At pro help.

[Perrycolove]

I need some help with the AT PRO. So I've only got a few days on this thing, and my first day I got high tones and found wheats and three mercury dimes in the first hole. And down hill it went from there. One right after the other I got 78 87 68 57 etc. And all where cans...nails...metal trash. It was still fun to dig. The other day I went to my inlaws. Again first two holes a dime and a penny. Then all the high tones again came up with brass shells, chunks of aluminum, tin foil etc. The last hole took the cake. It registered high and 8 inches. So I dug...three freaking feet down to find a metal chunk of pipe in a concrete block!! Grrrrr. So tonight I turned the sensitivity to one notch. I did a little better with pennies..and only a few scraps. Any suggestions?

 

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[BigWaveDave]

Keep practicing.... after a hundred hours or so you'll get the hang of it.
Not being a smart ass... just being honest

 

[winmeek]

From the looks of it, I should be asking you for help. Nice finds. You need to start looking at the VDI numbers, practice on coins - see what numbers they read at and how they are generally consistent regardless of which direction you swing over them. Do the same for pull tabs and junk and note the differences.

 

[mindcrime1988]

Unfortunately that is the nature of the beast. There is no way around it, you will dig through lots of trash to find good and sometimes great relics. I know it gets frustrating because you'll think to yourself, "Here I go again digging another pull tab" but then out will pop a coin, button, shoe buckle or perhaps a ring. That is what keeps you going. Think of it as an adventure. I have dug lots & lots of trash items but compared to the excellent relics I have found, it's worth it.

One item which might help you out though is just what Winmeek explained. When scanning a target, look at your VDI numbers. As long as the number stays roughly within 5 digits after each sweep, that means dig the target. If the VDI number jumps all over the place (ex. 75, 15, 83, 10 and so on) after each sweep, most of the time those are the targets you want to ignore. Bottom line, be patient and learn your detector. Experience will come with time.

 

[JccEldreth]

If the numbers are consistent, dig with excitement, if the numbers are all over the place dig with a little less excitement.
I usually don't dig below 38 and depending on where I am even as high as 46. You will get it, I get happy if it is an older can tab! Crazy.

 

[Triple555nickel]

You've been getting good advice here but I want to add that the AT Pro has an iron audio feature. Lower left area on the control panel, push the button marked iron audio when you suspect iron. If the target is iron you will get low growling but if a non-ferrous target you will still get a mid to high tone. Works great! Personally I dig the iron if it rings up with a high tone because it usually means a larger iron item, often a relic. If I'm in a very trashy area I don't dig it.
Also don't forget to ground balance. Do it before you start and again when you move to a different area or if you seem to be getting a lot of false signals. The falsing you sometimes get is from mineralization in the ground, often it's just salts from fertilizer (farm fields) or road salts for snow and ice removal or by the ocean. Changing the ground balance eliminates that interference.
Sounds like you've got some good spots to hunt so good luck!
555

 

[Perrycolove]

Okay so last night i went straight to zero disc mode so i could hear all the sounds. Tons of metal iron in my yard. And Thanks tot he others. I Was Hearing dual tones on the scrap and solid tones on the cast aluminum chunks, and coins. It didn't register in my thick skull about the two diff tones. I just thought there were two things beside each other. Awesome advice thank all.
And one question....the sensitivity is that for depth? it seems when i turned my sensitivity all the way down it picks up the top 4 or 5 inches only. it that correct usage of it?

 

[Tommybuckets]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Except if you dig a foot and don't hit your target you can usually assume its deep n big. Then you just have to pick your battles. Iron audio is helpful and the best advise is what others are saying here- when the targets hit consistently with the VDI hardly fluctuating. You will never find a chain if you don't dig those fluctuating numbers unfortunately. Just ask yourself what you are after. I love to look for old coins. While I am not getting much old silver in the city because my area is pounded and/ or I am not very proficient, I have pulled a number of large cents from the old pounded parks. I recently turned my attention to getting more gold and last week dug two gold rings. One was with the AT pro. It hit a solid 54 so I figured nickel or,... GOLD!
For a while in the city of trash I used to not take many chance digs and I wasn't finding much except change. In essence I was only coin shooting. While my ratio of good targets to bad was really high I wasn't finding gold or much of the unexpected. As I started taking more chances I started turning up a lot more jewelry and cool artifacts. Location is everything but if I need to just get out and satisfy the urge to dig I now focus on recovering the most targets quickly and neatly, throw them in the pouch and move on. The only frustrating part is when you get home and find some indian head pennies or silver in the pouch and you don't know where it came from because you were moving too fast. No complaints though. At least they are coming home with me.

 

[JccEldreth]

Keep you sensitivity up to almost high or full, if you start getting false or lots of noise, bring it down a click to two.
The higher the deeper, to a point.

 

[Geobound]

Lots of good advice here.

When I get a target that screams at me, I lift my coil higher and higher off the ground.

If the signal disappears really quick, then I know it's worth digging. If the signal is still loud and clear and I'm 4+ inches off the ground......well then I have to decide what to do.

Even though the coil is high off the ground and its a loud signal, it could just be a surface find. I always use my pro pointer on the surface just before I dig to check anyway.

If you are high of the ground and the signal is still screaming, then it's likely a big piece of junk (or relic), but certainly not a coin or a gold ring.

Pro Zero is what you should be in all the time. Learn the different tones, and listen for the "grunt" at the end of your swing when you get a high VDI number. Often that grunt is telling you that its not a good target......like a pop top.

Good luck

 

[Silvermonkey]

Lots of good advice offered here. I would agree with BigWaveDave....practice, practice, practice. The AT -Pro is a very solid detector, and you will find amazing things with it...you just have to pay your dues, and put in the time. HH

 

[Hal2k]

Keep the sensitivity at max and use pro zero mode, let your ears do the discrimination. I usually will not dig anything 38 and below, have found some great relics in the mid to high forties, I have got to point i want even look at screen until I decided to dig than I look at my VDI number and depth. It takes a lot of practice but once you get to that point it will really pay off, good luck and just keep swinging.