THE ATP CANT SEPERATE BETWEEN COINS AND SILVER/CLAD

I am slowly advancing in the process of convincing myself to dig anything above iron, provided it doesn't bounce more than 2 or 3 units on the VDI.

I have learned that can slaw, flat cans, beavertails, and smashed aluminum screwcaps all bounce quite a bit.

But if it's just the ring of a pulltab (modern or old) it's pretty consistent. It seems like shape has as much to do with signal characteristics as material does. Round is consistent.

If I dig only consistent (no more than 2 or 3 units of VDI bounce) targets, I can save the trouble of digging a lot of junk, and still get the majority of nickles and jewelry.

I dig everything that's consistent in two directions - even if the VDI on those directions is very different.

I dug a dime last night that was vertical in the ground. It rang up as 82 in one direction (Teknetics Delta 4000), and 45 in the other. Both were consistent within 2-3 units.
 

Well, Because it tells you whats in that area....If I went off only digging hightones, I would have about a 50 gallon drum of Alum. .
.. 50 Gal drum of Alum. That would be a big pay day at the scrap yard.. I would like to have a 50 gal drum of alum…… I just took 4…. . 33 gal garbage bags of crushed alum beer & pop cans and scrap alum i dug up to the scrap yard and got $62.00 for them……And my grand son said all that money for that alum. i said yes sir here is $62.00 for you..He liked that..
 

Yeah but you have to watch those silver dimes that come up at 77 VDI on my machine which is low, I think its not 90% silver but not far off 90% like it should be I have one I dug in an old spot that's a 1905 S barber dime it even looks a little different on how its tarnished a little. Some places that are real old you might dig all clean sounding signals as even I might have passed up a gold coin as they don't VDI like silver at all. HH
 

Then you get that old deep crusty iron that can ring in high on the atp. Aluminum has caused me to miss many targets I am sure. Depending on the site I dig everything at first then start cherry picking out the better signals once I am sure.
One place I hunt I had passed over an old iron signal all the time because I had dug a pile of junk right near it before. I always hit that signal and knew it was there but skipped it for greener pastures cause it was iron. One day there I went ahead and dug it and it was a ladder sight from a confederate enfield.Cleaned up well.
 

Pennies also read the same as silver dimes.

It all depends on the machine....on the atpro a silver dime will be a higher number(around 88) than a copper penny or clad dime....i have "called" silver oon the last 10 dimes and 2 rings i have dug with it. But i have had surprises also....a tilted coin can fool you. A clad quarter usually hits 85-86 but gives a bigger bolder sound....whereas the silver dime will sound of very soft and smooth.
 

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I've dug two 1/2 reale this year, an 1817 and a 1779. I thought they were pennies because they showed 78-79 on the VDI. I don't pass - up pennies signal anymore.
 

In the end the VDI numbers are just a programmers half educated guesses.
 

I'm guilty of the same thing after digging a pouch full of pennies. You sure can miss some good finds by passing them up. I would dig them all if there's some history in the area though.
 

I'm guilty of the same thing after digging a pouch full of pennies. You sure can miss some good finds by passing them up. I would dig them all if there's some history in the area though.
Not many of us haven't skipped a few pennies on certain days in certain areas.
 

I dig everything 45 and up that is repeatable even one way...
 

Zincolns 76...wheats, copper pennies and clad dimes 82...silver dimes 84.........clad quarters 88...silver quarters 90...things Ive dug that read the same as zincolns...silver rings, tokens, 1911 Canadian large cent, just to name a few.
 

I'm guilty of the same thing after digging a pouch full of pennies. You sure can miss some good finds by passing them up. I would dig them all if there's some history in the area though.

This is my stand. Dig 'em all. In my mind, if I dig 5000 pieces of trash and get one key date IH it was all worth it. I just set my AT to Pro all-metal and dig dig dig. Everyplace is of historic quality here in New England. :thumbsup:
 

Copper Culture Artifacts ring up exactly the same as a copper Penny, I love people that don't dig those signals.
 

My copper culture artifacts are pieces of water pipe. Lol
 

I like to know what it is before I dig,I don't dig every signal.when I come into a new spot I like to clear out the dimes and quarters,clad and silver first then clean up the gold.what's your method for digging signals

Whatever method "You" like the best is the best ' For You'
So dig as you wish.

Davers
 

Your detector's VDI (identification) is the developer's best guess as to what a target is, based on the signal characteristics that are returned by the target. They are provided as essentially a guess. They are effected by many things, including:

Other metals proximal to the target.
Soil conditions.
Moisture conditions.
Orientation of the target to the coil.
Depth
Target Shape
Penetration of surface oxides into the soil.

It is an extremely complex set of conditions through which the developer must sift, and develop an algorithm to present a target ID. The developer knows full well that his presumptive identification of the target is not foolproof. It is well understood by all detector manufacturers (and I thought all experienced users) that the VDI indication was simply a guide, and not a guarantee.

I'm not an AT Pro user. But I've seen and handled one. I would suggest that it's VDI accuracy is no different that my Fisher F70 (or in fact ANY detector, no matter the cost). XP Deus and CTX 3030's have the same general liabilities in trying to identify a target as Garrett and Fisher do with their detectors. And in spite of the loyalties of the respective fan bases of each of these detectors, anything with a retail price over $500 has essentially the same statistical likelihood of giving a proper target ID.

If you insist on absolute 100% accurate target ID, I'd suggest hunting with Superman or some other superhero equipped with Xray vision.

Short of that, you'll just have to dig all the coins, and sort them out later like the rest of us.

I could not have typed it better myself..
Good Job

Davers
 

.. 50 Gal drum of Alum. That would be a big pay day at the scrap yard.. I would like to have a 50 gal drum of alum…… I just took 4…. . 33 gal garbage bags of crushed alum beer & pop cans and scrap alum i dug up to the scrap yard and got $62.00 for them……And my grand son said all that money for that alum. i said yes sir here is $62.00 for you..He liked that..

Yeah Man !!!

Like some say " Metal is Money"

Getting most of the dirt out/off is the hardest part.
&
I don't mind Digging Brass/Copper Scraps 'that much' at all.

Davers
 

Zincolns 76...wheats, copper pennies and clad dimes 82...silver dimes 84.........clad quarters 88...silver quarters 90...things Ive dug that read the same as zincolns...silver rings, tokens, 1911 Canadian large cent, just to name a few.

Those VDI #s Sound Just like Whites XLT ones IMO.
Davers:thumbsup:
also
IMO What I dig "#'s or Sounds" Really depends on 'The Site'

Davers
 

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