Tips And Techniques - Garrett Atx Owner's Manual

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Scanning walls: Rotate and lock the searchcoil at 90º to aid with
scanning walls, embankments, rock ledges, or high places�
Mind your metal: The ATX is very sensitive, so be mindful not to let the
other metals you carry come too close to the coil (e�g� a pick or shovel, steel-
toed boots, etc�)�
Avoiding surface clutter: You can help eliminate some of the smaller
surface clutter by lifting the coil two or three inches above the ground�
Larger targets will still be easily detected� This technique is most effective
with larger size searchcoils such as the 20" Deepseeker coil�
Don't cancel a target: Be careful not to ground balance over a target,
as you may effectively eliminate the target in most cases�
Hot rocks: Hot rocks are typically highly ferrous, iron-based rocks that are
either more or less conductive than the surrounding soil, thereby creating
a response that can resemble a target� Because of the ATX's inherent
immunity to most normal soil minerals, hot rocks can be eliminated by
simply ground balancing to the hot rock instead of ground balancing to the
�
soil
In extremely mineralized soil, the ATX must be ground balanced to the
in which case the hot rock will typically respond with a faint low tone�
When in doubt, dig it out�
Non-uniform soil conditions: One of the most challenging ground
conditions to operate is where the ground contains both conductive and
ferrous minerals that are non-uniformly mixed� An example is moist salty
soil (conductive) with ironstone veins and/or hot rocks (ferrous) scattered
Obtaining stable operation given these two very differing soil
components is difficult at best�
To operate most effectively in this scenario, first locate an area
containing only the salty soil (no ferrous veins or hot rocks) and then
increase Discrimination until the salt response is sufficiently reduced (a
setting of 3 to 7 should suffice)� Then locate a ferrous vein or hot rock
and Ground Balance to it� In summary, use Discrimination to eliminate
06
•
•
•
•
•
,
soil
•
�
throughout
This moistened ancient salt bed, which also contains veins of iron mineralization, is an
example of a non-uniform soil condition�
the conductive component and Ground Balance to eliminate the ferrous
Finally, reduce Sensitivity as needed to obtain sufficiently
stable operation�
For uniformly mixed soils, such as an ocean beach with ferrous black-
simply Ground Balance to the homogenous mixture of salt and
sand as would be done for normal ground, without the need to increase
�
Discrimination
Disappearing targets: If a target response disappears as you begin
removing the soil, it was likely a pocket of concentrated ground minerals
or decomposed iron that was disturbed during digging—thereby eliminating
the response�
Coil covers: Use a coil cover to protect the coil from abrasion and
damage and prevent false responses that may occur when the coil abruptly
impacts a rigid object such as a large rock, etc�
�
component
,
sand
•
•
07