My Search Programs for Minelab E-Trac and CTX 3030 Metal Detectors
SEARCH PROGRAM #1: Level 1 - "High Discrimination/Low Noise", page 4
Program Settings: AUDIO MENU
Audio Menu:
THRESHOLD LEVEL - 15 (page 58 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
THRESHOLD LEVEL - 15 (page 23 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
I like to hear the threshold going "null" (becoming silent) when a search coil is passing over the rejected iron target. The threshold nulling gives me a better "picture" of what is buried underground. The spots with high concentration of square nails indicate the former presence of dwellings and utility sheds - this information is helpful in creating the strategy for searching any settlement site. If the Threshold level is too high, you will not hear the "weak" signals through threshold unless you set up Volume Gain at the level above 15 (page 61 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual, page 23 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual). The only drawback of the humming threshold is that you will not hear someone approaching you from behind even at night when the surroundings are quiet.
VOLUME LIMIT - 15 (page 60 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
VOLUME LIMIT - 15 (page 24 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
This setting sets the maximum volume of target signals and allows you to hear a greater difference between a small and large target. I do not recommend setting the VOLUME LIMIT at higher levels unless you do not use headphones, or your headphones have in-built volume controls which ARE USED for volume adjustment. A high VOLUME LIMIT setting might damage your hearing when an oversized target is detected.
If you use wireless headphones with your E-Trac, set the VOLUME LIMIT to 15. This improves the quality of wireless sound transmission (my article on "How To Make E-Trac Wireless" will be posted soon and announced in the "New Additions" (Visitor's Corner) section of this web site).
VOLUME GAIN - 27 (page 61 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
Increase the setting level to 28 or higher if the ground is LOW-MINERALIZED.
CTX 3030:
VOLUME GAIN - 27 (page 23 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
Increase the setting level to 28 or higher if the ground is LOW-MINERALIZED.
When detecting at the iron-littered site, I prefer this setting because it allows for both shallow and deep targets to be amplified to a loud audio response without overloading the audio. When this setting is at 15, the deeper targets and weak target signals will be only partially amplified, therefore, will sound quieter than the shallow targets of the same size.
If the ground is wet, decrease VOLUME GAIN to 25 to eliminate additional iron falsing which usually increases in strength in the water-saturated soil, and/or when VOLUME GAIN is set on highest levels - 29 or 30. The amplified ground minerals may sound off a lot at these high levels as well.
RESPONSE - Long (page 62 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
RESPONSE - Long (page 39 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
I prefer this setting along with VARIABILITY set on 30 because it helps me to distinguish a long and consistent signal of a coin or other high conductivity targets from the broken coin-like signals of high-pitched tones (iron falsing) given by iron targets with hallo effects that have been developed in the soil adjacent to these targets over many years. Also this setting allows me to distinguish good signals from false ones in the low-tone range.
NUMBER OF TONES - Multi (use the Tone ID sub-menu; page 64 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
Although the NUMBER OF TONES setting is not available in CTX-3030, all the NUMBER OF TONES' options - MULTI, 2 Tones, and 4 Tones, have their equivalents in the CTX-3030's Tone ID Profile sub-menu (see details in the "SOUNDS" setting's description on next page).
Multi Tone ID in conjunction with CONDUCT allows me to 1) identify the target's conductive properties, i.e. to guess its metal content, 2) hear a few targets of different conductivities, which are positioned in close proximity to one another, and 3) operate my FBS metal detector without frequent consulting the display for visual information on target characteristics.
The faster you learn the actual CONDUCTIVE tones of most targets you encounter, the sooner this effective tool - Multi Tone ID, will start saving you lots of metal detecting time. However, in some situations like when detecting coins among nails at the searched-out site, the 2- or 4-Tone Ferrous mode is utilized to reduce signal filtering; thus, making the E-Trac's microprocessor work faster, and allowing the E-Trac to respond to the partially masked coins. So you can isolate desirable targets from iron junk.