My Search Programs for Minelab E-Trac and CTX 3030 Metal Detectors
Search Program #1 For Detecting Coins At Former Homestead Sites, page 17
LEVEL 2 - "Medium Discrimination/Moderate Noise" - PROGRAM SETTINGS
By this point, you have explored, "learned", and "pounded" the site of a former homestead using the CONDUCTIVE SOUNDS audio and a lot of Discrimination. As you have excavated all unmasked coins and non-ferrous artifacts as well as the large- and medium-sized shallow iron objects, and you hear no more responses to non-ferrous targets, it is time to use the Level 2 program settings of my "Coins" search program.
The following program settings enable your E-Trac or CTX 3030 to:
• detect coins and artifacts that are in very close proximity to iron trash but not masked by it;
• respond to coins that are deeper (at intermediate depths) in the ground than were the coins detected with the previous Level-1 program settings;
NOTE 1: If you are an experienced detectorist, you may want to skip to the Level-3 Program Settings with the minimum-Discrimination pattern on page 20.
NOTE 2: In the "Level 1 - High Discrimination/Low Noise" Program Description, I explained every program setting's level or mode I utilize. If any setting in the following program has a different mode or level, or not utilized at all, a clarification will be given accordingly. Otherwise, please refer to the Level-1 Program Description for detailed explanations of program settings and useful tips for their implementation.
NOTE 3: While all the E-Trac functions, program setting and modes are given in black, the program settings of the Minelab CTX 3030, references to their description pages in the CTX-3030's Instruction Manual, and my short notes on their utilization in this program are given in this pink font color.
NOTE 4: I ALWAYS operate my metal detectors with headphones.
NOTE 5: A SLOW sweep speed is the basis of the search coil discipline when operating any FBS metal detector at the iron littered site. With current program settings and Discrimination pattern, slow coil swinging allows to detect good targets lying beside iron nails, hear responses from some deep and small targets, and hear the low-tone responses from accepted iron targets without additional high-pitched falsing.
NOTE 6: Any suggestions are WELCOME!
SEARCH COILS:
Both small search coils (for E-Trac: 4.5 x 7" DD EXcelerator ("Sniper" type), 6" DD EXcelerator EQ 2 Pro, Minelab FBS 8", 8" EXcelerator Concentric, and 8x6" SEF; for CTX-3030: CTX 06 Smart Coil), and a standard (stock) 11" DD search coil (for CTX-3030: 11" DD Smart Coil) should be used for detecting the deep-buried and masked coins and other non-ferrous targets with this program.
PROGRAM SETTINGS for HIGH-MINERALIZED GROUND:
NOTE 6: Some program settings for detecting on LOW-MINERALIZED grounds are included and explained.
NOTE 7: Summary Tables for these program settings are shown at the bottom of next page.
DETECTION SCREEN - PATTERN Screen (to select this mode, press "Detect" button; page 23 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual) - see details on page 2.
CTX 3030:
DETECT Screen (page 7 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
Sensitivity Menu:
(see details on page 3)
SENSITIVITY - AUTO (pages 54-56 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
SENSITIVITY - AUTO (page 21 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
AUTO SENSITIVITY LEVEL - A (page 55 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
AUTO SENSITIVITY LEVEL - A (page 21 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
Audio Menu
(see details on page 4)
THRESHOLD LEVEL - 15 (page 58 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
THRESHOLD LEVEL - 15 (page 23 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
VOLUME LIMIT - 15 (page 60 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
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).
CTX 3030:
VOLUME LIMIT - 15 (page 24 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
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.
RESPONSE - Long (page 62 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
RESPONSE - Long (page 39 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
NUMBER OF TONES - 4 Tones (use the Tone ID sub-menu; page 64 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
The NUMBER OF TONES setting is not available in CTX-3030
Used along with the FERROUS Sounds and the Level-2 Discrimination pattern (shown on page 19), this setting actually turns into 3-Tone Ferrous as the area between the FE lines 30 and 35 is rejected. Shown on a picture to the right is an "official" configuration of four tone bins (in 4-tone FERROUS) on the E-Trac Smartfind window. In reality, the bins are not equal in width as shown on page 19.
Under current metal detecting conditions at the site, you will encounter very little superficial non-ferrous targets such as pull tabs, clad coins, aluminum wire, brass casings, etc., so every high-tone response you now get will be worth investigating.
CTX-3030:
TONE ID PROFILE TYPE - Combined (page 36 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)
The Combined mode combines the "4 tone CO" and "1 tone FE" audio modes. The "4 tone FE" mode can be effective with the current Discrimination pattern as well (see details on page 19).
SOUNDS - Ferrous (page 65 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
The SOUNDS setting is not available in CTX-3030
CTX-3030:
TONE PROFILE TYPE - Combined
This setting performs the combined function of three E-Trac modes - NUMBER OF TONES (5), CONDUCT and FERROUS SOUNDS. If the "4 tone FE" is implemented with the current Discrimination pattern, you will have 3 tones in FERROUS SOUNDS according to the E-Trac's terminology.
VARIABILITY - n/a (page 67 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
This setting does not really play a big role unless you utilize the MULTI SOUNDS mode
VARIABILITY setting is not available in CTX-3030
TONE ID LIMITS - n/a (page 68 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
This setting is only available when the NUMBER OF TONES is set to MULTI.
The TONE ID LIMITS setting is not available in CTX-3030
TRESHOLD PITCH - 17 (page 69 of the E-Trac Instruction Manual)
CTX 3030:
TRESHOLD PITCH - 17 (page 24 of the CTX-3030 Instruction Manual)