Getting my etrac tomorrow

MikeInMcKinney said:

The most important thing to remember when using the etrac, or any explorer, is that signal repeatability is of monumental importance. When sweeping, investigate all high pitched tones. When you zero in on a high tone, turn 90 degrees and see if it repeats again. If it doesn't, move on. It's likely iron. If it does repeat, dig it. It doesn't have to repeat EVERY SINGLE SWEEP, but the more it repeats the better. Deeper coins won't always repeat every single sweep.. Hope this helps

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skateteacher said:

Hunt #2- Man I think I've found a mistress. (been happily married for 28 years but man!) I took it back to an old ranch house that myself, my father-in law and my friend have probably hunted 35 times combined. I thought it would be a great place to learn the etrac. I started in Bills trashy park mode and then switched to Andy's coin program. I pulled 3 wheats and a 1941 Merc! All but one were deeper than my AT could see. I also pulled a bunch of nails which rang at 27-45 or 29-45. I dug them based on the tone, not the ID. The coins were all between 10-12 FE and low 40's for the wheats and the merc was a 10-45.

Here's what I learned. Trust the ID if it's 10-12 FE and keep walking if it's 27-29. I went slow and all signals were repeatable at 90 degrees. Thank you again for everyone who has taken the time to share hints and tips. Tomorrow I go back to the virgin nursery ranch much smarter than I was before thanks to all of you.

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tnsharpshooter said:

Well I hope by reading,,your etrac is you new mistress.lol

Great stuff! And yes, I was referring to the Etrac

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tnsharpshooter said:

Well I hope by reading,,your etrac is you new mistress.lol

Couple things to note.

Yes most nails and iron will report down below the 27 line 28-35.
You will see some deeper coins,,ring in and ID will be outside the 10-12 ferrous zone. Like they can come in say silver dime,,may show 19-45 on screen.

When you sweep over a target,,,watch the cursor position the whole time,,,if it stays buried like at 28 and deeper to 35 line,,,the cursor never pops out of this region,,,when swung from all angles ,,,likely ferrous target.

If when swinging,,,you see cursor staying in around 28-29 line,,but all of a sudden when swinging over target,,the cursor pops up higher on screen,,even momentarily,,,this is possibly a deep nonferrous,,being challenged by ferrous.

Another thing to watch for when you think you have a target to dig,,,while sweeping,,,try and find a good low coil height above ground,,and try and find a swing speed(coil movement) that gives the best audio tone,,,after you find this,,,do more repetitive sweeps just like this and see if audio ( better sounding) stays more consistent between sweeps,,,if it does,,and you see screen readings like I talked about above=dig.

I should also point out,,,if you get a good tone on a target,,,then pivot 90 degrees,,and target disappears,,,this not an ABSOLUTE test to prove target is iron or nail. When you get one of these here,,,apply what I have said above.
One exception here,,,if you get a good tone,,,then pivot,,and you get a good tone,,,but place on ground seems to have shifted from where tone was gotten previously,,,this likely iron or nail.

A good etrac runner,,,will be watching the exact spot on the ground where tone is being provided,,,and play off this spot for Intel,,,to make very good educated guess for a dig or no dig decision.

You adhere to all of the above,,,and see this a few times while you are detecting,,,this will accelerate your over all skills with your detector.

You won't find this info in the operator's manual.

Cheers
Etrac,,one of the best coin detectors made IMO.

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JNimons said:

These few paragraphs have so much good info...and is absolutely spot on....i read all this when i was learning the etrac...but as I was using it...the light bulb would come on.....and all of a sudden you get it

My 2 main disc. paterns are a flat line across 27 and a flat line across 23. I hunt a lot of fields and homestead sights.....27 in moderate to heavy iron...23 in clean fields.

Thanks for the insight but here's my dilemma. I don't know yet how to create a flat line across 27 or 23. To be completely honest that is greek to me right now. I don't even know what that looks like on my screen.

I hunted the ranch again today. Rocky soil that was brought in by nursery well after homes had been bulldozed 40+ years ago. For the first hour I was listening and immediately looking on my screen. I found nothing. second hour I only listened for repeatable signals, walked all around them and only then did I take a look at my screen. I found 4 Lincolns, one wheat and an old key. I'm in an area that should contain silver as I already found a walker half last week with my ATpro. The hard part is finding where the homes were in relation to the rows of trees now there. I was using Bills trashy park program today in auto+3. I'm hopeful the light will go on here soon and I begin to understand what it's telling me with regards to silver.

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Ludlow6 said:

Get use to it first... Do some tot-lots....Go slow....Don't give away your AT-pro yet... It will be a few years before your use to it enough to out perform the AT pro. Then go back to every place you ever detected.

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skateteacher said:

JNimons said:

These few paragraphs have so much good info...and is absolutely spot on....i read all this when i was learning the etrac...but as I was using it...the light bulb would come on.....and all of a sudden you get it

My 2 main disc. paterns are a flat line across 27 and a flat line across 23. I hunt a lot of fields and homestead sights.....27 in moderate to heavy iron...23 in clean fields.

Thanks for the insight but here's my dilemma. I don't know yet how to create a flat line across 27 or 23. To be completely honest that is greek to me right now. I don't even know what that looks like on my screen.

I hunted the ranch again today. Rocky soil that was brought in by nursery well after homes had been bulldozed 40+ years ago. For the first hour I was listening and immediately looking on my screen. I found nothing. second hour I only listened for repeatable signals, walked all around them and only then did I take a look at my screen. I found 4 Lincolns, one wheat and an old key. I'm in an area that should contain silver as I already found a walker half last week with my ATpro. The hard part is finding where the homes were in relation to the rows of trees now there. I was using Bills trashy park program today in auto+3. I'm hopeful the light will go on here soon and I begin to understand what it's telling me with regards to silver.

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I am assuming by reading here,,you are using stock patterns to hunt.

You can use to find some things by doing.

You need to learn how to make a pattern on your screen and save.

It is not that hard.

Someone here will walk you through it.
If I had etrac still,,I would.

Going from memory I could get you close,,,but better if someone with actual detector to give you the sequence of events needed to take place for successful outcome.

Watch this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BZRWtZY6_sQ

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JNimons said:

Here's a video that should help https://youtu.be/Fxa9xLOE1uQ

When it comes to the Etrac...you tube is your friend

I have never figured out the software. .l google the paterns and manually put them on my machine.

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