Should I dig this signal?

[DiggerAl]

Hello, I have recently gotten the Minelab E-trac. May I say this machine is definitely my favorite, it has gotten me several wheaties, and other cool finds. Now I have never found any silver, not with any of my machines, except one 1907 Barber Dime in a farm that had an old school house at one point, but that is a different story.

Now, the reason I am posting this is because i have gotten signals (1st number)11-14 (2nd number)35-47, and the E-trac says it is right on the surface, or 2 inches down, and I have been passing them thinking they are just zinc pennies or clad things, I do dig most of the quarter signals though. Today i was hunting in a nice park from the 30's, and got a really strong 12-44 or 13-43 and i decided to dig it, and my E-trac said it was 1 or 2 inches, so I pulled out my ProPointer and got no signal. I dug a nice plug about 4 inches down, and started to get it so i dug down a bit more. At about 5-6 inches down, i got a nice 1944 wheatie. Was this just luck or can these high (1st number)11-14 (2nd number)35-47 signals that say they are 1-2 inches down be a few more inches deeper than the machine says, and can they be good coins? I am going back to the same park tomorrow and i want to make sure i am not passing up silver!

Thanks in advance! (Sorry if this is in the wrong place or if i worded some things oddly!)

DiggerAl

 

[jcweber77]

Absolutely! always did any repeatable 11/12/13 42-48... so 12-43 (penny prior to 1982)... 12-44 dime/silver dime... 12-46/12-47 quarter/silver quarter. Those are the numbers you want to see... 12-42 and higher! You can do a search for e-trac VDI numbers to have a reference for all major coins.

I usually skip 12-36/ 12-37 as these are almost always newer pennies (depending on the location of course).

 

[Isaac43]

Hello, I have recently gotten the Minelab E-trac. May I say this machine is definitely my favorite, it has gotten me several wheaties, and other cool finds. Now I have never found any silver, not with any of my machines, except one 1907 Barber Dime in a farm that had an old school house at one point, but that is a different story.

Now, the reason I am posting this is because i have gotten signals (1st number)11-14 (2nd number)35-47, and the E-trac says it is right on the surface, or 2 inches down, and I have been passing them thinking they are just zinc pennies or clad things, I do dig most of the quarter signals though. Today i was hunting in a nice park from the 30's, and got a really strong 12-44 or 13-43 and i decided to dig it, and my E-trac said it was 1 or 2 inches, so I pulled out my ProPointer and got no signal. I dug a nice plug about 4 inches down, and started to get it so i dug down a bit more. At about 5-6 inches down, i got a nice 1944 wheatie. Was this just luck or can these high (1st number)11-14 (2nd number)35-47 signals that say they are 1-2 inches down be a few more inches deeper than the machine says, and can they be good coins? I am going back to the same park tomorrow and i want to make sure i am not passing up silver!

Thanks in advance! (Sorry if this is in the wrong place or if i worded some things oddly!)

DiggerAl

I'd dig everything if I were you, I found many wonderful items such as jewelry and even a large cent on the surface. Don't pass up a signal, especially since you're learning. GL and HH! I don't have the E-TRAC so I don't know why the depth is showing that.

 

[Digger don]

Dig it al

 

[DiggerAl]

Thank you!

Thanks, I have skipped several of these signals, and not because I am some rich snob who doesn't want clad, it is because i REALLY want a silver or an Indian Head. God only knows what I passed up today. So can the E-trac's depth detecting thing be wrong, or is it a nice coin on the surface? I saw the post stating that silver and copper sinks slower than newer coins but still. I have heard of a merc 2 inches deep lol. Thank you though, I guess the depth thing isn't COMPLETELY reliable

 

[Isaac43]

Thanks, I have skipped several of these signals, and not because I am some rich snob who doesn't want clad, it is because i REALLY want a silver or an Indian Head. God only knows what I passed up today. So can the E-trac's depth detecting thing be wrong, or is it a nice coin on the surface? I saw the post stating that silver and copper sinks slower than newer coins but still. I have heard of a merc 2 inches deep lol. Thank you though, I guess the depth thing isn't COMPLETELY reliable

Also, remember, Indian's come up as surface zincolns. and the fatties (older copper/nickel variety for 5 years) come up as solid pull-tab. GL!

 

[DiggerAl]

Thank you guys so much!

Thank you all, I hope I find some nice silvers tomorrow or a nice Indian. If I get a 12-46 on the surface, but the ProPointer doesn't pick anything up, and i dig and it does, could it be a nice coin? Like can the E-trac's depth indicator be off a few inches? Sorry I am pounding you all with quesitons, lol.

(And sorry I don't capitalize my I's at times!)

 

[jcweber77]

To be honest, I rarely ever use the depth indicator... i go first be sounds...then by numbers....when i get a good repeatable signal, especially with key VDI numbers... i dig it. The times i have glanced at the depth, it has seemed to be pretty close though.

 

[DiggerAl]

Okay, one last question.

One last question, lol. What discrimination pattern do you use? I know there is the option for the E-trac to get rid of all the discrimination with one of the 4 buttons on the right (Top one i think?). With that a 35-46 is a high tone (Nail) I am using the coins pattern (Minelab Pattern). Do you use a custom one? And one last question, can the coins pattern be getting rid of the deep coins that get a bit distorted in the signals because of depth? (That does happen right?) Oh and by the way, do you guys have the Sunray Probes?

Sorry I am asking so much, I just don't want to dig the wrong stuff (I'm okay with trash though), and I don't wanna skip the good ones lol.

 

[Surfchunker]

I have had my ETrac a little more than a month and I started with everything open on the FE scale from 1-25 ... a good coin next to a nail can give you a high FE number but the CO number should be close, but the last week I have been using TTF in the Stock Relic Mode and I'm in love with it. most places I hunt have a lot of nails and the TTF has opened a whole new world for me, also changing the response from normal to smooth made a difference for me, I have can slaw pretty much figured out and bottle caps, I still a bit of junk #'s and have found several rings and pendants so far that hit in the foil range and up, all costume jewelry so far but if you don't dig it you will never find it. I also have been killing the nickels, 3 Buffalo's and 2 war nickels in the past week, 3 dimes one deep Barber that just gave me a hint of something and 2 Rosies that hit hard

 

[pointer80]

If you use the stock coin pattern you have to open up the 01 line for big silver. I think it is something like 01/36 to 01/49. Maybe someone will chime in if that is not exactly it. I also open up around the nickel range in the stock coin pattern because some older worn nickels will come in a little weird number wise, I mean you will not always get a textbook set of nickel numbers. Check out Goes4ever website, a lot of good info there. Good luck and HH.

 

[silverchef]

Thanks, I have skipped several of these signals, and not because I am some rich snob who doesn't want clad, it is because i REALLY want a silver or an Indian Head. God only knows what I passed up today. So can the E-trac's depth detecting thing be wrong, or is it a nice coin on the surface? I saw the post stating that silver and copper sinks slower than newer coins but still. I have heard of a merc 2 inches deep lol. Thank you though, I guess the depth thing isn't COMPLETELY reliable

Yes the depth gauge isn't always accurate. I think maybe your pin-pointing is a little off? I had that problem and never got accurate depth reading. Or a nearby target is throwing it off. Once you get a good signal try to isolate it and do really short "wiggles" to get good reading. Also although kinda rare I have found silver at 2", but usually not in a pounded park. In my experience it gets more accurate past 4". Hope this helps

 

[Surfchunker]

I've even used the depth gauge to help pinpoint it, the farther away you are the deeper it will show is true, you also have to remember that it think's it knows what it is and for the size it must be XX deep, but it can very well be a bigger object deeper and has the machine fooled or the other way around