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HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
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So how about some tips for using AM?

I like to reset my machine, which I'm sure you know how to do, then turn my sens. Down to about 30 or so and do my ground grab. Then, I'll turn to the AM side and run my sens. At 95 (or as high as possible while stable). I like my thresh. At 3, tones I leave alone just because my ears like it there. Ground balance number should carry over from disc. To Am.

For me I just screen watch, and any signal I see that catches my eye I investigate. This mode I feel does best sweeping fairly quick, but overlapping your passes.....especially in areas you or others previously hunted. I hated AM the first few times but quickly learned to love it, and use it mostly all the time now.
 

HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
4,594
Pa
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
From what I've heard, you can train your ear to the AM signals too. I'm not that far yet....I'm sure someone like digger27 is there with all the hours of use in that mode too. Id bet he could help with that.
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
AM...one my favorite go-to settings I use.
Honestly it took awhile to get used to it, I always had this as a check when I hunted predominantly in disc but one time, in an area of extreme EMI, I discovered it worked better than disc.
This was by accident when I did this for the first time but it changed my life.
Gain up to 99, thresh to +9, even had boost turned on too and sure it was jumpy but less jumpy than in disc, shockingly, but as always when I swung over targets my F70 stopped all that foolishness for an instant and told me.
After that I kept switching to all metal more and more on every hunt.
Ten minutes here, 15 minutes on the next hunt and then kept doing that to get used to it.
Lots of info hitting you all at once, both screen jumping and audio and it was hard to make sense out of it all for awhile because if you don't actually know how much metal is in the dirt we hunt at all depths using this mode you will find out quickly.
This is not like using disc even at 1...0 is close but there is even more in AM and then you have that threshold tone buzzing in your ears constantly if you max out everything like I do and that can tire you out quick.
This is something you have to train your brain to deal with and it is not easy but if you have patience the rewards can be tremendous.
I really started to use this in an insane site with so much iron I never found anything and many others never found much either but I was stubborn and stayed there for hours doing it this way and to my surprise great targets started showing up.
Eventually over time I got very comfortable doing this and it is effortless now, completely normal.
I turn my headphone volume down a bit which was better, I listen close for more solid sounding tones which are there once you get the hang of it and I watch the screen for repeatable numbers or a range of numbers which isn't easy at first to notice but can be learned.
And slow coil movements too or you might miss plenty because the good stuff in crowded sites might be real short and quick.
I must move slow in most of my sites anyway because my dirt is mineralized and I have a crazy amount of extra iron everywhere and anything left in these public sites that have been scoured for 60 years is all masked to the hilt or they would have been found long ago.
In less trashy or iron infested sites it is a lot easier but I found that this works better than disc for me in the most iron, garbage and trash filled sites imaginable, surprisingly.
Also anywhere in my mineralized SE. devil dirt.

I hunted with a friend once in a site with all that plus it was surrounded on all sides by power lines.
I was killing him on finding targets and he uses an E Trac and he asked me what the heck I was doing to find all these severely masked targets in areas he just went over but missed.
I pulled out my phone plug and had him walk next to me as I swung the coil and he listened to the million tones and saw all the numbers flash by so fast on the screen.
He was absolutely shocked...he couldn't fathom at all how I could make the slightest sense out of any of it, it was all utter nonsense to him but he knew it worked for me because he sees what I find when we hunt together.
He asked how I learned to do this and I just said lots and lots of practice.

This is all about learning to deal with the data overload and recognizing when a good target does pop up.
As I said it took time and patience but well worth the effort.
I probably missed a ton while I was learning this but less and less as I got better at it and now it is my most confident way to hunt.

Turning down the gain might still work, sometimes I go to 90-95 and the lower you turn down the thresh the quieter the threshold tone plus if you don't have boost DE is faster and probably a bit quieter and should still work well.
However I learned to do it with everything maxed out and boost and got used to the threshold volume and everything else plus I found so much at these settings I rarely change them nowadays but a little tweaking probably won't hurt you much if you want to do it that way.
I always do this, I usually learn new things using the most ridiculously crazy settings in the most challenging sites as possible.
It's like learning how to swim with a 75lb backpack, if I don't drown once I get the hang of it I can take off that pack and everything is effortless and easy but if you need to ramp up to higher settings and take baby steps from the other direction that is okay too.
As long as you get there and can use this method to find more stuff it doesn't matter which path you take.

I call these my blast-through settings for a reason...high settings blast through and around iron and trash to get me a piece of better masked targets and blast deeper into my difficult mineralized dirt I hunt in now.
On Fishers high gain definitely has better resolution around iron than low gain, I assume trash too from what I have seen...this is opposite thinking than most do, (high beams in the fog theory), and might not work on other brands but it was designed by Dave J. to work this way on this entire platform.

Depending on your soil targets might act normal and pretty stable and have a small spread of numbers but I used this in heavy iron in good dirt and now here in my bad dirt and I don't ever get good solid numbers on anything with a short number jump unless it is really shallow...like on the surface or an inch deep.
They are usually a range of numbers of at least 6-8 or could be more up to 10 or so as targets get deeper and I go after all signals that don't have a lot of drops down to iron.
I hit them from 90 degrees too and look for that same behavior as true iron around here can show up with that turn.
I dig a lot with several iron drop signals too from time to time because there is so much of that here but when I get tired I just go after the ones with little or no iron drops because I have found a lot of great targets that way and 99% of the time when I dig those others with many iron drops it usually has been iron.
Signals that jump way to much, like 60's to 80's or other big spreads are usually trash for me.
A possibility they are not but I dug many hundreds of those kinds of targets learning this and they were all trash so I am ok with passing them by nowadays.
You never know but I just won't spend my time digging everything anymore especially here...I could spend an hour or more digging just junk in a 5'X5' area so I got a lot more picky over the years.
If I miss something so what, I will find it on my next visit I figure.
I have also found lots of great targets in the same hole with iron so there usually is something in those better target behavior patterns that triggers me to dig despite the iron indicators, again with practice.
Also here in my dirt, and in great dirt with crazy iron, all targets up average around iron big time so if you see repeating sets of numbers anywhere and are hunting in these same conditions don't assume.
In good dirt I found a 41 tab gold ring that was sitting between an iron nail on the left shallow and some huge piece of iron on the right but deep and it was a 51, can slaw range in the dirt.
In that same good dirt but an old farmhouse site with a million pieces of wire, nails, nuts bolts and huge iron deeper under everything using this method I found many great up averaged targets and lots of coins but all the coins, IH's, wheaties, copper cents and silver dimes all jumped between the low 80's to low 90's.
A walker half soared up to the high 90's.
Here in my dirt most everything past 2-3" soars into the 80's to 90's...definitely at 4"+ even nickels and every time.

Whatever and however your targets behave in your dirt if you practice this eventually confusion will fade as you train your brain to recognize repeating patterns, whatever they are, and you will start digging more and more good targets.
First one, then another, we learn as we go but that "AHA" moment will hit you and you will know you are getting a handle on this stuff and from then it is just practice to hone your skills from there.
After about 2+ years using all metal as I said it is natural and normal for me now, I don't dig a huge amount of iron or trash but still manage to eke out some great treasure in very difficult well hunted sites...enough to keep me happy, anyway.
I still use disc and experiment with all kinds of settings because I get bored easily and I am naturally curious but when it counts I always switch to all metal because I am pretty sure I will miss less and find more that way.

BTW considering the crazy, crowded, infested sites I hunt sniper coils are the way to go and I use them more than bigger coils but when I first learned to do this and practiced to get good at it I usually had the 11"DD mounted most of the time so this works with all coils I have found...concentrics too.
 

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verbious

verbious

Sr. Member
Jun 21, 2012
435
614
Elizabeth, PA
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 SE
Bounty Hunter Platinum (back up)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
So i played around a bit with AM today. I was using the 5" coil at the park that has been hammered to death. I found a 1973 dime. Then I switched to the 11" coil and hunted some more on my aunt's property. I know that the only "trash" there will be farm related. I hit a few pieces of iron that gave me solid zinc range numbers. One of the items was a 6" disk of some sort standing on edge. Then I got an iffy signal that kinda deep and not loud. Turns out to be remnants of a zinc mason jar lid and at about 8". I had a few other iffy signals that were somewhat deep 7-10" range and most turned out to be iron. It was a good learning experience for sure. Just before I got rained out, I pulled a 1965 quarter. I'll let you know how I'm doing after a few more hundred hours!! haha Thanks for the all the tips and sharing your experiences!
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
Practice is perfect.
I forgot to mention it might not be necessary to blast up the settings real high everywhere...this is just something I do in my problem dirt because below 95 on the gain I just can't get screen info around here at about 5" or deeper.
I get audio and the thresh tone changes but the screen is more often than not blank...and turning down the thresh doesn't really make much of a difference in noise or anything so I might as well leave it pegged.
In heavy iron even in good soil I seemed to get more and better signals too even on 4-6" targets so I just got used to these high settings.

For all I know 60-80 on the gain and negative thresh might work just fine in better soil and good conditions.
Wish I still had that but alas, I don't anymore.
 

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HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
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Primary Interest:
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Verbious, I pulled this 1906 5 centavos from an area I've been over about 4 times in disc this afternoon. I was thinking about this thread, and spots I've never hunted in AM. Lucky too because this 1800's site is 3 blocks from me. This was JUMPY as most all my nickels are....can't say much about mexican nickels though this is a first....lol. keep on that all metal and it will pay off for sure. This was jumpy like I said, and my confidence meter was doing nothing....but it sounded like a tight signal....so I dug. Glad I did!
20170908_184710.jpg
 

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verbious

verbious

Sr. Member
Jun 21, 2012
435
614
Elizabeth, PA
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 SE
Bounty Hunter Platinum (back up)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I will definitely keep after the AM mode. That's an awesome find HighVDI, especially if you've already hunted that area.

I used the All Metal mode on my LRP with some good success, then again, the LRP is nothing like the F75.

Most of my hunting has been in Disc Mode, Sens 50-80, Disc 5-25, 2L tones, and DE mode. I really like the FeTone.

My impression of the AM thus far is that it is very powerful. I can't wait to really run it out in the fields and the woods. I've got a few places that I just can't wait to run the F75.

Happy Hunting!!!!!
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
The most intact lamp part I have found so far.
I have found several of these but usually smashed and never one with the knob still attached and sticking out straight like when it was new.


The story here isn't the target but how deep it was and where and how I noticed it.


Check this out...in an area I have been over a million times, surrounded by power lines on all sides with WiFi hitting it hard from a fire station on site and no red clay but even though it is black dirt it is still mineralized.
My GB number was 71 in the very dry soil.
No good signals here left at all, I have found several but now there is only iron and some trash left...but I keep trying.


Yesterday I found this with the F70 and NEL Sharpshooter coil...a sniper coil...using AM.
Got a pretty solid 99 from all directions, that number never jumped lower or changed, and depth on my screen said 10-11".
All metal, gain and thresh maxed out and SL speed...also hit the thing in disc pretty solid at 85 sense, -2 thresh, 0 disc, 1 tone and DE speed.
I opened a hole, risky because most everything is iron here especially at those numbers, also small iron like tiny nails and wire can do it too but show depth like that and actually be way less deep.
Still, I had nothing better to do at that minute so I dug.


I got down deep only thanks to my Sampson shovel, I would not have even attempted digging the thing at all with my hand Lesche, if I did I would still be digging.
I finally reached this thing and pulled it out.
I stuck my 9" Carrot in the hole resting the tip on the spot it was laying to measure...standing straight up the top was a healthy 1/2 to 3/4's inch below the top of the dirt and I never scrub the coil so I was at least 1/2 - 1" above the ground swinging over this thing.
Add it up...it was every bit of 10.5 to 11" deep...no exaggeration.
In good dirt I would compare that to a 12-15" target.
At the very edge of the scanning field these Fishers can give you audio reports but the screen usually goes blank...on this thing that never happened.


Just junk but I was thrilled that this coil could get down that deep in my dirt and give a pretty good ID and very accurate depth on a decent target that was actually hiding down there at this level.

Because of this thread I went out yesterday just to mess around with lower all metal settings to see what they would do around here.
They were ok but half the signals had blank screens so I just turned it up like usual.
I didn't plan on walking over to this heavily scoured site but I did and I was in AM too so thanks versions, I found this thing because of you.
 

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HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
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Digger27,

Is that the coil you recommend for all around hunting for the f70/75 platforms? Seems like great reviews about the NEL stuff.

Not to beat a dead horse here but to keep the motivation up for all. This was about 10 ft from the 5 centavos coin I found yesterday. Went out this am and was pretty much digging anything above iron and then got a somewhat faint signal but it was solid audio, and vdi of 76 give or take a couple numbers. Popped a plug over and went over it with the f75 and a loud, squeaky 72, 72 both ways. Took a chunk off the bottom of the plug and this was sitting there. Broke a silver drought too!
1914 barber dime.

20170909_104419.jpg
 

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verbious

verbious

Sr. Member
Jun 21, 2012
435
614
Elizabeth, PA
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 SE
Bounty Hunter Platinum (back up)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
That's awesome!!! I have a NEL tornado for my Bounty Hunter Platinum and it is my favorite coil to use.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
Digger27,

Is that the coil you recommend for all around hunting for the f70/75 platforms? Seems like great reviews about the NEL stuff.

Not to beat a dead horse here but to keep the motivation up for all. This was about 10 ft from the 5 centavos coin I found yesterday. Went out this am and was pretty much digging anything above iron and then got a somewhat faint signal but it was solid audio, and vdi of 76 give or take a couple numbers. Popped a plug over and went over it with the f75 and a loud, squeaky 72, 72 both ways. Took a chunk off the bottom of the plug and this was sitting there. Broke a silver drought too!
1914 barber dime.

All coils work well on this platform, I can't tell you how much I have found with my three Fisher coils, a 5" DD, an 11"DD and a 10" elliptical concentric.
The big DD and the concentric I still use, the Sharpshooter has replaced my 5" coil.
I never used another brand's aftermarket coil before this one but I must say from what I have seen it seems like an even better fit...like it was made specifically for my rig.
Does everything my Fisher sniper can do but covers a bit more area and it is quieter to boot.
Might be a bit deeper too.
This NEL coil is something else...
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,003
17,106
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I currently have a NEL Sharpshooter on my F-75 as well. It is the berries for my needs.
 

SteveJJ

Jr. Member
May 18, 2015
59
66
Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Fisher F75 (for sale)
Fisher Gold Bug 2
White's TDI SL
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Me too. I'm blown away by it. My vaquero will be sold when I return from Cobalt silver mine country! Using all metal metal mode and watching target numbers I'm avoiding digging most trash, while seeking deeper as well. This is one hot detector that suits this hearing impaired guy very well!
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,003
17,106
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
i was playing around with my F-75 yesterday in the All Metal mode. Saturday I had been out shooting at stumps (bow season is coming!) and one was a solid stump that broke the metal head off the arrow. I had no idea where it went.

Going back to the stump I set a low tone (-3) and the threshold just below audible and started a spiral moving away from and around the stump. At about 20 ft to one side I recovered the steel tip (read 7 on the TDI). But before then I also found a fencing staple at 2" down, what I assume to be lengths of barbed wire (linear hits in the iron range I didn't bother digging), two shot shell brass bases (both just under the surface) and a more recent plastic tube shotshell. Also a one-piece clip of some kind (like a very heavy duty curtain clip) which is a real puzzle as we have lived here 15 years and this was on the surface and has no rust or corrosion???

But the curious "thing" was a 44 to 46 TDI reading (stayed there when I "x"ed over it) that read "16" when I pinpointed over it ("kinda" the depth). I didn't bother digging but I made a mental note of where it was. 40 years ago most of where I was searching was pasture; but there is a big 'ol white pine that has been there long enough to be too get an eight foot circumference. The last time I dug a signal like that (mid 40's) it was a horse drawn cultivator about four feet long with 12 tines (half broken). So if I get bored enough I may return with a shovel. The only other "hit" I can recall or have noted from back when I logged everything was an 1857 1¢ flying eagle that read 46! It was a small target so I am hopeful. ;-)

Overall it reminded me I ought to spend more time in All Metal.
 

ctdigger01

Jr. Member
Mar 29, 2016
20
12
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just bought an F75 and it arrived today, can't wait to set it up and try it out. A detecting friend of mine has an older F75 and he wacks stuff big time. Always finds much clad and much old stuff too. It's exciting.
 

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verbious

verbious

Sr. Member
Jun 21, 2012
435
614
Elizabeth, PA
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 SE
Bounty Hunter Platinum (back up)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Verbious, you been out at all?
I've been out spending some time and learning the machine. Last good find turned out to be my oldest coin:. A Draped Bust Large cent. Unfortunately it was worn do smooth a date was impossible. It is holed! 31317.jpeg

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HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
4,594
Pa
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I've been out spending some time and learning the machine. Last good find turned out to be my oldest coin:. A Draped Bust Large cent. Unfortunately it was worn do smooth a date was impossible. It is holed! View attachment 1501356

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Very nice! Let me guess. It rang up 84 on the screen?
 

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verbious

verbious

Sr. Member
Jun 21, 2012
435
614
Elizabeth, PA
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 SE
Bounty Hunter Platinum (back up)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Very nice! Let me guess. It rang up 84 on the screen?
If I remember correctly! It was in that ball park. Solid sound, solid lock.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

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