ground balancing for silver

[Boomer270]

Hello, i am new to the at pro, metal detecting and site.I have read some posts about ground balancing for copper and silver,but not sure why and if you ground balance for silver do you do it for different types of metal?I have been out about 25 hours with the at pro and have cleaned up on caps and tabs,found a few newer coins,i have been to a few older parks that should hold older coins but nothing,being new to the Hobie am i being to impatient which is probably the case,I manually ground balance and start in std and when I find a target switch to pro to learn the different sounds,I dig every thing i come to,so any info would be helpful,thank you.

 

[William-NM]

Well, you're doing the right thing, digging it all to get familiar with the signals. It WILL get easier as you learn your machine. Some of us like to do an auto ground balance, then hit the button again and lower the GB by 10 - 20 numbers, feeling that it seems to make the machine 'hotter' on Silver. The opposite seems to hold true for Gold and iron, manually raising the GB to increase sensitivity to the lower conductivity metals.

Try to take your time and pay close attention to the quality of the sounds, noting the 'squelchy' or crackly sounds of aluminum and foil vs the softer sounds of gold and silver. Go by ear first, then note the machine's VDI & depth readout and decide whether to dig or not. Switch to pro mode to get more target info - it's a personal preference whether to use coins or zero discrimination mode - some people like to 'hear it all' and use their ears to discriminate, while others prefer to use the coins & jewelry mode to avoid information overload. I use both, depending on how trashy the site is, and sometimes I start in zero mode and switch to coins mode when my brain starts going numb, heh.

Take your time, nice even sweeps, and enjoy yourself. You'll soon begin to note the softer, sweeter sounds of the older coins.

 

[Boomer270]

thanks a lot for the info it completely cleared the confusion,and your not kidding about info overload I'm good for half an hour before I have start to turn things down I always start out like a new puppy and end up like beaten up old hunting dog thanks again and I'm sure ill have questions

 

[widebody]

[size=large]too much sensitivity can be a problem also. these machines have been found to do real good with med to low ses. cranking it up is counterproductive especially in trashy places.

HH[/size]

 

[Atlas]

Interesting thread I'll have to try that ground balance technique. Widebody your point on the sensitivity setting is right on.

 

[pulltaber]

Well, you're doing the right thing, digging it all to get familiar with the signals. It WILL get easier as you learn your machine. Some of us like to do an auto ground balance, then hit the button again and lower the GB by 10 - 20 numbers, feeling that it seems to make the machine 'hotter' on Silver. The opposite seems to hold true for Gold and iron, manually raising the GB to increase sensitivity to the lower conductivity metals.

Try to take your time and pay close attention to the quality of the sounds, noting the 'squelchy' or crackly sounds of aluminum and foil vs the softer sounds of gold and silver. Go by ear first, then note the machine's VDI & depth readout and decide whether to dig or not. Switch to pro mode to get more target info - it's a personal preference whether to use coins or zero discrimination mode - some people like to 'hear it all' and use their ears to discriminate, while others prefer to use the coins & jewelry mode to avoid information overload. I use both, depending on how trashy the site is, and sometimes I start in zero mode and switch to coins mode when my brain starts going numb, heh.

Take your time, nice even sweeps, and enjoy yourself. You'll soon begin to note the softer, sweeter sounds of the older coins.

It may make the ATpro more sensitive to silver but it will also make it sensitive to the ground minerals, if you are in bad ground you will lose depth. I still think you will get best result over all with a slight increase in GB.You have to set your gb for the ground not what you are trying to find. That is just my thoughts and 38+ years hunting experience.

 

[TerraDigger]

I agree with Pulltaber......adjusting the ground balance 20 points out of its optimal ground balance range is going to cost you depth. The more mineralized the soil, the greater the depth loss.

 

[Boomer270]

thank you much for the info with my limited experience it all sounds good I will play around this afternoon and see what happens,I will let ya know what i find,thanks again

 

[MikeLab]

I don't know if this will help you, but I have an ATG and found two silver dimes in a little over a week since I got the machine. They were both deep and I just autobalance frequently. I tried to change the balance on a surface target to see if there was a difference.I could not tell any difference, but it might have to be in the ground. Anyway, for supposedly not being good on the high conductors, I'm finding more silver in a park that hasn't given up much in years. The last dime hit at 82. Don't recall the first one.