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Brand new AT Pro question

renobart

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
15
Location
In the West
Hi folks, new here, just received my Garrett AT Pro. I've watched all their intro videos and so far so good, already found some stuff!

One thing I have a question about though, is the signal. So, I have tried several different modes, and what keeps happening is I will be sweeping and get a nice high tone, go back over the spot and then get nothing, keep going over it and it comes back, but why is the unit giving me a signal and the signal is gone? I'm sure I just need to get used to the settings and descrim and what not, but wanted to check and see if anyone thinks there is something obvious I am doing wrong.

Also, I think I need to understand ground balancing better. Anyway, thanks in advance!

Renobart
 
Maybe iron in one direction masking the target.
Or a bad target
Try slowly doing the dd coil wiggle and see if it repeats both directions.
 
I have the AT Max, but basically same machine. I've been detecting less than a year and can tell you that it takes a while to learn what you're doing. I started watching Utoob vids of the Hoover Boys and some other popular channels, but didn't really learn anything until I found a channel called "Metal Detecting East Texas with Kevin". He uses the AT Pro and shows you the numbers on his machine before he digs up targets (or tells you the numbers). My ring finds zoomed after beginning hunting like he does. Check out his videos, for sure.

I don't always ground balance and I haven't noticed any difference in results. Plus, I hunt basically the same sports fields and parks, so the ground conditions are essentially the same.
 
Maybe iron in one direction masking the target.
Or a bad target
Try slowly doing the dd coil wiggle and see if it repeats both directions.

OK, thanks for the tip. Yeah, I think the field I was hunting has A LOT of trash. I found two AA batteries close to each other and about 4"s deep. Total haul not bad though for 15-20 minutes....

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I'm gonna hit this park again more extensively soon.

Thanks!
 
Hi folks, new here, just received my Garrett AT Pro. I've watched all their intro videos and so far so good, already found some stuff!

One thing I have a question about though, is the signal. So, I have tried several different modes, and what keeps happening is I will be sweeping and get a nice high tone, go back over the spot and then get nothing, keep going over it and it comes back, but why is the unit giving me a signal and the signal is gone? I'm sure I just need to get used to the settings and descrim and what not, but wanted to check and see if anyone thinks there is something obvious I am doing wrong.

Also, I think I need to understand ground balancing better. Anyway, thanks in advance!

Renobart

What were your settings at that time?

If you are on standard mode, or pro coin mode with a lot of iron discrimination and no iron audio, then you'll get get high tones when the detector is "on the fence" about it being a target that meets the high tone threshold. Maybe it's iron giving off a bit of high conductivity (rusty nail head), or a small high conductor object, or perhaps a coin right up against or under a piece of iron or foil. Switch over to the default pro zero mode and take a listen. It'll probably be pretty noisy with the occasional blip of that high tone. You might lose it altogether from a different angle.
 
I’m brand new to the AT pro and brand new to detecting. The ground balance helps quiet the machine. I’m in Carson City and the ground balance numbers run between 86 and 93. 86 in clay soils and 93 in granular decomposed granite. I false high toned prior to using ground balance. Hold ground balance button down continually while pumping the machine to do automatic ground balance. I just finished hunting Canslaw park. Very similar to your Battery park.
 
I’m brand new to the AT pro and brand new to detecting. The ground balance helps quiet the machine. I’m in Carson City and the ground balance numbers run between 86 and 93. 86 in clay soils and 93 in granular decomposed granite. I false high toned prior to using ground balance. Hold ground balance button down continually while pumping the machine to do automatic ground balance. I just finished hunting Canslaw park. Very similar to your Battery park.

Well, I'm pretty close by! Thanks for the tips! I will check my ground balance out for sure.

Renobart
 
Well, I'm pretty close by! Thanks for the tips! I will check my ground balance out for sure.

Renobart

You need to ground balance every time before you start to hunt the ground balance feature is there for a reason if you are not utilizing it the detector can be all over the place as far as what it is seeing, can read ground as targets and everything else and depending on the ground you are hunting you should re ground balance occasionally if the ground is pretty consistent then you do not have to re ground balance but you will not know whether the ground balances consistently unless you re check occasionally and take note of the numbers the detector is giving you as far as ground balance numbers

its like the ground I hunt in Arizona I use a X TERRA 705 and I run it with the Auto ground tracking activated I have seen GB numbers of single digits and as high as mid to high 40s with the 705 the lower the GB numbers the hotter the ground or more mineralized the ground is I also re ground balance occasionally just to make sure and I have also checked the ground with my AT PRO I have seen the GB numbers change with in a 10 foot area which just goes to show you that you should always ground balance and occasionally re check or re ground balance just so you know the detector is running stable.

with the AT PRO the higher the GB numbers the hotter or more mineralized the ground is it is the complete opposite of the X TERRA 705
 
Most of the one way signals I have dug were trash, normally foil i'm trying to disc out, but once it was a silver dime on edge, 8 inches deep, so I still dig if it will repeat consistently in one direction. If there is not a lot of trash in decent dirt a coin laying flat with no other targets around will read coin from any direction.
 
I tried digging some of those signals like that and found that most of the time it was iron or steel and it was round like a coin. Could be bigger but the round shape seems to do it.
 
This has happened to me a few times. More than once a clad quarter was stuck to the back of my shovel!:lol:
 
So I went out for a couple hours yesterday with my AT Pro.

I found my first quarter!! I was hunting in Pro Zero mode, iron descrim about 35, ground balancing every 10-15 minutes as I moved around, 1 to 2 notches down from full sens, and here's what I *think* I learned while hunting this very trashy park:

1) There are so many bottle caps under the grass it's hard to believe
2) The AT Pro pretty much chatters all the time as you scan
3) You have to listen for the loud and clear high tones (when I found the quarter the machine really made a nice, loud, clear and clean tone, same for the 3 dimes I uncovered)

Does that sound about right? Thanks!

01-19-2019.jpg
 
sounds about rite to me with the ATP
when you re ground balanced did you notice a difference in GB numbers ??? or were they pretty consistent a lot of times.
you can tell when you need to re ground balance by listening to how stable it is running but not really sure about that one on the ATP as I have not used it in probably four or five years I know with my 705 if it starts getting erratic its usually telling me I need to re ground balance or lower my sensitivity a bit but I just can not remember on the ATP
 
You have to listen for the **solid** tones. High tones are good...usually a dime or quarter or copper penny. But also could be trash. But a solid tone is a signal to investigate further. Come at it from 90 degrees and compare the VDI to your original angle of attack. Same or 1-2 off? Dig that sucker.

But solid signals aren't the only signals to dig. I've found 14k gold rings with jumpy (high 40s to mid 80s on the AT Max) signals due to other targets nearby. Honestly, if you get a high tone, dig it. If you get a solid tone, dig it. No other way to know if you are missing fantastic loot.
 
As long as the machine is acting right you don't have to ground balance that often. In my area if I'm not gb'd 78-82 it's normally some funky industrial fly ash fill dirt. If your chattering all the time, make sure iron audio is off, If there are no targets it shouldn't chatter much at all. If it's constantly chattering without targets it's probably emi interference from power lines, cell towers, invisible dog fencing or anything electrical. Try lowering your sensitivity a little more. If your clad stabbin the park for recent drops you can lower it down to halfway without losing much depth.

There is a difference between the sounds of quarters and bottle caps even if the numbers are the same. Corona caps seem to have their own tone. I still dig them, but I'm right most of the time when I call them.

If I'm just playin in the park, I run pro-coin, disc 40, sens 3 bars down. That will hit coins and most silver jewelry, but block most of the iron, foil, and pulltabs. Unfortunately it also blocks a lot of gold jewelry. Bottle caps still come in great.

Your'e doing it right. The best way to learn is pro-zero and dig it all. It doesn't matter what the machine says, you never know what it is until you dig it. The machine is just giving it's best guess. It won't take long and you will be as good at guessing as the machine, maybe better.
 
I ground balance everytime I go out, sometimes a couple of times. Depending on how trashy the ground is I normally run the sensitivity 2-3 bars down from full unless just cherry picking, wide open in clean woods, I never discriminate anything, and iron audio is always on. It will definately talk and chatter like a wife wanting to have her honeydo list completed. You will get used to it and learn to pick up good targets that are masked by listening through the chatter. Start discrimininating out stuff and the tones start to cut out, break, it almost sounds like you fed it White Castle instead of fresh batteries and that just drives me insane. Once you get used to it you can tell what's iron bleeding over causing a false high tone and what's a good repeatable but masked target. Of course the only way to know for sure is to dig it up, it should definately better your odds.
 
So if you are hunting with discrimination at 35. Be sure to check those iffy targets by turning your iron audio on, it will give you more clues that it's a junk target and you will learn what those bottle caps sound like. Also check it from a couple different angles.
 
Sounds about right, If you hunt playgrounds dig those cruddy sounding low signals , I recently got a 14 k bracelet ,sounded lousy.
I rarely ground balance because it auto ground balances and some dirt is all the same.
 
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