AT Pro air test

[togamac]

Well, I finally got a chance to do a rudimentary air test on both of my AT Pros - one upgraded the other not upgraded. Here are the results:

Upgraded: penny-8", dime-7", nickle-9", quarter-8"

Not upgraded: penny-10", dime-9", nickle-10", quarter-10"

These coins all came out of my pocket, no silver, old nickles or old pennies.
I only tested in Pro Zero, full sensitivity.

If anyone has a request for different modes, coins, etc. let me know and I'll do it.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Nice post. Where did you do results?

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

Togamac do a favor and try them by whatever you have your GB set at lowering it say 10 and 20 numbers to posatively bias it to the plus side on the gb to sse if that changes the depth on the high conductors (coins) . Be interested to sse if so. I sent mine in and got it upgraded and they replaced the pc board they said in the detector and it seems like now I've lost the depth and you conclusively show that with your side by side testing. So now I would like to see if biasing the gb for positive high conductors it will give it the depth back on the machine.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[John-Edmonton]

Question......to maintain a certain amount of accuracy, were the tests done in the same location, using the same props for positioning the machine and targets? Thanks.

 

[TheDualFieldBandit]

I've heard the same thing about the AT-Pro's coming back from the upgrades so I didn't send mine back. I just made an extension for my arm rest plus I read some where? After the replacement rods you'll have to loosen the cam lock to get the battery pack out? I just air tested my AT-Pro ser#00000010 it does false some if I hold it in the air and wiggle the coil side to side kind of hard.

Not upgraded: penny-10", dime-10", nickle-13", quarter-12" ( Pro-mode. Disc zero, Sensitivity max )

 

[togamac]

Both were tested in my basement on a wooden bench. I tried to duplicate the geometry exactly for each. One thing I did notice is that you need to let them warm up a few minutes or the readings are lower by a couple of inches. BTW, the batteries in both were new alkalines.

 

[togamac]

Tom, I'll try with the GB adjusted lower but it won't be until Tuesday night at the earliest. Have you tried air testing with yours and adjusting the GB?

 

[John-Edmonton]

n/t

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

No I never thought to try this was waiting for the ground to thaw so I could get out and hunt. Pretty frozen up here. No snow just frozen ground. Was going to give it a try on a couple of spots i hit this summer to see if anything else turned up deeper.

 

[Vinnie]

Air tested my Atp in pro zero max sens with a 5x8 DD and GB's of 90, 60, 40 and 10. I got the same distance with the 60 and lower GB's but at 90 it lost a lot. 9.9 inches with 60 and lower and 8.1 set at 90.

 

[marcomo]

Interesting thread, togamac, thanks for sharing.

Were the depths measured to where all audio stopped, where the VDI stopped, or some other point?

 

[William-NM]

Well, you got me curious, so I put a set of freshly charged LSD batteries in the contraption and put it on a wooden chair and set it to Pro-Zero, full sensitivity. I didn't change the ground balance, which I noted was 90 when I was out detecting earlier today, about average for here. My machine has gone back to Garrett for the spa treatment. (and, no, I don't have to loosen the cam lock to change batteries, BTW).

Pennies:
- Both Zinc & Copper: 9" = High Tone | 10" = Med/Hi Tone | 11" = Intermittent Signal

Nickle (Modern): 9" = Med Tone | 10" = Med Tone | 11" = Med/Low Tone, Intermittent

Dimes:
- Clad: 7" = High Tone | 8" = Med Tone | 9" = Intermittent Signal
- Silver Merc. 7" = High Tone | 8" = High Tone | 9" = Med Tone

Quarter (clad): 9" = High Tone | 10" = Med/High Tone | 11"-12" = Intermittent Signal

Also, I currently live in a mobile home (i.e. tin can, tornado bait) and there was a minimal amount of background chatter, probably because of that.

I recently dug a 1929 Wheat penny at 12" out in the Gila NF (in damp ground), and was quite pleased with myself and the contraption!
Just some more results to compare...

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

Good test William and I see your GB is close to mine here in Upstate NY Adirondacks it's usually 80-85 range here. I'll have to take mine and try a test sometime and see myself. We just got snow here about 6" overnight so till spring??

 

[togamac]

First I started wagging the coins back and forth from about 15" away and slowly approached the coil. I would get a weak midtone before the solid higher tone. The distances I recorded were for the weak midtone. I had the headphones on.
Then, I would start at the coil and slowly increase the distance until all tones disappeared. I didn't check the VDI at all because I had the detector assembled and the display was too far away for me to see.
Like I said, it was a rudimentary test just to see if there was a difference in my upgraded and non-upgraded detectors.

As for GB, this was done in my basement and it was impossible to GB on the basement floor so I have no idea what that was. These are probably not ideal conditions to do an air test in. Weather permitting (March?), I plan to repeat the test outside including GB adjustments and I'll let you'all know what those results are.

Two lessons learned from this test. One, my non-upgraded detector appears to go deeper than my upgraded one. Two, those weak mid tones may be a deep coin.
HH, Mac