TTF........ unlocking the mystery (Removing sticky status) Ray.

[sugar]

I got my new E-Trac this week. My first metal detector ever. After reading the manual, reading various website posts, and piddling around in the back yard, I got to do my first real "Hunt" this morning with a friend of mine.

I set it up for TTF with an open screen and no head phones so we could both hear what was going on. Once we got on-site we started sweeping and hit several low tone targets that we passed on. We dug a few beer cans thinking maybe.... but no luck. Then I started hitting in the 12-35 plus range. We dug pennies for 3 hours. They just kept coming out of the ground. In one location my friend got a little chirp on the side of this hill and I came over to see if it was worth digging. I think it hit 12-38, so he started digging. After finding the penny, I scanned again. Another target in the same range so we dug some more. Another penny. This went on for over an hour. Of the 15 pennies retrieved, I think about 10 were from that one spot.

We didn't find any real old coins, or silver, but it was fun. I was very impressed with getting 15 coins in 3 hours. Of all the holes we dug, I would have to say 80% had money in them. Even though they were just pennies, it gave me allot of confidence in my new machine. Now, I just need to gain the experience and understanding to really start zeroing in on the higher value targets.

I also now understand what others have been saying about the post 1982 zinc penny. We got a few of those too and they are crusty and breaking down fast. We didn't get and wheat penny's or earlier, most were 60's 70's.

I like the TTF mode. I might try to use it again and train my ears to use 4 tones instead of just the 2. We'll see. So many options, so little time. )

lovely reading your post you will never get that first time out again so glad you really enjoyed it and that is what the etrac is about if it goes over it it will let you know just keep reading and learning and what you dont understand just ask great to have you onboard i love ttf my favourite way to hunt

 

[jer4004]

The only reason I asked about the target blending issue is that we get people over here saying that you can miss targets in TTF. They say that they have dug coins at FE27 etc. I don't believe
it myself. I think something else was close to the target...namely iron dragging the good targets FE signature down.

Gaz.

Last year I dug a IH that was a consistent and repeatable 26-38 It had a big rusty square nail next to it. I had just switched from TTF to conductive lucky I did or I would have walked right by it. Target blending absolutely happens. TTf definitely has its place but you need to hunt a place in both TTF and conductive to get the most out of it.

 

[sugar]

question for jet i am interested what sound you got when you were in the conductive mode for the id 26,38 i assume it was a grunt so were you watching the screen so you hunt with continual looking at the screen or how did you realize a 26.38 was going to be a target worth digging not quite understanding how you know what tones to dig when they seem to be right across the board if you come back to me can you explain it simply please as i am trying to follow thanks

 

[jer4004]

question for jet i am interested what sound you got when you were in the conductive mode for the id 26,38 i assume it was a grunt so were you watching the screen so you hunt with continual looking at the screen or how did you realize a 26.38 was going to be a target worth digging not quite understanding how you know what tones to dig when they seem to be right across the board if you come back to me can you explain it simply please as i am trying to follow thanks

The 26-38 was a high tone because I was in co multitone and have the 26 fe line accepted. I don't look at the screen until I have decided to dig. The reason I dug that target was the consistency of the sound first and the the consistency of the co number second. Had it been a 28-38 It would of nulled because I have the 28 fe line rejected or if I were still in TTF it would have been a low tone and I would of kept walking.

 

[Gaz]

....that's what we're saying Jer........with the TTF programme, the targets wouldn't have blended and given you a mixed high and low tone....maybe a warbly one in both directions.........

 

[jer4004]

....that's what we're saying Jer........with the TTF programme, the targets wouldn't have blended and given you a mixed high and low tone....maybe a warbly one in both directions.........

They probably wouldn't have I would have just got a low tone and that IH would still be sitting there.The tones didn't blend but the iron next to the coin brought the fe number way up. I never got a low tone on the coin just a high tone.

 

[Gaz]

.....how do you know Jer???

You said....."The 26-38 was a high tone because I was in co multitone and have the 26 fe line accepted. I don't look at the screen until I have decided to dig. The reason I dug that target was the consistency of the sound first and the the consistency of the co number second. Had it been a 28-38 It would of nulled because I have the 28 fe line rejected or if I were still in TTF it would have been a low tone and I would of kept walking."

"....or if I were still in TTF it would have been a low tone and I would of kept walking."


....So you never actually tried the target in TTF before you dug it????......

..

 

[jer4004]

.....how do you know Jer???

You said....."The 26-38 was a high tone because I was in co multitone and have the 26 fe line accepted. I don't look at the screen until I have decided to dig. The reason I dug that target was the consistency of the sound first and the the consistency of the co number second. Had it been a 28-38 It would of nulled because I have the 28 fe line rejected or if I were still in TTF it would have been a low tone and I would of kept walking."

"....or if I were still in TTF it would have been a low tone and I would of kept walking."


....So you never actually tried the target in TTF before you dug it????......

..

No I didnt but a 26-38 in CO is going to be a 26-38 in TTF also switching from TTF to CO and vice versa technically doesn't change the ID of the target just what the operator hears. I guess if you want to split hairs the open screen allows for a faster recovery but CO allows that see through technology to work so pick you poison. I can tell you by the consistency of the 26-38 and being un alerted that there was a target there that if I were in TTF and swept over that target the same way it would still be in the ground. Maybe if I were to sit there and hit it from different angles I could of got a high tone but with out a initial high tone it would of sounded just like all the other hundreds of pieces of iron I just went over.

 

[Gaz]

......all the best Jer.......

 

[Digger]

No I didnt but a 26-38 in CO is going to be a 26-38 in TTF also switching from TTF to CO and vice versa technically doesn't change the ID of the target just what the operator hears. I guess if you want to split hairs the open screen allows for a faster recovery but CO allows that see through technology to work so pick you poison. I can tell you by the consistency of the 26-38 and being un alerted that there was a target there that if I were in TTF and swept over that target the same way it would still be in the ground. Maybe if I were to sit there and hit it from different angles I could of got a high tone but with out a initial high tone it would of sounded just like all the other hundreds of pieces of iron I just went over.

Be careful now. Your tapping into the logic behind the upcoming Part 2 of my blog post! HH Randy

 

[sugar]

i must say that i am just not on the wave length for the conductive mode my take on it is if most and i say most of the good finds come in on the 10 11 12 13 line i think especially for a newbie that they all yes all need to be sounding the same to have then all sounding different would give me a terrible dilemma without looking at the screen on wether to dig or not to dig as tone wise there would be little if any difference so anyway that is what etrac have given us the choice and thank god they have because if i had to hunt in conductive mode i would have sold my etrac yonks ago its all about personal choice but for me as i cannot hear all these different tones its about knowing exactly what to dig and in 2TF i know exactly when to dig and when not to and for a newbie i think that is a huge confidence builder happy hunting

 

[jer4004]

Be careful now. Your tapping into the logic behind the upcoming Part 2 of my blog post! HH Randy

I will be looking forward to that.

 

[gjedda63]

Fantastic thread, this mode suits me perfect as I hate digging rusty nails and bottlecaps.I dont mind digging pulltabs,beavertails,screwcaps etc because I know I have to but iron?? I hate it, so
TTF will be used from now on when the snow and ice is gone.

 

[Flambeaux]

Why is TTF so much better to some and horrible to others. I use a coin pattern that Andy uses and use multi tones. If you get a nickel tone you dig, if you get a silver tone, dig..I must be missing the point about TTF..I have found coins laying right on rusty iron. What am I missing?

 

[Goes4ever]

Why is TTF so much better to some and horrible to others. I use a coin pattern that Andy uses and use multi tones. If you get a nickel tone you dig, if you get a silver tone, dig..I must be missing the point about TTF..I have found coins laying right on rusty iron. What am I missing?

I feel the same about andys program, I have seen several have great success with it, but when I have tried it and I have tried it several times I didn't have luck with it. I have never yet dug a single good item with a FE number higher than 17. Now with TTF, I have extreme good luck with it, maybe because I have used it a LOT, and I am really familiar with it.....all I know is it works for me and I will continue to use it.

When I used andys program I dug a ton of items that had a good CO number but FE was higher than 17 and it was iron each time, but with TTF, the ONLY iron I dig is iron in the holes with coins.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

The E-Trac is a complex machine with many settings - I personally like running in 2TF ( with Terry's program ) the best - it's the only program I use anymore.
I'm not saying its better than Conductive or any other setting - it's just what I've gotten use to.
Some people say Ford's the best - some say Chevy the best - drive what ever you want - set your machine up any way you want

HH --- Mark

 

[Barry NY]

Mark - I totally agree with you and have been a huge proponent of TTF since Gaz introduced me to the concept last fall. TTF is the only program that I use too. Always.

Everyone that's come detecting with me (who has an E-Trac) that I've setup in TTF has enjoyed the experience. And after having been out with multiple persons using E-Tracs - some in TTF and some not - the people using TTF came home with more finds. Coincidence???

Now, this works for sites where there is a ton of iron AND sites that are clean but where you want to dig everything that's not iron - farm sites here in the US and of course everywhere in the UK...

I believe that using TTF (with minimal discrimination - a little on the FE 01 line) allows me to move MUCH faster on the clean farm sites that I detect on thereby covering more territory and capturing more good targets than my buddies who are standing over a signal in multi CO and trying to figure out if they should dig it or not...when they finally decide to move on without digging that signal - I've already covered 50 more yards and recovered 2 more targets...

Love this topic and looking forward to the rest of your insight, Digger, on the Minelab site.

We're very close to detecting again here in the Long Island, NY area - snow mostly gone and temps keeping over the freezing mark during the day - yippee.

 

[Jack Flynn]

Here's my thoughts. I hunt exclusively in multi co so bear with me. I believe the mention here of what you are used to is the key. I've switched to TTF many times and it turns me into a constant TID watcher. My preference is to listen to the machine and ignore the screen until the tone is right for me to get my second check just before digging. Almost all the time at least 90% I'll say, I can tell what the target is in multi co by the tone. I hunt by sound and that's all the feedback I need really. My mind goes into this is work mode when watching the screen at every monotone sound and for me it takes the pleasure out of my hunting. Myself and I guess it's just what "I'm" used to is all the feedback I get from multi co. I actually stand in a place detecting enjoying the surroundings watching whats going on where I'm at and enjoying it all until that I'll call it alarm goes off in my headhones saying stop and investigate being it the tiny peep or the classic dig me now baby signal. I've ran TTF on several occasions over some of my small places to see if I wasn't successful in multi co as I thought and haven't came up with anything else. I'm thinking it is a prefernce and someone in TTF or multi co that is is really in tune with what the machine is telling them in their perspective favorite mode is gonna work the ground very hard anyway and sift it pretty good.

 

[3RINGER]

Great post. Been using it for some time and those old burnt out home steads are finally producing.

(Missing the point)

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Yes ... this is a great thread - a lot of good posts from some very experienced E-Trac user's here !

I just know that when I'm hunting at a very old site in 2TF - and I get a high tone - and the target's on the deeper side - I dig it.
This has resulted in some really cool finds. But on the down side ... I do miss that sweet sound that silver makes in Multi-Tones !

Good luck to everyone this season ! --- Mark