AT Pro Park Settings

ryno509

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
75
Location
Troy, NY
Well... I've sucumb to taking my AT Pro to the park since I don't have many permissions to use right now.
I am 3 years in with the same machine so I think I have a pretty good idea on it.
Any advice on settings for parks?
I usually run it wide open, but I went out last week and discrimated up to 40. then 55-70.. Trying to avoid iron and pull tabs. Unfortnately bottle caps ring up in the IHP/Wheatie range. Boy did I do alot of bottle cap digging.

Any insight on setting or best practices for hunting parks. I see people on here killing it. I'd be also using my 5x8.

Am I doing it wrong?

Thanks
 
Pro Zero, iron disc at 35, sensitivity as high as it can go and be stable.

I don't botch anything, afraid i might miss something good, but i pay for that by digging tons of junk
 
rule of thumb
not to dig bottle caps is listen to the scratchy sound they make
only caps that most hunters dig that is hard to tell is corona caps...
takes many 100s of hours to learn i have not dug a bottle cap
with my atpro in 2 years
and i dig nothing below 50 at all
 
So, first off, you should be able to discriminate out the bottle caps by SOUND alone. There's no reason for you to be digging them, or attempting to notch them out.

If you're using the 5x8, wiggle it backward from the target until you just barely catch the edge of the bottle cap. It'll grunt iron...Every time. Bottle caps have a decent amount of steel in them. There is a lot of it, which is why they ring up high, but if you catch the lip, you get a true accounting of the metal content, hence the grunt (and if you have iron discrimination turned off, as I do, you can just watch the VDI for it to drop below 40 (sometimes as low as in the teens).

Put down a bottle cap and a quarter about 18" apart. Swing over them both until you can notice the difference. It won't take long, and it'll save your back a TON of up/downs in the park. Unless you're literally trying to clean up the trash, there's no point in digging the cap.

Also, you should make sure your sound is up high enough (not blasting your ears), but high enough you can catch the differences in sounds. this will require you to have your machine volume on at least 4, and then adjust your headset volume accordingly. I've run machine volume as high as 7, but fine tune the headsets.

What you're looking for is the subtle "woop" or "wooow" of aluminum slow, over a "poop" or "boop" of a ring/jewelry.

It's hard to describe, and you absolutely can discriminate out more trash than you think. Also, rather than notch out any particular group of numbers, it's far better to "sound out" the items. This will help you learn your machine better, too. For example, when you get to a park, you should always dig the first 20 or so targets. This will help you get a feel for the park conditions on that day. It'll also help you catch the sounds the various common trash makes.

What you're looking for after that, is anything DIFFERENT from those sounds. And by not notching them out, you continually come across the sounds, and you train your ear to hear them over and over. Anything different should be dug.

For example, I know that folks say "you can't tell the difference between a pull tab and a ring." And that's true, but not all 52 signals that are good sound like Pull Tabs. Which means you're missing actual good signals you can tell the difference on, simply because you've notched it out.

Basically, leave all your notches on from 38 and up. I find LOTS of gold rings in the 40's. Don't discriminate out this range, if you want to find them. Dig any signal you're confident is either different from the signals you're used to hearing, or is "different" enough that you want to investigate.

Eventually, you'll be discriminating out LOTS of trash, without having to actually notch it out. This gives you the best shot at catching good stuff, even if you're skipping pop tabs.

That being said, trashy parks will still have lots of trash end up in your pouch, but you won't be missing the good stuff. :)

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Skippy
 
You can eliminate a lot of those old iron bottle caps by turning on "iron audio" when you get those numbers you mentioned. If it's aluminum screw tops you're talking about the iron audio won't help you.
 
Well... I've sucumb to taking my AT Pro to the park since I don't have many permissions to use right now.
I am 3 years in with the same machine so I think I have a pretty good idea on it.
Any advice on settings for parks?
I usually run it wide open, but I went out last week and discrimated up to 40. then 55-70.. Trying to avoid iron and pull tabs. Unfortnately bottle caps ring up in the IHP/Wheatie range. Boy did I do alot of bottle cap digging.

Any insight on setting or best practices for hunting parks. I see people on here killing it. I'd be also using my 5x8.

Am I doing it wrong?

Thanks

Are you saying iron disc. 40 or notched to 40 then notched 55-70? What bottle caps are you saying pop off or twist off? Also what mode standard or pro? Standard mode hits pop off bottle caps more than pro mode. I use pro zero mode 0 disc. nothing notched out sensitivity high as it can run and still be stable.
 
In this environment I would start inStandard custom with iron disc at full 40, sensitivity highand iron audio off. This will give you a larger hunting zone.

If I get a good target then I turn iron audio on.

If it still looks good, I switch to Pro custom still with iron disc at 40. This makes pinpointing easier. This system works beautifully
 
I go full open. No discrimination. Sensitivity full. Pro zero mode. My interest in the parks is just dimes, nickels, quarters and of course half dollars if they present themselves. The dimes ring up always at 81. Quarters at 9/92. Nickels at 53 give or take. Listen for sharp tones. If it's not sharp I don't dig it. Rarely fails me.
 
So, first off, you should be able to discriminate out the bottle caps by SOUND alone. There's no reason for you to be digging them, or attempting to notch them out.

If you're using the 5x8, wiggle it backward from the target until you just barely catch the edge of the bottle cap. It'll grunt iron...Every time. Bottle caps have a decent amount of steel in them. There is a lot of it, which is why they ring up high, but if you catch the lip, you get a true accounting of the metal content, hence the grunt (and if you have iron discrimination turned off, as I do, you can just watch the VDI for it to drop below 40 (sometimes as low as in the teens).

Put down a bottle cap and a quarter about 18" apart. Swing over them both until you can notice the difference. It won't take long, and it'll save your back a TON of up/downs in the park. Unless you're literally trying to clean up the trash, there's no point in digging the cap.

Also, you should make sure your sound is up high enough (not blasting your ears), but high enough you can catch the differences in sounds. this will require you to have your machine volume on at least 4, and then adjust your headset volume accordingly. I've run machine volume as high as 7, but fine tune the headsets.

What you're looking for is the subtle "woop" or "wooow" of aluminum slow, over a "poop" or "boop" of a ring/jewelry.

It's hard to describe, and you absolutely can discriminate out more trash than you think. Also, rather than notch out any particular group of numbers, it's far better to "sound out" the items. This will help you learn your machine better, too. For example, when you get to a park, you should always dig the first 20 or so targets. This will help you get a feel for the park conditions on that day. It'll also help you catch the sounds the various common trash makes.

What you're looking for after that, is anything DIFFERENT from those sounds. And by not notching them out, you continually come across the sounds, and you train your ear to hear them over and over. Anything different should be dug.

For example, I know that folks say "you can't tell the difference between a pull tab and a ring." And that's true, but not all 52 signals that are good sound like Pull Tabs. Which means you're missing actual good signals you can tell the difference on, simply because you've notched it out.

Basically, leave all your notches on from 38 and up. I find LOTS of gold rings in the 40's. Don't discriminate out this range, if you want to find them. Dig any signal you're confident is either different from the signals you're used to hearing, or is "different" enough that you want to investigate.

Eventually, you'll be discriminating out LOTS of trash, without having to actually notch it out. This gives you the best shot at catching good stuff, even if you're skipping pop tabs.

That being said, trashy parks will still have lots of trash end up in your pouch, but you won't be missing the good stuff. :)

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Skippy

This is great info, really accurate. You read my mind, and I'm glad I wasn't the one who had to type all that out. I especially liked your instructions for identifying bottle caps. I do the exact same, except I turn on the iron discrimination, do the wiggle, and listen for the grunt.
 
Thanks for everyone responding.
Lots of great tips here.
I don't go to parks that often and may have been a handful of time, because they are littered with trash. So I guess.. I don't know my machine as well as that, and i'm used to sites without a million bottle tops. Haha

So, first off, you should be able to discriminate out the bottle caps by SOUND alone. There's no reason for you to be digging them, or attempting to notch them out.

If you're using the 5x8, wiggle it backward from the target until you just barely catch the edge of the bottle cap. It'll grunt iron...Every time. Bottle caps have a decent amount of steel in them. There is a lot of it, which is why they ring up high, but if you catch the lip, you get a true accounting of the metal content, hence the grunt (and if you have iron discrimination turned off, as I do, you can just watch the VDI for it to drop below 40 (sometimes as low as in the teens).

Put down a bottle cap and a quarter about 18" apart. Swing over them both until you can notice the difference. It won't take long, and it'll save your back a TON of up/downs in the park. Unless you're literally trying to clean up the trash, there's no point in digging the cap.

Also, you should make sure your sound is up high enough (not blasting your ears), but high enough you can catch the differences in sounds. this will require you to have your machine volume on at least 4, and then adjust your headset volume accordingly. I've run machine volume as high as 7, but fine tune the headsets.
By sound up to 4 or 7.. Do you mean "sensivity?"

What you're looking for is the subtle "woop" or "wooow" of aluminum slow, over a "poop" or "boop" of a ring/jewelry.

It's hard to describe, and you absolutely can discriminate out more trash than you think. Also, rather than notch out any particular group of numbers, it's far better to "sound out" the items. This will help you learn your machine better, too. For example, when you get to a park, you should always dig the first 20 or so targets. This will help you get a feel for the park conditions on that day. It'll also help you catch the sounds the various common trash makes.

What you're looking for after that, is anything DIFFERENT from those sounds. And by not notching them out, you continually come across the sounds, and you train your ear to hear them over and over. Anything different should be dug.

For example, I know that folks say "you can't tell the difference between a pull tab and a ring." And that's true, but not all 52 signals that are good sound like Pull Tabs. Which means you're missing actual good signals you can tell the difference on, simply because you've notched it out.

Basically, leave all your notches on from 38 and up. I find LOTS of gold rings in the 40's. Don't discriminate out this range, if you want to find them. Dig any signal you're confident is either different from the signals you're used to hearing, or is "different" enough that you want to investigate.

Eventually, you'll be discriminating out LOTS of trash, without having to actually notch it out. This gives you the best shot at catching good stuff, even if you're skipping pop tabs.

That being said, trashy parks will still have lots of trash end up in your pouch, but you won't be missing the good stuff. :)

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Skippy
Thanks Skippy! I will definitely try and utilize these tips!

You can eliminate a lot of those old iron bottle caps by turning on "iron audio" when you get those numbers you mentioned. If it's aluminum screw tops you're talking about the iron audio won't help you.
Thanks!

Are you saying iron disc. 40 or notched to 40 then notched 55-70? What bottle caps are you saying pop off or twist off? Also what mode standard or pro? Standard mode hits pop off bottle caps more than pro mode. I use pro zero mode 0 disc. nothing notched out sensitivity high as it can run and still be stable.
Not sure the difference between bottle caps? :?: Besides screw ons and pop offs. I always use pro zero. nothing else.

In this environment I would start inStandard custom with iron disc at full 40, sensitivity highand iron audio off. This will give you a larger hunting zone.

If I get a good target then I turn iron audio on.

If it still looks good, I switch to Pro custom still with iron disc at 40. This makes pinpointing easier. This system works beautifully
It's good to see a lot of the vets on here giving great information, such as yourself. Just wondering won't i get a TON of good signals using standard mode? I don't think I've used that after day 1.

Thank you to everyone for their input!
 
You can still discriminate (eliminate) a lot of things in standard mode. In Standard mode you have zero mode (nothing eliminated), coin mode (some items eliminated) and custom mode where you can choose which items to eliminate.
 
i agree with skippy except i do not disc out any thing i let my ears disc out iron and with an at pro bottle caps are easy a fast hard swipe you will hear iron on the return swing slightly slower you will hear mid tone as you narrow the swing down you will hear high tone all this in a couple of seconds and you will learn aluminum screw caps will be a high tone that is chirpier than a coin,these 2 reasons is why an at pro is my favorite detector when im dry sanding
 
Quarters always 85

I go full open. No discrimination. Sensitivity full. Pro zero mode. My interest in the parks is just dimes, nickels, quarters and of course half dollars if they present themselves. The dimes ring up always at 81. Quarters at 9/92. Nickels at 53 give or take. Listen for sharp tones. If it's not sharp I don't dig it. Rarely fails me.
Odd my dimes are 81, pennies 77, quarters 85, but that is here in Kansas. Webekin
 
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