Etrac Quick Mask and/or TTF???

[monkeys uncle]

ETrac newbie here. Can someone explain (layman terms) how Quick Mask or TTF (?) settings help a user detect a good target from among the iron/trash that caused the 'Threshhold' tone to go 'Null' or silent? My limited experience trying to use either certainly seems to help locate a buried target that caused the null...but, said target typically gives an Fe/Co value(s) like 35/47. Something looks/sounds good (Co-47) but, why dig a target that has peaked the iron scale (Fe-35)?? I've got all the nails, horseshoes and barb wire I'll ever need.

Obviously, I'm not understanding what the machine is trying to tell me. What am I missing?

All replies welcome and thanks in advance.

 

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[CincinnatiKid]

Question with a question.
Did you yet obtain the Andy Sabisch, Explorer & E-Trac Handbook? If not, please do so. It helps me continually.
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[cudamark]

I use the TTF in a wide open screen (either Quickmask or other modified program). In a real trashy site with lots of iron (think beach fire ring area), the good sounds will chirp through all the low tone iron trash if you work the coil slow enough. If you move the coil too fast, it will just null out totally. Use of a small coil will help even more to separate the targets. Even so, some areas are just to overwhelming to hunt without running a magnet through the sand to remove most of the loose shallow iron targets first.

 

[bwstephen]

I went to a hunted out park yesterday using a large coil on my etrac. (15") I have made some good finds here but you really have to hunt as this park has been thoroughly searched over the years. I decided to get out my 5" coil and hunt near the restrooms and dig all the 12s and search for gold in heavy trash near the restrooms. It is very slow looking and I switched to ttf, I got a 12-14 signal almost immediately. It is almost always a pull tab but like I said, I am digging all 12s. To my surprise out popped a nice woman's class ring, this is the second class ring I found in this small city park. Hunting in ttf and a 5" head is slow but it does give you a great option. Most run from heavy trash but I also found a large silver ring here also. Going back soon and stick with 5" coil and ttf.

 

[BryanM362]

I have been using the etrac for about 2 years now. Honestly, I don't pay any attention to nulling. The etrac goes deep enough that a good target will give a good signal.

 

[Jason in Enid]

The best way to use QM is when you are hunting some amount of discrimination in the pattern. You can get those "peek a boo" targets that seem to just pop up right above the disc line. so you ask yourself "is that an iron false or a coin with a high FE number?" Switching into QM with an open pattern will let you see the truth of the target. I have found silvers with FEs consistently in the 20s. It never dropped down into the iron hole at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Machinist]

Quick Mask gives the user a one touch option to temporarily remove any discrimination pattern set. Think of it like the detector has 2 memories. So instead of having to change the selected discrimination pattern the user can push the QM button and the detector defaults to an all metal discrimination, like it is using a second memory. The selected discrimination pattern is still active in the first memory so when you are done using QM one can just press the button again and it reverts back to the selected discrimination pattern. As for it's purpose Jason said it all in this one sentence above "Switching into QM with an open pattern will let you see the truth of the target." So if you are detecting and the threshold nulls out, and you want to see and hear the target's values press QM and swing over the target. To get back to your selected discrimination pattern press it again.

That is QM's most basic use. The Etrac is a very customizable detector. QM can also be used to temporarily or permanently modify a selected discrimination pattern (with limited usability) on the fly. Explaining all this will require a lot more typing and that is the purpose of Andy's book. I cannot say enough about that book. He really goes into some nice detail, with stories, situations, and recommendations, on all your questions here and a lot more.

Ok, some on Two Tone Ferrous. Now all this is just reference. What I mean is there is no right or wrong way to use these settings, it is a matter of preference. Using the Multitones settings can, to some people, get confusing in high trash areas. The Etrac allows that to be changed to using 4 tones or just two tones, obviously with the latter being the easiest to use. The user then has the choice to make the sounds ferrous or conductive based. The tricky thing to remember here is that the sounds work in opposition to each other!! With the Conductive setting ferrous targets sound lower pitched and conductive targets sound higher pitched. With a Ferrous setting a more ferrous target will sound LOW pitched and a conductive target will be HIGH pitched.

I hope that helped explain those settings and again that book is a very valuable resource. Just because one has the Etrac do not be eager to skip over the other models information. There is a lot of useful information and knowledge, from the other models and their users, that can very useful.

 

[Jackalope]

...but, said target typically gives an Fe/Co value(s) like 35/47

A Fe35, Co47 is likely iron with sharp points - like a rusty screw. When I get a null, I just make a quick sweep from a few different angles to see what's there. If it is 35/47 I'd move on. It may be there is a non-ferrous in close proximity to the iron, which reveals itself when you hit the nulled area from different angles. I've had the E-Trac/CTX null repeatedly on every sweep in heavy iron contaminated soil - in those cases, it is best to use a smaller coil, and to move very very slowly, also attacking from various angles.

QM: As others have already said, the QM just lets you set and switch between two screen DISC patterns easily. That's all. Most people switch between a fully open screen and their DISC screen setup. As most people know, the more DISC you use the less sensitive the detector becomes - especially to weak conductors (like jewelry and deeper targets on the fringe).

TTF: Most people use TTF just to hear (Low tone) the higher Fe values for the purpose of hunting iron fields. Rather than DISC it, you hear it in TTF, keeping the sensitivity to small, deeper targets unaffected. You just concentrate on the High tone (1-17Fe) and ignore the Low (18-35Fe).

I made examples of how the various setups would look and work, with the recommended area to add DISC for each. Might help someone.

4TF


4TC


TTC


TTF

 

[Jackalope]

Considering patterns: If you were wondering where trash targets fall (when trying to decide which pattern to choose), consider the target patterns below. Many junk targets occupy the same Fe-Co values. An air test reveals their favored Fe-Co areas (scanning at various target angles to the coil and distances from the coil). As you know, the good non-ferrous also occupies the vicinity of 12Fe, which confuses the issue - even so, it can be helpful to see the junk iron enemy revealed.

Foil


Pull-tabs (all kinds)


Bottle caps


All junk targets from the junk pile


The junk target pile itself


Jackalope