New AT Pro user

[kyabrans66]

So my wife and I recently bought a farm which has a nice brick farmhouse built about 1840 and lived in continuously until 2006. I figured that there has to be some good stuff around it so I did my research and bought an AT Pro. BTW, new detectorist. I've swung it around the house now for 20-25 hrs and have yet to find any coins older than 1946!

I'm doing a good GB and then backing off 1 or 2, Pro zero, max sensitivity, headphones and stock 8.5x11 coil. The area is super trashy and loaded with nails everywhere. Anyway, after a couple of weeks of not finding any older coins I figured that the older coins must be being masked by all the iron debris and if I could just get better discrimination I would find the good stuff. So I get a Garrett 5x8 coil and use it for about 10 hrs over the next week. Much better discrimination/recovery but still no dice on the older stuff.

So I began to think that it might be a problem with the AT Pro and decided to do some air testing. I watched this video by DirtFishing

What I found most interesting is that when he tested Std zero mode, max sensitivity he got good bell tone at

zinc penny 10"
copper penny 10"
dime 9"
quarter 11"

Same settings and I got

zinc penny 7"
copper penny 7"
dime 7"
quarter 8"

I realize each detector is different but it seemed like a big discrepancy to me. Just thought that I would see what you all thought before calling Garrett CS.

 

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[digger460]

I've been hunting a lot of trashy area's, that has mucho nails. Purchase the 5 X 8 coil. Helps to separate your good target from iron/trash. I usually run

Discrim at 35, pro zero, sens. one notch below max. I think the iron audio helps a lot to zero in on your target too. Go over what you've already covered. Good Luck Keep us updated

 

[PaDirtDigger]

Well, it is possible that there was some bulldozing going on there making the older targets deeper. I have a friend who's hoist was built about 1810, and I could only pull out wheats and a couple Mercs... Until I finally got a signal about 120 yards away from his house, and it was a 1796 large cent. Keep at it, don't be discouraged....

 

[MackDog]

Go real mean real slow, scrub the ground with your coil (you do have a coil cover right). Try to pick out good signals between the trash or you could just dig everything until you know whys good. If the trash is shallower than the coins it will be picked up as a stronger signal. try searching different sites with less trash before you hit you area so you can get used to the pro.

 

[RobRieman]

Sounds like most of the old homesites I hunt. There are many that if you even find a coin your doing great. People just didn't walk around with change in their pockets then. They got their money out of its hiding place and went off to buy what they needed. Some of them even wore their coins on a string or sewed them into their coat. Some people hit it big but that's just not the norm.

 

[Captain Caveman]

There's also the possibility that the yard was hunted before and all the easy targets are gone.

 

[rick67]

Remember its a farm house. I'm sure they weren't raking in the doe.
You should be hitting mid-tones though. Farms are great for buttons.

As far as air testing. Temp and humidity affect the depth to.

 

[jagchaser]

What kind of batteries are you using? I got the same kind of results air testing with rechargeables. Switch to full voltage duracells, or anything 1.5v. Rechargeables are 1.2 v

 

[kyabrans66]

Thanks for the replies. I'm open to any suggestions. Batteries are full strength Duracells. I guess it's possible that the area around the house was bulldozed but not likely. I doubt that the house has already been detected and all the easy stuff taken as the house is more than half a mile off the little country road and can't be seen from the road. It intrigues me that all I've gotten are a dozen or so pennies, all but two memorial, the other two toasted wheaties, 1990 quarter and a 1965 Roosevelt dime. I'm using the 5x8 coil and going super slow and low. It just doesn't seem possible that there was 100 yrs of people living in the house(1840-1940) and not dropping coins prior to the earliest coin that I have found(1941).

 

[Chad1972]

You could try using a good strong magnet on each hole to clear some nails before using your pinpointer. Might be a little faster that way.

 

[kyabrans66]

You could try using a good strong magnet on each hole to clear some nails before using your pinpointer. Might be a little faster that way.

Ha! Not out of the realm of possibilities. Literally two or three nails per plug.

 

[kingskid1611]

The type of soil you have also has to do with how your detector can react. But I am sure you have some really good stuff located there, so keep at it and Good Luck!

 

[diggininms]

My at pro wint even air test a quarter over 6 inches. In fact a dime air tests further away than a quarter did. So its sitting in texas now for that issue and when i swing and bump stubble it falses like crazy. I spend more time rechecking every sweep. Gl and hh

Sent from my SCH-R970X using Tapatalk

 

[RichD64]

Not sure how true it is.But, I read a post that said Energizer batteries work better in the AT Pro. I haven't tested that theory myself yet. I only use Energizer batteries in everything already.