Is my new AT Pro broken????

[olddude]

Simplest way to explain iron audio...

It lets you hear what you discrim out as a low tone. If you run Pro Zero with 00 discrim, iron audio does nothing.

If you have discrim to 40 you will hear all below 40 as low tone (IO on)
If you have discrim to 40 and IO is off... you hear nothing.

Ok, thanks for the simple explanation that even I can understand. That's what my problem is because I have been hunting in pro zero. Maybe I'll try notching in a little discrimination to see what happens. I'm hunting an area that is littered with trash but it is also littered with bullets and other civil war stuff. I've dug around 60 bullets in the last couple hunts of about 3 hours each and last nite I did finally find my first button mixed in with all the trash.

I dug 2 round balls along with 6 buckshot and the small cuff button all in the same hole about 12 inches deep. There was trash all around but I got this nice tone that didn't even show up on the meter. I almost let it go but said what the heck then I found 1 buckshot and as I was covering the hole up some dirt covered the end of the pro pointer and I heard it chirp and I let it have a cussing until moved it out of the dirt and a round ball came rolling out. I checked the hole again and still got a real faint reading but no reading on the meter and I dug some more and found another round ball and the other buckshot. I almost covered it up again but I waved the head over the hole and got another signal with a 45 reading along with it and a little deeper out popped the button.

I've dug several bullets like this in this area where all I got was a real faint tone with no reading on the meter. One of them, a round smashed almost flat, was only around 5 inches deep but most of the others were pretty deep in the ground where you can only hunt in real dry weather because most of the time the ground is covered with a foot or two of water.

 

[sleepyjim]

Simplest way to explain iron audio...

It lets you hear what you discrim out as a low tone. If you run Pro Zero with 00 discrim, iron audio does nothing.

If you have discrim to 40 you will hear all below 40 as low tone (IO on)
If you have discrim to 40 and IO is off... you hear nothing.

Also of a side note, if you disc say 35 (which will be low tone with iron audio on), 36 begins mid tones or if disc at 21, mid tones start 22...

Jim

 

[olddude]

Also of a side note, if you disc say 35 (which will be low tone with iron audio on), 36 begins mid tones or if disc at 21, mid tones start 22...

Jim

Ok thanks, now if I can just figure out what unwanted trash sounds like. I have dug in the past few days rusty pieces of cans down 8 inches or more that have rung in at 79 and blew my ears out. Alum pieces I can understand sounding good but what's up with these small pieces of crusty iron and tin cans ringing in like this?

 

[Ice Scratcher]

Ok thanks, now if I can just figure out what unwanted trash sounds like. I have dug in the past few days rusty pieces of cans down 8 inches or more that have rung in at 79 and blew my ears out. Alum pieces I can understand sounding good but what's up with these small pieces of crusty iron and tin cans ringing in like this?

I don't even have to ask, you are running the stock coil right?

<*)))>{

 

[olddude]

Maybe I should ask this for getting a better feel for this old girl. And I know there are a lot of different things that can have an effect of how a certain target will read but in general what would say, a small cuff button or coat button read on the AT Pro? Or how about a knap sack hook or a US plate even? The brass stuff has been eluding me with this machine but it sure likes bullets.

 

[Lightningjack]

I really don't see the value for iron audio feature.

Its the best feature I've ever used on any machine in the past 15 years..
Once you learn how to use it properly you will not dig nails or iron-big or small.. Although sometimes I dig iron at my cw sites because a few relics (bayonets, a few smaller buckles, musket lock plates, etc) ... will read as iron.. Everywhere else I pass up digging the iron...

 

[Ice Scratcher]

Maybe I should ask this for getting a better feel for this old girl. And I know there are a lot of different things that can have an effect of how a certain target will read but in general what would say, a small cuff button or coat button read on the AT Pro? Or how about a knap sack hook or a US plate even? The brass stuff has been eluding me with this machine but it sure likes bullets.

I don't know anything about buttons but, the flat one rang up like a zinc penny, and the domed "A" one rang up like a nickel....

<*)))>{

 

[olddude]

WOW! now I'm really screwed up. I went by Aldridge medal detectors the day before yesterday and picked up a new 5x8 coil just to see if it would help in these real trashy areas I'm hunting now. I'm so cornfused I don't know which end is up. Maybe I'm still not understanding everything I know but I didn't see much difference. I still dug bullets down a foot or more but I will say most of the bullets I found yesterday were not that deep, only 3 or 4 inches. With the big coil just about every one I found was in the 8 to 12 inch range with a couple that was closer to 14" there was 2 round balls in the same hole.

With the new head I seem to get more really good sounding signals that read in the high 70's and 80's, and 90's even that ended up being buried alum scrap, rusty cans or other really rusted material. I spent more time digging junk yesterday than before, so what Am I missing here?

I did manage to find a small flat button, 12 bullets, a carved bullet, and some melted lead before it got dark. I had already been over most of the area with the big coil and still pulled this out. I don't know if the other coil missed these or if I just didn't go over the exact spot. I also found a target that ended up being a large rusty box or something. Hopefully it is a treasure chest full of coins. It is down almost 3 feet and the signal was so good I had to dig it, It came up 85 on the meter. I dug down to the box and could tell it is sq. and at least 8 inches deep in size. I'm going back with a larger shovel and dig it up just for grins. I can see visions of a gold and silver filled chest and hopefully it will be so heavy I'll need to rent a crane to haul it out of the hole.LOL Hey!! a guy can dream cant he???

 

[Ice Scratcher]

Good targets like coins with the smaller coil will almost never have any "tone roll" unless really deep.

The same coin with the large coil will have some tone roll.

I think what you are doing is digging the same "sounds" with the smaller coil as you did with the large coil.

Those two coils use different vocabulary, or at least the bigger coil uses the same words for many things.

Does that make sense?

I would suggest, throwing a dime on the ground and listen to how it sounds as you lift the coil higher every swing...

<*)))>{

 

[olddude]

Good targets like coins with the smaller coil will almost never have any "tone roll" unless really deep.

The same coin with the large coil will have some tone roll.

I think what you are doing is digging the same "sounds" with the smaller coil as you did with the large coil.

Those two coils use different vocabulary, or at least the bigger coil uses the same words for many things.

Does that make sense?

I would suggest, throwing a dime on the ground and listen to how it sounds as you lift the coil higher every swing...

<*)))>{

Yeah you may be right about the sounds but how do you pass a target that sounds so sweet with a reading of 66 to 75 on the meter. I went out yesterday for a couple hours. I didn't have much time before it got dark so I didn't go out looking at new ground but decided to go back over a spot I had hunted many times before with several different machines. It's an old house site that was here during the civil war. The old house burned down several years ago. The old folks that lived there were just like most of the other people that lived in these older houses in the area. They never made a dump run and just carried their trash out to a corner of the property and let it pile up until by the time they got old the trash pile had grown to just outside the back door.

After this house burned down other people would sneak in there and dump their trash too until they logged the whole thing and messed up the road so bad you couldn't get in there anymore. The log skidders working in woods spread this trash pile that took up well over an Ac. of land, all over the 40 Ac. property. I've been hunting small pieces and every now and then I'll find a place that is not covered with trash and I always find stuff in these spots but 20 feet to the left or right the trash messes up the signals so bad you cant tell what it is you are seeing on the meter, at least I cant anyway.

I spent the whole time digging rusty cans and alum bottle tops. It was getting dark and I was afraid I was going to get skunked so I decided to head on out and hit a spot I had been finding drop bullets last week before it got too dark. I found 3 nice 3 ring drops and decided to call it a day. The thing is these signals were real iffy even with no trash around. They gave a fairly good mid tone but was somewhat garbled and one read 58 on the scale but only a couple inches in the dirt. The other two were in a wet area where normally you cant get in because it is under water. The water has dried up but the dirt is still wet and these readings were in the high 60 to 74 on the meter but the tone was the same as the one in drier soil. A nice but broken tone sort of like a nickel sometimes makes.

With the large coil these same bullets would have all rang a solid mid tone and read right at 66 on the meter. I've dug enough of them in the past couple weeks to make that statement in good faith. And even the bullets I have dug with the large coil in light trash come through with a good solid tone and reading when you home in on them.

So you are probably right this smaller coil does talk a different language that's for sure but how do I use this to my advantage?

 

[Ice Scratcher]

So you are probably right this smaller coil does talk a different language that's for sure but how do I use this to my advantage?

If you are looking for relics and bullets the larger coil may very well serve you better.

With the smaller coil, bullets jump around a little more.. The only reason I dig a bullet is if I suspect it is a coin or gold...

<*)))>{

 

[olddude]

If you are looking for relics and bullets the larger coil may very well serve you better.

With the smaller coil, bullets jump around a little more.. The only reason I dig a bullet is if I suspect it is a coin or gold...

<*)))>{

OH! now that I went out and bought a $150.00 coil you go and tell me that.

 

[Ice Scratcher]

Hey now, don't get me wrong..

The 5x8 coil will serve you very well. It has wicked fast recovery speed, which allows for a faster swing speed, allowing you to actually cover more area at max depths than the larger stock coil.. The machine's balance is improved ten fold, allowing you to hunt longer and or in more comfort..

Being half the size also allows it to work through brush and get in between tight spaces around rocks and tress..

You are going to love it IMO...

<*)))>{

 

[olddude]

Hey now, don't get me wrong..

The 5x8 coil will serve you very well. It has wicked fast recovery speed, which allows for a faster swing speed, allowing you to actually cover more area at max depths than the larger stock coil.. The machine's balance is improved ten fold, allowing you to hunt longer and or in more comfort..

Being half the size also allows it to work through brush and get in between tight spaces around rocks and tress..

You are going to love it IMO...

<*)))>{

Yes I have already realized the way it is able to get in tight areas and through the thick brushy areas. I had a heck of a time adjusting to the open coil after using the Nautilus for so long. It seems to want to hang up on every root or stickup it passes. And briers and vines seem to jump out of the thickets and get hung up in it like they are long lost friends.

I just cant seem to get this new vocabulary you are talking about.

 

[TwistedTig3r]

Sounds like you're trying to learn the machine in in one of the hardest environments to learn in. I find that coins will give a much softer tone and have a more round feel to the sound. It will be more like smooth "beep" rather than a harsh "BeEEeP" Unfortunately, the only way to train your ears is to keep digging. I use to think that the phrase "a light-bulb moment" was just a catch phrase until it happened to me. It will happen for you, just gotta go thru some growin' pains first.

 

[sleepyjim]

I find that if I get a "possible" good what I do is go real slow and listen then I do it with Iron audio on, then if good I dig....

I love the 5x8!

Alum cans suck but once your better at pin pointing the "size" of it will give it away.....

I personally love the weak signals, and if not iron I dig them....Find lots of DEEP stuff.

I learn more every day I am out with it....

While I want to wake one day and be MR ATP, reality is I need time swinging it and for me, that is also a lesson in patience......

Jim

 

[olddude]

I find that if I get a "possible" good what I do is go real slow and listen then I do it with Iron audio on, then if good I dig....

I love the 5x8!

Alum cans suck but once your better at pin pointing the "size" of it will give it away.....

I personally love the weak signals, and if not iron I dig them....Find lots of DEEP stuff.

I learn more every day I am out with it....

While I want to wake one day and be MR ATP, reality is I need time swinging it and for me, that is also a lesson in patience......

Jim

Yeah 10/4 on the sucking alum cans! And those Alum bottle tops are even worst cause if you can get the small coil pin pointing down, their size will fool you every time.

 

[Ice Scratcher]

The only time I dig an aluminum can is when I forget to lift my coil. If you can lift your coil a foot off the ground and still get a signal, it is a can...

<*)))>{

 

[sleepyjim]

the only time i dig an aluminum can is when i forget to lift my coil. If you can lift your coil a foot off the ground and still get a signal, it is a can...

<*)))>{

true!

 

[roob47]

You will have no problem getting rid of that coil, trust me. Good Luck and HH