac

Neb, His first sentance of his post said he knew the answers are in all the post on the forum but he didn't want to spend the time reading them or searching for them. Do you think this kind of kid is going to fill in his holes. Why waste your time and brains on people who post and haven'nt even read the handbook let alone Andy's book or taken advantage of all the Info. on the forum already. Oh, by the way , Hi! and I still follow all your posts. I would be willing to drive from St. Louis to your place just to hunt 1 time with you. Maybe you could teach me how to catch an Indian

 

[E-TREC-Virginia]

I'm sure I could find an answer if I keep reading all the posts here, but I'm so excited to use my ET that I just want to get out and go, but could you please answer me about how to "read" the sounds coming out of my machine? I started with all factory presets using coin disc. well that didn't work well at all in a high trash park. I got so frustrated with hearing sssssssssssssooooooooooooooo many beeps and blips and tones of all sorts I had to quit this park I was saving for the day I got my ET. I know its a virgin park but I couldn't get the machine to find me anything.

So I went home and started doing some air and soil tests with all the "valuables" I found with my Fisher F5. This is what I could not understand:

All air sweeps were 4" from coil
All buried test were 4" deep clean soil


Foil bottle seal
air test 12-02 3 distinct Low tones one tone for the left outer coil, one for the center, and one for the right outer coil as the foil was passed at any height both right to left and left to right.
Buried test same

ring tab
air test 12-15/16 3 distinct med low tones as the coil is passed right to left the tones go High/Med/Low
as the coil is passed left to right the tones go Low/Med/High
Buried test 12-16 1 med low tone either direction

Ring
air test 12-45 3 distinct tones med/high/med
buried test 12-46 1 med tone

clad 25
air test 12-46 3 distinct tones med/high/med
buried test 12-46 1 high tone

nickle
air test 12-13 3 distinct tones low/low/low
buried test 12-13 1 low tone


Then I tried stacked coins and it blanked on alot of combos!

Why does the target sound 3 times when its a close target? and as you all know there are tones of shallow targets that will give 3 tones.
How can I get it to sound only once for each target?

Then I spread different coins and trash out on the ground and did continuous air tests, I was so shocked that it took so long for the target ID to change for each target! then I realized it would only read the target AFTER the entire coil passed over the target but did not ID the target if another target was too close. This really had me confused, but it was the exact same thing I experienced in the park earlier. The machine would beep and blip like crazy but the target ID would not change. Now I got out my F5 and it ID each target instantly and even got nearly all the stacked coins.

What in the world am I doing wrong with my ET?

I FIND YOUR POST TO BE AN INSULT to everyone who has worked to buy the ET, studied to learn the ET and spent Years in this hobby and you want instant gratification with no effort on your part ??? How did you even find the ON button. Who is going to dig your target and fill in your holes for you?? Good luck, I suggest you sell it and give Mommy her money back, after all she had to work for it.

A little rough on the guy don't you think. He did put in the time and effort to try and understand his targets and sounds through various tests, just did not fully understand the results and what to do about it. I understand the point that you are trying to make, just give the guy a break and let him get his feet wet. The best way to learn is to read as much as you can and try different things out in the field. After much trial and error, it will all start to come together.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

"What in the world am I doing wrong with my ET?"

Nimbus, I too "took the plunge" and got an explorer (not too unlike the ET), when I could no longer deny that the explorer guys were spanking me on results in junky parks for silver/old coins. And I too, like you, immediately took it out to a place where I suspected there should be some deeper silver hiding around (based on my hunts there from my Whites days, where every-bit-of-depth was needed). And I too, like you, immediately found the flock of sick geese sounds to be nerve-wracking. I HATED the explorer, and figured I'd made a mistake, and should go back to my Whites. Everything sounded the same. There was no rhyme or reason. It just tweeted and twacked everywhere, with wild cursor movements, etc.... Even getting my Whites out, finding a suspected wheat/silver signal, then going over it with the Explorer, did not satisfy me. Sure I might "get a signal", but so too did I get signals everywhere else too, that to me, were indistinguishable.

I was about to can this experiment. But in a last ditch effort, I met up with a proficient Explorer user, at a park that was fabled for lots of silver, yet silver that didn't START till 7" or more. Ie.: anything 6" or less was mid 60's memorials, etc.... This guy was effortlessly moving from wheatie to silver to wheatie. As fast as he'd stand back up, he'd have another correct-call, and be back down on his knees digging the next oldie. So we did this: I had him flag a few suspected deepies in the turf. I would subsequently watch him swing, he'd pull out his headphone jack, and show me what he was trying to isolate. I watch and listen. Then I too would go over it. Then we'd mutually dig it. Conversely, I'd call him over to signals I'd found, and ask his opinion. He might say "deep corroded zinc" or "surface memorial", or whatever. And he'd even add in items like "... next to a tab on this side, and iron on that side", etc.... Each time I'd watch and listen. And all of the sudden, it was if the LIGHTS WENT ON, and I too started pulling silver and wheaties from this sad blighted park.

Do you see how NO AMOUNT OF PRINTED TEXT can convey this type information. It has to be "heard", not read about, since it involves sound. For example: No amounted of printed text can convey to the next person what the note of "C minor" sounds like. You simply have to hear it. No instruction manual can convey how c-minor sounds.

So I would suggest you hook up with a proficient user (not just a sand-box hunter, or a relic hunter who tends to "dig all" anyhow, but someone who really knows how to pull silver/copper from junky parks).

And I notice you say the park you took your ET to, was "virgin". How do you know this? How old is the park? If it's an older park (say.... 1940s or older) and you have ANY # of hunters (past and/or present) in your area, then trust me: It's not virgin . Oh sure, it may be full of junk because past hunters chose not to strip-mine it., but trust me: any "good" park in the USA has usually been hit. Sure, some parts of the USA get less pressure than others (because perhaps all the hunters in some geographic locales don't know how to chase deeper stuff), but if it's a good old park, in any sort of striking distance from any good hunters, no .... it's not virgin. Simply because you, or someone across the street, has "never seen anyone there", does not mean it's virgin.

 

[NebTrac]

Come on out Jeff. I can't guarantee anything, I've only gotten 1 in the last month or so. Take care.

NebTrac

 

[gunwolf]

I do understand the OP. when I first got my E-trac out , there was so much info to remember and take in...a few guys stepped in and helped me through all my "dumb" questions. hell, I am still learning how to use my E-trac after reading the manual,Andy's book, everything on Goes4Evers site, watching hundreds of youtube vids...may take me a year or so to get really comfortable with what the E-trac is telling me.
best advise givin to me...stock coin program with Goes4evers settings right out of the gate, you will have to learn the "null" the "thunk" and what is meant by a repeating tone...signal. the second best advise from these E-trac guru's...don't watch the numbers, listen for the tones, the numbers just give you some direction on what the target may be...numbers can and will change with soil...and as I found out with how high the sensitivity is set.
best of luck, it is very frustrating at first with all the different buttons and tones, but it will come quick...trust me!

 

[niterider_58]

Good advice and well said Tom.

 

[pointer80]

jeff63, Settle down a little! The guys just asking for help. We have all been in his shoes once. Helping each other is what this forum is all about.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I'm going to put another method to un-ravel the madness, in a new and separate post.

 

[Elton]

Well said

 

[Damar2003]

Don't give up on the E-trac. It is an awesome machine and sometime down the road you will look back and think "what was so hard about this machine". Time in the field and Andy Sabish's book are the key to sucess. I will not say I have mastered it yet, but in 11 weeks with it I am already 24 silvers past last years total, with about 12 of those silvers coming from sites that I pounded with my other machines. along with a bunch of clad. I will never get rid of my E-trac. Good luck with your E-trac.

 

[nimbus]

Without a doubt I am coming to an understanding that the E-trac is a complex machine to learn. Through time, experience, trial and error and if I'm lucky some success I will learn all that I can about this machine. I sincerely appreciate the time and effort each of you have put forth in reading my post and taking the time to post a reply, including the negative ones. Learning comes from unexpected places, and I am open to all advice.

Well I have some reading to do because I plan on going back to that park Friday armed with all the gracious knowledge that you all have provided. I will post how things went.

 

[calibil]

Stick with it, I came from the v3 and the e trac is much less dittle with controls and is less taxing on the set up, you have a great machine-take your time and don't get to over come, treasure awaits.

 

[JamesBondaka]

You will understand all....just not today! Ive been exactly where you are now.....just be a bit patient and go to a "clean" park or your backyard. Just throw out some things and go find them....you will learn. Give it a few days to a couple of weeks.....you will feel differently I'm sure!

 

[nimbus]

Well I did get out for a short time, got called into work. However, with lots of thanks to everyone here I found some amazing stuff in such a short time. I promised to let you know how things went and well you know how many words a picture is worth... this is just a couple of the treasures that came home with me today, and there is so much more out there!

I may not know my blips from beeps yet, but I do know how to research a great site.

Once again thanks to everyone for your comments and encouragement.

Dig on!