ATX makes a target sound when the coil is bumped in the field

[yrekadude]

Last weekend I went nugget hunting in Redding CA and my friend with his GPX 5000 found one but I didn't.. I did find lots of interesting stuff..

But what got me was that sometimes bumping my coil on a rock or twig created a target sound.. I also noticed that I had to ground balance a lot out there. I was pretty far from my partner.

Overall though, I enjoyed the hunt and my ATX did awesome. I found quite a few bullets and old square nails. By the way, the iron test worked great on most nails but a few didn't make a grunt.

As a side note, I could not get the ATX to make a target sound when I bumped it with my hand up in the air... I'm thinking that since the ground is a little hot, the quick stop makes the noise?

 

[JOE in MD]

I don't own an ATX, but you might of had the Sensitivity to high. Just a thought???

 

[Booty Hunter]

Gound was hot. That's my guess anyway.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

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The Twang sound you hear when you bump the coil into something hard is normal.

When I scan the wet saltwater sand, I am constantly scrubbing the sand with the coil and it is totally quiet.

If the side of the coil bumps a shell, stone, or something hard, it will make a Twang sound.

 

[yrekadude]

Thanks SoCalBeachScanner,

It's nice to know it's normal and rule out a coil problem!

Regards

 

[bearkat4160]

Hey man I'm not far from you up here in Medford Oregon. I get a bit of that also with my ATX mostly with my 8" mono coil. If the ground is hot it will a bit more noisy. I try to run my on max where possible but just try to put it on 12 sens instead of 13. Makes a little difference. And make sure to ground balance it to where it is TOTALLY quiet before stopping the ground balance procedure. Hope this helps. Got me 2 nuggets the other day down near the Klamath River!

Take care,
Bearkat

 

[yrekadude]

Hey man I'm not far from you up here in Medford Oregon. I get a bit of that also with my ATX mostly with my 8" mono coil. If the ground is hot it will a bit more noisy. I try to run my on max where possible but just try to put it on 12 sens instead of 13. Makes a little difference. And make sure to ground balance it to where it is TOTALLY quiet before stopping the ground balance procedure. Hope this helps. Got me 2 nuggets the other day down near the Klamath River!

Take care,
Bearkat

Bearkat,

If you're the same guy, thank you for all the great Youtube videos - I see you releasing lots of them and I am not caught up but they are helpful! Hope you are not spending too much time doing videos that you lose detecting time

I'm heading to Redding for some nugget hunting in the rain tomorrow

 

[bearkat4160]

Yep thats me doing those videos...I am down in Los Angeles area for the winter. Was tired of Oregon winter weather. Not much gold areas close here though, except the beach and it is still 75 miles from me.

Bearkat

 

[Kent Wilkens]

I just got my Garrett ATX, and it gives false target signals at the slightest bump or hint of one. Is this normal? I had to swing it high enough to miss the grass.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

I just got my Garrett ATX, and it gives false target signals at the slightest bump or hint of one. Is this normal? I had to swing it high enough to miss the grass.

No, that is not normal. You should be able to scrub the grass with the coil without a sound.

Check that your coil connection thread is tight, then try performing a factory reset and a full ground balance and see if that helps.

With my ATX, what I have experienced, it will only makes a twang sound (false signal) when I hit something of the right hardness and size against the side of the coil. It's like some items sends a certain vibration through the coil that disrupts the field. Hitting a chunk of wood, trash, or even bump against a boulder, usually has no affect, but if I hit a certain shell or stone against the side of the coil while scrubbing the sand, I will hear a twang sound at times.

 

[Kent Wilkens]

Only the second time using it, didn't pay much attention to having the cams real tight, just enough to keep from moving, so will try it with the cams tightened up good. Can also check by putting the 20 on it and see if it does it on both. This was chirping an almost anything, didn't have to even hit it, just brush past would give a signal. Other than that the hunting was good, was out with a guy with a 5000 and another with a 4800. The guy with the 5000 found a tiny speck but otherwise just getting the feet wet. The pro pointer worked really nice for cutting the dig times dramatically. Found one target that was partially dug, guy had given up on it. Ended up about 30" down and angled about 12" away from the guys original hole. Ended up being an old tin of some sort.

 

[Kent Wilkens]

I switched to the 20" coil, noticed when removing the stock coil that the nut was lose, so not sure if that contributed to the sensitivity when touching things. I made sure the nut was tight this time inside the hilt, and also the cams were all tightened down well. The 20" coil made no noise at all when bumping the ground or sand piles, none. I will try the double d with the nut tight and cams tight in a day or so, see if that was the difference.

I found the 20" very effective on the beach where you could cover a lot of ground with the big coil. I am not sure if I got the salt water issue figured out, tried discrimination at 5 and 6, which cut it some, but otherwise had a tendency to sing hi when swinging one way and low when the other way when walking parallel to the beach. While this might bother some I had no trouble picking out real targets. Some coins, a horseshoe at about 20" and an aluminum can at 24", and lots of hair pins. I had the can pegged as such once we were down about 6". The hair pins are pretty easy to guess as well, you get that double twang going the one direction. I was only out for a little over an hour but had time to dig about 20 targets. Using the pro pointer helps with the deep targets. The sand scoop with the punched slots was next to useless. I quickly switched to just using the boot to scrape the top, then using my plastic scoop to grab the sand and then run than into the coil. Worked pretty quick.

Changing coils is a pain until you figure out the proceedure, then its pretty easy and quick. Use the plastic thread protector to pull the wire out of the shaft. Once out, remove the thread protector AND the slotted wire protector. (it gets in the road when trying to connect). Grab the connection end, (dont bother trying to insert the shaft yet, just pull the cable through and get set to plug in) allign the pins correctly (mine is at a 45 degree angle), pretty easy then to push the pin connector together. Screw the nut down tight. Dont forget to then replace the slotted wire protector, slip the arm guard back in, lock it down. Now put the plastic thread protector on the coil that was removed (if not already done).

Kent