Heathkit of the Month #53:
by Bob Eckweiler, AF6C
GENERAL PRODUCTS
Heathkit GD-48
Metal Locator.
Introduction:
Buried Treasure? Aye Matey, I was saving this
series of Heathkits for September as that is the
month of “Talk Like a Pirate Day” which falls
on the 19th. Alas, so does the OCARC gatherin’.
I expect a fun time!
However, our rotating editor this month is Ken,
W6HHC, and since he passed along manuals for
the GD-48 and GD-348, I thought I’d honor him
with an article on them for his turn as editor.
I’m sure many a pirate of olde would have liked
to have a metal locator for finding those treas-
ures that they buried, only to later realize the
map they made was later used at the bottom of
the parrot’s cage.
Heathkit Metal Locators:
Heathkit used the nomenclature “metal ‘loca-
tor’” instead of “metal ‘detector’” for their
treasure seeking products. Heathkit produced
four models over the years that I’m aware of.
The first was the GD-48 which was listed as
new in the 1969 Summer catalog. The Deluxe
GD-348 followed in 1972 and sold concurrently
with the less expensive GD-48 for five years.
Around 1978 Heathkit introduced the GD-1190,
a third model designed specifically for hunting
small coins. In ads it was called the “Coin-
Track”. Around 1979 the last of the Metal Loca-
tors, the deluxe GD-1290 “GroundTrack” was
released.
Table 1 gives the production dates as best I can
determine with the catalogs in my files.
The Heathkit GD-48 Metal Locator:
The first Heath-
kit metal locator,
the GD-48 origi-
nally cost $59.95.
By 1976 the price
had increased to
$69.95; but in
the fall of that
year it was offered
again for $59.95
on a “save $10”
special. The last
catalog (1977) I
have showing it
listed had the
price back at the
original $59.95.
The GD-48 is
shown in Figure
1. It weighs 4
lbs. and has a
10.5” diameter coil housing. The arm length is
adjustable from 26” to 36”. It is powered by a
NEDA #1602 9-volt battery (Heath part #
GDA-48-1). This is a different battery than the
common 9V battery used in so many products
today. It is rated at 850 ma/hr and measures
approximately 1.3” x 1.4” x 2.7”. (The Eveready
part # is 246). These batteries now run about
$11.00 each and will power the GD-48 for
about 80 hours of operation. The cheaper,
more available, NEDA #1604 may be used but
will provide shorter operation time. The man-
HOM rev. new
Heathkit of the Month #53 - GD-48 Metal Locator
Copyright 2014, R. Eckweiler & OCARC, Inc.
Page 1 of 7
Heathkit Metal ‘Locators’:
Model
Name
From
To
GD-48
(none)
1969
1977
GD-348 (none)
1972
1981
GD-1190 “CoinTrack”
1978
1983
GD-1290 “GroundTrack” 1979
1985
Table 1
Fig. 1 Heathkit GD-48
