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What is the break point for you on the ferrous side...?

J

jbow

Active member
Say you get a signal that reads 43, 44, 45, 46, or even 47 on the conductive side when does the ferrous number get you to pass it up? I am thinking that if the ferrous is 30+ it's probably iron... am I missing stuff? -30.. i've been digging and have gotten a few goddies that way. If the tone is good enough and it checks out iffy in QM or pinpoint I will dig. I am not sure but I think sometimes a good target might read iron in pinpoint becuse of the machine locking onto iron next to, above, or under the target. I am sure I have missed a few goodie when I was using pinpoint to check targets... shouldn't do that with a machine that finds good stuff in the iron...

Julien
 
I thought 23-24 n FER. was about the cut off point.As 2 friends and I have agreed,and found silver and wheat's in that range,but. Yesterday we were hunting a mid-1800's park and ,my friend GOIO found a 1912 barber dime that he said gave Fer. 30,31 # bouncing all over when he went 2 QM. He said it was just a chirp ,but he was used to digging deep silver on those faint high chirps with his SE so he thought he would give it a shot. He was using his ET in Coins,Auto sens ,deep on,and he said it was about 7".
 
I have been running my QM at 25 to check signals but after what you have written I think I will lower mine to 32 :)

HH

Beachcomber
 
You can get a signal in the disc mode with the ferrous at 10-16 but a bit iffy, but when you go to QM that ferrous will read 30-35 so you may not dig these, but they are good signals. When we go to QM we feel it is reading the iron that is close to the good target, but in our coin pattern we hear the coin in with the iron which makes it a bit iffy. In QM it sound better, but see those ferrous number read higher. My friend with the E-Trac has seen this several times and each time there was nails in the same area of the coin. Mostly below the coin or within a inch of the coin. I also seen this too once and if I would have went by the QM ferrous I would not of dug it as it was reading 30-35 mostly and was bouncing around a bit, but in the disc coin mode it read if I remember right 12-14 ferrous.
I think we are all still learning this detector but the more we use it the more we like this E-Trac.
 
Not sure if I am reading you right, but QM is just another disc pattern - just a quick way of setting one up. The item should read the same although with more of the screen open it has the opportunity to bounce more if its reading multiple targets.
 
they bounce up into the 10-14 range, and switching over I find that tit is simply going off between two or off too the sides of a nail..
The pinpoint mode on the etrac lacks the ability to pick out close targets like the mode on the explorer II,, so I dig them and so far only nails.. I find the coins that are reading lower and bouncing, that they don't get down in that 34 range, but nails read solid and off to the side.. coins I have gotten like this stay pretty steady in the 23-20 area.. then again I get sick of digging nails quick, so I may be leaving some..

I wish someone that hunts older cellar holes would chime in here and see if they are seeing the same with the nail falsing... I know a lot of people are not in old enough spots to have to deal with loads of early 1800 and 1700 cut square nails.. they are not you normal nail.. and the majority of these places burned to the ground so every nail in the house is spread around 20 to 30 feet from the hole mixed in with coal ashes and slag

I seldom dug a nail with my explorers in ferrous mode, having to run in conductive may be the culprit, and I do realize you have to take good with bad, in order to be fast in iron it has to be able to not reject it as much... ferrous audio really doesn't help as the falses still bounce in coin area and will give the same coin tone no matter what amount of tones you have. I suspect even if it had multi tone it would do the same anyway..

One thing I notice on the etrac is it does much better at pulling out low conductive targets from iron, maybe its that ferrous slant they were talking about... too bad they couldnt force nails to read left side instead of right, like they forced everything else up into 12
 
I don't know about QM but the ID will often change when you switch to pinpoint and digital... usually the ferrous numbers will be much higher in pinpoint. I was under the impression that PP mode gave a little better TID, I think the Minelab FAQ on the SE stated that switching to PP to check an iffy target gives a better TID on the SE, I could have misunderstood it and it also could apply to the SE and not the ET..

but from reading this thread I am wondering if, when I get a good TID in disc and then an iron ID in pinpoint, maybe I need to start digging some to see whats really happening. I would think that this should apply to the ET also...

It is here: http://www.minelab.com/consumer/page.php?section=298&fId=62

and it says:

Tips & Tricks with the SE
As with any metal detector it takes time to get to know it really well. Explorer SE allows one to do this really quickly and it provides a wealth of information with just a few button pushes to glean extra information for some signals that you may not be quite sure about.

Pitch Hold - The Pitch Hold mode, when combined with the updating of ID's in Pin-point is a powerful tool, and a great aid in isolating a good from a bad target. An advantage noted during the testing of the new SE was that Pitch Hold just suddenly "grabs onto" targets which were audibly quick, unmistakable and instantaneous signals.
Digital Screen - should you have a signal you are undecided about, simply engage Digital and hit Pinpoint - pass over the unknown target a few times and it should reveal it's identity very quickly by displaying four numbers e.g Fer 31 Cond 31 (large ferrous) and in the new detector a depth estimation as well all via the new VCO Pinpoint mode.


Julien
 
I find that smal pieces of square nail will always sound good. I'm talking about pieces about 1" long, I dig too many of them at one site because they will not "double beep' and they always seem to read good.

J
 
Rick ND is spot on about good targets in trash as I have found the exact same thing many times on coins at depth (5"-9").I get a good sounding signal with good numbers in coin mode and switch over to QM open screen and the ferrous numbers will be around 30 and conductive numbers will still be 30-47 as a coin should be.This is in heavy trash with nails bolts or whatever very close to the coin.In pinpoint mode many time I can't even pinpoint because the iron will overpower the coin.Also in the coinmode it seems that heavy trash close to a coin may lower the ferous numbers a little .If it sounds good and is half way down on depth meter and reads 1-15 ferous and 29-50 conductive I won"t hesitate to dig and I am satisfied with the target a very high percentage of the time.Keep in mind that I am hunting in parks schools and church yards 95% of the time,Ray.
 
I've found good targets with a ferrous -30 and the conductive 20+ but it seems that once the ferrous rises above 30 it is iron, but... at this point I am not so sure. I am going to have to dig some iron I think.

J
 
I know on the Explorers it works this way as iron mask just let you hear and see more what is going on. With the E-Trac it seems like when you run a open QM the ferrous seems to read that of the iron more so you will feel it is a iron target, but in the factory coin mode it seems to pick up what that isn't disc out more so you are more likely to dig. The penny I dug with the nails in the same hole was repeatable enough to let me know there was something there of interest as the good ferrous numbers and conductivity numbers. Now I went to a open QM and it sounded better, but the ferrous just showed the nails and I probably wouldn't have dug it if. Being I was new to the E-Trac I had to see what it was and went out of QM and it now showed a good ferrous number but not as nice sounding target. My buddy Tim was telling me he seen this too a few times as in QM it would not be a target he would have dug, but in the coin pattern it may not be as nice of a signal, but the ferrous was more correct and one you would want to dig.
Remember the E Trac is not a Explorer so it is a bit different than the Explorer and we are seeing at this time this detector is made for for patterns that are more correct more than running wide open.
Just wanted to let everyone know to keep a open mind with the E-Trac as some things are similar to to Explorer while some are different..
 
i think you mean an open AM screen - QM doesnt imply AM as the disc along each axis can be set anywhere along that axis - you can have most or all of the screen disced out in QM, but you can also run in AM.
 
I hunt by sound first! I noticed the first day by digging everything that it didnt really matter what the digital said! Most of the good sounding targets were in fact good.......... The digital numbers were reading all over the place!! However, once you get the good target pinpointed in between junk and do the wiggle (like with the Explorer) it seems to give a better reading not perfect but much better!! :thumbup:
 
This is where I see many signals that will read iron that read a good target that is iffy in the factory coin mode. This is why I feel in the factory QM mode it will read the nails that are beside or with the coin, but in the coin mode it seems to read the coin in the correct ferrous numbers or close enough so you will dig.
 
Hi Rick,

What is s the factory preset QM? I looked in the manual and couldn't find and I don't want to reset everthing to find out. The pictures in the manual show 24-12, is that correct?

I have been trying AM in QM for a double check. I hunted yesterday with fast both on and off, (I keep deep on all the time), but I have yet to see a difference on a target with fast on or off. I got 6 wheats, a silver rosie, and a medallion of some kind... all in an area about 6' wide. All about 7-8 inches down under some sod.

Julien
 
Jbow.....I'll take anything above 28, especially if it's over 8 inches as indicated on the gauge.

(I normally hunt in Ferrous audio, 2 or 4 tones, 24-26 Sens. Masked 35 to 28. Pitch-hold. Other settings, site dependent.)

You certainly should not be too influenced by iron signals when trying to pin-point, except to say,"Re-scan the pin-pointed location".

That helps confirm whether you actually were over a good target. Off-axis iron may fool the coil until accurately located.

A warning that iron is probably trying to mask your good target, is seen when the cursor bumps up to the ferrous mask-line.

If you flick into an AM Quick Mask screen and the cursor drop to solid-in-the-corner iron, then that's the warning for iron masking.

That's been my experience anyway.

I'm always alert to what the unit is telling me about the ground via the auto-level gauge.

Naturally, what works for me on my area, may not be ideal for you and yours..........MattR.UK
 
For the last 10 days or so I have been hunting in auto +2 or +3. If I use a coins type pattern I hunt in conductive/multi... if I hunt in a relic pattern, (an I often do), I use ferrous/2 tone amd pitch hold... I like pitch hols a lot.

I notice on those iffy iron signals that if I pinpoint in digital they almost always give a high ferrous reading, higher than when not in pinpoint. I have noticed when checking in QM that they sometimes jump between the bottom and the middle of the screen along the same conductive line. I will start digging some of those, I have been passing on most of them. Thanks for the help on that...

I have noticed that most of my high iron falses come when I am between two pieces of iron about 10-12 inches apart. I can dig one or the other of the two pieces of iron and the false will disappear.

HH,

Julien
 
I have been saying for quite sometime to forget the FE :numbers as you will lose about 50% of your coins:crylol:
 
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