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Etrac numbers ?

markinswpa

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Joined
Nov 5, 2015
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Pittsburgh Pa.
Got an etrac a few weeks back, so far pretty confused.Downloaded the Andy S program and have been hunting in that mode. Tried digging by the tones, mostly rusty iron. Then checking vdi numbers, their jumping all over the place. If I get a good number, a 1-46 then 12-47 as I swing the fe number jumps up in to the 20s. and the fe # stays high when I turn 90 degrees. If I jump over to quickmask the numbers are around 35-50 with the cursor moving just a little.I dug alot of trash this weekend and passed on signals I probably should have dug. Also I noticed sometimes I'll look at the screen and see a good set of numbers but didn't get any tone, go back over the area and can't hit those numbers again. I have read alot of whats been written here, but getting good repeatable two direction tone and a verification in quickmask ain't happening for me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Mark
 
Andy S pattern is way too much for a beginner, especially if hunting sites with very few coins. Close down your screen via disc 35 CO and below out 17 FE and above out. You'll wind up with a rectangle that's open in the upper right of the screen. As you progress you can open more of the screen. Easiest way I know of. Will you miss some really deep skewed worn out coins? Maybe. If you run with what you have right now it's sensory overload, you'll just get overwhelmed.
Be sure to run Auto plus 3 for now as well, no Manual Sens.
 
Remember the FE number is the amount of iron/ferrous in the target and the CO number is the amount of conductivity. If that FE gets above 18 I generally consider it junk. Of course the numbers can vary especially on deep targets so use a number of swings and average out the FE if it jumps a lot. The CO is a lot more reliable and 34-47 is what I consider good. Again, use an average of say 10 swings to determine the number you make the decision to recover or not on.

The E-Trac can be overwhelming but hang with it and when you click you'll be a happy camper.
 
Like IDX said, Andy's pattern is very open and was too much to take in all at once when I was learning the Etrac. It was overwhelming for me at first. The Bill S trashy park pattern is a very good pattern to learn the Etrac on. It's got a lot of discrimination and it is focused on coins so there are far fewer tones and numbers to process and learn. It is very good for finding silver coins and I still use it when I don't feel like hearing a lot of noise.
 
Get Andy's book, and use the factory coins preset with auto sens at 0. You're running it way too hot, and open, as a beginner. Slow down your sweep to a crawl, and keep the coil low. Take shorter sweeps of only 2 inches when checking a possibly good target. Listen for that flutey high sound. Circle around the target while using those short sweeps to see if it stays mostly consistent. The majority of "good" target will be on the "12" line.

That's about all I can suggest since I haven't used my E-Trac yet, but have read the manual, and Andy's book. There's more to it, but that should help you get started...
 
Remember the FE number is the amount of iron/ferrous in the target and the CO number is the amount of conductivity. If that FE gets above 18 I generally consider it junk. Of course the numbers can vary especially on deep targets so use a number of swings and average out the FE if it jumps a lot. The CO is a lot more reliable and 34-47 is what I consider good. Again, use an average of say 10 swings to determine the number you make the decision to recover or not on.

The E-Trac can be overwhelming but hang with it and when you click you'll be a happy camper.
Thank you I guess I'm trying to run before I can walk
Andy S pattern is way too much for a beginner, especially if hunting sites with very few coins. Close down your screen via disc 35 CO and below out 17 FE and above out. You'll wind up with a rectangle that's open in the upper right of the screen. As you progress you can open more of the screen. Easiest way I know of. Will you miss some really deep skewed worn out coins? Maybe. If you run with what you have right now it's sensory overload, you'll just get overwhelmed.
Be sure to run Auto plus 3 for now as well, no Manual Sens.


Sent from my SM-S902L using Tapatalk
 
Like IDX said, Andy's pattern is very open and was too much to take in all at once when I was learning the Etrac. It was overwhelming for me at first. The Bill S trashy park pattern is a very good pattern to learn the Etrac on. It's got a lot of discrimination and it is focused on coins so there are far fewer tones and numbers to process and learn. It is very good for finding silver coins and I still use it when I don't feel like hearing a lot of noise.
Thank

Sent from my SM-S902L using Tapatalk
 
Get Andy's book, and use the factory coins preset with auto sens at 0. You're running it way too hot, and open, as a beginner. Slow down your sweep to a crawl, and keep the coil low. Take shorter sweeps of only 2 inches when checking a possibly good target. Listen for that flutey high sound. Circle around the target while using those short sweeps to see if it stays mostly consistent. The majority of "good" target will be on the "12" line.

That's about all I can suggest since I haven't used my E-Trac yet, but have read the manual, and Andy's book. There's more to it, but that should help you get started...
Thank you

Sent from my SM-S902L using Tapatalk
 
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