Weak signals

K

Kenkoehn1950

Jr. Member
Jan 18, 2013
94
71
Denver, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Spectrum XLT, ATPro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I have been watching a number of you tube videos of people using the AT pro and they often mention coins at 8-12" deep. Most of the older coins are there, I know. They often say the signals are weak, but I'm not sure what weak is. I can get a great signal ( no doubt about it!) down to 6". I often hear the high pitch signal (75+) sweeping one but not on the return sweep, or I'll get a weak signal with no VDI. Are air test accurate? Can an air test show me with accuracy what a weak signal is, and would it further be determined by the angle of the target?
 

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Walking along, swinging your coil, then for a second you thought you heard a click or a crackle in your headphones..you step back and swing again where you thought it was...after a few swings maybe another click or hiss..on my old school detectors that would qualify as a weak deeply buried target that the detector can't really make sense of. does that apply to a modern detector that boosts faint signals ? I dunno but its a start. for me on my oldies those faint clicks and crackles are what I'm looking for.

Mike
 

a weak signal is just the aint sound of the high tone..its almost like a soft whistle..its a great sound compared to hitting a coin at 2".
i now alot of my deeper signals will jump a bit...but you usally know its something good
 

On the AT Pro, PRO mode offers some advantages but deep coins will be weak. In STD mode, all signals are strong regardless of depth. I prefer strong signals on deep coins. Got a 7" dime that IDed correctly & was loud. A video had a man demonstrating the volume in STD mode on a quarter buried 10.5" deep. Still loud & 100% repeatable! Best wishes, George (MN)
 

Maybe I'm old school...or just dumb, but to me amplified audio is like cheating, I'd rather barely hear a target, then it tells me one of two things, at least on my fisher, depending on whether or not it can be pinpointed, if it pinpoints clearly to me it is something very small and shallow, or if there is no chance of getting any pinpoint then I know that sucker is deep.
old fashioned, old school or just in denial of the future take yer pick.
so it appears from what I read above you can have your cake and eat it to on a at pro..interesting, I may buy one now just to see for myself.

Mike
 

The sound isn't really amplified so much as how the signal is processed and delivered to your ears. It's more like a on/off switch compared to a volume knob. In STD mode, it's on/off. If the ATP gets any signal, you hear it as a strong tone regardless of depth. In PRO mode (or old school machines), the volume varies according to depth, faint=deeper loud=closer (or bigger).
 

Glad I could help. The ATP is a great machine! It's light weight, waterproof, GB, PP, TID, easy to use.
 

i could stamd the sound of the STD mode..but to each their own...its just nice knowing right off.the bat how deep something is when your coil goes over it
 

On a 350 Garrett the deeper stuff does not sound the same as shallow stuff near the surface. With working one of BC1969's mild tones that barely registered by ear at first due to swing speed and range, a good hit can make it through and with proper i.d. but others only make through as solid tone hits on tight swings,mere inches swings after originally bumping a tone swinging along and can be coaxed into two way hits. Not all. While other tiny size but audible hits are not as clear, working the spot that triggered a blip can generate a lovely, softer than higher stuff distinct tone that you must dig. When time and conditions allow, sample some iffy tones to I.D. at max for conditions depth, not always accurate readings but silver still sweet toned. Toned, I.D. on screen be danged sometimes.

Or maybe simpler, if you have seen a picture of your coils signal,cone or wedge shaped, it makes sense of how a coin on the surface is sometimes not where you pinpoint it because of the small plate sized signal. At near maximum reach you are trying to scratch the target with a very small signal. Imagine the end of a knife tip. A coin on edge or with something near it will barely tell. But working it can coax just a little bit of a tone worth digging.
 

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I sometimes use STD mode when I'm in a area with a lot of signals, particularly when its really dry or its a short hunt and I'm not going to dig a lot of signals. Or just someplace that I'm not willing to dig a lot of signals. Shallow coins will give the clear repeatable signals, but the deeper and iffy signals may only give one ding. Switch to PRO All Metal and trace the signal from there. Every ding in STD is worth checking out, may not always be a good target, but enough of them will be. One of the keys to this is going very slow, overlapping closely is a must, even arcing the coil over the exact same line several times. This method is best if this is a area that you can hunt whenever you want and can go back in better conditions and dig all the other stuff out of the way. It cheats a little, but can give you a good target or two in short hunts or less than desirable conditions.
 

As a few of you know I bought a Fisher F5. Where I live there are a few parks that I have been hunting but it is no dig. So I have confined myself to coin popping shallow consistent signals and have done pretty good at that. Today I went to the county fairgrounds which doesn't have dig restrictions and decided that I would try deeper questionable signals. My focus was to be on the high tones. The ones that Mike Hillis calls whispers. The ones that are deeper that aren't consistent but make you wonder. I didn't recover anything that was noteworthy. But when I got those high tones that were jumpy and deep I started finding quarters. They were not as old as I wanted but older than most I had been finding. I told myself to listen and not care about the target ID. It was not a long hunt but I found some older clad at 4-6 inches. Makes me wonder if the silver is at 8-10 inches. I am starting to realize what the old timers are saying about listening to your machine. I also run my discrimination at about 8 so as to take out some of the iron but not all. It makes the F5 like a Garrett with iron audio. I am happy that I am slowly starting to learn some of the nuances of detecting and my machine.
 

they can be as soft as a positive ground change on some old analogue detectors. you have to dig a little, in hope for a better response..



liftloop
 

when in dought take some dirt out?
 

The ATPro is a very capable machine. Learn it in standard coin mode. Once comfortable w machine, move to pro mode. The sounds initially will be overwhelming, but once learned, you will never again use standard.
Position of target will obviously effect tone strenght and sound.
We all initially air test every new detector. VDI/TID machines most often. Just to check numbers every new manual suggests. But, in the field, it's a different ball game.
Metal detectors are not mysterious, just need to be learned w patience.
Good luck
Peace
 

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