Myers Depot Metal Detectors

CTX Troubleshooting

Proflemoi

Proflemoi

Full Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
227
Location
Gales Ferry, CT
Hello All,

I just bought a NEW CTX-3030 from Kellyco and I noticed that when I turned it on it has a consistent low volume, tone that I am hearing. This continues after I ground balance the unit. IS this normal or is there a way to correct this?

Thanks for the input!
 
Just checked in with Kellyco and I am told this is normal... but can be turned off in settings. Anyone who has the CTX do you run with this tone on or off ?
 
That's the threshold. Its used to let the op know when the machine detects rejected or very faint targets. As the coil passes over them, the threshold tone will temporarily go silent or "blank out". You can adjust it in the audio menu under threshold level.
 
Rattlehead,

Thanks for the reply.... how do you like your CTX? I just gave my NOX800 to my son and just purchased the CTX.
 
Proflemoi said:
Rattlehead,

Thanks for the reply.... how do you like your CTX? I just gave my NOX800 to my son and just purchased the CTX.
Click to expand...

You're very welcome.

For the type of detecting I do, the CTX is by far my favorite. For selective digging or coin shooting, it is still king of the hill as far as I'm concerned.

There are better options for unmasking targets in thick iron or cleaning out every last good target from heavily hunted locations (Equinox, for example).. But I've yet to find any other detector that can match the 3030/Etrac when it comes the sheer amount of accurate info relayed to the op. I'm too old and out of shape to "dig it all" and a lot of permissions are time limited, so having a machine that can drastically increase my treasure to trash ratio is a huge benefit IMHO.
 
Rattlehead is right on the money, and to spare you any pain and suffering, I’ll add one thing. Don’t think you’re smarter than the CTX, you are not. Don’t worry, neither am I. TRUST what it is telling you, you spent good money on it for a reason! Use Auto+3 for Sensitivity, especially starting out. Allow the machine to do the work and do NOT second guess it. Just drive it around and when it says to dig a hole...dig a hole. It’s literally that easy.
 
Just remember CTX can lie to you. Especially on nickels and gold rings, etc near iron.
I Have proven this multiple times hunting using another detector model. Actually Eqx more likely to be closer to truth ID wise on nickels say near iron.

Still though CTX will keep a person’s trash ratio lower overall.

Good luck with your new machine.
 
IDXMonster said:
Don’t think you’re smarter than the CTX, you are not. Don’t worry, neither am I. TRUST what it is telling you, you spent good money on it for a reason! Use Auto+3 for Sensitivity, especially starting out. Allow the machine to do the work and do NOT second guess it. Just drive it around and when it says to dig a hole...dig a hole. It’s literally that easy.
Click to expand...

^^ Good advice right there. That’s actually the key to maintaining that good treasure to trash ratio. You might miss an occasional tough target that’s semi masked, but the time you save by not chasing every iffy signal allows you more time to dig those signals with a higher probability of being keepers. It can determine whether you end up with one or two good finds vs ten or twelve! Especially on time limited permissions.

Good luck with your new detector! They call Etracs and 3030s “silver slayers” for good reason!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thank you all, your advice and experiences are highly valued! Another question... Is there a chart somewhere that will help me identify the values I am getting when I sweep across a target? For example, a Silver coin might show a certain value on the CTX over say an Indian Penny. Getting to know the numbers and what to dig is my next hurdle.
 
Proflemoi said:
Thank you all, your advice and experiences are highly valued! Another question... Is there a chart somewhere that will help me identify the values I am getting when I sweep across a target? For example, a Silver coin might show a certain value on the CTX over say an Indian Penny. Getting to know the numbers and what to dig is my next hurdle.
Click to expand...

There's a bunch of them online. Here's one:
https://nwdetectors.com/pages/ctx-3030-target-id-chart-2

Keep in mind your selected separation mode will effect Target ID on the 3030. Ground conditions or soil type can also make the numbers vary slightly.

{edit} For some reason it looks like they left out dimes in the chart I linked to above. Anyway, in my soil with high trash separation, a silver dime will usually hit around 12-45. A worn one may read a little lower.
 
tnsharpshooter said:
Just remember CTX can lie to you. Especially on nickels and gold rings, etc near iron.
I Have proven this multiple times hunting using another detector model. Actually Eqx more likely to be closer to truth ID wise on nickels say near iron.

Still though CTX will keep a person’s trash ratio lower overall.

Good luck with your new machine.
Click to expand...

The ctx is more likely to be closer to truth ID wise on silver say near iron as compared to the nox .
The ctx puts most non-ferrous targets on the 12 line that includes pull-tabs foil and other non-ferrous targets just because it's on the 12 line does not mean its a coin look at the co # to check if in coin range . sube
 
Proflemoi said:
So it looks like anything hitting at a 12 is likely to be a coin...
Click to expand...

Good rule of thumb using Etrac and CTX in USA.
Pay little attention to ferrous number (first pair of numbers) until you get more experience with detector. It’s the second pair of numbers (conductive number) that will ID your coin. Many times CTX or Etrac will be spot on or very very close.
So, aluminum twist caps, zincoln (modern pennies) will read 36-38 conductive number.
Copper pennies will read 42 conductive number.
Clad dime 43 conductive number.
Silver dimes 45 conductive number.
Silver quarter 46 conductive number.

There are 2 styles of Indian Head cents. The more modern Indian head cent will read lower than a modern penny will conducive number wise. Expect to see 33-35/36 conductive number wise.

The older Indian head penny reads even lower conductive number wise.

Nickels read mainly 13 conductive number.

Above info is a guide.
Remember a coin that is worn being thinner it may read point or 2 lower than unworn like coin.

War nickels May read higher than 13 conductive number.

Good rule of thumb cherry picking higher conductive coins. Dig targets reading 40 conductive and higher.

Cheers.

Had 2 CTX units. Liked everything about them but the weight.
 
tnsharpshooter said:
Good rule of thumb using Etrac and CTX in USA.
Pay little attention to ferrous number (first pair of numbers) until you get more experience with detector. It’s the second pair of numbers (conductive number) that will ID your coin. Many times CTX or Etrac will be spot on or very very close.
So, aluminum twist caps, zincoln (modern pennies) will read 36-38 conductive number.
Copper pennies will read 42 conductive number.
Clad dime 43 conductive number.
Silver dimes 45 conductive number.
Silver quarter 46 conductive number.

There are 2 styles of Indian Head cents. The more modern Indian head cent will read lower than a modern penny will conducive number wise. Expect to see 33-35/36 conductive number wise.

The older Indian head penny reads even lower conductive number wise.

Nickels read mainly 13 conductive number.

Above info is a guide.
Remember a coin that is worn being thinner it may read point or 2 lower than unworn like coin.

War nickels May read higher than 13 conductive number.

Good rule of thumb cherry picking higher conductive coins. Dig targets reading 40 conductive and higher.

Cheers.

Had 2 CTX units. Liked everything about them but the weight.
Click to expand...

I've put about 10 hours into my E-Trac at various yards and parks and my experience is opposite. If the Fe number goes about 17+ or so, it's almost guaranteed to never be a coin, no matter what the CO number is. In fact, if the Fe number goes into the upper teens or 20s, it's often a rusted piece of iron or large piece of trash metal (aluminum, lead, who knows what), even when the CO number is above 40 or even 45.
 
:wow:o
mh9162013 said:
I've put about 10 hours into my E-Trac at various yards and parks and my experience is opposite. If the Fe number goes about 17+ or so, it's almost guaranteed to never be a coin, no matter what the CO number is. In fact, if the Fe number goes into the upper teens or 20s, it's often a rusted piece of iron or large piece of trash metal (aluminum, lead, who knows what), even when the CO number is above 40 or even 45.
Click to expand...

Well,
In my area ferrous number can run quite high on actual detected undug coins including silver coins.
Lots of 17 plus ferrous readings on coins using Etrac here.
Ferrous number can fluctuate too. Might be 12 on some sweeps, 14 on some, 18 on some. You get the picture.
Ten hours not enough, keep using.

Odds are a 9” deep silver dime here detected with Etrac will not yield 12 ferrous number with ID.
CTX has higher chance using right mode. Still it has low chance of doing.

I posted a thread or post on this forum some time back.
Let me se if I can find and link here.
Btw advanced use of Etrac will involve listening to tone, looking at ID and paying close attention to behavior of cursor.

Here’s one thread to read in case you are thinking about using 2 tone ferrous option.
https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=217484&highlight=Etrac
 
Ill agree with tn on this one on the fe numbers.

I've dug a lot of coins with a high fe number in the 30's. I look for old foundations in the woods on state land. Most of the time the building collapsed down onto itself. Then the wood rotted away. So, i have to deal with a lot of nails. Dug an 1893 ihp the fe locked on 34. Found 3 nails in the hole with the coin. I run ferrous coin combined tones at places like these.
 
tnsharpshooter said:
Well,
In my area ferrous number can run quite high on actual detected undug coins including silver coins.
Lots of 17 plus ferrous readings on coins using Etrac here.
Ferrous number can fluctuate too. Might be 12 on some sweeps, 14 on some, 18 on some. You get the picture.
Ten hours not enough, keep using.

Odds are a 9” deep silver dime here detected with Etrac will not yield 12 ferrous number with ID.
CTX has higher chance using right mode. Still it has low chance of doing.
Click to expand...

With deep objects, anything is possible for VDIs. But the objects I've found with high Fe numbers have been found in shallow (less than 3 inches) and deep (more than 6 inch) targets.

While I could use more time to learn my E-Trac, I'm already pretty accurate with it. Even after spending about 10 hours on it, I can tell if a target I'm about to dig is a coin or junk. And if it's a coin, I can usually tell if it's a penny, dime or quarter. I'm even more accurate with my E-Trac than my Equinox 600 (I've got closer to 50 hours on that).

The Equinox might ring up a target as a 22-28, but the E-Trac will ring it up as a 19:46 or something along those lines. When that happens, it's usually not a coin, but junk.

But the E-Trac has the unfair advantage of it's dual VDI ability. And before I dig with my E-Trac, I always go to all metal and check the Fe number. When it stays the same, it's more likely going to be a coin. But when the the Fe number goes up by more than a few points, it's almost always junk.

So no, I don't need more time on my E-Trac just to get my Fe numbers like yours. Oh, and all of the above observations has been made when swinging both the Equinox and E-Trac over the same unknown target, before digging.
 
mh9162013 said:
With deep objects, anything is possible for VDIs. But the objects I've found with high Fe numbers have been found in shallow (less than 3 inches) and deep (more than 6 inch) targets.

While I could use more time to learn my E-Trac, I'm already pretty accurate with it. Even after spending about 10 hours on it, I can tell if a target I'm about to dig is a coin or junk. And if it's a coin, I can usually tell if it's a penny, dime or quarter. I'm even more accurate with my E-Trac than my Equinox 600 (I've got closer to 50 hours on that).

The Equinox might ring up a target as a 22-28, but the E-Trac will ring it up as a 19:46 or something along those lines. When that happens, it's usually not a coin, but junk.

But the E-Trac has the unfair advantage of it's dual VDI ability. And before I dig with my E-Trac, I always go to all metal and check the Fe number. When it stays the same, it's more likely going to be a coin. But when the the Fe number goes up by more than a few points, it's almost always junk.

So no, I don't need more time on my E-Trac just to get my Fe numbers like yours. Oh, and all of the above observations has been made when swinging both the Equinox and E-Trac over the same unknown target, before digging.
Click to expand...

Of course you need more time.
Why?
You haven’t exposed Etrac to enough varied detecting scenarios.
Fact.. Etrac can indeed hit a silver dime for example, and give pretty good id when iron is trying to mask. When this degree of masking is taking place, HIGH odds ferrous number will be far higher than 12 on id scale.
So a person discounting digging based on higher than 12 fe reporting target, beware!!

Goes like this using Etrac. If I see a 40-47 conductive number in window running disc at line 28 in lower right side of screen. If I hold my coil up some and target goes away to eliminate target being possible aluminum can.p. I am digging. Few silvers I have ever dug ever read 12 ferrous number.

Using ferrous value on located targets to make dig no dig decisions— bad strategy. Unless ferrous number reports say 29 and higher.
 
tnsharpshooter said:
Of course you need more time.
Why?
You haven’t exposed Etrac to enough varied detecting scenarios.
Fact.. Etrac can indeed hit a silver dime for example, and give pretty good id when iron is trying to mask. When this degree of masking is taking place, HIGH odds ferrous number will be far higher than 12 on id scale.
So a person discounting digging based on higher than 12 fe reporting target, beware!!

Goes like this using Etrac. If I see a 40-47 conductive number in window running disc at line 28 in lower right side of screen. If I hold my coil up some and target goes away to eliminate target being possible aluminum can.p. I am digging. Few silvers I have ever dug ever read 12 ferrous number.

Using ferrous value on located targets to make dig no dig decisions— bad strategy. Unless ferrous number reports say 29 and higher.
Click to expand...

All of that proves nothing. You said to ignore Fe numbers initially. I gave examples of why, even with not much time on the E-Trac, it still pays to pay attention to Fe numbers.

Maybe I'm an outlier, maybe not. Either way, it shows that exceptions exist and that's the only point I was trying to make.
 
mh9162013 said:
All of that proves nothing. You said to ignore Fe numbers initially. I gave examples of why, even with not much time on the E-Trac, it still pays to pay attention to Fe numbers.

Maybe I'm an outlier, maybe not. Either way, it shows that exceptions exist and that's the only point I was trying to make.
Click to expand...

Minelab devised CTX with keeping the ferrous number closer to 12 line when reporting ID using ferrous coin mode. Ground coin mode use mimics moremof how Etrac reports nonferrous targets in the wild.

Btw, when I got my Etrac I hunted this one 1700s site until the cows came home. The cows didn’t Come home for years either. This site a true bear with iron scattered all over. Painstaking detecting. In the end it paid off big time. Sure I used at other spots. But this one site more or less the tell all for Etrac.

My job when posting on this forum is to give best advice based on actual what I have seen using specific model detectors.
Could info help a person perhaps.

Auto sensitivity is not where the max depth is with Etrac. Manual settings of 26 and higher.
Some depth may be sacrificed if difficult ground is selected and the ground isn’t higher mineral.

Etrac is a very very very good coin detector in USA.
Requires patience using though.
Not a lot of ground can be covered efficiently using.
Still slow sweeps = deadly outfit.

You could find a coin near a iron pole. I’ll bet ferrous number reads higher on it or no ID at all.
You may find this video of mine here interesting.
Etrac sweeping coin near iron pole.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FsHucIOqzLQ&t=5s

This video compares conductive tones selected vs 2 tone ferrous vs 4 tone ferrous.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NhYmKSwiMY8
 
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