Probably a dumb AT Pro question about Iron Audio...

MrNovice

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But I'll ask it anyways since it has me a little puzzled....

If hunting in Pro Zero mode, iron set at 0 so you hear all the iron and nothing else is notched or discriminated out, the Iron Audio is useless right?...since you're hearing all the iron anyways? Is that correct or am I missing something about this feature?

From what I gather the iron audio button is just for use when you set the iron setting up to say 30 or 40, but need to check a target that has properties that are hitting less than that? Like a bottlecap or screw?

Also, a few other things I've noticed...the standard coil is way sensitive and barely falses if you sweep too low or slightly bump the ground while swinging. Is that pretty normal? Sens set all the way up - so I think that's normal, also a little falsing but not strong or repeatable, just chirping slightly.

I also noticed what I can best describe as a "pitch twist" type sound on penny range targets? I guess it's trying to combine the mid and high tones together on that specific range target? When I hear that tone "twist" about 77 or 78 VDI, 99% it's a penny.

And last, I get a good amount of nulling over some targets. Like either iron overload because it's too shallow or trying to relate too much info at the same time. Sometimes the screen just blanks and other times the coil has to be moved off the target and it takes like 2 seconds to reset itself. I can't say it happens often, but at least a couple times every hunt on some targets. What does that mean? Too shallow target or probably junk of some sort?

Thanks, still trying to firm up what it's trying to tell me...
 
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Really good questions....let me try and shed some light.
I hunt Pro Zero, No discrim, Full sens.

Yeah the Iron Audio button is pretty much useless....:laughing:

I get the falsing to from time to time. Re-ground balancing will help. Try and re wrap your coil wire more snugly around the shaft and make sure the connector is fully seated.
Also....try doing a factory reset to get rid of the falsing or any intermittent issues. I recently bought an NEL Thunder coil and no falsing issues...
PS - I hunt by sweeping my coil as close to the ground as possible to get max depth.

I notice that audio "twist" with a clad pennies...probably due to the zinc.
In addition the presence of iron or other metals in the target area will alter the pitch and make the numbers jump. Ive been getting good at picking out targets amongst iron infested areas....all by listening.

Almost every target that "nulls" out is junk. Especially when the sound does not drop off and continues for a few secs. Usually something super conductive like aluminum...or a huge chunk of metal.

Sounds like you are definitely on the right track, you seem to be truly listening to the detector. That's the key. AT Pro is a great machine.....HH!
 
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Really good questions....let me try and shed some light.
I hunt Pro Zero, No discrim, Full sens.

Yeah the Iron Audio button is pretty much useless....:laughing:

I get the falsing to from time to time. Re-ground balancing will help. Try and re wrap your coil wire more snugly around the shaft and make sure the connector is fully seated.
Also....try doing a factory reset to get rid of the falsing or any intermittent issues. I recently bought an NEL Thunder coil and no falsing issues...
PS - I hunt by sweeping my coil as close to the ground as possible to get max depth.

I notice that audio "twist" with a clad pennies...probably due to the zinc.
In addition the presence of iron or other metals in the target area will alter the pitch and make the numbers jump. Ive ben getting good at picking out targets amongst iron infested areas....all by listening.

Almost every target that "nulls" out is junk. Especially when the sound does not drop off and continues for a few secs. Usually something super conductive like aluminum...or a huge chunk of metal.

Sounds like you are definitely on the right track, you seem to be truly listening to the detector. That's the key. AT Pro is a great machine.....HH!

That all makes very good sense, thank you sir!

I'll try the factory reset, didn't even think about trying that yet. GB works well, and if it doesn't seem to move much when changing spots...I just manually lower it to 0 and then auto balance again just to make sure it does fully GB back up before starting again. I try to get as close to the ground as I can too.

I've been listening to it good, using the headphones makes a huge difference also. World of difference using the headphones.

By running full sensitivity, I wasn't sure whether I was actually hearing trace elements in the dirt or it was just being overly sensitive and maybe falsing? Once I heard the slight falsing isn't repeatable, I just figured it was really sensitive and can ignore the falses. It does give out a ton of information though, just trying to make sure I'm interpretting it right and other more familiar users are having the same experience to make sure the detector is acting like it's supposed to.
 
I was actually hearing trace elements in the dirt or it was just being overly sensitive and maybe falsing

Correct....some areas will just be "chattery" because of the possible mineralized soil.....as you mentioned. Some people say to lower sensitivity....I never noticed a difference. Need to run wide open for the deep goodies!
 
Low batteries i feel also causes falses. ATP is very sens to low batteries, Put in new batteries, when batteries are down a notch or two the machine seems much more chatty. Mine does the same!
 
No question is dumb. What is dumb is not asking. I too had your very same concerns/questions, when I started out with the ATP. I run in Pro Custom, usually with "0" Discrimination, just so on occasion, I can jack the Discrim up to 35+ to cut out some of the garbage. Then is when I use the "iron audio", as you said, just to check a questionable target. I like to have the option.

Sounds like you are "getting it", on this ATP stuff......

All great questions. Seems you are on track, for sure :yes:
 
Low batteries i feel also causes falses. ATP is very sens to low batteries, Put in new batteries, when batteries are down a notch or two the machine seems much more chatty. Mine does the same!

Batteries were full, at least no bars down from top. I've read about when the power drops one or two bars that the performance starts to suffer pretty bad. I just ordered some 2800 mAh EBL AA's with charger for $10 on fleabay. Hopefully that'll help to stay in the field longer.

The nulling totally still boggles me though, and maybe a reset will help that. I targeted one small 1/2 inch screw yesterday and the depth showed good (as the AT Pro usually does even when nulling) but with the multi-metals and jagged edges of the screw throwing the VDI everywhere, the screen finally just blanked out so I dug it. I was thinking freaking really?...you can't even handle 1 freaking screw? And I did recheck the hole...nothing else there. Was running full sens so I know that didn't help since it was only 3 inches deep, but geez...
 
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The way I understand it iron audio was essentially like a quick "all metal mode" so you could run Discrimination up to like 30-40 and when you hit that iffy signal flip it on to see if you could hear the grunt of iron on both sides of your target.

But this will also affect the mid tones as well. I don't remember how specifically but either their manual or company videos talk about using it to help I'd bottle caps.
 
The way I understand it iron audio was essentially like a quick "all metal mode" so you could run Discrimination up to like 30-40 and when you hit that iffy signal flip it on to see if you could hear the grunt of iron on both sides of your target.

But this will also affect the mid tones as well. I don't remember how specifically but either their manual or company videos talk about using it to help I'd bottle caps.

That's what I thought it was probably for, and mostly heard it was. We know bottle caps can throw quarter tones and low iron mixed, and if your iron setting is up high you might miss the iron grunts. Then you can use the iron audio button to bypass the iron "threshold" set to hear it all easier than having to lower the iron threshold just to hear it on that target.

Just wanted clarification to make sure that was all it was used for, because I can sometimes hear a little different toning grunt when trying it but it could just be variation in that swing or coming off a different angle or something...
 
Low batteries i feel also causes falses. ATP is very sens to low batteries, Put in new batteries, when batteries are down a notch or two the machine seems much more chatty. Mine does the same!

Nice point! Im a battery snob...lol I use the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries exclusively. Expensive but you get what you pay for....IMO Really long lasting and I swear my unit is slightly more responsive running these.
 
The nulling totally still boggles me though, and maybe a reset will help that. I targeted one small 1/2 inch screw yesterday and the depth showed good (as the AT Pro usually does even when nulling) but with the multi-metals and jagged edges of the screw throwing the VDI everywhere, the screen finally just blanked out so I dug it. I was thinking freaking really?...you can't even handle 1 freaking screw? And I did recheck the hole...nothing else there. Was running full sens so I know that didn't help since it was only 3 inches deep, but geez...

ahhh that does sound a little funky Do a factory reset.....
 
I have noticed there are 2 different types of nulling though. One the VDI jumps back and forth from 00 to 99, just rapidly back and forth those two numbers. And then the other type like on the screw I described above where it jumps all over the place, high-mid-and low erratically then blanks out and takes like 2 seconds to clear itself. I don't know what the difference is between the two, the only thing I can speculate is the 00-99 is large iron and the erratic jumping is multiple targets under the coil before blanking.

Both give good depth readings (even the second scenario before blanking out) so I think I'll dig a few of them just to experiment and see exactly what it is throwing these signals if I run across them again. Obviously if it's large iron it'll be much deeper and should target even with the coil 6 inches off the ground. Still gotta dig one or two just to make sure though.

Appreciate all the help, gents! I was hoping I had a good grip on reading what it's telling me, and your help has confirmed that. Confidence in our detectors is a must, or you can easily start second guessing yourself!
 
When in zero disc - iron audio off you will hear all the iron up and through 35.
If you run iron disc to 25 you won't hear iron below 25. But you will still get an iron grunt from 26 to 35.
Now in this situation if you turn the iron audio on you will hear all the iron from 25 and lower and NOW the mid tone will reach to 26. Effectively making 26 to 35 that would normally be a iron tone into a mid tone.
Your machine will sound different with iron audio on using some iron discrimination compared to zero discrimination because of the mid tone shift.

Check out page 27 of your manual. Or here http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby-manuals/1533200_atpro_english.pdf
 
When in zero disc - iron audio off you will hear all the iron up and through 35.
If you run iron disc to 25 you won't hear iron below 25. But you will still get an iron grunt from 26 to 35.
Now in this situation if you turn the iron audio on you will hear all the iron from 25 and lower and NOW the mid tone will reach to 26. Effectively making 26 to 35 that would normally be a iron tone into a mid tone.
Your machine will sound different with iron audio on using some iron discrimination compared to zero discrimination because of the mid tone shift.

Check out page 27 of your manual. Or here http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby-manuals/1533200_atpro_english.pdf

Okay, I get it now...thanks. Rereading after some hunting time helps. Users say gold can target as low as 34 VDI, so maybe having it on and adjusting the mid tone down could help identify it. I was thinking I was hearing a different type of tone when iron audio was on, just confused me as to what was actually being communicated.
 
Okay, I get it now...thanks. Rereading after some hunting time helps. Users say gold can target as low as 34 VDI, so maybe having it on and adjusting the mid tone down could help identify it. I was thinking I was hearing a different type of tone when iron audio was on, just confused me as to what was actually being communicated.
With iron audio ON you can shift the iron tone break where you want it. This is KEY to hunting in iron.
 
Just an update...BIG thanks to METALMANIAC-NY! The reset worked! I pulled so much junk today with no problems at all after the reset, still running full sensitivity and now A LOT less chatter and no more blanking out (except when I got way too close to the playground poles, but that was my fault). So MUCH better now! Even way less chirping when accidently brushing the surface.

Still get the 00-99 jumping, but pretty sure that's big deep iron. Haul for today was at a trashed out playground...so much big slag reading like silver, some pulled out over 12 inches deep just to clear it for future hunts.



That was the first of 2 playgrounds. Second playground had more clad, but just having the detector back full steam was the goal and mission accomplished! Thanks everyone who chimed in, I appreciate it bunches!!! :urock:
 
Your haul shows me not many if any are hunting those Tot Lots for jewelry. So your hard work will reward you as new drops hit the chips! Just make sure you hit these same sites 2 or 3 times a year minimum. It will take less time to hunt them each time. I have found quite a bit of gold in the 40 to 45 numbers. Mainly 41 to 43.
FYI: If you go to the trouble and clean a site with high power then you can ease up on your power when you return to more tame down your machine. Even at half power you'll still go plenty deep enough. Also don't forget there are goodies next to the supports. Drop your power all the way down and go around the supports listening for double beeps of anything unusual. I have a video showing this with my etrac if you want to watch? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y52wGMQuGA&t=282s
 
I agree with Kenny here...thats a fine junkshot telling you something about that place and your skills...Totlots are not as easy as a guy might think..theres a whole strategy and understanding of settings that goes into evaluating and pulling gold out of them...You are on the right track here with those finds MrN...
Mud
 
Thanks again, gents! Like Mudpuppy above I try to keep a scheduled route of totlots to look after for those easy pickings. Cleaning them out and maintaining is one way to keep the flow of finds coming in.
 
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