AT Pro in Blacksand and Saltwater Combined?

[Dodo the 3rd]

So today I brought my newly bought AT Pro to the beach. Turned out it was going crazy when I brought it close to the saltwater. I tried groundbalancing it manually and automatically, but both didn't seem to work. With that said, I have two questions.

1. How well does the AT Pro generally work in saltwater mixed with blacksand?
2. Is there a solution to fixing this?

I would appreciate any feedback. I waited 10 years to buy this detector and I wouldn't want part of my investment to go to waste

 

[GoGoGopher]

Drop the sensitivity...May be the only thing that keeps it quiet


HH,

 

[Dodo the 3rd]

I"ll try that later today. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Sailorman]

What were you ground balancing at? You have to drop lower then where it's going to autobalance at.

Beaches with high levels of black sand are going to be tough territory for many detectors.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Black sand is HORRIBLE for single freq detectors. Sailors tip will help some.

 

[Dodo the 3rd]

It's an AT Pro, an multi-frequency detector O_O

 

[SteveP(NH)]

He was referring to a detector that uses multiple frequencies simultaneously. The AT PRO transmits at 15 Khz and you can change that frequency by a very small amount to try and get rid of interference if you run into some but whatever channel you choose it only uses that one frequency.

For an example I will use the White's DFX cause I own one in addition to my AT PRO - the DFX operates on 3 Khz and 15 Khz simultaneously. The advantage of a multi-frequency machine like that is that one of the frequencies can be balanced for the black sand and the other frequency can be balanced for the salt. You can't do that when you are only transmitting on one frequency.

 

[tcrews]

Try setting the GB down into the teens and see if that helps. I manually GB down to 12 when at the beach in or close to the water...hope this helps HH

 

[zaxfire69]

Just what Tcrews said....Manual ground balance down to around 12. Turn sensitivity down till it gets quiet. Tell us how it works.

 

[Dodo the 3rd]

I used the advice given. I turned the sensitivity down to three bars and GB to 12. Probably won't find as much, but it's SUBSTANTIALLY a lot more quieter. Thanks for the tips and HH everyone!

 

[Sailorman]

You might be very surprised. On an east FL beach we use 0 to 2 ground balance in the water, 5 to 8 in the wet sand and 10 to 12 in the dry sand. Send at 4 to 5. Not much in the way of black sand but made finds as deep as a foot.

Now the black sand is a problem as stated for many machines but short of buying a machine that's a dedicated machine for those conditions or a very expensive multi freq you've probably got a fairly good machine. You just have to learn it by trying different settings and learning what it's telling you.

 

[Fishers Ghost]

I would suggest that you only use Manual GB in the water.
Salt will GB somewhere between 0 and 20. Black sand will GB between 80 to max.
So you see that you are going to have problems with Black sand and salt combined if the black sand concentration is high.

with the GB at approx 60 or higher ( you will have to experiment a bit) lower the Sens until operation is as stable as you can get it.

If the detector still screams at you as you lower it to the wet sand then turn the GB down a bit and try again, if it goes quiet as the coil approches the sand then wind in a bit more GB. You are going to have to find a compromise setting.

VLF detectors all have problems with black sand n salt, even the mult frequency jobs sometimes get a bit chattery.

Detectors like the BHID that transmit two frequencies simultaineously, ( one very low and the other fairly high) will GB black sand and salt at the same time but still do not work well in high concentrations of black sand.