Help at the beach.

[rjeffw]

Using a AT Pro. I did a ground balance, and for some reason I am getting nothing but a flase positive. I dig, and nothing. This went on for several holes. I need help here guys
Thanks.

 

[dts52]

Very challenging using the AT Pro at the beach. It will very often register a good signal at the water line. I've dug lots of holes just to find water. My suggestion is to either stick to the dry sand or, if you're going to hunt in wet sand or in the water, turn your sensitivity way down and hope to find some targets near the surface. Just MHO.
HH
dts

 

[Terry Soloman]

If a dealer sold it to you as a "Saltwater" machine, tell us who it was so we can publicly humiliate them!

 

[dts52]

If a dealer sold it to you as a "Saltwater" machine, tell us who it was so we can publicly humiliate them!

Amen to that Terry!
dts

 

[rjeffw]

No one sold it to me, I just got it. I assumed it would work at beach also, with the ground balancing.

 

[Terry Soloman]

No one sold it to me, I just got it. I assumed it would work at beach also, with the ground balancing.

It is a single-freq VLF machine, so it is going to be hard to use. Turn your Sensitivity to 3-4, and don't touch the wet sand or water

 

[Bigjdub]

I use my ATP on dry sand with no issues. I have to turn my sensitivity down to about half or I will be finding mineral deposits in China. In wet sand I haven't had an issue as long as the sensitivity is turned down like I said. Are you using a pinpointer to search your digs? My ATP picks up on some of the tiniest things in sand. You might just be missing them. Also the depth it will read in sand is just a suggestion. I've found the big items like soda cans a foot down might register as a nickel at 2 inches sometimes.

 

[rjeffw]

Thanks guys, will give it a go tomorrow.

 

[against the wind]

No one sold it to me, I just got it. I assumed it would work at beach also, with the ground balancing.

The AT PRO is an excellent machine. I used on for 2 years and had excellent results on land and IN fresh water. Fresh water will not produce GHOST signals with the AT PRO.
Salt water on the other hand will produce FALSE SIGNALS. Salt water is a conductor and drives most detectors crazy. For successful salt water hunting, I use an Excalibur. It will work on land and in fresh water, but most Excalibur owners use it in Salt Water.

 

[Wrecka]

Im getting better with my ATP , last weekend i was hitting wet blackish sand as the tide receded and worked out how to tweak the settings to suit the ground , got a nice hit in the gold/siver range showing down about 25cm , and then my long alloy sand scoop handle broke before i could get to it !!! Thats ok though i know the exact spot for next time.

 

[sprailroad]

It has been my understanding, that most if not all single freq. detectors have a very difficult time with salt water beaches, but are very good in fresh water, for salt beaches a Full Band Spectrum such as a Minelab will perform just dandy. All the fella's who pretty much hunt ocean beaches, use the multi-freq. machines. I do have the PRO, and had issues with it on a salt beach, whereas a minelab Safari was pretty much flawless, worked great, although with it, I stay out of the water, it is not a water proof machine. We learn as we go, and you, as I have, can lean a lot from the guys on the "Beach & shallow water" Forum. Different tools for different jobs.

 

[Bigjdub]

I probably should have added to my comment that as well as keeping the sensitivity around half I also search in pro coin mode with the iron sound on. When you get a target you want to look at closer slowly back off the sensitivity until you are at the lowest setting that you can still hear the target. This will make your pinpointing much more accurate in sand and will sometimes make the depth reading more accurate as well.

 

[rjeffw]

Think I will just give up at the beach. Still get to many ghost signals to search. The only dry areas to search is not where the people are. Guess I will stick to the woods and fields of 2ND. Thanks for the help.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Also search parallel to the water so your coil is over about the same consistency of water in the sand as you swing.
I have a vlf detector with beach mode, i can go out in the wet beach, but sometimes when the hole fills up with water i have to use my pinpointer, cause theres too much salt for the detector.
But i have no problems with wet sand, i will follow the tide out.

Sent from my VS810PP using Tapatalk

 

[AlienLifeForm]

Kinda takes the "All-Terrain" out of AT Pro.

 

[jennyblack]

Salty water is always a big problem for metal detector with annoying ghost signals. I usually just dig at waterline on the beach avioding let the machine touch the water. If I had to I may use a PI pinpointer instead. It works but make me exhausted and back hurts.