Crystal radio

[MaryL]

I built a crystal tuner AM radio, then supehetrodyne tuner radio. Moved on to a kit radio. I am that old. I remember broadcast radio, and it isn't that far from where we are now.

 

[MaryL]

I remember when most RX stores sold tubes for your radios, certain tubes where burned out and popular.

 

[MaryL]

Remember when RX stores had tube testers an sold various other tubes on sale?

 

[MaryL]

I remember when I couldn't find certain NP/cnp chipsets in 1973 in RadioShack.

 

[BULLDOG]

My first interest in electronics began when I found a little Radio Shack book "555 Timer IC Circuits". I'm still amazed at how fascinating a flashing LED could be.

 

[daveman]

I got an AAS in Laser/Electro-Optics, with a minor in electronics. Built my own mono amp with tubes and a stereo amp with transistors.

 

[MaryL]

When I put on my 2000 olms radio headset and listened to crystal radio. That didn't happen.

 

[lg325]

I built a crystal tuner AM radio, then supehetrodyne tuner radio. Moved on to a kit radio. I am that old. I remember broadcast radio, and it isn't that far from where we are now.

Like this one? Crystal Radio: A Science Kit for Student Electronics | Science Buddies Blog

 

[toobfreak]

I built a crystal tuner AM radio, then supehetrodyne tuner radio. Moved on to a kit radio. I am that old. I remember broadcast radio, and it isn't that far from where we are now.

Did you buy them from Radio Shack, Olsons or Lafayette? Your crystal radio used a linear slope detector and your superhet used peaked IF frequencies to better discriminate the signal from the noise! I used to attach the antenna of my crystal radio to the screw head of a wall switch then hear the radio on a small pair of earbuds.

 

[Ringo]

Electricity, digital, magnetic recording... This is all understandable and unsurprising.
But it is still incomprehensible to me, how a scratch made practically with a neat nail on a piece of plastic conveys music and human speech...
Just a crooked scratch, but in this scratch you can distinguish a female voice from a male and distinguish the nuances of different musical instruments... Without electricity and digits... Magic!