ATP Noob

I hardly ever dig iron with my ATP. I run mine always pro zero, no disc at all, wide open on the sens and iron audio off. Iron almost always sounds like a low grunt or a jumpy mid tone on the large iron. It never ever sounds like a coin for sure. I tryed turning the iron disc up to 40 just now a swung at a tricycle and it wanted to give more of a hint of a high tone running disc..

I suggest you try my settings for 15 minutes and see what you end up with. I think part of your issue may be that when it is trying to keep its mouth shut about the iron, it my not be letting you know about the slight coin signal that could be next to it?

All the above is using the 5x8 coil, if you are not running that, that would be my first suggestion for you..

Good luck!!

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Where at in OH are you?

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Let's see. Are you turning the machine off to dig? If you do, the machine is reset to O descim when turned on. Try Pro Custom if you want to turn it off and return to the same settings. You can also notch out the most troublesome objects, Iron.

Try watching the Garret videos. I had to watch them more than once and go back to refresh my memory.

There's a group for ATP users in the communities link at the top of the screen. You can go there to ask a group of ATP users questions, and post you suggestions too.

What ice said.... Oh and check your targets from different angles. The numbers and times will not change much usually on coins.

One of my sites is like you have described..... The 5x8 is a MUST have.

Try throwing a couple coins & a couple pieces of iron in your yard & remember the crisp clean sound the coins make as you pass over them from side to side compared to the iron, as you pass over the iron you'll hear the tone roll or growl as the coil passes over it.. the coins will always stay crisp & clean..
It just takes practice and lots of it, I've been swinging a At-Pro for over 2 1/2 years & still dig iron occasionally.. Some of my best relics from civil war sites I've hunted have been encrusted with iron so not all iron is bad...

Lightningjack said:

Some of my best relics from civil war sites I've hunted have been encrusted with iron so not all iron is bad...

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I would dig some iron if I had those type of sites for sure!!

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If you do run the settings like I mentioned, you might want to knock one notch off full on the sensitivity if it is too crazy... Also if you hear a touch of a high tone switch your swing angle and sometimes you can isolate that tone from the junk and dig just that also...

And again, good luck!!

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Welcome from NJ. AT Pro is an awesome machine once you learn it. Every machine has a learning curve. Of course super trashy areas present the greatest challenge. Try some other sites and take what you've learned from each site to the next. You will suceed. GL and HH. Matt

Hey Thanks folks. I'm just outside of the Akron area. No, I'm not turning the unit off while digging and I am using the stock coil so yes, a smaller coil will help for this particular property. I have checked out a lot of the videos and that helps but I guess I picked the worst property to learn the ATP with. Or maybe the best, since this is getting all the difficult stuff out of the way first?

I hunted a little bit tonight and did pretty much what everyone suggests doing but realizing the same results. Even with iron scrim at 40, sensitivity down 4-5 notches, even with 40 notched out, this stuff still hits around a solid 80-81 but usually with the tone roll and/or growl just before and after the high reading. Is it normal to still get the low grunts and growls even with scrim at 40? Iron audio is off but I still get some of the low sounds. As Ice indicated, the larger stuff seems to jumps all over the place so I swing from different angles and sometimes the high tones diminish, sometimes not, but usually I'm hitting a different piece of iron when I try a new angle so that gets confusing. But, i've got it figured out that when I hear that low grunt or growl that pops up into the 80's then back down that I'm dealing with this iron. I don't know what "type" of iron this is exactly but the real corroded stuff that hits in the 80's is usually very rusted and the metal itself is black. The same stuff that isn't as corroded or black gives normal iron tones but man, there sure is a ton of it. It's like my property was a scrap metal junkyard in a former life.

As far as making a test garden, I tried that as well and am getting more familiar with what coins, rings, pull tabs, etc sound like. I also learned about lifting up the detector to see if it still hits when a foot off the ground to confirm large or small targets. Problem is, if I set up say a coin or ring next to a piece of iron to test, I get pretty much the exact same hits as with just the iron by itself so man, it's hard to know if I've got something good being masked or if it's just the junky iron. That's why I'm digging pretty much everything at this point unless it is real large. But I did correctly guess a crushed aluminum can about 6" deep based on the info I got from this sight, so thanks again...I'm learning!

Still haven't hit on any coins yet but I actually found a small clean spot near where some old clotheslines used to be and thought I had one...wasn't hitting any iron at all and got a weak but real sweet 90-92 about 10+ down. Hit it from all sides, same readings, no iron, just a clean quick hit and very faint. Started digging....smashed up nickle sized piece of rounded aluminum. Geesh! Then five feet away I got the weirdest hit. Had the usual iron grunts but was peaking consistently at 98-99 from all angles. Seemed a bit large but the strong 99 was too much to ignore, thought for sure I had some silver. Got 8" down and found a couple of the usual black iron nails, an iron bolt, then some type of rusted metal clasp, then what looks like a small steel rivet through a plastic strap of some sort. Now, how the heck does all this combined chime in the solid upper 90's when none of it by itself even gets close? Hole was empty, no other tones. I dunno....I just dig stuff up, hope for the best and then get my heart broken.

So, thanks for the responses. I'll keep plugging away and hopefully will have time to hit some other less-junky areas. I will be picking up a small coil though. I really appreciate the input folks so thanks again.

Oh by the way....leaving for vacation this weekend to the ocean. I figured I'll go right from the iron nightmare to the salt water beach nightmare just to keep me on my toes!!

I've hunted sites like yours & its not much fun, only thing I could suggest is since its your land you might try marking off about a 10x10 square area and hunt it till nothings left then keep doing the same at different spots..

If you're trying to find a way to make the machine go silent on rusted iron and still sound off on coins, you're not going to find it. You'll have more success by finding the settings that make the machine run the most stable and consistent in your ground and then concentrate on learning the sounds. One of my spots is infested with old iron as well. It just took time for me to learn how to weed the iron falses out from the good coin high tones. Repeatability, crispness, consistency from all angles...... Those things all help you weed out the junk. And even then you're still going to dig iron on occasion. The AtPro is a great machine. It will let you know when it sees coins in the junk. You just have to learn how to understand what it's trying to tell you.

Excellent observation Bromine. I have been using the AT Pro for about a year now and find it is pretty comfortable in Pro-Custom with Iron Discrim set at 35 and sensitivity set down two. With the Iron Audio off it's easier to hear the high tones, and then use the Iron Audio on and a raised/lowered coil from different angles to sort put closely placed mixed targets. There are parks which contain all fill dirt and rubble from demolition sites which are loaded with nails, copper, brass, tin and every other sort of junk which drives the AT Pro crazy. Then, there are parks which aren't even detectable because of the buried electronic cables or nearby HF radio towers. Lastly, and seemingly most desireable are those places that your swinging arm aches because there are virtually no targets to dig. So, I select the park to dig based on the amount of time I have to swing, the weather, and how I feel physically. And, when digging stops being fun, I stop digging. Those with junk have produced some interesting targets but are better dug when there's a lot of time, those with the electronics intererence are simply a good lesson in using the detector in the AT "All Terrain" mode. And, I have found with the AT Pro, if it sounds too good to be true, based on the targets the area has produced in the past, it probably is. A brass sprinkler head, eventhough dug at 10" after a perfect 86, still isn't a keeper.

Caressing Mother Earth in such a way she gladly gives up her treasures.

AT Pro/Garrett Pro Pointer, Fiskars Digger, Bounty Hunter Outback

I used to want to take my AT Pro over to my brother's house every chance that I could, here in Phoenix the house is rather old 1950's. Anyways, i have found enough old stop sign shaped roofing heads and garden hose brass ends that I have totally stopped hunting there. Iron slivers, nails, soda cans, old staples and hose fittings are the norm.

I did find a clad dime and penny on his property - once. Definitely a waste of my time. Like the others have stated, I have been practicing with my settings and at first I tried blocking everything out to no avail. Now I try to use less disc and Pro Zero.

Update....since my initial post, I picked up the 5x8 dd coil as suggested and man what a difference it makes on a trash site like mine. I've been getting some good swinging time in and am getting pretty decent at discerning the junk. I'm running in pro zero, iron discrim at 35 but using iron audio when necessary. Granted, when a small piece of aluminum dings in at a clean solid 81same as a dime, it gets dug but I guess that's to be expected. I'm still digging iron and some other trash but mostly because I want to because some of this junk I'm finding is sort of cool. What I didn't expect is what I dug within the first 30 minutes with the new 5x8 coil: an 1864 Indian Head penny. It hit a solid 66 which was right next to a low 30 (old nail) and if not for the smaller coil, I might not have even dug it. The 5x8 does make it easier. But even with the larger coil, I am able to discern the targets much easier now. I am much better at guessing a target, except the Indian head @ 66 on the vdi threw me since I wasn't thinking a coin, but OK, I'll take it!

Also, I was MD'ing at the Outer Banks last week and once I got dialed in to the salt water issues, the ATP worked great. Standard coil was used and in total found about ten bucks in change plus an assortment of fishing sinkers, lighters, and matchbox cars. Didn't recover any gold or silver but there's always next year!

So yeah, my first "real" find was the Indian head in my front yard. Ran out out of daylight and the mosquitoes were brutal so I'll hit it again this weekend.

sweet find! patience paid off! HH!

Glad you are getting the hang of it! That IH is a great find!

Remember to ground balance, because it can throw off those ID numbers. I don't think I saw anyone suggest that. I hunted with a new hunter this weekend and he had his ATPs ground balance at 42 when it should have been at 82. He was having a tough time until I examined his settings.

I'm finding that the oldest, most mouth-watering properties are usually the ones that are frustrating and FULL of iron trash in the ground. They can be very difficult. I've had really high expectations for the properties I've been on that were 1800s and they usually turn out to be trash heaps. I did a 1917 double in one of the worst neighborhoods in town and was not expecting much. That yard was a dream. Not much trash at all, and nice and clear coin signals everywhere! I came up with 16 old wheats and 6 trade tokens out of that yard and I had an absolute blast. I can't wait until I find an 1800s property that has little trash and such great clear coin signals in such abundance. It's like a box of chocolates... you just never know what you're gonna get!

HighFlyer said:

Glad you are getting the hang of it! That IH is a great find!

Remember to ground balance, because it can throw off those ID numbers. I don't think I saw anyone suggest that. I hunted with a new hunter this weekend and he had his ATPs ground balance at 42 when it should have been at 82. He was having a tough time until I examined his settings.

I'm finding that the oldest, most mouth-watering properties are usually the ones that are frustrating and FULL of iron trash in the ground. They can be very difficult. I've had really high expectations for the properties I've been on that were 1800s and they usually turn out to be trash heaps. I did a 1917 double in one of the worst neighborhoods in town and was not expecting much. That yard was a dream. Not much trash at all, and nice and clear coin signals everywhere! I came up with 16 old wheats and 6 trade tokens out of that yard and I had an absolute blast. I can't wait until I find an 1800s property that has little trash and such great clear coin signals in such abundance. It's like a box of chocolates... you just never know what you're gonna get!

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I hear ya on the trash. Its a real buzz kill and frustrating. Just hard to believe there's so much trash everywhere you walk. A guy would think the front yard would be semi- clean but they're usually just as bad as the back yard.

Build a test garden or simply get your choice of finds against trash and put them under a roll of carpet or cardboard and then learn the tones..they will help to no end...you will find things that don't give a vdi number, you can learn the bottle top shrill to stop digging them all the time..and even learn the extended pulltab when its flat and extended under the ground.

Test gardens are useful..heck ChicagoRon does it every year before going out..training the ears to find the goodies is better then any setting on the machine.

Its great to have a place where you can open it up..ive had one place I could do that and was digging .22 shot at 14"...but most places id say two off top sense or your giving noise from stuff 8" away from your target bleeding all over it.

Yeah I've got the ground balance under control so that's not an issue. My front yard where I found the Indian head is way cleaner than the back so once I get done with the front I'm going to hit the searched areas in the back again but with the 5x8 to see if maybe I missed something amongst the trash. Even with the 5x8 I've got the sens down two clicks most of the time else it's real noisey. I've been doing the test garden thing too and that helps with discerning targets big time. I'd love to hit some other properties in the area but finding the time is tough. Heck, my neighbors all have tons of acreage they'll let me hunt.... just gotta find time to do it.

And yeah, what's with the tones that sometimes don't register anything on the vdi? Is that related to depth and or size or what? Been a bit puzzled with that one.