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TTF Observation

A

ArnieTX

Member
Settings:
Sens man 28
Disc - All Metal
Deep Off
Fast On
Ground Difficult
Two Tones Ferrous

I haven't posted a whole lot because it's finally drying up around here after what seemed like a month of rain and high moisture...which is not normal in S. Texas where I live. I haven't been out that much. It's dried up this week and I've been able to get out and learn my machine.

Living in a rural area I mainly relic hunt in fields and old homesteads which are heavily laden with iron. I started off in normal coin mode but ended up in TTF. This detector is significantly deeper than my Tejon for relics around this area. I'm being conservative but I believe this ETRAC is at least 3-4 " deeper than my Tejon for relic hunting. In Auto sens hey are close to eachother but if I crank up the sensitivity to 27 or higher, the Tejon has no chance. The Tejon is a great relic hunter but the ETRAC is a very powerful machine that goes deep.

I am going to try to get out to a church I hunted for coins last month. It was the first place I hunted with the ETRAC and I had no idea what I was doing. I just turned it on and started detecting. I managed to find a few old wheats but no silver. I now have a good understanding of this machine and feel like I can find some silver if it's there.

Stay tuned.

Arnie
 
Hey Arnie, will you keep us posted from your use of TTF. I am like you, new to the E-Trac and want to get to know TTF. I also have used a Tejon, really like that machine and pondering purchasing another one.
If you dont mind, let us know how, or what speed you are moving with the use of TTF, are you moving at the same pace as the Tejon or slower?? And anything else you learn, or observe especially comparing the two machines.
Thanks,
John
 
I know what you mean. I dont know if its like that for everyone but I feel like it took me a long long time to really get a feel for the E-Trac. Kinda humbling really cause I think im a fairly smart guy. :confused:

You know if youre finding wheats that there is almost certainly silver there. Good luck.
 
Guys just move slowly within reason like 4-5 seconds per each direction of your sweeps 4-5 sec letf to right 4-5 sec right to left and if it's really trashy run FAST on and go even slower. Sort of like painting your house slow smooth strokes and remember to KEEP THE COIL ON THE GROUND as much as possiable. Don't forget to noise cancel too before starting let the machine decide what it likes for that doe to EMI and other things make sure your not over metal in the ground before doing so.

Fast will clip the signals though so they will be shorter. But recently I tried both FAST and DEEP ON and the sounds seemed longer in duration so I may just keep both on and run that way till I can test it some more it can't hurt.

Try LONG sounds instead of normal in a few spots to see if you like it especially if trashy gives more of a signal for you to catch amoungst all the sounds to possiably hear a good target better like silver high tones. Marksman7 has a video in this forym about doing so and it works at least last time I was out I tried it and liked it in really trashy spots. If was farily clean then I went back to normal in sounds.

GO DEEP ON if your relic hunting or deep coin hunting and it's fairly clean of targets not trashy leave FAST OFF in this scenario. DEEP gives a better target ID reading is all it does on the screen helps the processor to decipher the target slightly better.

IF you can run AUTO+3 and it's above 22 sensitivity If I remember right then take GROUND and run NORMAL instead of DIFFICULT as the soil is better in that area less mineralized also for plowed fields and sandy beaches or sand areas too.

In the normal hunting sceneraio like a park run TRASH in HIGH mode for the see through capability so it signals on the good target not necessarily the discriminated or larger bad target like in nulling it still gives a signal on the good target.

In a field relic hunting the I would run TRASH NORMAL as you ARE looking for iron relics.
 
I hit the church today and managed two wheats. Both signals did not lock solid (VDI) and were ~ 8" each. They were only VDI'ing and beeping nicely at certain angles. I tend to rely on my ear more than the VDI but that's just habit. I found them in conductive multi tone. No silver yet but I know it's because I haven't put my coil over any and not operator error.

I left the church and headed back to my plowed fields around a homestead I hunt. There is sooooooo much iron in the ground that it's a continuous null in conductive multi. Here is where you Tejon hunters will see the difference in machines. The way I've learned to hunt in TTF is to cccccrrrrrraaaaaawwwwww when you get in the iron. The low tones coming through my headphones are almost continuous as the coil moves. Every now and then amongst the low tones you will hear a high. That's when I go back to the target and wiggle the coil tightly to try to make it lock. The machine seems like it "educates itself" as I wiggle the coil tightly over the target. I then swing in circles around it. Some signals lock solid 360
 
ArnieTX said:
I hit the church today and managed two wheats. Both signals did not lock solid (VDI) and were ~ 8" each. They were only VDI'ing and beeping nicely at certain angles. I tend to rely on my ear more than the VDI but that's just habit. I found them in conductive multi tone. No silver yet but I know it's because I haven't put my coil over any and not operator error.

I left the church and headed back to my plowed fields around a homestead I hunt. There is sooooooo much iron in the ground that it's a continuous null in conductive multi. Here is where you Tejon hunters will see the difference in machines. The way I've learned to hunt in TTF is to cccccrrrrrraaaaaawwwwww when you get in the iron. The low tones coming through my headphones are almost continuous as the coil moves. Every now and then amongst the low tones you will hear a high. That's when I go back to the target and wiggle the coil tightly to try to make it lock. The machine seems like it "educates itself" as I wiggle the coil tightly over the target. I then swing in circles around it. Some signals lock solid 360
Click to expand...
 
I ignore the low tones because of the following.

I run in all metal mode open screen. I tested my civil war relics, buttons,brass, etc, in all metal with TTF and get a high tone. My ferrous masking level would be whatever TTF defaults to I guess.

Maybe I'm not set up as efficiently as I should be but I know that the stuff I like to dig at these homesteads sounds off high. Round iron objects make it through sometimes though.

Hope this helps.

Arnie
 
So, after reading over this again, the question is am I missing any good targets that come in low???? Not sure what type of relic would come in low that I would want to dig. Thanks for your reply, maybe some others will chime in.

Arnie
 
I think what TheMarshall ( and thanks TheMarshall, that was indeed the kind of insights I have been looking for) is telling us, is, since we, you, are using TTF , thing to remember is you are in Ferous and not Conductive, the signals received are based on the Ferrous value, plus using Two Tone the cutoff is 17 Ferrous, plus, it is very easy for iron and depth to pull a targets Fe value down below that 17 line, thus giving a grunt sound. Setting up some disc, up to around 27 will knock out iron signaling below 27, thus anything that signals is worth investigating. And since you are setting yourself up to hunt like that, there is good reason to only use one tone. Now, Im not far enough along to leave Normal response, later I may experiment more with other responses. Plus at this point, I still use Auto Sensitivity.
The couple times I have used TTF, I used a nail disc pattern, with one line of disc acorss the bottom of the screen. But, lord, those nails still squeal out like a stuck hog.
Thanks, TheMarshall, I surely will give that a try. Maybe not manual Sensitivity or your response, for now.
The Tejon, ummm, I like that machine and should have never gotten rid of it, I will get another. It has a very good wide area for nail rejection.
HH, and Happy New Year,
John
 
Thanks for the explanations. I'm trying to understand this better so I appreciate everyone's help.

Question:

If I select all metal pattern and TTF, then everything FE 17-35 would default to a low tone and everything above (<17-1) would emit high tones. Is this correct?

If so, the only difference between my setup and TheMarshall's is I am hearing all the lows (no disc) while his machine runs quiet until something comes in above FE 27. So for his machine the TTF range where lows and highs can be heard is from FE27 - 1........... correct? To summarize: He's ignoring (discng out) iron from 35-27, from 27-17 he gets a low tone and from below17 - 1 he gets a high tone?

Am I understanding this correctly?

Thanks gents!

Arnie
 
The good news is is I have pounded this new field recently with these settings and now I can go back and see if I missed anything with a new setup.... :) LOL

Arnie
 
Arnie I run my TTF exactly like u are and i have dug some very deep targets. I do not feel I am missing deep items with my setup. If you use much disc at all with TTF you still will null out therefore being in TTF is redundant in my opinion, either run TTF with virtually NO disc so you never get a null or run with some disc in conductive. Although I have found in some farm yards where I am nulling almost non stop, I would completely miss some targets because of nulling, but in TTF they screamed out. I only use TTF when the iron is extreme, like 8 or more iron hits per swing.

I have got good hits in TTF before and switched to conductive sounds and got nothing but null, so yes you will get some signals in TTF that are next to impossible to hear in conductive if iron is high enough. I have used TTF in farm yards quite extensively, experimenting with all kinds of different stuff. The more you use it, the beter you understand it, and the slower you go the better TTF works, you can barely move the coil and even with the stock coil pick out targets that are covered in iron. It is truly an amazing set up, that leaves many other detectors in the dust.
 
Thanks for that comment Goes4Ever. I was in constant null for quite a bit today. I had run TTF there before but was just more comfy in conductive. But, I have already noticed that I'm not pulling as many deep coins from the 2 or 3 areas that I have been hitting. Now, I will go through them in TTF.

I do worry about those deeper coins dropping to the 24 or so range and me missing them. Half of the coins at around 7" or 8" have bounced into the iron range. That is really why I stayed away from TTF. But, it's worth experimenting with now.

My soil is 1% mineralized (with iron) and I imagine that is just from 100's of years of iron decomposition.
 
makes me wonder if it is just different area or something because I have NEVER, EVER had a good coin come in higher than 17 FE........EVER

I have dug hundreds of targets 18 and above and never was one a coin. I have mine opened up down to 19 on the FE just in case and continue to dig them, but they are always deep iron. I need to just have faith in my etrac. When I get a target that sounds good that is reading like 20-45, I open my quick mask and it drops immeadiately to bottom right corner than reads 35-45 with open screen. I walk all around it trying to turn it into a good signal, flip it into TTF, try all kind of things and it just aint meant to be. if it says a FE number above 17, it has ALWAYS been junk/iron for me 100% of the time. I torture myself and dig them 20-45's all the time telling myself that others keep saying deep targets drop into those high FE numbers, but I guess just not here in my soil. In my area, you can trust the etrac if it is saying iron, it IS!
 
I whole heartedly agree with you Goes4ever the same here what you just said above.
When you go to wide open quick mask while in Conductive mode to double check it gives a better truer reading on the target and it's numbers. The Etrac don't lie. You got to trust it.
 
Sadly but we, you and I, cant adjust iron rejection level in TTF, what sounds low in TTF its decided by Minelab and in most situation its perfect iron, but in some extreme situation its not. Tone one is good and useful, but its different setting for very special detecting.
My suggestion for new Etrac users dont be to exited about TTF, better use Conductive but not Two Tones Ferrous, because in Conductive with threshold its much more easy to set right High Manual sensitivity in Iron infested sites. If in conductive you will hear allot nulling, this is good signal that sensitivity is up to high, for comparison in TTF you will hear just Low iron target sound and you will think --Grate I can hear all the targets now--- but in reality you will hear allot Iron deeper or all around and this will mask more good targets shallower. hearing allot Iron and knowing when is to much is much more harder than simply lower Sensitivity to hear less Nuling in Conductive.
 
I dig clad Quarters with 17-45,to17-47 numbers all the time and it seem as the fe numbers are climbing as the soil gets dryer here. I have been digging some higher fe numbers but I don't get out near as often as some of you. I can't say if coins will read higher than 17 fe but I would suspect they could. I dig 12 to 14 inches deep for targets quite often so I wouldn't say our soil is heavily mineralised
 
Yep moisture in the soil can either be a blessing to get more depth and bring in some targets because of the HALO from being in the ground so long and leaching out around it into the soil making a bigger target for the detector to see. OR Moisture as it dries up will make it a bit harder to find some targets but it makes them read better and yes that ferr. number comes up and iron gets worse so easier to distinguish as it dries out.
Good observation Mikeothmer.
 
stasys said:
Sadly but we, you and I, cant adjust iron rejection level in TTF, what sounds low in TTF its decided by Minelab and in most situation its perfect iron, but in some extreme situation its not. Tone one is good and useful, but its different setting for very special detecting.
My suggestion for new Etrac users dont be to exited about TTF, better use Conductive but not Two Tones Ferrous, because in Conductive with threshold its much more easy to set right High Manual sensitivity in Iron infested sites. If in conductive you will hear allot nulling, this is good signal that sensitivity is up to high, for comparison in TTF you will hear just Low iron target sound and you will think --Grate I can hear all the targets now--- but in reality you will hear allot Iron deeper or all around and this will mask more good targets shallower. hearing allot Iron and knowing when is to much is much more harder than simply lower Sensitivity to hear less Nuling in Conductive.
Click to expand...

Stasys - Thanks for your response. I don't understand your meaning regarding " hear allot nulling, this is good signal that sensitivity is up to high". Can you help me understand? My hunt areas have thousands of bits of rusting particles from 150 years of trash and farm implements that are real targets that can be dug up. Are you talking in the context of iron mineralization that occurs naturally versus man made particles? I don't want to turn my sensitivity down and lose depth. When I move further out to the middle of the fields away from the old homes both ferrous and conductive tones become infrequent and I'm left with a quiet running machine(28 manual sens). I'm not sure I understand your reasoning behind the sensitivity reduction unless your thinking my machine is falsing and unstable.

Goes4ever - Thanks for your input, it was very nice articulated.

And thanks to everyone contributing to my ETRAC education on this thread.

Arnie
 
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