Chatter, chatter, and more chatter !!!!

Metal Monkey

Jr. Member
Apr 19, 2014
46
14
Greencastle, PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I bought a AT Pro in December and all my sites I hunt are trashy. Meaning, I get a LOT of hits. Low, medium, and high tones. Now, my question is:
I hunt with the iron audio off, so I get mid and high tones, but most are spotty. I may sweep six to eight times, and get my tone three to four times. So then I turn on the iron audio and it explodes. So does this mean there is a possible good find, or is it just trickery from the iron and trashy targets? I hate to miss something, but then again, I hate taking 8 hrs searching a postage stamp lot.
 

gleaner1

Silver Member
Feb 1, 2009
4,491
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Gateway to the 1000 Islands
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Okay try this. IA Off is good, pro mode is good. Dont use IA just forget about it for now. You gotta let more iron in. Keep sense low around five or less. Set iron scrim low, twenty or lower for a while. Let the iron thru. Listen to it, embrace it. Hearing iron is never bad. Digging iron is rarely good, but you wont be digging it unless you want to. The low tone pro audio on iron is good and stable and hearing all the iron is beneficial, you get to really know what and how much is in the ground, because you can hear it all. The machine will not "pop" high pitch on iron crap as easily if its not scrimmed out, the tecter will actually seem more stable. Sounds crazy I know, but try it.
 

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Metal Monkey

Metal Monkey

Jr. Member
Apr 19, 2014
46
14
Greencastle, PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I haven't used the pro mode yet, just because I'm afraid I am going to miss something. It's not as clear as the standard mode and seems pretty jumpy too.
 

GranvilleATPro

Full Member
Apr 4, 2014
103
59
Lafayette Indiana
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro
Garrett ACE 350
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Actually not using pro mode is what will cause you to miss more good targets. Not the other way around.
 

AnnieF

Full Member
Jul 26, 2012
248
75
Western NC
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hey Metal Monkey - I feel your pain. I just keep relying on the wisdom of the "elders" here re: the AT Pro: TIME IS YOUR FRIEND. And I'm truly inclined to believe them. The more time you spend with the machine the more you will understand how it "talks" to you. And I understand what you say about the "pro" mode being confusing. But, again, just hang in there, keep swinging, keep listening... We'll both get there!
 

Kodiak43351

Bronze Member
May 6, 2013
2,279
1,091
NW Ohio
Detector(s) used
At Max,Xp deus,At pro, At gold, pro pointer, ace 350 bounty hunter. Lesche hand and t handle digging tools, Sask kustom digger, Garrett edge digger and Garrett retriever, Garrett classifier made into
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The pro mode is the best way to hear the targets try setting iron to 27 sense at 2 below full. Slow down your swing speed and listen to the targets. Use headphones it really helps to hear the targets. A repeatable good tone is most Likely a good target but sometimes it's a aluminum screw cap. A high to low scratchy tone is a bottle cap most of the time. The medium tones are the hardest. If the VDI doesn't change much dig it may be a pull tab or if your lucky it could be a gold item. Good luck and forget the standard mode.
 

DCRJerry

Greenie
Nov 30, 2013
19
3
Baltimore, MD
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro
Garrett ProPointer
Bounty Hunter Quick Silver
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You may want to try and turn down your sensitivity in real trashy areas. For me, it makes them more tolerable. There could be some good targets being masked by the iron, the only way to tell is to dig them and see what you get. I just picked up the 5x8 coil and am hoping it will help with these foil, can slaw & bottle cap ridden fields of pain!
 

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Metal Monkey

Metal Monkey

Jr. Member
Apr 19, 2014
46
14
Greencastle, PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I also bought a 5x8 coil for that reason. Just hadn't tried it yet.
 

freddy78

Full Member
Feb 25, 2013
123
97
Shelbyille TN
Detector(s) used
Delta 4000 and Garrett AT PRO
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You will love the 5x8 promise. Its my main coil. Only time I switch is if I'm in open fields with little trash. It gets good depth for me and pinpointing is right on

Sent from my LG-LS980 using TreasureNet
 

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Metal Monkey

Metal Monkey

Jr. Member
Apr 19, 2014
46
14
Greencastle, PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That's good to hear. I actually called Garrett about my bigger coil. Telling them that if I hit a stick, cut plant, whatever, it dings. He said to try the smaller coil, but to factory reset every time you switch. To also reset periodically. Like rebooting your cell phone.
 

Diggin-N-Dumps

Gold Member
Sep 9, 2009
6,046
3,781
Fort Worth,Texas
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030 / AT PRO / Etrac w/ NEL
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I haven't used the pro mode yet, just because I'm afraid I am going to miss something. It's not as clear as the standard mode and seems pretty jumpy too.

Thats your biggest issue it sounds like. STANDARD MODE is garbage....And you mentioned that you will get low tones and high tones when sweeping, then you turn on the IA and it explodes? That means its probally Iron...Once you figure this beast out. You will know what tones are good to hit.

Mine Chatter too when i first started using it. But eventually i figured out what it was telling me. And that Smaller Coil (5x8) makes the whole machine worth it...its a Must have
 

bzbadger

Bronze Member
Jun 25, 2013
1,130
818
Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter QD II, Garrett Ace 150 & 350, Fisher ID Excel, Fisher coinstrike, Fisher Cz6, Fisher Gemini II, Garrett AT Pro, Garrett GTI 1500,Teknetiks omega 8000, Nokta Fors Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
No disrespect to the others here but here are some useful tips. Make sure your coil cable is tight, not tight causes chatter. Turn machine on turn your sensitivity to half and auto ground balance once done turn back up to two below max, reason why is if you GB it at maximum it sets the machine so that it tunes out a lot(from Garrett tech) tried it and works great. As far as listening to the iron so u can understand it?! What's to understand its iron, and the soil itself can have iron deposits and who wants to hear that crap anyway no place for feel the force luke guru stuff. Turn your iron discrim to about 30-35 unless u really want to hunt old broken plow blades and horseshoes. If u find a target and it doesn't have a clicking sound before and after the tone or a grunt before and after and u see a repeatable number not one that's jumping more than 5 numbers it should be good but please keep it on pro zero mode its a huge benefit because the next tip will keep u from digging crap all the time. After u find your good signal, lift your coil up 6-8 inches above the target and swing a few times, if u still hear the target and its still loud well guess what it is trash, either foil, a can etc. Size your target too. Find where the target signals, walk your coil forward until the signal stops and if the area it began and ended is bigger than a coin/ring its probably junk. Use both methods of target ID..size and coil raise and save yourself digging time. Oh and use the iron audio to check your target, don't leave it on but use it to check a target. If you are getting chatter change your frequency, you have four to chose from use them. There's some other tricks to make it signal deeper but stick with this for now till u get it down.

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk
 

gleaner1

Silver Member
Feb 1, 2009
4,491
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MM, any decent tecter will chatter under high power lines or in the house or crosstalking with other tecters. Any good tecter will report on each and every target it sees. So if its a really trashy area, it will sound really busy, but its not chatter, its just a lot of signals from a lot of metal crap in the ground. What I am trying to say is that if you are not in the house, and not directly under power lines, and you are not next to a guy with a cz, then you are not getting chatter.
 

Fletch88

Silver Member
Mar 7, 2013
4,841
2,367
Valdosta, GA
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATPro- 8.5x11, 5x8, CORS Fotune 5.5x9.5
Tesoro Silver microMax- 8 donut, 8x11 RSD, 3x18 Cleansweep
Minelab Excalibur ll- 10" Tornado
Minelab CTX 3030
Minelab Xterra 305
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I haven't used the pro mode yet, just because I'm afraid I am going to miss something. It's not as clear as the standard mode and seems pretty jumpy too.

You've had the machine for 5 months and haven't tried Pro Mode? Wow.
 

bottlecap

Hero Member
Feb 22, 2014
580
296
West Metro, Mn
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I have been running Pro Zero mode with the iron discrim up to 35 and sensitivity two bars below full with the 5x8 coil at parks where there is a lot of trash and it as been working very well.
 

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Metal Monkey

Metal Monkey

Jr. Member
Apr 19, 2014
46
14
Greencastle, PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I know, I know. It's just I don't get out much, so when I do, I don't want to miss anything. Pro mode is just harder to find a target right now. I'm just trying to learn my machine. Especially pin pointing the exact location of the target with the coil.
 

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