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Need Goldmaster V-sat Advice


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Hi guys, Chris here from So.Cal. In the mid 90’s I bought a new White’s Goldmaster V-Sat and drove up and spent the summer at my brothers house in Folsom using it as a base camp to prospect in N.Cal. Over the course of that summer I added 3 more loops .. the little White’s Shooter DD, the big Sierra Max, and the rectangular Goldfoot Magnum Force. After taking a 2 day class with Larry Salle and Sue Thompson at the Alpha Diggings .. I spent the rest of the summer in the various Hydraulic Pits above Nevada City finding small grain+ size nuggets/flakes with the stock red stickered White’s Goldmaster coil. I had intentions of using the other loops and experimenting but never got around to using them. After that summer when I got back home here in So.Cal. I thoroughly cleaned up my detector kit and put it all away still looking like new in plastic bags .. into the closet .. where it’s all sat unused ever since. Recently I started watching nugget shooting/prospecting vids, checking out spots on Google earth, checking out claims on land matters, reading this forum and Bill Southern’s, and am contemplating taking the hobby up again .. but this time trying the desert since I can’t really afford the gas to go back up to Garden Valley/George Town where my family now lives .. and then driving around every day while up there scouting out spots. I’m only a couple/few hours from the Mojave Desert areas like the El Paso’s which is more doable with my budget.

So with that background .. I’m hoping maybe some of you old school guys/gals that use to use the V-Sat back in the day could explain the different coils I have and in what situations I might use one or the other since I never got around to using any of em except the stock coil. I know technology has well moved on with the newer machines like the Minelab PI boxes and Goldmonster VLF, or the Goldbug II, Garret machines, etc., but I need to get out and swing with what I have to make sure this is something I physically can .. and really want to do again before making a large financial commitment on something like a 6000 or Axiom. I tested my box and the loops today out in the yard with some buried test nuggets and everything still works great like I remember it working all those years ago.

Thanks for any help/advice,

Chris

 

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The V-SAT's a great machine. I've got a GM2 and a GM3, and the 3 is still one of my favorite detectors. The 6 x 10 is good...all you really need, but the smaller coils would be better where the ground is hotter, as they "see" a smaller patch of soil, and thus mineralization. I've owned a GMT, and now own a 24K, but still don't feel handicapped using the GM3. The smaller coils also find use where the brush is heavy, or working around larger rocks in rough country.

Jim

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3 hours ago, Jim in Idaho said:

The V-SAT's a great machine. I've got a GM2 and a GM3, and the 3 is still one of my favorite detectors. The 6 x 10 is good...all you really need, but the smaller coils would be better where the ground is hotter, as they "see" a smaller patch of soil, and thus mineralization. I've owned a GMT, and now own a 24K, but still don't feel handicapped using the GM3. The smaller coils also find use where the brush is heavy, or working around larger rocks in rough country.

Jim

The 3 was a great stable machine, especially being able to tune out interference, I found some good species with one years ago here in Oz. 

I did though like the GM4b when you could crank up the gain in quiet ground. I know its a bit maligned by some but it had some go in it. 

@cloudswimmer the bigfoots a patch hunter coil for ground coverage. 

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All the early Whites Goldmasters were great, high frequency VLF's....I found 1000's of pieces of gold with them back in the 90's and again only about 8 years ago when I found a cheap VSAT on an Ebay listing in the USA. The old, red concentric coils were utterly hopeless here in Oz as they weren't built for mineralized ground whatsoever. Change over to a GMT DD 10x5 and away you go. Even today these detectors are relevant, with the right coils. I think the 6" 'little shooter' round concentric is able to be used on these detectors? Or maybe just with the GMT...cant recall...

The 10x5DD is an all-rounder and great for almost all environments. The bigger 14" DD elliptical is used for covering large open areas more effectively. The little 6x4"DD is ideal for working mullock heaps or spots where you know small gold has already been found before. Even today, still a great detector :smile: 

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My understanding was that before the GMT, the Goldmasters were tuned to work with the concentric coils. Those "red", or "green" 6 x 10's were, I believe, concentrics. Where the ground allowed, they were very good. They even made the GMT better, in some instances. I've never used mine with a DD 6x10, though I found a great 2lb chunk of copper with it, using the 8x14DD.

Jim

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21 hours ago, Jim in Idaho said:

My understanding was that before the GMT, the Goldmasters were tuned to work with the concentric coils. Those "red", or "green" 6 x 10's were, I believe, concentrics. Where the ground allowed, they were very good. They even made the GMT better, in some instances. I've never used mine with a DD 6x10, though I found a great 2lb chunk of copper with it, using the 8x14DD.

Jim

Hmmm .. well the stock red concentric coil I have worked very nicely in the decomposing/serpentine bedrock of the hydraulic pits I was working back in the day, but barring someone wants to pick me up here in SoCal. and drive me up there again .. I’m pretty much stuck in the desert here with widely varying ground types. On the way up to N.Cal. back in the day right after I bought my V-Sat I did stop by the El Paso range to practice .. and went up Iron and Benson gulches with the red concentric coil .. pulled out a LOT of #11 bird shot but no gold, I can’t remember how bad the ground mineralization/hot/cold were .. but I don’t remember getting too frustrated .. I figured I was pulling out all that bird shot so it was just a matter of getting the coil over the gold .. which I never did. So assuming the GMT DD works with my box .. the advantage is going to be a smoother threshold in bad ground compared to my red concentric?

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Probably. You might be able to run higher gain with the DD.

Jim

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