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Very new at this in NC

So I am very new at this metal detecting thing. BUT I AbSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!! I have found a brass bell, an old radiator cap, and a copper comb. All came from an old house dating back to 1700's. I am using an AT Pro. Its as if I am hearing the pulse of the past in my headphones. I am learning the pro mode, because I feel there is so much left behind in standard. Are there any signals I should ignore? Sometimes I hear a faint beep, but it doesn't register on the screen. Should I dig or is it just chatter? I have several sites in mind here in central NC. If anyone is interested in going with me, let me know. I am more than happy to share the bounty, for a friend or a teacher. If any veterans have any advice please share.
 
I'm just starting with my ATP, but learned today a solid 53 up here is a nickle. Picked up the ATP this year to my arsenal so just starting to learn it. Good luck.

John
 
Yes that thing can lock onto a nickel. I just got permission to hunt a home in the early 1800s. So all evening I have been practicing in my yard. Given the date and being new at this, I think it will be best to dig every target. Bottle caps here I come, but I have a real good feeling about this.
 
When you can't sleep at night, just thinking about metal detecting, and when you do fall asleep you're detecting in your dreams that's when you are hook on metal detecting. Great choice of machine, the Garrett At pro by far the best detector in my opinion. If you learn it you'll dig less trash and more good stuff, LOL good luck.
 
I'm also in NC. Caldwell county. I travel down to the Winston Salem area quite a bit to visit relatives :)
 
[size=large]Faint, deep signals can often be great finds! The deeper, the older comes to mind. Also, deep signals will not ID properly on any detector, and should be further investigated. To get good depth, try the following tips:

* With the AT Pro, learn and hunt in Pro mode. It is deeper then standard mode. With the AT Gold, the all metal mode is deeper then Disc 1 or Disc 2.

* Has a place been hunted out? Go back and try again after a good rain soaking. Moist wet soil gives better sensitivity and greater depth readings for targets.

* If you get a nice high audio and a VDI in the 70's or 80's, dig it.

* The larger the coil the deeper it goes. However, too many targets under a large coil can mask a good target. If you get a slight good audio using the large coil, lift it up 2-3 inches and center the coil where the good audio was. Often times the good target will be much clearer.

* Get a coil cover and scrub the ground. Some people scan the ground inches above it...."DON'T" You can gain a couple of inches scrubbing, which is significant.

* Don't swing too fast! Just because it has a very fast "recovery speed"......doesn't mean it can always pick out that one good silver coin amongst several pieces of junk. The electronics still need to process lots of information.

"SWING TOO FAST, YOU WILL COME IN LAST"

* Swinging too fast can make you a sloppy hunter. You also risk eventually cracking/breaking your coil and elephant ears from the constant banging on trees, playground equipment or concrete.

* If you are getting lots of EMI or increased mineralization which is causing erratic audio, try adjusting your discrimination first, before lowering the sensitivity. This sometimes lets the machine run smoother without losing any depth.

* If you get mixture of audio signals, scan the target from different directions. Sometimes a good target is beside or partially underneath a good target. The AT Series has a unique ability to pick out those good targets amongst the trash. Going at the target from different directions allows the AT Pro to perform even better!

* Ground balance your machine occasionally. Temperature can change, and directly affect the settings. Hunting in shade vs. sun can vary. "a 14 degree difference on a lawn area to a 35 degree difference on a parking lot." But, the mineralization can also change between areas....so again...ground balance periodically.

* To increase the depth/sensitivity to silver targets, lower the ground balanced numbers 10-20 points

* If you are hunting an area that is absolutely covered with nails, try ground balancing out a nail until it is nothing but a small amount of static. Now....all the copper & silver targets will give a loud audio response....BUT the target ID will be off.

* Build a test garden...use good & bad targets at different depths. You will soon discover that deep silver targets beyond depths of 8 or more inches begin to not sound off as a high pitch or that the VDI numbers remain in the 80's. That is very good information to know. My rule of thumb states if it's deep....it's old. Dig it! It costs you nothing.


* Run your battery charges at the top 1/4 fully charged, not the last 1/4 charged battery condition segment. The AT Series will run 100% until the battery runs down to a certain point. Because nobody knows exactly where that point is on their machine, don't try and find out. With the price of cheap alkalines or rechargeable "AA" batteries, you should never reach that unknown power loss point. Bring spares, or top off your recharge ables before the hunt

* Read the manual and watch the videos. Garrett has posted many videos to help with problem areas such as pin-pointing, ground balancing, iron-audio, target id, target sizing. These are just a few. Go to the link for a complete view :

Click below on either for more information.......
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrDAu6JPiwwVjpRY9W4Y5_A
 
Thanks for the good info, i am going to try that ground balance over the nail trick, i have a place that is full of nails i have been hunting.
 
That covers a lot John. Good post. Cant wait to try it myself.
 
Does some of this info count for my ace 350? I don't have vdi numbers (so mad that the day it arrived they announced the 400 :-/)
 
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