blueroomelectronics
Well-Known Member
CHUM radio was about 20 miles from the house, no problem. My crystal set wasn't a pretty as this one though.
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
blueroomelectronics said:I found my heat register vent made a good ground, a long wire out my bedroom window made a great antenna.
mvs sarma said:Yes Bill, Many times it would be a issue with good earth to the Receiver.The effectiveness depends more on that. Off late it is a problem finding Germanium diodes like OA79 or 1N34A. Perhaps we have to salvage from old scrap and use. I only wonder whether schottky diode could be used instead?
Wimp!blueroomelectronics said:It's still possible to find the 1N34A in stores around Toronto. Not sure if a schottky diode would work, it was decades ago when I built my crystal set and it came with a 1N34A
Roff said:Wimp!
My first one used a little chunk of galena, imbedded in lead(?), with a "catwhisker" that I had to move around to find a sensitive spot.
That was high tech, I just wanted to listen to music when my parents thought I was sleeping. Moving the whisker around under the blankets might have looks suspicious.Roff said:Wimp!
My first one used a little chunk of galena, imbedded in lead(?), with a "catwhisker" that I had to move around to find a sensitive spot.
It will be more than Germanium diode and also inconsistent.Gaston said:what do you think the voltage drop was for a crystal and cat wisker? more or less than a germanium diode? and what about a rusty razorblade and wisker?
I think you can use a lot of different materials, so long as the contacting surfaces have a lonlinear V-I curve. I once detected a local radio station with a contraption that consisted of two pieces of a tin can (plated steel, actually) bent into L shapes and nailed to a board, with a piece of fine wire laid across them, as in the drawing below. Needless to say, it was highly microphonic, which was probably what I was actually trying to achieve. I remember I had it connected to some long wires that went to a friend's house. We were trying to get some sort of intercom going. The wires acted as an antenna, and the oxide on the wire/tin as the detector. The result was quite a surprise, as you can imagine.Gaston said:what do you think the voltage drop was for a crystal and cat wisker? more or less than a germanium diode? and what about a rusty razorblade and wisker?
Roff said:Wimp!
My first one used a little chunk of galena, imbedded in lead(?), with a "catwhisker" that I had to move around to find a sensitive spot.
**broken link removed**RadioRon said:That's nothing. When I was 10 years old my family was camping and for fun I decided to try driving the family car around the campsite (without permission of course). Well I backed it into a tent pole that my dad had secured with a long piece of steel wire. Then I pulled forward and banged into the neighbor's trailer. For some reason the tent pole, with wire attached, had got wedged into the rear bumper and dragged along, and with the same luck, the sheet metal on the neighbor's Airstream had made an unholy union with the rusty bit of fender up at the front of the car. As the adults ran up to the site of the carnage, they stopped in their tracks as they clearly hear "Moon River" emanating from the aluminum wall of that Airstream.
When I finally recovered from my punishment, I had acquired a new and perhaps twisted interest in the magic of radio.