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Goldmaster V/SAT Tuning Tips


Rusty G

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I'm looking for a little information on a nice Goldmaster V Sat I just bought from an old friend that owned it, but never used it. I own and love my White's MXT, but wanted a detector that was more geared to finding gold. My question is this, can anyone give me a few hints for the initial setup and where to turn my settings, and then I can take it from there. Without where to start out in my settings is pretty fustrating, so any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

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  • The title was changed to Goldmaster V/SAT

From page 9 of the White's V/SAT Instruction Manual:

SETTING UP THE CONTROLS

Set the G.E.B. COARSE knob midway "5" on the scale.

Set the G.E.B. FINE with the large knob pointing to the midway position - straight up at 12 o'clock.

Set the IRON I.D. toggle to the center Iron I.D. Off position.

Set the MODE TOGGLE to the right SAT position. Set the VARI-SAT to OFF.

Set the THRESHOLD fully counterclockwise, it may need to be turned a number of revolutions as this is a ten turn control.

Now turn the GAIN control clockwise till it clicks "ON". Look at the meter to make sure the battery condition shows in the "BATT OK" area of the meter. It takes several seconds to check the battery condition.

While holding the detector with the loop in the air, rotate the GAIN control clockwise to full sensitivity "10" on the scale.

Now turn the THRESHOLD clockwise 4 - 5 revolutions until you hear a soft threshold hum. This hum may be slightly uneven, this is normal. The level of hum will be determined by whether or not you are using headphones. We strongly recommend headphones for all of the reasons stated in the earlier section on controls. This level should not be t‹xi loud nor too faint. Practicing will be the best way to establish the most effective level of sound.

SETTING GAIN LEVEL

Lower the loop of the detector toward the ground. We will now determine what level of GAIN will be allowed by the ground mineralization. If you can actually place the loop on the ground without hearing the high pitch squeal of the detector, which indicates loop overload, you can operate with a GAIN of "10". If you hear the high squeal, back the GAIN knob off to the left or counterclockwise till the squeal disappears. Since you will rarely use the loop flat on the ground, you can carry out this process an inch above the ground. Just make sure you do not lower the loop close enough to the ground to create the high pitch squeal while you are searching. In other words, you are trying to establish at which level of GAIN you should set the detector to prevent loop overload. You should set the GAIN at the level above the ground where you will be sweeping the 1‹xip of the detector, giving yourself some leeway for a comfortable swing.

GROUND BALANCING PROCEDURE

Once the GAIN is set, you are ready to go through the ground- balancing procedure. By the way, if you should ever change die GAIN level, you must ground balance again. The SAT MODE TOGGLE position is required during the ground balance procedure. The GOLDMASTER V/SAT is ground balanced in the motion or pumping fashion.

It is important to note that the Iron I.D. toggle should be kept in the OFF or center position during the initial ground balancing procedure. Once this is accomplished, you may switch the Iron I.D. toggle to the ON position if desired. Small corrections in ground adjustment can be made with the Fine Tune control during the process of prospecting' even if the Iron I.D. toggle is in the ON position.

Ground balance is done by pumping the loop up and down near the ground as if you were making butter in an old fashioned butter churn, except the loop need only move a few inches up and down. As you push the loop toward the ground a few inches and then pull it away from the ground a few inches, fry to determine whether or not the threshold hum gets louder as you pump it on the downstroke or whether it gets louder as you pull away from the ground (this would indicate that the sound was actually getting softer as the loop approached the ground). Once you have decided whether the sound increases going toward the ground or coming up from the ground, you can make the first correction of ground mineralization by using the G.E.B. Coarse control.

whites-ground-balance-diagram-vsat-small.jpg

GROUND BALANCE PROCEDURE - Continued

If the sound was getting louder as you approached the ground, begin turning the Coarse control to the left or counterclockwise. If the sound was getting louder as you came up from the ground, begin turning the Coarse control to die right or clockwise. As you pump the loop and turn the control in the appropriate direction, you will ultimately find that the sound will not appear to change much in either direction. At this point, the ground balance has been achieved in a rough sort of way.

Actually, you will note that if you continue to turn the Coarse control, you will overshoot the point of balance (no sound change), and start to create an increase in the opposite direction. The trick is to stop just short of balance and go on to the Fine control. This Coarse control is really just intended to get the ground balance in the ballpark. It will probably only need to be adjusted once for a particular area. That is, unless the ground mineralization changes dramatically from one spot to another.

You will now go to the G.E.B. Fine control and roll the small dial with the side of your forefinger, either right or left (clockwise or counterclockwise) to correct the sound just as you did with the Coarse control. Remember, if the sound increased as you approached the ground, roll the Fine control knob to the left or counterclockwise. If the sound seems to increase as you pull the loop up from the ground, just roll the knob to the right or clockwise. You will soon get used to this pumping action and become quite adept at quickly determining whether or not the sound is increasing on the up or the down pump. Ultimately, you will find that the sound will not appear to change in either direction. At this point the detector is tuned. However, I recommend that a very slight increase should be maintained when the loop approaches the ground. This slight over-tuning for the ground will actually enhance the signal from tiny or deep nuggets. On the other hand, often small BB size hot rocks, which tend to mimic the way small nuggets sound, can often be eliminated by underground balancing.

Note that the G.E.B Fine control is a double stacked knob. The larger knob is intermediate, neither coarse nor fine. This Intermediate knob follows automatically any adjustment of the smaller Fine knob. You will probably use this Fine control very often during the process of prospecting. The frequency of its use will be determined by how much the ground changes from place to place while you search. You will soon get used to the level of hum that is achieved when you get to a proper ground balance, and when it begins to vary you will automatically make small corrections with the Fine control.

The SAT mode will actually correct the minor variances in the threshold hum caused by the changes in the ground mineralization. These changes may be more dramatic in some areas making the VARI-SAT desirable. Very large changes in the ground must be corrected by adjusting the G.E.B. Coarse or G.E.B. Fine controls. In extreme ground the G.E.B. Coarse control will often be used, instead of the G.E.B. Fine, to update the ground balance during searching. However, in most areas the G.E.B. Fine control is used to periodically update the ground balance setting.

GROUND BALANCE
(Low Mineral Conditions)

The Goldmaster V/SAT is designed to work in an environment of heavy iron mineralization. In some instances however, there may be so little iron mineralization that the loop will never go null or blank when it is lowered to the ground. In other words, there always seems to be a faint hum when the loop is lowered to the ground. Turning the Coarse Ground Balance control fully counterclockwise doesn't change the picture. In this instance, merely set the ground balance knobs to the midpoint or at 12 o’clock and hunt. Any slight changes should be able to be corrected with the Fine Tune control.

VARI-SAT / GAIN

If the threshold becomes too erratic or noisy, it might be necessary to use the VARI-SAT feature and or reduce the GAIN control. This noisy behavior will make it difficult to recognize a true target (possible nugget) from pieces of mineral, commonly referred to as "hot rocks". It is not wise to keep a high level of GAIN if the detector will not operate smoothly. This is a false sense of security. Recognizing a real target is the most important part of detecting. This is an example of when less GAIN will produce more nuggets. You must be the best judge of just how much noise you can tolerate and still identify nuggets, as well as the combination of VARI-SAT and GAIN which produces the desired results in your area. Some real Pro’s can work at levels intolerable to the rest of us, because they have trained their ears over the years. Tiny hot rocks are not the only culprits. Alkali salt flats, in the desen, can also cause erratic behavior and require faster VARI-SAT settings or reduced levels of GAIN, or both, to handle such very extreme conditions. Remember, whenever you change the level of GAIN, correct the ground balance. Wet alkali washes can be extremely difficult to work due to the sensitivity of high frequency gold detectors to dissolved salt.

In some instances, pinpointing is easily performed by merely "X"ing or crisscrossing. The loudest part of the target will be under the center of the loop, just as with any detector. After the approximate location of the target is determined, take a handful of soil and check the hole again. Continue this process until the target is no longer in the hole, but in the hand. I prefer putting the handful of soil in a plastic container (pan, tray, cup, or scoop). Passing the container over the lmp will determine if the target is really in it. If so, a series of separations will quickly expose the target. Some prefer to pass the handful of dirt across the loop directly. Caution must be exercised if this is done. The GOLDMASTER V/SAT is sensitive enough to pick up the salt in your hand and respond with a signal. Try this with nothing in your hand and you will see how close you can come to the loop using this method. One way around this salt sensitivity is to pinch the soil in small amounts and wave only the fingers over the loop. You will find the way best suited to your needs. The condition of the soil - dry, wet, rine, coarse, etc. will have a lot to do with the best method for you. Until you get good at eye-balling the target in the SAT mode, you can switch the mode toggle to PP and locate the loudest sound, thus indicating the center of the target. Remember to switch the toggle back to SAT mode when you continue to search.

White's Goldmaster V/SAT Instruction Manual

whites-vsat-instruction-manual.jpg
White's V/SAT Instruction Manual Cover

whites-v-sat-metal-detector-controls.jpg
White's V/SAT control panel

Below - White's V/SAT catalog pages from 1994 - click for larger version

whites-goldmaster-v-sat-1994-catalog.jpg

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  • The title was changed to Goldmaster V/SAT Tuning Tips

if learning is your quest, this forum is the best! welcome.

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