Getting my etrac tomorrow

skateteacher

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Joined
Mar 7, 2012
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141
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SoCAL
I get my etrac tomorrow and I've been watching video's and reading a ton. I've been using an ATpro the past 3 years and i'm pretty efficient with it and at a new site today dug a 1942 walking Liberty with it. The etrac is my first minelab and I'm looking for advice for my first hunt out of the gate. I'm a fairly experienced detectorist and i'll be hunting for old coins on an old ranch that used to house farm workers 60-100 years ago. It's now a nursery so the ground is full of metal as buildings were bull dozed years ago.

My question is this. What settings would you recommend right out of the gate? I want the high squeal of silver in terms of tones (or at least something that approximates it). I don't mind digging as thats how i'll learn. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
Nice machine! If there is silver there you'll find it! GL and HH.
 
For coin shooting try Bill's Trashy Park program, multitone conductive with high trash separation. Swing slow.

Get yourself a copy of Andy Sabisch's Etrac Handbook and download the Etrac Emulator & US coin pack to help familiarize yourself with the sights, sounds and settings of the detector when you're not out detecting.

A forum search should bring up links to all of the above.

Congrats on the new detector! :cheers:


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I would set variability setting to 30 (Max),, and volume gain to 29 or 30.
Run in auto plus 3 first couple times out.
You could after a short while try manual 24 sense setting,,,just to see what happens when you sweep.

Do a noise cancel,,,no matter how quiet the detector seems to be running.

Open up your pattern some,,but stock coin program will find some stuff.

Pay attention to how the cursor positions itself,,,and how good it holds its position when sweeping a target.

Swing slow,,,recovery fast would be what I would start with at first,,will make detector slightly more tolerable in case your sweep gets a little too fast.

Get yourself a silver dollar and sweep,,notice where it comes in on the screen and number ID wise,,then check a quarter and a half dollar if you have one.

You have 2 options for pinpoint,,,practice over target on top of the ground,,to see which one you like better. (Normal and sizing)

Good luck,,,not a hard detector to run,,KEY is slow sweep,,,you actually can't sweep too slow,,one of the great things about etrac. Other detectors need more coil movement and faster to get deep,,,not etrac.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm waiting for school to get out and the UPS guy to get here:cool:
 
Start

You can start in auto + 3 till you get used to it, tones Pitch hold multi tones will give you the silver squeal , after you get used to it manual sensitivity 26 up , whatever runs stable, i usually ran wide open screen, number's & tone hunter, you can also just start in the coin program, i believe there is 5 on the e-trac, than edit the settings, have fun, it's a great machine, upgraded to the CTX3030 learning them now, Happy hunting Earl
 
I get my etrac tomorrow and I've been watching video's and reading a ton. I've been using an ATpro the past 3 years and i'm pretty efficient with it and at a new site today dug a 1942 walking Liberty with it. The etrac is my first minelab and I'm looking for advice for my first hunt out of the gate. I'm a fairly experienced detectorist and i'll be hunting for old coins on an old ranch that used to house farm workers 60-100 years ago. It's now a nursery so the ground is full of metal as buildings were bull dozed years ago.

My question is this. What settings would you recommend right out of the gate? I want the high squeal of silver in terms of tones (or at least something that approximates it). I don't mind digging as thats how i'll learn. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
I was watching cut a plugs video on YouTube last night seemed to have some pretty good information I run an at Pro now and am thinking about an etrac. Let me know how you like it

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just upgraded to the ctx myself but I mirror what everyone said... cut your swing speed in half then half it again. low and slow is the key and if your sites are trashy like mine wait for the threshold to come back before moving the coil too much. Other than that the etrac will let you know when a coin is there for you
 
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, but most will. Hope this helps.
 
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Well I got out there today with it and I'll admit I struggled. A lot. Part of my problem was obviously dealing with the threshold and the multi tones. I had planned last night to put in some programs but I didn't have any AA's for the detector and I needed the 18 hours to charge it.
I'm not quite sure what I was doing as I was getting some some weird signals. One thing I had trouble trying to figure out was turning down the sound. Think I figured it out but I plan to spend some time in the manual tonight. One thing I noticed right away was the Etrac wasn't this heavy beast that I had heard about. My ATpro with the stock coil is way more uncomfortable to swing than the Etrac so if you're concerned about the weight I think it's overblown.
I was trying to beat the rain today so i only used it for a short time before switching back to my AT due to rain fear. I'm going to do some air testing over the next two days before I get to go out again on Sunday. I'm excited and I plan on getting as many hours on the Etrac as possible so I can master it. Time is all I have so I hope i'm pulling silver out soon.
 
Well I got out there today with it and I'll admit I struggled. A lot.

ST, I too went from an ATPro to an Etrac. I also struggled. A lot. For me it was the barrage of new sounds, and dealing with iffy signals. Like Rattlehead suggested, Bill's Trashy Park program helped me get over the learning curve. The tight discrimination helped me focus on what I was supposed to be listening for. The next best thing I did to help me learn was to get it on some new ground. My ATPro did an excellent job on my usual spot which only exacerbated my frustration learning the Etrac.

The main thing is stick with it. Like everyone says, soon it will "click" and you'll be inseparable. I love my Etrac (now).

Good luck!
 
ST, I too went from an ATPro to an Etrac. I also struggled. A lot. For me it was the barrage of new sounds, and dealing with iffy signals. Like Rattlehead suggested, Bill's Trashy Park program helped me get over the learning curve. The tight discrimination helped me focus on what I was supposed to be listening for. The next best thing I did to help me learn was to get it on some new ground. My ATPro did an excellent job on my usual spot which only exacerbated my frustration learning the Etrac.

The main thing is stick with it. Like everyone says, soon it will "click" and you'll be inseparable. I love my Etrac (now).

Good luck!

+1 before I had the etrac i had the at pro. Its a very different machine and I had to relearn a lot of things. The trashy park pattern helped out a ton just to isolate some of the tones to good acceptable targets. After you get comfortable with that you can open the discim up more
 
Have two hunts under my belt and so far so good.

The disc on this thing is amazing. I went to the hardest places I could think of. I seemed to have threshold problems so I turned the machine off and on. Noise Cancel really quieted the machine.
 
Am I able to simply load bills trashy park program onto my etrac via the X-change program? If this is the best and easiest way are there any other programs/patterns I should have loaded? I really appreciate all the intel you all are providing.

Thanks!!
 
The volume gain is like volume level, do not turn it up so loud it blows you away.

This site here has a great exchange program and it's what I use to load my programs with. I don't recall if there is a instruction manual anywhere, but I learned it by trial & error.

I think Bill's program is in here as the "New Park" program

Good luck

http://thebeepgoeson.com/index_downloads.asp
 
Well I got out there today with it and I'll admit I struggled. A lot. Part of my problem was obviously dealing with the threshold and the multi tones. I had planned last night to put in some programs but I didn't have any AA's for the detector and I needed the 18 hours to charge it.
I'm not quite sure what I was doing as I was getting some some weird signals. One thing I had trouble trying to figure out was turning down the sound. Think I figured it out but I plan to spend some time in the manual tonight. One thing I noticed right away was the Etrac wasn't this heavy beast that I had heard about. My ATpro with the stock coil is way more uncomfortable to swing than the Etrac so if you're concerned about the weight I think it's overblown.
I was trying to beat the rain today so i only used it for a short time before switching back to my AT due to rain fear. I'm going to do some air testing over the next two days before I get to go out again on Sunday. I'm excited and I plan on getting as many hours on the Etrac as possible so I can master it. Time is all I have so I hope i'm pulling silver out soon.

Some advice here,,,I see you plan on air testing,,,this is ok to do,,,but with etrac all you really care about is knowing what a say coins comes in at,,,,you are not worried about actual air test distances. There is a chart somewhere,,with etrac coin ID,,I will find it. Getting use to the tones,,,variability needs to be 29 or 30 here,,,before you get to far in learning your detector,,,as this setting will change how some coins will come in sound wise.
Make sure to test some junk targets too like pull tabs,,ring pulls,,even a gold ring or 2,,,you will start to see a pattern where copper and silver shows up,,nickels too.

Here is a link with good info on coin ID with etrac.
Now,,just remember some coins,,for whatever reason,,,they may tone in on your etrac,,,but ID will be off(wrong),, you pass these they could be good target.
But if etrac says it's a good target,,,chances are it is.
http://www.thebeepgoeson.com/display.asp?page=Target_ID_XLS
 
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Thanks TNS. My only reason to air test is to learn the sounds. Tone ID is helpful but I know to be any good with the etrac I have to learn the sounds(holds true for any detector I think). I'm not worried about testing for depth because no one ever found a coin in the air:laughing:

The place I am hunting yielded a 42 Half and a 67 20 centavo coin I found with my AT and then all I got was a few clad the next day with the etrac/AT combo. It's an old site where the homes were bulldozed 40 years ago and is now a nursery. I'm hopeful the rain stops tomorrow morning so I can get out there again for hunt #2 with the etrac. I can't complain too much about the rain after 5 years of drought but my gauge in my yard shows over 5 inches for today and thats a lot for SoCal.

I was able to load some patterns (Bills High trash park pattern/Andy's coin pattern) so I'm figuring out the x-change software. I still can't figure out how to get the US coins into the emulator though. Definitely an age issue I'm sure when it comes to technology. Everyone has been so helpful so thanks again to all.
 
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