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Why Has the Earth Turned to Foil?? Also: A Big Lesson

A

AVXVA

Member
This afternoon I had a chance to turn the machine on and I experienced something strange, bordering on the bizarre. I've detected this place frequently--normally the ground
is very quite--no stray signals, chirping or chattering from the ETrac. Today, it was like the Earth had turned to foil. Large 5' x 5' swaths of ground were returning solid
Fe-Co readings of 2-4, 4-4, 1-3, 3-5, 2-7. The machine was nulling like crazy. It was doing it on TTF and Multi-Conduct with the 1-3 Fe and Co lines discriminated out. And it
was literally everywhere...

It tried Noise Cancellation up to 6 with no difference or improvement at all.

The ground has gotten progressively dryer for the last month, no rain at all.

What was going on?

Also, I buried 5 pounds of pre-1982 copper pennies at a depth of 17"-18" for a test. On the surface, 1 copper penny gave me a 12-44, 10 copper pennies gave me an 11-44,
and 5 pounds of copper pennies gave me a 11-36. Buried 18" deep in compressed soil that same 5 pounds came back ALL OVER THE PLACE for Fe: 4, 6, 10, 11, 15, 22...
but the Co remained pretty constant at 34-36 regardless of setting or sweep. Also, while Auto gave a signal, +3 yielded a much better response.

Bronc
 
Your penny test sounds about right.

As for the other thing, maybe something is loose? Have you changed out the batteries and checked to make sure the coil connection was tight?
 
I'll tell you an experience I've had on more than one occasion. These were two separate spots I was detecting in. I happened to swing, near as I could tell, over some buried electrical lines. My machine wouldn't shut up no matter how many times I noise cancelled. I ended up have to shut the machine off and restart it before it got back to normal. It just may be you happened over an area like that. I was running in Auto sens. also, so I know it wasn't due to too much sensitivity. Also, having something loose did come to mind as well.

NebTrac
 
Clean out the coil skid plate. Dirt and stuff collects in it and can cause trouble like you describe. Loose connection may be the trouble as well.
 
I'm with you Goes4ever, seems like you could find a better way of testing the e-trac? Do you plan on digging pennies at 18 inches? If so your probably going to run into some problems from property owners.
 
I've actually thought of doing the same thing, in a mason jar with the steel lid....just to see the type of reading I'd get. I was going to probably bury mine around the 12 - 18" mark. Mainly listening to the signal and more importantly the pinpoint strength. This would be strictly for "cache" type searching. I never got around to it though. My feeling is that, at a farm site, I'd probably dig any signal not iron. This of course depends on my mood and ground conditions.

NebTrac
 
pointer80 said:
seems like you could find a better way of testing the e-trac? Do you plan on digging pennies at 18 inches? If so your probably going to run into some problems from property owners.
Click to expand...

I guess you have NOOOOOO desire to find a cache? I think its a great way to test different response patterns for particular targets.

I have dug a number of mason lids, some even still attached to the jar. Every one of them got my heartrate up, hoping for a cache!
 
jason, yes I would love to find a cache but, I think if I get a good signal at 12-18+ inches down I'm naturally going to dig it anyway. I dont have to bury 5 pounds of pennies to do that. I too have dug mason jar lids and your right, very exciting. just my opinion. HH.
 
I've got a great old place here in town that is acres I cannot hunt at all. The coil on the ground or the machine held straight up in the air it just gives off good signals and tones constantly. Mine is EMI. Very old place just cannot be hunted!
 
Carcur, NebTrac and Jason in Enid are correct, I'm trying to develop the skills and situational awareness to locate and recover caches. Is there anyone on the list who has experience in the search for caches? If so, I wish they would share and give us the benefit of their experience. My plan is to bury large amounts of silver and copper at various depths in various containers to determine what depth and "container shielding" does to the aura (halo) around the target. I don't have a large amount of gold to bury, so I'm substituting copper pennies, with the understanding that the specific reading will vary.

My first question is this: If gold is buried in a circa 1850's iron transfer box (strong box) made of 3/32" hammered iron straps and rivets and that box has been in the ground for 150 years, is rusted but still intact, will I be reading the iron of the box or the gold at two feet deep?

Bronc
 
Well, that ones easy. It will read as straight iron.
 
AVXVA said:
My first question is this: If gold is buried in a circa 1850's iron transfer box (strong box) made of 3/32" hammered iron straps and rivets and that box has been in the ground for 150 years, is rusted but still intact, will I be reading the iron of the box or the gold at two feet deep?

Bronc
Click to expand...

I guess if I were looking for that type of target. I would:

1. Use TTF
2. Dig anything that gave a high signal.
3. Dig anything on the Ferrous signal that pinpointed "big"

OR

Strictly use Ferrous sound and SINGLE tone.

You're not far off of your thinking from mine. I have one of those "outlaw" buried treasure stories on some homesteaded land. Got it narrowed down to the area about twice the size of a football field - for starters. Swung a couple of times there. Only diggin' the high tones. After thinking about it...I really don't know what they would've buried it in, so you'd about have to dig "large" Ferrous objects as well. Interesting daydreams for the winter months.

NebTrac

NebTrac
 
Thank you Jason for that critical piece of information. The guys in Great Britain (and Europe) run an open screen and dig everything and I think this is one of the reasons why. If a cache of gold or silver is buried a hammered iron box, or cast iron pot with a lid, the ETrac will read "worthless iron" at the bottom right-hand part of the ETrac screen. Serious cache hunters HAVE to dig everything. They cannot rely (hope) that everything is buried in a crock or a feed sack or something.

I'm psychologically trying to condition myself for this reality--because it's such a pain in the ass--but it's the nature of the beast I suppose.

Bronc
 
Thank you NebTrac. I had completely forgotten the single tone option. In all honesty, isn't it a blessing to be searching (and hoping beyond hope) for caches buried in an iron box? It seems to me like the aura (halo) of an iron target would enlarge over time creating a BIGGER signal. And, even if the box completely rusts away over time, the gold and silver remains.

How do I achieve MAXIMUM depth with the ETrac beyond running in +3 Auto?

Bronc
 
AVXVA said:
How do I achieve MAXIMUM depth with the ETrac beyond running in +3 Auto?

Bronc
Click to expand...

Manual at 30 is as hot as the E-Trac can get, that I know of.

NebTrac
 
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