Big Boys Hobbies

Newbie- What am I listening for?

T

thebigfoote

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
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Hello everyone, thanks for taking your time to help a new guy. I have an Garrett AT Gold and have put maybe 20 hours in with it in local parks. From my limited experience, I have noticed any signal I hit that I cant get a good repeatable ID and doesn't sound like a solid hit is normally trash. I cant believe the amount of metal trash in some locations.

My last outing, I only dug signals that were solid and I could get a repeatable ID on. Is this smart or am I possibly missing good targets? I'm finding mostly junk metal (bolts, broken metal, pull tabs, cans etc.) and a few modern coins. Can you help me understand what I'm listening for to identify junk from gold or is that just part of the hobby?
 
Welcome from Dodge City

Sounds to me like you need to find a better spot to get acquitted with the AT Pro at. Very trashy areas can be a challenged even for a seasoned pro. Find a nice spot like a school playground or tot lot, or a nice park that isn't all bottle caps.

Find a spot with as little trash as possible and get used to the sounds of the AT Pro before you take on the tough stuff.
 
My advice is to detect your own yard first, unless you throw pull tabs on your lawn after drinking a cold one :laughing:

Just kidding, but seriously I'd start in your own yard first.
 
I am going to hit some schools this weekend and see how I do. How are more experienced users able to tell between trash and treasure? Is it the ID?

Digging near trash is hard, I have been successful in picking out coins near trash listening to how the signal changed as I swung. Watching the ID, I could see it going from 30's and sometimes hitting 80's. With smaller swings I could pinpoint that there was an item giving a good ID next to trash. I have no clue if this is how its suppose to be done.
 
bruinvikes said:
My advice is to detect your own yard first, unless you throw pull tabs on your lawn after drinking a cold one :laughing:

Just kidding, but seriously I'd start in your own yard first.
Click to expand...

Well I actually live in an apartment building so I'm not sure how that's going to go but I will give it a shot.
 
No matter what you might read about some of these high end super studly detectors when it comes to telling trash from treasure is really is more experience with a detector than the detector. Now that being said, there can be a big difference between detector models ability to help tell you trash from treasure.

You're on the right track with listening for a solid repeatable signal, but unfortunately that can also cover a lot of trash items such as tabs. Myself I use the tight VDI method. If you have a VDI (display) watch the spread of the numbers as you pass the coil over each time. In many cases a good coin will only vary by a few VDI numbers. Say 62-64 on a nickel. If you get the VDI jumping from 60-72 chances are much higher it will be trash. Not a 100% method, which does not exist yet, but it will narrow the trash a lot. You get that good repeatable 63 on every swing and you can almost bet the farm you have a nickel. Works the same for other coins.
 
You're listening for that clean sound/tone that hits at 80-87 (dimes and quarters) initially and don't worry about anything else until that sound gets cemented between your ears. I've used an AT for 4 years and the clean tone in PRO mode is unmistakable after a while. Once you think you've identified a target, do a 90 degree walk around and if you still think it's good do the the "wiggle" (one to 4 inches back and forth) over it nice and slow to isolate the tone. A good repeatable tone will not have a warble or scratch to it at the end of the tone, if it does it's almost always junk. Once you've identified a good tone look at the VDI. If the VDI is stable where you got the repeatable tone you've likely got a coin underneath you.

The AT in different soils will give you different VDI's especially for dimes and pennies but almost never for quarters. An 86/87 with a sweet tone is almost always a quarter but an 81/82 could be a penny or a dime depending on the soil.

Focus on learning those coins first. Nickels are always at 53 on my AT and they never vary on the VDI for me. 53 is also pull tab so you can go crazy learning them in the beginning. Best of luck to you.

Skate
 
True...good posts up there

Start in a clean(er) spot and go from there. Repeatable signals can be repeatable trash or repeatable good stuff. But even a repeatable pull tab signal can be something bad sitting on top of something good. Get the trash out of the way and you might get a whole different VDI.

Two things I can tell you for sure (and it sounds like you're figuring this out already): the only way to know for sure is to dig it. And the only way to get better at understanding your machine is to keep spending time with it.

If you're like me, you need to hear what people say, then get some first-hand experience, then go back and be re-told what you were told the first time. But this time, you're hearing it with your own personal experience behind you. Ideas tend to mean more to me after I have something to connect them to .

It sounds like you're doing just fine. You'll be up to speed in no time. Just have fun, and everything else will work out great. Welcome to your new addiction!
 
Detector said:
No matter what you might read about some of these high end super studly detectors when it comes to telling trash from treasure is really is more experience with a detector than the detector. Now that being said, there can be a big difference between detector models ability to help tell you trash from treasure.

You're on the right track with listening for a solid repeatable signal, but unfortunately that can also cover a lot of trash items such as tabs. Myself I use the tight VDI method. If you have a VDI (display) watch the spread of the numbers as you pass the coil over each time. In many cases a good coin will only vary by a few VDI numbers. Say 62-64 on a nickel. If you get the VDI jumping from 60-72 chances are much higher it will be trash. Not a 100% method, which does not exist yet, but it will narrow the trash a lot. You get that good repeatable 63 on every swing and you can almost bet the farm you have a nickel. Works the same for other coins.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help, this is the method I came up with too thru observation. I have noticed with trash, if it has an irregular shape, even a bent bottle cap you'll see the numbers fluctuate. But solid bottle caps and pull tabs give you a sweet solid hit. I'm just not yet comfortable ignoring those signals thinking i'm walking over something good but after my last outing, my trash went down quite a bit so I will stick with it.

I also noticed if its a good hit with a solid ID reading and the depth is indicated as shallow but upon digging a few inches I don't find the item, its been a dang full sized crushed beer can every time.

Tomorrow I will hit a couple old schools I have researched and hopefully dedicating to the better IDs and solid hits should turn up something good. :cool:
 
skateteacher said:
You're listening for that clean sound/tone that hits at 80-87 (dimes and quarters) initially and don't worry about anything else until that sound gets cemented between your ears. I've used an AT for 4 years and the clean tone in PRO mode is unmistakable after a while. Once you think you've identified a target, do a 90 degree walk around and if you still think it's good do the the "wiggle" (one to 4 inches back and forth) over it nice and slow to isolate the tone. A good repeatable tone will not have a warble or scratch to it at the end of the tone, if it does it's almost always junk. Once you've identified a good tone look at the VDI. If the VDI is stable where you got the repeatable tone you've likely got a coin underneath you.

The AT in different soils will give you different VDI's especially for dimes and pennies but almost never for quarters. An 86/87 with a sweet tone is almost always a quarter but an 81/82 could be a penny or a dime depending on the soil.

Focus on learning those coins first. Nickels are always at 53 on my AT and they never vary on the VDI for me. 53 is also pull tab so you can go crazy learning them in the beginning. Best of luck to you.

Skate
Click to expand...


Thank you, I haven't used it for long but that sound, I know just what your saying. I cant pick it up every time but when I do I know I probably have a coin, especially when I pinpoint and its such a small target.
 
I have the Atpro not the gold,but yeah I dig mostly repeatable signals
I dig bouncy sigs in the nickel range
Audio is the main indicator then digital numbers next hint.
My pro has no constant threshold hum like the gold though.
 
gismapper said:
Start in a clean(er) spot and go from there. Repeatable signals can be repeatable trash or repeatable good stuff. But even a repeatable pull tab signal can be something bad sitting on top of something good. Get the trash out of the way and you might get a whole different VDI.

Two things I can tell you for sure (and it sounds like you're figuring this out already): the only way to know for sure is to dig it. And the only way to get better at understanding your machine is to keep spending time with it.

If you're like me, you need to hear what people say, then get some first-hand experience, then go back and be re-told what you were told the first time. But this time, you're hearing it with your own personal experience behind you. Ideas tend to mean more to me after I have something to connect them to .

It sounds like you're doing just fine. You'll be up to speed in no time. Just have fun, and everything else will work out great. Welcome to your new addiction!
Click to expand...


Exactly my friend, I read all up about what I am suppose to do but what exactly a clean signal is wasn't apparent until I hear it with my own ears. This is definitely a new obsession, I cant wait to make some good finds. Thank you for your advice!
 
Since your using the AT gold ,I'm not sure how the tones sound ,all the advice above is good also , check out the videos on line . Helps a lot to see the MD your actually using ,,,HH
 
metaladdict said:
I have the Atpro not the gold,but yeah I dig mostly repeatable signals
I dig bouncy sigs in the nickel range
Audio is the main indicator then digital numbers next hint.
My pro has no constant threshold hum like the gold though.
Click to expand...

I was going to go with the AT Pro as well but I go panning and sluicing so I am going to use it to hunt some nuggets once the weather gets a little better. I will keep that in mind about the nickel range and see how it applies to my AT gold.
 
That's part of what we do, remove trash from the ground while getting paid very poorly most times :laughing: but when those gold items and silver items show up it makes it all worth it! Happy hunting!
 
I've used the AT Gold for a couple of years successfully as a coin, ring and relic finder. What works the best for me is to use the Disc 1 setting, iron disc at 35, sensitivity 1 notch from max and dig any repeatable target that shows 50 or more. Ground balance every 30 swings or so, wear headphones to hear it all and use iron audio on iffy signals to help see if the target gives off a grunt. This works pretty good to weed out most trash. I do end up digging more bottle caps than I like though and sometimes am still fooled by aluminum cans. Newer Corona or Heineken caps sound a lot like dimes on my machine unfortunately and some cans sound like quarters. I rarely use the threshold but can see where it would be useful when prospecting. Time and experience really are the best teachers though, as you get more hours in you will get a better feel for the tones and VDI numbers of specific targets. Practice at home with a few coins and you'll soon be able to know what coin it is by tone alone. Keep at it and best of luck! :waytogo:
 
I just wanted to say thank you so much to you all. I took your advice and also found that there were additional Garrett videos that didn't come on the DVD on their website.

I went to the nearest park and found 18 coins, the oldest being a 1962 penny and a 1966 nickel. The trash I did find definitely changed as well being more significant items. The tip to key in on that clean "coin" noise and keeping with targets that read a good vdi was key. I was impressed how accurate I was able to identify trash by listening for a clear tone and using iron audio. Finding a number of coins, I was able to notice the VDI readings stay pretty accurate for the coin. I was soon able to key in on a penny or a quarter.
 
Experience plays the biggest role in determining what to dig. Normally you want to focus on the clearest repeatable signals , but there are times or situations where digging a broken or off sounding tone can reward you with a great find. There are just too many variables involved in deciphering those off tones to learn it any other way but experience. That's why they say to dig everything for a while , you begin to pick up on slight variations in tone corresponding with each target. And no matter how long any of us has been doing this , we keep learning new things almost every time we go out. You never really get to the point where you know it all , there is always something new to be learned or figured out. Even if we go out and don't find anything there is usually plenty of " eureka " moments when a connection is made and you have a new understanding of something , making it a productive hunt afterall.
 
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