Etrac nulls on silver half

Narthoniel

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Jul 1, 2008
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Hello,

After a long weekend hunt, a fellow Etrac user and myself came to realize that the Etrac would null on certain silver coins. After much thinking and expirimenting, we realized that the coin pattern discriminates out certain silver. The black line in the top right when removed, allowed the silver coin to be loud and clear. The signal it came in as was 1-46 or 1-47. With the discrimination line there, the coin nulled out. I wanted to pass this along, as we had a very hard time finding any silver larger than a dime all weekend, where other hunters found lots of halves and quarters.

In short, I strongly recommend you edit out the line in the top right so as to accept all high right targets.

Anthony
 

Iron Patch

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Sep 28, 2007
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A good lesson for letting someone else decide what settings you use.

Programs are some good hype but probably not the best way to hunt or learn a detector. No doubt some will disagree! :D
 

MT

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Feb 28, 2008
127
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What mode were you hunting in...Conductive or Ferrous? This just doesn't make sense.
HH,
MT
 

Iron Patch

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MT..JM said:
What mode were you hunting in...Conductive or Ferrous? This just doesn't make sense.
HH,
MT


That would make no difference unless it is drastically different than an Explorer.
 

dirtdigr

Greenie
Sep 25, 2008
12
0
Were you air-testing the half or was this an in-the-ground test?

On my E-trac, a Barber half hits at 11-47, a Walker hits at 10-46, and a clad Kennedy half hits at 12-47. This is air testing with the Pro coil, factory coins pattern, conductive tones.

Mike
 

OP
OP
Narthoniel

Narthoniel

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The coin in question was a Franklin half. The coin was placed in the gorund on edge, and then I took it out, laid it flat on the ground, and ti still nulled. There was nothing else in the ground to interfere. We had 2 different Etracs, and both nulled on it. Once the small line on the top right was gone, the trac sang like a canary.
 

Iron Patch

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Narthoniel said:
The coin in question was a Franklin half. The coin was placed in the gorund on edge, and then I took it out, laid it flat on the ground, and ti still nulled. There was nothing else in the ground to interfere. We had 2 different Etracs, and both nulled on it. Once the small line on the top right was gone, the trac sang like a canary.


Why use a pattern in the first place, you're letting someone else decide what you dig! Makes no sense, just hype to sell detectors.
 

MT

Full Member
Feb 28, 2008
127
3
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Narthoniel said:
The coin in question was a Franklin half. The coin was placed in the gorund on edge, and then I took it out, laid it flat on the ground, and ti still nulled. There was nothing else in the ground to interfere. We had 2 different Etracs, and both nulled on it. Once the small line on the top right was gone, the trac sang like a canary.

This is very interesting to both Mike and myself. Tests will be coming soon.
Thanks for the info.
HH,
MT
Tom
 

Iron Patch

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trash n cash said:
Coin program written across the pond for people across the pond. :icon_queen:

That would be impossible to do because their coins can come in anywhere... much more so than on our side
 

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Narthoniel

Narthoniel

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Well, considering that I am new to dirt fishing, I followed the suggested guidelines for starting out with the Etrac. I have not done anything but hunt the beach before. I was, and still am fairly new to the turf. So in my efforts to learn, I followed along like a blind sheep, not knowing much of anything.

I posted this on another board as well, and the replies there echoed what I said, and said many others had reported these issues. I dont understand why some have less FE readouts than others, just that when we tested it on that half, we had the results I reported.
 

EZrider

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Mar 10, 2008
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Iron Patch said:
Narthoniel said:
The coin in question was a Franklin half. The coin was placed in the gorund on edge, and then I took it out, laid it flat on the ground, and ti still nulled. There was nothing else in the ground to interfere. We had 2 different Etracs, and both nulled on it. Once the small line on the top right was gone, the trac sang like a canary.


Why use a pattern in the first place, you're letting someone else decide what you dig! Makes no sense, just hype to sell detectors.

Then why bother useing a discrim detector? Why not go die hard and use a PI on land and dig it all?
 

Iron Patch

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EZrider said:
Iron Patch said:
Narthoniel said:
The coin in question was a Franklin half. The coin was placed in the gorund on edge, and then I took it out, laid it flat on the ground, and ti still nulled. There was nothing else in the ground to interfere. We had 2 different Etracs, and both nulled on it. Once the small line on the top right was gone, the trac sang like a canary.


Why use a pattern in the first place, you're letting someone else decide what you dig! Makes no sense, just hype to sell detectors.

Then why bother useing a discrim detector? Why not go die hard and use a PI on land and dig it all?


If you ever have the chance try it, I did, it's one of those ideas that's good in theory but brutal in reality.
 

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OP
Narthoniel

Narthoniel

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EZrider said:
Iron Patch said:
Narthoniel said:
The coin in question was a Franklin half. The coin was placed in the gorund on edge, and then I took it out, laid it flat on the ground, and ti still nulled. There was nothing else in the ground to interfere. We had 2 different Etracs, and both nulled on it. Once the small line on the top right was gone, the trac sang like a canary.


Why use a pattern in the first place, you're letting someone else decide what you dig! Makes no sense, just hype to sell detectors.

Theres a lot in the ground, I prefer to be picky :)

Then why bother useing a discrim detector? Why not go die hard and use a PI on land and dig it all?
 

dirtdigr

Greenie
Sep 25, 2008
12
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Well, I was still curious about the different TIDs we're obtaining on halves, so this weekend I tested a dozen silver half dollars (7 Walkers and 5 Franklins) on the E-trac...and was a bit surprised.

Here are the results (air-testing, stock coil):

coin ferrous conductivity
WLH 12 46
WLH 11 46
WLH 4 47
WLH 9 47
WLH 3 47
WLH 9 47
WLH 6 47
FH 10 46
FH 8 47
FH 7 47
FH 10 47
FH 6 47


Although the conductivity readings are stable (46 or 47), the ferrous readings varied quite a bit!
None of them were as low a 01 (which is what you're seeing) but I wouldn't be surprised to eventually find one that hits this low on the ferrous scale. Did you test other half dollars and did they all give a ferrous reading of 01?

Now this was testing them flat on to the coil. If they are at an angle (45 degrees or more) then they would read with a lower ferrous number (01 to 03) but the conductivity number would still be 46 or 47. So one would definitely miss halves on edge if you have that top right area disc'd out (as in the preset Coin pattern).

HH
Mike
 

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Narthoniel

Narthoniel

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We tested several, and not all nulled. Some gave normal silver FE readings of 10-12. But like your test shows, every different half has a dfferent Fe readout. Might odd to me, but, I have learned and adjusted :)
 

jeff of pa

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Iron Patch said:
Why use a pattern in the first place, you're letting someone else decide what you dig! Makes no sense, just hype to sell detectors.

Egggzakley :thumbsup:
 

steve from ohio

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Aug 1, 2008
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Narthoniel said:
Hello,

After a long weekend hunt, a fellow Etrac user and myself came to realize that the Etrac would null on certain silver coins. After much thinking and expirimenting, we realized that the coin pattern discriminates out certain silver. The black line in the top right when removed, allowed the silver coin to be loud and clear. The signal it came in as was 1-46 or 1-47. With the discrimination line there, the coin nulled out. I wanted to pass this along, as we had a very hard time finding any silver larger than a dime all weekend, where other hunters found lots of halves and quarters.

In short, I strongly recommend you edit out the line in the top right so as to accept all high right targets.

Anthony
Excellent post Anthony. I air tested this evening and found that to be the case with the factory coin settings. A 1964 Kennedy half would null out. I got rid of the excluded area and was able to hit the coin with no problem. I wonder why the factory decided to make that area null out on the factory setting. Surely they must have known that halves fall in that area.
 

RONC(OR)

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Edit out the little bar on the top right and you will pick up the half HH RonC
 

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