The 'non-magnetic' ground state of a Kondo ion is generally believed to consist of the localised spin surrounded by a compensating cloud of conduction electrons coupled antiparallel. However, an alternative (less favoured) interpretation is that the coupling of the local moment to the conduction electrons induces directional (transverse) spin fluctuations which persist down to low temperatures, yielding a constant static susceptibility (hence 'non-magnetic' ?) as T -> 0 K. We propose to measure the magnetic spectral response from V ions alloyed in Au with the aim to elucidate the mechanism responsible for its ground state. Au-V is ideal for this study. Its physical properties have been thoroughly investigated by other techniques. Its Kondo temperature is moderately high, ~ 270 K. Also, V-V pairs and larger clusters are less magnetic, and thus well outside the energy range of interest