AT PRO-NICKELS

[pitcher]

Just a new at pro and its great but Im having a real problem with nickels, out of the ground they hit dead on 52/53, but in the ground the vid numbers are all over the place and never a soild signal, they hit from 50 to 64 jumpy numbers and not a good sound at all, these are not deep hits maybe 2" to 3", at first I thought there must be trash around them but after digging I scan the area and theres nothing else there.
This happens in all modes and it dosent matter how high or low I have the Sens, my ground balance comes in around 92 or so and it runs pretty smooth so what am I doing wrong? any help would be great.

Thanks.

Pitcher

 

[grumpysrb]

Did you ground balance? Reduce sensitivity for shallow targets. The are tough to find. I find them to give mid tone with a vdi that rarely is different than a 51/52. Can't think of any other reason for them to dance on the vdi like that.

 

[Night Crawler]

Hi pitcher

Nickels do bounce all over the place in the ground (Canadian or American) in high mineral areas, it's the nature of the (high mineral) beast I'm afraid. Happens to me all the time and I'm in the (91-94) range up here.

 

[firstring]

Read the Owner's Manual over and over. It is a valuable resource and holds the answers.The number one reason for VDi's to be jumping around is from a ground balance issue. Most people use an Iron Discrimination setting with Iron Audio turned off. For instance, I have my Iron Discrimination set at 40 and have my Iron Audio turned off. Can I accurately find a clean spot, free from targets to ground balance with this set up? AT Pro Owner's Manual, page 31; "Detector performance can be negatively affected by ground mineralization. The AT Pro can be ground balanced either automatically or manually to cancel unwanted ground signals and obtain maximum stability and target detection." You are saying your ground comes in at "92 or so".
Page 32 explains a 92 or so, "Typical Ground Balance Ranges: 80 - 99: Highly ferrous (magnetite, ferrous oxide minerals, black sands, hot rocks, terra cotta)"

I want "to cancel unwanted ground signals and obtain maximum stability and target detection". Make sure you are over clean ground prior to ground balancing or it could negative affect detector performance. HH

 

[BarryL]

Read the Owner's Manual over and over. It is a valuable resource and holds the answers.The number one reason for VDi's to be jumping around is from a ground balance issue. Most people use an Iron Discrimination setting with Iron Audio turned off. For instance, I have my Iron Discrimination set at 40 and have my Iron Audio turned off. Can I accurately find a clean spot, free from targets to ground balance with this set up? AT Pro Owner's Manual, page 31; "Detector performance can be negatively affected by ground mineralization. The AT Pro can be ground balanced either automatically or manually to cancel unwanted ground signals and obtain maximum stability and target detection." You are saying your ground comes in at "92 or so".
Page 32 explains a 92 or so, "Typical Ground Balance Ranges: 80 - 99: Highly ferrous (magnetite, ferrous oxide minerals, black sands, hot rocks, terra cotta)"

I want "to cancel unwanted ground signals and obtain maximum stability and target detection". Make sure you are over clean ground prior to ground balancing or it could negative affect detector performance. HH

Correct Statement Above! here in My Texas ground I rarely have to go above 85 on Ground Balance with that being said I usually set it a 80 and it works great thus nichols come in sold at 51 which typically are between 2 to 7 inches deep if the VDI jumps on my machine from different swing directions say two or so numbers up I have found it to be foil so unless it solidly hits from all directions at 51 ,52 I dont bother with it

 

[ajaj]

Seriously, spend a lot of time with the machine. I typically have 92 at auto ground balance and nickels,frequently, blip all over. DON'T FOCUS ON THE NUMBERS; focus on the overall sound(s). Get a blindfold, if necessary! With time, you shall be digging all of the nickels, pull-tabs...and gold.

aj

 

[pitcher]

Thanks for the replies, So maybe Im lost here, Ive read the manual over and over and its not that hard, every machine ive had has been manual ground balance so this is not my first time and I do understand how to ground balance, have a Vaquero, Xlt so its not new to me.
Barry, are you saying I should drop the ground balance from 92 to 88 or so?.

Thanks.

Pitcher

 

[grumpysrb]

Some have said to manual auto ground balance and then manually drop the GB down a few, which they say will give better depth and stability. I've only tested this once and for a short time. Garrett explains the manual GB method in the manual. They state that if you GB and get a low tone manually set it one direction and if a high tone the other. Perhaps manual would be a better option for you. You'd be able to tell while trying to GB if you are over clean ground. You would get mixed tones.

 

[firstring]

Consider using Pro Mode Zero for ground balancing. (use Pro Mode Custom for your hunting settings) Set Iron Discrimination at 0, set Iron Audio off. Now check for clean ground to ground balance. After ground balancing, add to ground balance number for a positive bias ground balancing. I add between 5 and 10 more to ground balance number. By doing this those low conductive metals jump out at you. (Owners Manual pg 32; "You may want to use the Manual Ground Balance function to ground balance slightly positive to enhance detection of small targets.") Adjust sensitivity down a notch or two so you don't get slammed by the background audio and perhaps help narrow down those VDI numbers. You will find yourself getting more nickels. When you start getting more nickels, then the prospect of getting those golden O's increase. Downside - "Digger's Wrist" - be prepared to dig more good targets along with other targets mimicking gold. This is a method. Why use it? The famous, well known masking issue. It's all about unmasking the goodies. You don't know what's there hidden, waiting to be discovered, if the machine can't see it. This holds true with negative bias ground balancing. Does the machine really go deeper with a negative bias or does the negative bias help unmask those deeper good targets? (Re-read page 32 Manual Ground Balance) Don't forget sensitivity adjustments for the shallow targets; "Use lower sensitivity levels in locations where the detector is behaving erratically due to excessive metallic trash, highly mineralized soils..." (pg 30). Re-ground balance after sensitivity adjustment. The Owner's Manual is a great resource, the At Pro a great detector. Good success to you and happy hunting.

 

[BarryL]

No I am saying in my ground I have found that about 88 I get very good results it will be more of a hit an miss for you and as I read your other post you are no stronger to GB so my thought is set it at the best response in your ground just don't get to concerned if its to positive sometimes that helps me hear the Suttle faint tones I am sure you will overcome the beast and AT will do just fine for

 

[BarryL]

Seriously, spend a lot of time with the machine. I typically have 92 at auto ground balance and nickels,frequently, blip all over. DON'T FOCUS ON THE NUMBERS; focus on the overall sound(s). Get a blindfold, if necessary! With time, you shall be digging all of the nickels, pull-tabs...and gold.

aj

Great Idea sometimes the numbers don't tell the truth

 

[mudpuppy]

i'll jump in...I have NEVER ground balanced the Pro, I use it in the water, and on the beach, (fresh water). I've had nickels TID from the 60's to the 40's..Like you said, on dry sand they hit consistent at 53ish....I did get one nickel that pinged in high, but again, I dont GB, I just turn on and go......good thing the screen is small, a fellow cant hardly see the TIDs anyway...I am very happy how hard it hits those mid tones...Nickels give my other dirt machine fits too...can be anywhere, I dont know why...the majority are consistent, but those ones that arn't make a fellow wonder whats up...good post...I wish I had an answer, but I really dont...The Pro does hit any sort of ring shaped object like a gosh darn train, so I'm happy there. After a while I've got to kind of tell the tones of the pulltabs...they sort of sound "soft" whereas a nickel hits pretty hard. You keep experimenting, its right that you wondered and asked...
Mud

 

[Grunter]

My nickels always hit a 52. The VDIs jump from 49-53 but if there is a 52 there it is a nickel. War nickels come in at 54-57. My auto ground balance in Pro-zero is 80.

 

[pitcher]

Thanks for all the replies you guys are great, took the AT out after work today and hit an old softball field I hunt aot, made sure the ground was clean in pro 0 and did the GB, came in at 92 like always so I started hunting in trash pit first, this field dates back to the 1800s and get used alot so so where the people sit its a trash pit, numbers jumping all over the place so I dropped the SENS alot and notched out foil and pull tabs and found a bunch of dimes, quarters and copper pennies.
There was no games going on so I hit the out field, I have found silvers and some old V nickels there, settings, pro 0 iron disk 10 GB 92, was finding some pretty deep clad but then I got this faint high tone with no vdi numbers at all, dug up a 1943 s war nickel at 8 or 9", no kidding one of the deepest coins I ever dug on that field.
In the open fields this machine is great but in the high trash I think the stock coil is alittle big so I ordered a 5x8 when I got home.

Thanks for all the help, will post a photo of the 43 nickel later.

Pitcher

 

[Pyledriver]

Threads like this are treasure! I've been using my pro for several years now but only recently began monkeying with ground balance numbers. Talk about some wild results! I have an old site that has been POUNDED by me and others. I've been able to make finds where everybody else has given up, just because the AT works so well in trash. I haven't been out there in quite some time but am itching to see what these techniques produce.

As to the original post-I have mild ground and nickels are fairly consistent. I don't watch numbers quite as much as I listen to tones, but 50-52 is what I've seen in mild, north Texas soil.

I think we need a compilation of these ground balance threads in one 'hot rod the AT' thread! Do I hear a second?

 

[firstring]

Most people go for the depth and nothing wrong with that. my style is more coin and jewelry with the emphasis on the jewelry end. I'm after target seperation and target identification as I hunt parks and schools mostly, with the occasional tot lot thrown in. It is, for me, very enjoyable experimenting with the different coil configuarations and settings at the individual sites. There different environments from heavily trashy with aluminum and bottle caps to more wide open athletic fields to group barbeque areas with tables and benches. Throw in some playground equipment and the challenge is on. 50 - 52 is what I get for nickels which happens to be right in there for those golden O's. Anything that can be done to enhance those signals, I'm in. HH

 

[Bill G]

My AT Pro hits pretty much dead on 52 98% of the time on nickles in the ground. If it reads a solid 52 you can count on a nickle. Sometimes every now and then a perfect sized pop top piece will do the same and lock in at a 52 but not to often most time there a 53,54,55,56 and above..

Take Care All,
Bill G

 

[jim tn]

Of late, I have been digging a fair number of nickels as the result of digging 50-53 numbers. For a while after getting the A T Pro, if it was a bouncy reading, say 49-54, I was passing many of those readings up. I dug a 36 Buffalo today at 5" that bounced from 49-57, but in working the target there were several 51-53 numbers. Deeper then 4" I am finding there is some bounce and if they are slanted or on edge, even a little more bounce. And yes, tab tails and square tabs show up once in a while, too. HH jim tn