Coin Detecting With Garrett ATX

[Rich from RI]

Hello,

Need some help/advice.  I receive a Garrett ATX from my kids for Christmas.  I am new to metal detecting, but the kids wanted to buy me a real good detector for beach hunting.  I live in Rhode Island and plan on doing a lot of beach hunting.  I also live in a very historic (colonial) area of the U.S and would like to do some relic/coin hunting.

I know this is an advanced PI machine and I am a beginner, but I now own this machine and have to learn how to use it.  I know there are other machines that would be better for relic/coin hunting, that will discriminate out most of the iron, I have done a lot of internet research on this topic.  The kids bought me this machine, not going to return it, so I need to learn how to use it.

The last two days I ventured out into some local fields to try out my new machine.  These fields are surrounded by 200+ year old stone walls (very common in New England). This area was settled by the early colonist, so there is a lot of stuff (junk and potential good targets) in the ground.  This area, I'm sure, has been hunted for decades by metal deterorists, so if there is anything else to find, I will assume it is deep.  From the research I have done, the Garrett ATX would be a machine to go down deep.

Well, the last two day were interesting/frustrating.  I am a very patient person, and yes, I know it will take a long time to really understand how to use this machine and learn all the tones and sounds.  I dug up a lot of iron the last two days, sometimes the iron check works, and other times it doesn't.  I am hearing mostly high/low signals and only a few low/high signals.  The pin pointing works real well.

So any advice to help me learn how to use this machine the correct way, or is it really just lots of time in the field?

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

[Steve Herschbach]

The bad news? You really should not use a PI unless as a rule digging all targets is acceptable. Areas with dense junk will defeat most PI operators.

 

Now the better news. Ground balancing PI (GBPI) detectors do offer some options.
 
The Minelab PI detectors and the Garrett ATX do offer a ferrous reject option that works on most shallow ferrous stuff. The Minelab can blank shallow ferrous items, and the ATX can make a grunt or buzz type sound on shallow ferrous. Neither method works on deep stuff, and the accuracy on shallow stuff is just OK at best. You will stil dig plenty of iron with this method.
 
All ground balancing PI detectors also split targets into two categories, those above the current ground balance setting, and those below the current ground balance setting. These are indicated by the tone. On the Garrett Infinium, Garrett ATX, and Minelab PI detectors you get either a hi-lo dual tone, or a lo-hi dual tone. The White's TDI series gives either a simple hi tone or a lo tone.
 
A hi-lo or hi tone basically means a low conductive or small ferrous items. A lo-hi or lo tone means a high conductive or large ferrous item.
 
On one hand (hi-lo or hi tone) you get all manner of small ferrous stuff, aluminum, most gold and platinum items, U.S. nickels, and maybe zinc pennies. The break point is around zinc penny, depending on ground balance setting. On the other hand (lo-hi or lo tones) you get large ferrous stuff, copper and silver coins, and very large gold items.
 
The tones work to full detection depth. The White's TDI is the only GBPI that takes advantage of this tone scheme by having a tone selector switch to chose one or the other or both types or targets to be accepted.
 
The problem is this is not really a discrimination system but an accident of the ground balance system. Not only does the ground balance setting affect the tones but other factors like pulse delay on the TDI and timings on the Minelabs.
 
The pulse delay setting on the TDI and "discrimination" setting on the Infinium/ATX in simplest terms adjusts the sensitivity to small or low conductive stuff. By increasing the pulse delay on TDI or Infinium/ATX disc setting you cause overall sensitivity to small ferrous items and small aluminum or small gold to be reduced.
 
So yes, you need lots more hours, and you have to make strategic decisions. A person wanting to dig modern copper, silver and clad coins can just dig lo-hi  or lo tones and miss most small ferrous trash and aluminum trash, plus almost all gold or platinum items. in Europe tiny cut or thin silver coins can also act as low conductive because of their very small size.
 
For gold you have to dig hi-lo or hi tones, and also get all manner of tiny ferrous stuff and aluminum. And miss all the other stuff, including large gold nuggets and maybe larger gold coins.

 

The tone scheme results are about the same for all the GBPI detectors. The photo below is results with an Infinium but would be about the same with others. Items on the left are hi-lo dual tone or TDI high tone. Items on the right are lo-hi dual tone or TDI lo tone. This was a playground area, and obviously digging only lo tones will eliminate almost all trash. Great if you want the coins but not great if you want the jewelry. Almost all jewelry will go hi-lo tone except silver jewelry. The coins on the left are U.S. nickels and a zinc penny, all low conductive.

 

 

By using tones and the disc settings and the shallow ferrous settings together you can get pretty good at it. Or not. It is pretty much the realm of the real pro detectorists and a real hard way to start out detecting. You either have the patience for it or you do not, and no matter what you are going to dig a lot of junk. Welcome to PI detecting.

See Coin Detecting with the Garrett Infinium and Beach Detecting with a Minelab GP 3500 for reference. Also White's and the TDI Coin settings. There is a great informative spreadsheet for TDI settings and how responses on bullets and buttons change with ground balance and pulse delay setting.

 

And since you have an ATX see Gold & Silver with Garret ATX

[Rich from RI]

Thank you Steve,

I will read over all the links you provided.  I know here in Rhode Island, the ATX will be a dynamite detector on the beach in the water.

For relic and coin hunting, the XP Deus seems to be the hot machine.  There are a lot of cellar holes from long-gone colonial homes scattered throughout the State where the Deus seems to shine.  I am more interested in the thousands of acres of farm land and deserted farm land (now overgrown and wooded); there is less iron trash in these locations vs. the cellar holes, but still a sizeable amount.

Thanks again for your help.  Will try and learn more about reading the tones and using the discrimination (right now I have the discrimination set to the lowest level on the ATX, which I believe is great for depth, but not so good with all this iron).  On the positive side, no need to go to the gym with all this digging exercise.