Etrac and CTX sensitivity setting,,,recovery speed affected

Let's discuss sensitivity setting on the FBS/fbs2 units,,,my title here a little off, I realize there are other models that are designed with FBS technology.

Anyway,,I have seen it said here many times in the past,,,when you go to I think 25 or 26 manual sensitivity---- machine goes into a boost ops mode of sorts.

Well, my question is if this indeed happens,,,if it is not tied to pumping the coil with more juice,,,does the recovery rate in fact decrease with these higher levels of sensitivity???

And would I be answering my own question here,,, if I said it seems like when I am running higher manual sensitivity,,, slower sweep speed is necessary it seems on many occasions to get tomrun steady while sweeping.
And I don't think these instances to which I am referring are tied to EMI.


I welcome any and all thoughts here on this subject.

It seems not many FBS/fbs2 discussions have been happening here,,and I feel I share part of the blame-- hint Deus.
But I do still have 2 of the units in question here.

Well, my question is if this indeed happens,,,if it is not tied to pumping the coil with more juice,,,does the recovery rate in fact decrease with these higher levels of sensitivity???

I think the only thing that is happening when you up your sense is the detector is better at getting the return signal that was put into the ground .I still think the transmit signal is the same at all settings it's just that running at higher sense the detector can pick up more deeper and smaller targets .So I don't think the recovery speed will change either just face it the minelab is a slow sweep machine needs this because of all the imfo it has to process . sube

I dont notice any difference Tns,

I don't run the E-Trac/CTX at high manual sensitivity unless the soil is non-reactive, else you will have a grand increase in noise from the soil - which increases the analysis/investigation time from all the little pops and quarks happening all over the audio and display.

For me, the noise is tiring to the ears, constantly rechecking false signals is tiring to the forearm (changing swing direction to overcome momentum takes its toll), and the extra depth/sensitivity may never be realized (unless you actually suspect valuable deep targets).

On the beach, rings are mostly freshly dropped (they don't last long with all the detectorists hunting constantly) so there is no reason to punish oneself with Manual 25+, Auto+3 works fine (and is very stable). If you need to go deep then by all means run up the sensitivity - but it shouldn't be the default mode. When you get fringe signals due to targets at depth, then you know you'll need to switch to manual sensitivity, at least as much as the soil will allow. But it isn't the normal mode, speaking for myself, I can run at Man 25+ for about an hour or less, then I'm back to Auto+3.

Relic hunting in fields/forests may require high sensitivity to go deep where targets have sunk, but for average situations in trashy areas the negatives outweigh the benefits, as I see it.

John....... well said. And your 'fatigue factor' differs each day.... from day-to-day. (Which dictates how much 'overdrive' you can handle).

Can't agree more with Johnny, 25 and higher in manual can be very "ear" tiring however it is beach related trashy beaches and beaches with more mineral content force a lower setting. There are some beaches that 25 is my starting point and I go from there. I will say this, IF you can get away with 25 and higher without many false signals, it really does light up the smaller shallow targets as well as give more depth. Smaller split shot, rivets, sequences from bathing suits really start to show up....as well as the odd single tooth grill and broken lobster claws from necklaces.... believe it or not, that is when a pinpointer on the beach comes in handy, I'd have missed the last gold toe ring if it wasn't for the pinpointer.


I have as well noticed the need to slow down when at higher sensitivity as to why, I can't answer that..... I just know it works better....my brain at this age can't take to much information at one time either..... :-)

Cliff

tnsharpshooter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Anyway,,I have seen it said here many times in the
> past,,,when you go to I think 25 or 26 manual
> sensitivity---- machine goes into a boost ops mode
> of sorts.
>

I've never heard this before. Please elaborate.

detectingMO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tnsharpshooter Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Anyway,,I have seen it said here many times in
> the
> > past,,,when you go to I think 25 or 26 manual
> > sensitivity---- machine goes into a boost ops
> mode
> > of sorts.
> >
>
> I've never heard this before. Please elaborate.

Well,, give me some time,,and I will find some of the posts where this was mentioned,,,may be while though,,have something else I have to do.

detectingMO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tnsharpshooter Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Anyway,,I have seen it said here many times in
> the
> > past,,,when you go to I think 25 or 26 manual
> > sensitivity---- machine goes into a boost ops
> mode
> > of sorts.
> >
>
> I've never heard this before. Please elaborate.

It is mentioned here with CTX,,I've seen it mention when talking about etrac as well.

[www.dankowskidetectors.com]

[www.dankowskidetectors.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2016 08:26PM by tnsharpshooter.

thanks, I had never heard that before. So at this point it's still just hearsay or perception? Or is there manufacture info stating as such? In my ground, Auto +3 (and probably if available to choose +5), always gave the best ID and effective depth. My soil is very mild though. Manual sensitivity just seemed like a linear gain/depth increase in my testing on CTX. But then again I only used those settings to test with not hunt.

detectingMO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thanks, I had never heard that before. So at this
> point it's still just hearsay or perception? Or
> is there manufacture info stating as such? In my
> ground, Auto +3 (and probably if available to
> choose +5), always gave the best ID and effective
> depth. My soil is very mild though. Manual
> sensitivity just seemed like a linear gain/depth
> increase in my testing on CTX. But then again I
> only used those settings to test with not hunt.

I don't think it is heresay,,,NASA Tom I think tested,, and you saw his comments..

Now there was a question at one time,, where folks were thinking or asking if tx power was increased,,,I saw a response actually from Minelab discounting this. Tx power remains consistent.

But anytime I hear the term boost,, and it is not associated with tx power,,, it seems on some units it affects recovery delay negatively,,,,and I was wondering if this holds true for etrac and or CTX.

And I've never really read where say coil height advantages come into play with higher sens settings on etrac and CTX.

Like the F75LTD non DST units,, or even the Racer 2 in deep mode,,just a few examples-- but both of these recovery is negatively affected with Bp process and deep mode.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2016 08:57PM by tnsharpshooter.

Is it really "boost" or just higher gain? When i think boost i think of an entirely different process. I'll read Tom's comments again. At first read they seemed observational not measured/verified.

detectingMO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll read Tom's comments again. At
> first read they seemed observational not
> measured/verified.

I think for the most part, the way Tom 'observes' anything can already be considered 'measured/verified'.

mike

David I'm very sure all that happens is you are amplifying the sound on the ETrac. The CTX I can't say but I have observed it "at times" here lately see a lot more stuff in the ground when turned up in manual. However when slowed down sweep wise in auto, unknown target, it would hit the same target.

Well,,I really don't know exactly what goes on when you jack up the sensitivity,,other than the fact I can find deeper targets sometimes.

Here's the deal really,,,no real separation test have been done and documented here,,at least none I've seen.

And the reason for this maybe because the FBS/fbs2 generally not the best or easiet to run in heavy iron patches.

I do know my CTX when run over the ground-- higher manual sensitivity,,, detector not near as stable,,, slower sweep speed can help at times,, but doesn't seem to fully mitigate all instability or noise.

With TX power fixed,, turning up sensitivity it seems would only amplify smaller signals,,,and the detector having a separate setting labeled as gain,, can be confusing.

And there are commments on this forum,,, where it is said CTX with small coil ain't no slouch when hunting in heavier patches of iron.

Maybe it is a nonlinear gain we see when cranking the sensitivity up.

We see this with Racer 1,, going from gain 69 to 70.

Or could the multi freq switching be slowed with this higher manual sensitivity???



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2016 03:01AM by tnsharpshooter.

In my area auto+3 but on the beaches I run manual 22 and swing away. I tend to catch blips at the edge of the swing and I find lots of extra targets. Stable and I do get a lot of small targets but just not as many good ones as bad but you never know until you dig. I also run a wide open screen to help with processor speed.

"tn,
Are you familiar with the 'low L' 'medium M' and 'high H' target channels in E Trac"?

Id guess the larger the coil halo the more soil and EMI you get which affect what the processor sees as targets...... causing recovery.