E-Trac signal types

Well, the more I use my E-Trac, the better I learn it's language.

What I have noticed is that there seems to be three types of coin signals. There is the obvious one that has good FeCo numbers, and a solid tone. Then there are coins that have a Co spread of 10 points or more and Fe numbers all over the place, but they have a good (if a little warbled) tone. Then there are coins that have good FeCo numbers, but the sounds are all over the place.

I had each of these types of signals today, and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the same things.

The E Trac is going to respond to targets much better than most detectors, but it still has the some of the same issues other detectors have. For me, I have found a consistant tone for most coins. When they are on angle or near iron, I may only get a one way signal. As for the CO numbers, mine are usually really consistant, even with iron. But the ferrous numbers can be almost anywhere through the 20's. I run mine in ferrous sounds 2 tones. Only when there is severe EMI or a mix of gravel and junk, do I get very iffy hits. In the woods it runs very smooth, but at standing houses, it jumps a bit more. The key is to figure out these iffy readings and get used to the bounce. My Avatar was found in about 2-3 of soil, broken brick and iron. It was a one way hit which kept bouncing to 12-46. But if I moved the coil ever so slightly, it was broken and reading iron. Next time you get one of those different signals, Try pinpointing and finding the right angle to get the most consistant readings.

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Originally Posted by coinnut

It was a one way hit which kept bouncing to 12-46. But if I moved the coil ever so slightly, it was broken and reading iron. Next time you get one of those different signals, Try pinpointing and finding the right angle to get the most consistant readings.

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:( Now I'm thinking I'm leaving coins behind. IT seems that whenever I get one of those one way signals I can never get a pinpoint at that spot. It always pinpoints to the side, and a rescan of the pinpoint locations showed an iron null. I have found coins right next to, on top of, and underneath iron targets, but they have all had a decent signal at the pinpoint spot.

Am I missing coins? How do you tell an iron false from a good target?

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Originally Posted by Jason in Enid

How do you tell an iron false from a good target?

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Good question.... I have the same issue. Even though I've heard the textbook answer I still have some trouble with it.

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Originally Posted by Jason in Enid

Am I missing coins? How do you tell an iron false from a good target?

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We are all leaving coins behind lol So get used to that ;) It is very hard to tell a falsing from a coin near iron, mostly since there are many types of falsing. Cranking the sensitivity produces a falsing that does not repeat, so that one is annoying, but easy to see it's not a good target. Bent nails at a decent depth are hard to distinguish from coins near iron, so I dig some of those. But mostly, I try and dig the signals that keep wanting to return to the same numbers, say 12-46, 10-45, 14-46, 12-45. They always want to return to the CO of 45 & 46 and always near the 12 line. Sometimes when you pinpoint, the machine locks on to the adjacent iron target. try again and listen for that repeatable signal near iron. If you hit it just right, it should, (but not always) pinpoint. Repeatable is the key for me. Also in quick mask you may see both tatgets on the depth meter. Go over the iron and it gives a depth reading, go over the other target (if it exists) and get a second depth reading. If I am fairly certain that some of these things happened, I will dig a hole to the depth indicated, where I think the good target is and then use my probe to see if I can separate the two targets. You have to try a bunch of these signals before you can fine tune which ones you want to dig. Practice my friend, practice :grin:

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Originally Posted by Jason in Enid

:( Now I'm thinking I'm leaving coins behind. IT seems that whenever I get one of those one way signals I can never get a pinpoint at that spot. It always pinpoints to the side, and a rescan of the pinpoint locations showed an iron null. I have found coins right next to, on top of, and underneath iron targets, but they have all had a decent signal at the pinpoint spot.

Am I missing coins? How do you tell an iron false from a good target?

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If you are using Conductive tones, dealing with iron will be a challenge. When I come across a tone that indicates it may be a good target, but I suspect is iron, I use the following steps:

1) Is the target showing up on the depth gauge as relatively shallow, five inches or so? If so, when switching to pinpoint mode, does the target appear to 'move' to the side, and not where the discriminator was indicating the target should be? Nulling instead? This is an indication that I may be dealing with iron. Now -

2) Does the Fe number consistently remain primarily in the 12 to 24 range, or does it consistently remain in the 25 to 27 range? If the latter, and when combined with the above assessment, I have found such targets to always be iron, having dug many of such signals/targets.

When I have come across coins that are close to or right next to iron, the good target will, for the most part, sound off in pinpoint mode where the discriminator has also indicated it is likely to be, even when deep. You can also pick up the iron, but the good target does sound off. Under such situations I dig up targets whose tone breaks up or sounds iffy.

Some iron will still fool the best of us, but the above has helped me limit the amount of iron I dig.

OK, good info....

So I should go back to the almost solid 12-45 signal, which it pinpoint 6 inches away as iron. Now, do I dig the disc signal spot anyway, or dig out the iron and rescan for the coin?

Angel, do you use iron or conductive sounds when you hunt?

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Originally Posted by Jason in Enid

OK, good info....

So I should go back to the almost solid 12-45 signal, which it pinpoint 6 inches away as iron. Now, do I dig the disc signal spot anyway, or dig out the iron and rescan for the coin?

Angel, do you use iron or conductive sounds when you hunt?

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If you get a good signal, Eyeball where it is sounding good. Put your coil right on that spot. Move over 1 and hit pinpoint and move it back over the spot slowly. If it pinpoints DIG IT!!! That way you are not hitting the iron target. It should pinpoint under where you originally heard it. I never dig the iron target first, since I hate iron lol. I always try and isolate the good target and dig it and leave the iron.

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Originally Posted by Jason in Enid

OK, good info....

So I should go back to the almost solid 12-45 signal, which it pinpoint 6 inches away as iron. Now, do I dig the disc signal spot anyway, or dig out the iron and rescan for the coin?

Angel, do you use iron or conductive sounds when you hunt?

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I hunt with Conductive on.

If your Fe/Co numbers are consistently in the range you indicate for shallow targets, though pinpointing may be a bit off, I would dig them. Sometimes the machine may lock on to the larger (iron) target when going into pinpoint mode, and the good target (small, like dimes) may not be as apparent, though I have found that slow sweeps from various angles will help the machine lock on to the good target as well.

Move over 1 and hit pinpoint and move it back over the spot slowly. If it pinpoints DIG IT!!!

That is excellent advice and what I do also and it works most of the time. I however dig anything even if I might think or feel sure it is an iron halo if it repeats from a few passes 360 degrees around the target. Many times that one good sound and a good reading there is something keepable there.

Some very good information! I think Angel pretty much summed up how I also go about figuring out whether or not it is iron. I dig very little iron now that I know what the Etrac is telling me!

Let me add something to Angel's #1, from what he has told me.

Spend enough time with the target from all directions, pinpointing it via the 'x' method from two directions (not putting it into pinpoint mode, just sweeping from two directions and pinpointing that way). Next, try to pinpoint the target using pinpoint mode. During the latter, without discrimination, the larger (iron) target will predominate, and your pinpoint will usually be off from where you noted the target to be with the X method, using discrimination. No longer are you getting the high falsing from a corner of the iron target... you are pinpointing the iron target. It will be noticeably off.

This is for situations of iron falsing and no good target present. With a good target next to iron, it's trickier. With some focus on trying to isolate the target, usually you can isolate it at least from one or two directions, hitting mostly on 11-12/45-47. It takes patience. (Something I am very short on lol :rolleyes: )

I dug an IH today at a solid 21-38. Only 4 inches down. Iron deep near it. Tone was good from all four sides (which is why I dug it). Ferrous tones would have missed it.

Good thread. I think as time goes by and we all learn more about the Etrac we will be digging less trash. That said I think for me the surest way to learn right now is to dig!

Right now I feel pretty confident on targets from the surface to 6 to 7 down. It's the deeper ones I'm worried about missing. I'm always hearing people say, It had good tone from only one direction and was 10 down. Every target I've dug like this has been junk. Everyone of them. I want to believe I know what my machine is telling me and it keeps telling me these targets are junk. I wonder if these people digging 10 holes are digging them in soft soil or sandy types of soil where the coins and the trash both sink very deep. There's a crazy guy on another forum that says only coins sink below 8 in his area and that's why he digs anything that deep and deeper. :rolleyes: I think for MY AREA I have learned the machine fairly well. I would love to try it somewhere with 10 deep coins and trash just to see what it looks like.

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Originally Posted by OkieDigger

Right now I feel pretty confident on targets from the surface to 6 to 7 down. It's the deeper ones I'm worried about missing. I'm always hearing people say, It had good tone from only one direction and was 10 down. Every target I've dug like this has been junk. Everyone of them. I want to believe I know what my machine is telling me and it keeps telling me these targets are junk. I wonder if these people digging 10 holes are digging them in soft soil or sandy types of soil where the coins and the trash both since very deep. There's a crazy guy on another forum that says only coins sink below 8 in his area and that's why he digs anything that deep and deeper. :rolleyes: I think for MY AREA I have learned the machine fairly well. I would love to try it somewhere with 10 deep coins and trash just to see what it looks like.

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I can verify for sure a nickel that had numbers all over the place. Different direction different number. But I would sometimes get good solid nickel numbers. Anyway, I found the nickel at between 12 to 14 inches. I have found others like this, but this one I verified the depth on.

What kind of soil do you have?

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Originally Posted by OkieDigger

What kind of soil do you have?

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Clay. Desha County Arkansas is nearly all river overflow ground. Areas along creek and bayou banks(for the most part) are of a sandy loam texture while nearly everthing else is clay. Some areas are layered. No rocks. And the ground right now is totally saturated.

Clay is typically hard to dig in. The dirt here is like adobe bricks when dry and not much better when wet.

Right now the actual digging is easy. But you spend a lot of time finding coins due to sticking properties of soil. And it is messy. Sticks to everything including skin!