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OWNER’S GUIDE
SIERRA GOLD TRAC
White’s Electronics, Inc. -
Manufacturers of the World’s Finest Metal Detectors
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Sierra Gold Trac Owner’s Guide
ASSEMBLY -
Rubber
washers (2)
fi b er bolt
Search coil
Lower rod
Arm cup
Clevis
Cam-lock
Battery door
1. Remove all parts from the shipping carton and check
assembly diagram to ensure all parts are present.
2. Install black rubber washers on fi ber clevis/lower
rod, insert clevis lower rod onto loop ears. Use only
nonmetallic washers, fi ber bolt, and fi ber thumb nut to
secure loop/search coil to clevis/lower fi ber rod.
3. Unlock “S” rod cam-lock and insert clevis/lower rod
into curved “S” rod so that stainless steel spring clip
buttons line up and lock into one of the adjustment
holes in the curved “S” rod. Turn the cam-lock to secure. The second or third adjustment holes are suitable
for average sized adults.
4. Wind the loop cable around the rod assembly, fi rst
revolution over the top of the rod, all the way to the top
of the curved “S” rod, about fi ve revolutions. Use the
black cable retainers, one near the loop, and one near
the top of the curved “S” rod, to hold the loop cable in
place. Plug the cable into the jack on the front of the
control box.
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5. Grip the instrument by the handle, with your
arm in the elbow cup with strap and sweep the
loop/search coil over the fl oor. If the instrument
fi t feels uncomfortable, readjust clevis/lower rod
length with spring clip button and cam-lock so
that the search coil can be held near the fl oor
without stooping over.
6. Remove the protective paper from the two
black arm cup foam pads. Carefully align pads
on the inside of the elbow cup, one on each side
of the center rod, and press fi rmly into place.
7. Adjust the elbow cup strap so that it is loose
enough for you to slide our arm in and out
without loosening each time you want to set the
detector down. The elbow cup strap provides extra leverage and control. However, some prefer
not to use it.
8. Install the battery pack; *make sure not to put
the batteries in upside down.
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Sierra Gold Trac Owner’s Guide
Super Quick Start Instructions -
1 - 2- 3- GO
GAIN CONTROL KNOB
Turn the Gain Control clockwise until the Power goes on. Then with the Search Coil in the air rotate the
Gain Control clockwise to a point between 7 & 8 (suggested setting triangle)
THRESHOLD CONTROL KNOB
Turn the Threshold control fully counter-clockwise then turn it back clockwise until you hear a soft
threshold “HUM”.
LOWER THE SEARCH COIL TO THE GROUND
Now “pump” the coil up and down 2” to 4” over the ground 3 or 4 times and Fast Auto Trac will balance
out ground minerals
NOW
Now Go for the gold and start sweeping Low and Slow
NOTE
If you experience false signals or constant beeping and popping, turn the GAIN down a bit, until you
barely hear the threshold hum. *NOTE- You may hear a slight fluctuation of the Threshold
Hum as the SGT tracks out the ground minerals, not to worry, this is OK.
An annoying reality of gold prospecting is that it is usually done in ground which is mineralized.
White’s Fast Auto-Trac will take care of most of the ground minerals as long as the ground is reasonably uniform. However, there will be locations where there are rocks which are concentrations of iron
ore, either on top of the ground or buried. The larger ones are easy to identify because your detector
will make a “boing” sound over them. They are mostly blackish. These are “negative or cold” rocks.
However, some very tiny (usually reddish brown or greyish) are “positive or hot” rocks. They sound
like small nuggets and are a pain in the neck.
Another thing to remember is that MOST GOLD is found in areas that have produced gold back to the
time of “Gold Rush” and so there is plenty of trash in the ground, including nails, boot tacks, lead bird
shot, bullets and even tin cans. Since all dedicated prospecting detectors hear ALL METAL OBJECTS
you will have to investigate every metal signal. Using a Light Wt. Digging pick with magnets in the
handle will help to quickly recover small bits of iron like nails. However, you MUST dig all the other
metals which could be GOLD including lead. When you find your FIRST BIRD SHOT you will know
that you have ARRIVED and are not missing small nuggets. You are truly now an Electronic Gold
Prospector.
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Sierra Gold Trac Owner’s Guide
Full Quick Start Instructions-
1. Turn the Gain control knob clockwise until the power click ON and then rotate the Gain control
clockwise to the “preset triangle” position between 7 & 8.
2. Turn the Threshold control knob fully counter-clockwise, then turn it back clockwise until you hear a
soft threshold “HUM”.
3. Lower the search coil to about 2” to 4” above the ground and “pump” the coil up
and down 3 or 4 times and the “Fast Auto Trac” will automatically balance out the ground
minerals.
4. You may now search the ground by swinging the search coil slowly in wide sweeps that over-
lap each other, as near to the ground as possible without scraping ground. You should
hear the faint threshold hum as you sweep the coil over the ground.
5. This constant hum may fl uctuate or oscillate a bit as the trac system balances the ground minerals.
You will hear a zip zip sound when passing over a target. If this signal is repeatable
when the coil is passed over it left to right / right to left. Then the signal is from a metal target and
you should investigate it by digging it. REMEMBER , the Sierra Gold Trac, is an ALL MET-
AL detector. So the target can be gold, silver, copper, lead, aluminum, brass, copper,
iron etc. HINT: If the target gives a double beep (beep beep) then it is likely an
iron nail.
NOTE: However, be careful NOT to swing over the target back and forth, quickly and
repeatedly while trying to determine whether to dig or not. It is VERY IMPORTANT to
PAUSE briefly between swings in order to PREVENT the Fast Tracking System from
actually tracking INTO the target itself and obscuring the target signal.
6. If the signal is NOT repeatable and seems to move around, in other words, you hear “spurious”
noises, such as falsing or chatter, it is probably the detector reacting to the ground and it is a sign to
REDUCE the GAIN a BIT at a TIME until your sweeps return to the normal smoother threshold
hum over the ground.
7. Once you have decided that your signal IS from a metal target and you wish to retrieve it, the
next step is to PINPOINT your target. It will be discussed later in this Owner’s Guide.
Pinpointing is probably the hardest part of detecting to master. It will take some
practice… so be patient.
As the Roman’s said “Experientia Docet” “Experience Teaches”
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Sierra Gold Trac Owner’s Guide
Controls: Threshold-
The THRESHOLD control knob sets the loudness of the background “Hum”. This background hum
must be maintained at ALL times when searching. In order to hear the tiniest and deepest targets the
THRESHOLD “hum” should be set at the faintest audible level that you can hear. It can be slightly
scratchy, chattery or static like, but it must be constant, so as not to miss small or deep nuggets.
At this point we highly recommend the use of HEADPHONES while prospecting. With headphones, you
can lower the threshold “hum” to an even lower level than you can hear with the naked ear. Therefor a
smaller or deeper signal has a better chance of breaking through the threshold and be hear. Wearing
headphones can also help to cancel out environmental noises like wind etc. and improve your concentration. If wearing headphones are a bother, you can fi nd small ear buds which work better than no headphones. If you are worried about snakes, then you can fi nd headphones with only one ear cup made just
for that purpose. Good headphones also come with volume controls, which also help fi nding the perfect
setting as there is no target volume control on the detector. Headphones with at least 32 ohms will work.
However, headphones with 60 ohms or higher of balanced impedance will give the best results in hearing
the faint signals from tiny or deep nuggets.
Or you are swinging your coil too fast. Slight fading of the threshold is OK as it indicates that you might
be passing over heavier levels of mineralization in your sweep. So threshold maintenance is the key. As
expert Electronic Prospectors will tell you… May your Threshold be with you Always.
Controls: Gain + ON/OFF Power-
The GAIN control knob is used to increase or decrease the strength of the target signal coming from
the ground. In other words this control increases or decreases the Sensitivity of the detector to the target
(gold nugget).
This is the most important control on any detector along with the Threshold control and is also the most
dangerous control. Too often a detectorist will just increase the Gain/Sensitivity thinking that this will
automatically help him go deeper. This is NOT necessarily the case. To o much Gain will cause “feedback”
from ground minerals and cause noise which will mask a target signal or actually over-load the circuit.
The key is to use just enough Gain to maintain a smooth and steady threshold Hum with no erratic noises. This “falsing” of the audio is the indication that you are trying to operate with too much Gain. It is best
to use the initial setting “triangle” between 7 & 8 on the Control Knob. If everything is smooth at this setting, then you can creep up a bit at a time. If the ground is severe, then you may have to lower the setting
from the suggested point.
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Sierra Gold Trac Owner’s Guide
The object of increasing the Gain adjustment is to get the maximum available depth from the detector
WITHOUT causing noise interference or overload of the circuit from ground mineralization. A very important function of the Threshold Hum is to be the audio “monitor” of the proper setting of the GAIN control. If
the threshold hum blanks out frequently while sweeping the coil, your Gain control is probably set too high.
Pinpoint Technique-
Due to the wide scan nature of elliptical search coils and their DD confi guration (which help cancel ground
mineralization) the process of pinpointing small targets under the physical center of the loop can be diffi cult for beginners. Therefore it is best to use an “X” marks the spot technique to merely locate that portion
of the ground the nugget is in. Because most nuggets are too small to isolate to an exact location, just
remove the soil under the center of the “X” until the target is no longer in the hole, but in your pile of dirt.
You will realize this by checking the hole regularly as you remove the dirt. At that point you know that the
nugget is in your dirt pile. Most nuggets are small and elusive, so scoop and check is the best method.
Do not use your hands to scoop up dirt as the high frequency of the SGT will sound off on the salt in the
sweat on your hand. Use a plastic treasure scoop or plastic Sierra Nugget cupcup. You will fi nd a number
of such tools on the market. The Sierra Nugget Cup, obviously, is my favorite, as shaking it will keep the
nugget and irt in the cup and not out on the ground.
So, after you have determined that your target is not in the hole any longer and in your pile of dirt; kneel
down and set your detector on the ground beside you with the loop facing up. Then start taking a small
amount of dirt at a time in your cup and shake it from side to side, which will shake the piece of gold (or
whatever) to the bottom of the cup. Wave the cup over the loop and see if it makes a signal. If it does not,
then empty the cup and repeat the process. As soon as the detector indicates that the target is in the cup,
then empty the cup into the palm of your hand, a bit at a time, and keep checking the remaining contents
of the cup with the detector until the target is no longer in the cup… blow the soil off of your palm and
VOILA! Your nugget (or boot tack) is in your hand.
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Sierra Gold Trac Owner’s Guide
Warranty-
If within two years (24 months) from the original date of purchase, your White’s detector fails due to defects in either material or workmanship, White’s will repair or replace at its option, all necessary parts
without charge for parts or labor. Simply return the complete detector to the White’s Factory. The unit must
be accompanied by a detailed explanation of the symptoms of the failure. You must provide proof of dateof-purchase before the unit is serviced.
This is a transferable manufacturer warranty, which covers the instrument two years from the original purchase date, regardless of the owner. Items excluded from the warranty are batteries, accessories that are
not standard equipment, shipping/handling costs outside the continental USA, Special Delivery costs (Air
Freight, Next Day, 2nd Day, Packaging Services, etc.) and all shipping/ handling costs inside the continental USA 90 days after purchase.
Duration of any implied warranty (e.g., merchantability and fi tness for a particular purpose) shall not be
longer than the stated warranty. Neither the manufacturer or the retailer shall be liable for any incidental
nor consequential damages. Some states however, do not allow the limitation on the length of implied warranties, or the exclusion of incidental or consequential damages. Therefore, the above limitations may not
apply to you.
In addition, the stated warranty gives you specifi c legal rights, and you may have other rights which vary
from state to state. The foregoing is the only warranty provided by White’s as the manufacturer of your
metal detector. Any “extended warranty” period beyond two years, which may be provided by a Dealer or
other third party on your detector, may be without White’s authority, involvement and consent, and might
not be honored by White’s Electronics, Inc.
Treasure Hunter’s Code of Ethics-
1. Always check federal, state, county, and local laws before searching.
2. Always obtain the owner’s permission before accessing private property.
3. Take care to refi ll all holes and leave no trace.
4. Remove and dispose of any and all trash and litter found.
5. Whenever possible, return identifi able property to its rightful owner.
6. Never destroy historical or archaeological treasures.
7. Appreciate and protect natural resources, wildlife and property, both public and private.
8. Act as an ambassador for the hobby; be thoughtful, considerate, and courteous at all times.
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White’s Electronics, Inc.
1011 Pleasant Valley Road
Sweet Home, Oregon 97386 USA
541-367-6121
www.whiteselectronics.com
White’s metal detectors are proudly designed,
built, and tested in Sweet Home, Oregon USA
by the employees of White’s Electronics, Inc.
Part Number 621-0545 cb 5/13
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