Etrac just recieved. Starting a thread for ETRAC TIPS and HINTS

Hi guys. The Etrac, in default mode, with sensitivity set at manual and 28 has already hit my 8 inch dime with good ID. That is great, comparatively speaking. I have a virgin OLD YARD to go to as soon as I learn how to ground balance.
Is there a ground balance mode that you experienced Etrac users have found optimal in YOUR soil??? Maybe it will be optimal in my yard. I can try. Other hints? Recovery Deep on or off? Recovery Fast on or off? I am going to read the manual and refresh my knowledge of this unit. I must allow an hour to do this. But I never do get much from manuals. But this unit has so many buttons, and it has been well over a year since I had one (and only for about three to four weeks) that I forgot the unit...at least until I read a refresher. Meanwhile....I installed Energizer Max batteries in my spare pack. Are they okay? They are alkaline. I think it was the FISHER manuals that advised against using MAX batteries....I THINK(?). Anyway....if anyone is feeling like helping out.....this thread will likel help others out too. I haven't got time right now to research other forums dedicated to it's usage. I feel that I will learn much today. I'll have my digging shoes on...so to speak. Thanks ...ahead of time.

NO ground balance??? I know that on my XP Deus, the depth is severely limited if I don't set the ground balance. If I leave the XP Deus on 90 ground balance, my depth is limited terribly. Where is the ground balance on the Etrac?? Wow...I may end up setting here reading the manual all day.

No ground balance.
Turn on
Hold coil still and about 12" parallel to the ground and ground cancel
Ready to hunt.
Keep one thing in mind, when hunting in heavy trash or iron areas, use the high trash and fast recovery settings.
If you get in an area where the threshold nulls out a lot, slow way down.
Keep us posted about your upcoming adventure.

The E-trac doesn’t have a ground balance. Instead, it analyzes the ground signal, then subtracts the ground signal from the overall returned signal. The E-trac processes the remaining signal, and the software maps the results to predefined FE CO values. It’s the mapping algorithm that determines the values. The resulting FE CO values aren’t the target’s actual ferrous (inductive) or conductive (resistive) values. This results in accurate target ID conductivity values, regardless of the ground conditions. (based on Andy Sabisch’s “Explorer & E-trac Handbook”).

A high manual sensitivity is usually required to detect very small targets or very deep targets. After locating a target using a high manual sensitivity, there are times when the target ID values can be very jumpy. Once the target is located using a high manual sensitivity, the E-trac appears to “lock on” to the target while you continually sweep fast over the center of the target (perhaps it’s adjusting the ground subtraction value). If the target is not too small or too deep, switching to auto sensitivity can stabilize the target ID values, and give you more accurate/stable numbers. Manual sensitivity is good at locating targets, but auto sensitivity can be good at giving you more stable ID values.

Don’t be afraid to use auto sensitivity with the Pro coil in extremely high trash conditions (if you don’t have a smaller coil). If there is a high concentration of modern trash (bottle caps, pulltabs, lawn mowed aluminum can parts, etc.) a few inches below the surface, auto sensitivity with the Pro coil seems to work well at pulling out deeper coins below adjacent modern trash. The E-trac locks on to the strongest signal that isn’t being discriminated, and shallow adjacent trash is usually targeted when using a large detection field. A smaller detection field is sometimes the answer. Using a smaller coil with a higher manual sensitivity is generally better.

Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil

Most places I hunt have a high trash level so I tend to hunt in Auto +3. Unless I'm on the beach I use ground difficult. Deep on or deep off doesn't matter much to me. I rarely turn it on. Also run trash high if there's a lot of junk, it helps, otherwise off. Recovery fast on in high trash, off otherwise. One thing that has helped me find marginal targets is using tones - long. Can make a quick blip you might ignore get your attention.

Small coils are a help when there's a lot of junk. I run mostly a 13"Ultimate these days.

Good luck!!!

My advice...spend more than four hours using it!! Just kidding...sorta,haha

deathray Wrote:
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> My advice...spend more than four hours using it!!
> Just kidding...sorta,haha


Haha lol!!!

deathray Wrote:
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> My advice...spend more than four hours using it!!
> Just kidding...sorta,haha


So in 5 hours....I will be a pro!!!!!!!!! Thanks Deathray!!!You shot me through the heart with your death ray!!!!! LOL kiddin with ya Merry Christmas

Yeah, try sticking w this one longer than the last one...

Had my Etrac for almost 2yrs and still like it more than the CTX

Well then alright!!! LOLing!!! Since y'all are chiding me for buying a unit, and not even using it long enough for the little cellophane screen saver to drop off.....you've hurt me feelings. So just for that......I am keeping this one .........indefinitely!!! ROTFLing. I KNEW Aaron would have to jump in. LOL (My tone is humorous.....I am kidding all the way) And really....seriously? It only makes good sense to give this unit a chance. This is absolutely no click on, ground pump, and GO. I'll need a smaller coil right off the bat...I see that already. DO ya lose much depth when going to an 8 inch coil? From the stock 11 inch?
Plus, the yards I hunt often have CW bullets in them! As the yard today did (a 69 cal and two teardrop 36 cal Colt pistol). I need to do some manual study and see what numbers come up with various relics, although I bought this to be a deep silver coin or Indian head getter. I surely don't want to miss any relics. I ALREADY love the Etrac. It's not painful to swing if I set the length correctly and adjust the center of gravity to favor my stature (tall and very good looking)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2012 02:35AM by Kevin B.

Look up the field test Tom did on my Etrac early spring 2011. He had hit a dime at 11" w my X-5 coil, of course in his non min soil.

The X-5 is a excellent 5" coil. I also love the sunray probe w the Etrac (the only machine I use it with).

Call Ralph at SunRay tell him I said "Hi".

Thanks Aaron. Hey, I just air tested my unit with a mercury dime and a silver Washington quarter. In Manual sens @30 I was hitting a dime at 13 inches!! A quarter at 14.5 inches. When I switched to Auto +3 , it would only air test those items at HALF that distance!!! Now, rookie logic tells me to use MANUAL sensitivity. And simply forget all about Auto Sens. Please feel free to tell me why my logic is flawed. I already know the old adage that: "Air tests tell you nothing". Well, it told me that I could air test a dime at 13 inches in manual sensitivity and 7 inches at Auto sens +3. In what applications is Auto sens used?

Personally, I would run it in manual and as high without instability as possible.
You should conduct some tests that will show the relationship between sens. settings.
For instance, 27 may not lose much depth over using 30 but at the same time allow for more stable running.
In the city, around power lines, you may have to back down some for good running.
A smaller coil will help with dealing with power lines also.
While using a smaller coil, you will likely find that you can use higher sens. settings.

It does have the noise cancel which can help sometimes.
While I don't have Etrac, with my Explorer I do like the "long" audio setting but it takes time to get used to it. (called audio 1 on old Explorers)
I noticed an earlier reply about the "long" audio setting.

Get out in your yard and scan old coins, bullets, etc to see how they sound and where they land on screen.

Don't forget to edit your stock coin program. They have big silver disc out. Upper right hand corner.

Kevin - Learn to learn those deep coin "bounces". This is especially true in mineralized ground (my ground is moderately mineralized). I've got a lot of that on video (as well as other stuff). Check out my youtube channel.
[www.youtube.com]

If you can run manual 30 in your field conditions you've got much better hunting conditions then mine! Here it would just be a constant cacophony of random noise, I'd never be able to pick a target out of the mess.

I have an X-5 and it's pretty good at separation and depth. Word is the 4.5 x 7 EXcellerator is even better but can't speak from experience there.

It'll find the relics as long as you dig 'em! This was on a trash pile at 14" measured:



I'm not in a civil war area but have hit very old assorted bullets and a musket ball.

Worthy of a "sticky": [www.dankowskidetectors.com]

Quote
Kevin B
Please feel free to tell me why my logic is flawed.

Notwithstanding all the induced noise you'd hear on an otherwise quiet platform, most deep nails would false high tone.

go-rebels Wrote:
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> > Please feel free to tell me why my logic is
> flawed.
>
>
> Notwithstanding all the induced noise you'd hear
> on an otherwise quiet platform, most deep nails
> would false high tone.


Good advice here too. I have seen this happen when trying to run sensitivity too high. The detector will be noisy and will tend to false on deep nails. I usually run it in auto +3 to get an idea of what I'm dealing with and then switch to manual.

A word to the wise use the presets until you get comfortable and don't get fancy with settings. Secret is the tones so for instance if your looking for silver dimes run the dime under the coil until it get ingrained in your brain and in the field it will stiop you in your tracks...We all may be looking for certain targets so do that with them and after a while all will fall into place. We all learn at different paces so do a lot of digging at first and it won't be long before some goodies go into the pouch as it seems the weight is not detrimental and should serve you well. Couple of hours won't do it and a couple of weeks or even a month or two is more like it before you get comfortable...
Google around my friend as the net is full of info and well Rome wasn't built in a day but a well learned unit should be a keeper...and if not I will give you my address as I accept Christmas gifts even after the holiday....

Words that I'll heed Dan-PA. I cannot afford to buy and sell units like this so frivolously. And after a trip out to my test garden where I slid a silver dime into the 9.5 inch test hole (I'll need to bore deeper holes, 9.5 is the deepest) my etrac hit that dime and with a good ID. This detector is plainly deeper than my Deus. The Deus has it's own strengths. I am getting fair at pulling targets from an iron filled dirt matrix with the Deus. But I see now that the Etrac is a deep target getter. It even hit my 7.5 inch brass Union coat sized button with great ease. And also my 7,8, and 9 inch bullets. All in the coin pattern. I may keep it in coin pattern to quieten down the iron for a while until I recognize how to read two sets of number. Thats the part that I don't get: Why two sets of numbers? I'm not dissing the machine. Just wondering why iut has to complicate things with two sets of numbers over one target. Should I concentrate on the Conductive number???? Anything in the 40's is silver? or something like that? Just rhetorical questions. I will spend the holidays understanding this unit.
BUT I WILL SAY THIS. My last Etrac, at Manual 30 sensitivity. Would not air test NEAR as deep as this unit. This unit is showing me why people like it. But I am a LONG WAY OFF from being a competent hunter with it. When I am out there swinging it now....I am as lost as a man in the moon. I'll dig alot. That's one thing I ain't skeered to do. I'll dig an unkown sound in a second!
By the way...thanks for all the great replies. They enhance my study.

Buy Andy S's book on the eTrac...you wont be sorry. I loaded up several of the reccomended eTrac programs in mine and set off that way. I liked a fairly open screen on mine...one of my favorites for relics/coins was the Extensive Nail Program that you can download. For just coins, I used a couple of programs...one was Andy's from the book and another one was one of the guru's from Findmall who had a lot of success pulling silver out of trashy areas.

Man oh man I loved hearing that high tone and looking down to see a 12-40's number on the screen. I got to the point I was calling my silver coins.

A lot of guys like the 2 tone Ferrous mode...I tended to favor the 2 tone Conductive mode. I don't like a machine with a lot of tones...basically I kept it simple.

It didn't do so hot on Civil War bullets...the eTrac tends to like round things (coins) much better than irregular shaped things like bullets. Come to think of it, I dug more buttons with it than I did bullets...guess because they were round? Not sure but that machine loves round things.

My only two complaints about the machine were the sorry battery life and the horrible balance of it. But it was one of the best coin machines I ever ran.

Yes they included Andy's book in my last Minelab Etrac. But since he has taken up with XP, I think that they quit including it. I read it cover to cover and forgot everything I read over the last couple of years. LOL...
I hunted the old homesite again today. I managed to pull a fired teardrop bullet (it was round and laying flat) and another round unidentified object (at depth) with my Etrac. I pulled the Deus out again so that I could cover the trashier parts of this lot. The XP Deus is remarkable...I just wish that it had the depth of the Etrac and maintain its unbeatable unmasking.
I just went out and detected my three buried bullets....no....4 bullets. 7,8,9, and 12 inch bullets. Minie's. The conductive number is around 30. The ferrous number is from 1 to 10. It can't make up its mind. It hits a 9 inch dime easily and with great ID. I MUST have gotten a fluke the last time. I had someone on a forum give me the hottest (manual sens at 30) setting, and I couldn't hit an 8 inch quarter with my last one. This one is hitting my 7 and 9 inch clad quarters with relative ease and with ID numbers that correspond. I JUST CANNOT understand WHY we need two sets of numbers. I mean....it may help me in the long run....but right now it is only confusing me. I set mine up in two tone ferrous today and ran sens at manual 28. I also tried Auto sens at +3. But I am just aimlessly trying new things. Oh...and if a button is flat....it SLAMS on that joker!!! Forgot the two sets of numbers though. I am going to search and reserch and figure out what the two sets of numbers are telling me. When I see a 40 something in the Co side....I start gettin happy. But I have yet to run across silver with either machine at the house i am hunting. I did pull a 1929 Wheatie with the Deus this morning. Oh..I forgot...and the scoop part of a spoon that says Savannah Tenn on the part that would hold food. I have strong reason to believe that it is sterling. I'll take it to a jewlers and see, but it was shiny out of the ground, and makes that silver "tink" when dropped on a hard surface. Found it with the Deus.
But the day is fast approaching when I'll get to see those 12-45 numbers that I am watching for. Or even 12-37 (Indian head?)
I am going to start shopping for coils. That 5 inch Sunray sound like a winner. Many people have been touting it. Now...I'm hongry. Going to town fer supper. SWEETPEAS is having chicken and dumplins and fried chicken tonite! (they better have them candied yams or I'll!!!!!...............get another side dish.)

Your two numbers are FERROUS and CONDUCTIVE

The FERROUS numbers represent the amount of ferromagnetic properties in the detected metal target.
The CONDUCTIVE numbers represent the amount of NON-ferrous (conductive) properties in the detected metal target.

CONDUCTIVE = aluminum, brass, lead, copper, silver, gold .... to list a few. These are metals that do NOT stick to a magnet.
FERROUS = Iron, steel. These metals will stick to a magnet.

I know it's hard to watch the smart screen when you are so use to looking at numbers, but try it.

If memory serves me the E can show both. The two numbers, ferrous and conductive are used to make the smart screen cross hairs to be in certain areas on the screen. In other words, line 12 ferrous and line 44 conductive, puts the crosshairs at a certain point on the screen. If that area is discriminated out (blackened) you will get a null, if white, you will get a tone telling you what the detector thinks the target is.
You probably know all this but I wasn't sure after reading your post. Take your time with the E, it's fun to learn and a serious unit. It will click sooner or later, with use.

Thank you both for your answers. That comprises additional light of understanding. QUESTION: If a silver dime is 90% silver.....and it shows up (sometimes) as 12-44 (I may be off a conductive number or two), why does it show to have iron properties, that the number 12 indicates? Let me try a question like this: When using an F75 or F5 or G2, I get one number...say in the 80's for a silver dime, how does knowing the iron properties assist me??? Identification?? The iron numbers seems to fluctuate if the target is deeper. I guess i really need to study up on this before littering the thread with these type questions.
I found a website by a man named Goes4ever that is about the Minelab Etrac and his time with it. It appears to be in depth and complete with vids. I REALLY enjoy watching earthmansurfer (hope I got that right) and wjs's vids on the etrac. I just haven't had sufficient number of rainy days to study like I should. On the day that I got my Etrac (yesterday) I had several virgin sites to hunt. I was torn between wanting to unleash the Etrac on a new site for a better chance at coinage and actually hunting the site for it's potential. That's why I pulled out the Deus. I can pretty well tell by the sound if a target is going to go in my target pocket. Most of the time. But I will enjoy learning this powerhouse too. I am SO GLAD......that I got a good unit. I REALLY REALLY think that my last Etrac had some issues. But this sucker is hitting everything that I've got buried. And with a ID. The 12 inch bullet excepted. But bullets (even the 7 inch deep one) tend to bounce around but seem to hover around 1-30. Anyway....guys, and gals (Bryanna?) I appreciate y';alls patient replies.
Ya know, what I NEED to do is to run the coil over all the things that I am hunting for. See....I never thought that the new yard that I started yesterday would contain CW bullets, but after thinking about it, I see that it should because it is in the neighborhood of a major camp (under asphault and houses). I am hushing now because I am rambling because I love talking about this stuff. (See why I love buying new detectors!!!???) lol

Kevin.
Pay attention to the tone more then numbers. A half dime will give you a 11-37 or 12-38 evan a deep Barber will have a co 39 or 40 but it will be the tone that catches your attention. I had a 10 inch Barber with a small lead wheel weight at 3". FE numbers were anywhere from 9 to 25 with the Co number bouncing 34 to 42 but it was the tone that made me dig it, it just screamed silver. The co numbers are pretty consitant most of time but with trash and iron they will bounce alittle but not near as much as the FE numbers. If it is a deep target and gives the right tone dig it.

docbars Wrote:
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> Kevin.
> Pay attention to the tone more then numbers. A
> half dime will give you a 11-37 or 12-38 evan a
> deep Barber will have a co 39 or 40 but it will be
> the tone that catches your attention. I had a 10
> inch Barber with a small lead wheel weight at 3".
> FE numbers were anywhere from 9 to 25 with the Co
> number bouncing 34 to 42 but it was the tone that
> made me dig it, it just screamed silver. The co
> numbers are pretty consitant most of time but with
> trash and iron they will bounce alittle but not
> near as much as the FE numbers. If it is a deep
> target and gives the right tone dig it.

You bring up an interesting point. A few times I got a clear high tone with a lower than expected number on the screen. I almost didn't dig the target as the lower number threw me at first. Anyway, I checked the target further and it mostly gave a high tone but the numbers didn't match what I was hearing (Perhaps there was iron nearby masking it somewhat from disc - I don't know). One or two times it was a silver ring and the other times some nice coins. What causes this? My guess was a co-located target, but I don't remember finding that but perhaps it was there. I wonder if the algorithm gives more precedence to the sounds of a higher Conductive target than the VID, or something like that?

Would someone, who is feeling good this morning, like to explain about tones being set to either FERROUS or CONDUCTIVE.

Kevin B Wrote:
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> Would someone, who is feeling good this morning,
> like to explain about tones being set to either
> FERROUS or CONDUCTIVE.

I think the vast majority of users prefer to run in multitone conductive (especially coin hunters). Though, TTF is popular amongst iron - I did find multitone to be the best in moderate iron in my moderately mineralized ground. Taken from the manual:

Sounds
Range: Conduct or Ferrous
Factory Preset: Conduct

The Sounds setting allows you to set the detector to emit a distinct audio response based on either a target’s ferrous characteristics or its conductive properties. To test your selection it is necessary to move the coil across one or more targets with different conductive and ferrous characteristics.

Note: Even though you can still adjust the Sounds when the No. of Tones is set to 1, it will not have any effect on the target audio response. Conduct

When Conduct is selected, audio tones are emitted according to the target’s conductivity (the horizontal axis of the Smartfind Window, or the second number in the Digital Screen). Conductivity

A high pitched signal denotes a large, highly conductive object with Target Crosshair displayed near the right of the Smartfind Window (or near a CO number of 50).
A low pitched signal denotes a small object with low conductivity; the Target Crosshair is displayed near the left of the Smartfind Window (or near a CO number of 1).

Tip: Conduct is often preferred by coin hunters, as desirable targets such as gold, copper and silver coins will give a high tone signal response, compared to low conductive junk targets such as foil and pull tabs.