Two 6.0 Volt tubes and a crystal diode AM radio. The tricky part is making the Lexan tube socket stand and components on it. Neat job there Ron. Circuit shown at 40:43 in video. Fun watching you build this radio! Needs a 1N34A cleverly hidden under the crystal. I won't tell anyone!
Oh how the memories from over 70 years ago were stirred by this video. Waggling the cats whisker using the red plastic knob on my Ivalek crystal set to try to get a signal, which would only be heard if I happened to be tuned to a station, so it was 'wiggle and tune' together until a sound was heard in my ex-RAF headphones. Then my fingers would twitch, the non-linear connection would be lost, and the process had to be started again. When someone showed me a germanium diode for the first time I couldn't understand how something so small, with no knobs to twiddle, could work. But it did - and what a wonderful innovation it was!
It's 2am and I stayed up much later than I should have, but watching you build a Cats-Whisker valve radio from scratch was compulsive viewing. That is a work of art Ron.
I remember as a kid my dad bringing home a pair of old headphones and an old variable capacitor and telling me about Crystal sets. My dad knew nothing about electronics, but I got a book from the library about making Crystal sets, and I wound a coil on a card tube from the inside of a toilet roll, saved up pocket money to buy other parts like the OA91 diode and wired things up as per the book, wrapping a piece of wire around the cold water pipe and stringing a length of wire out of my bedroom window down the garden. Amazingly, I could hear radio stations in the headphones. This nailed my future in stone as to what I would do later in life!
@@sambekins True, the old carbon bar resistors would be period correct. I still have a handful of them though they rarely test to their marked resistance.
Ron, you amaze me every time with your skills to create anything. When i was a kid, i made a crude crystal set, a toilet roll tube to wind wire around for the coil. a 500pf variable capacitor, a diode, and an old telephone ear piece. The antenna was a long wire, and i gave it a copper rod earth. It was so loud,, Radio luxemburg was very clear indeed. Great fun :-D
Great vid!! I’ve been winding coils for crystal radios on Quaker Oats boxes. I apply a few coats of lacquer to “stiffen” the box a little bit, before winding the coil. There are much better coil forms, but using a Quaker box adds a bit of nostalgia…..and it is what I have on hand. I teach science classes for home schoolers and the kids get a kick out of making one. No whisker….just a germanium diode. Cheers es 73!
Thanks Ron! It was interesting see You fiddle with the cat's whisker, showing it's not that easy. It's the first time I ever seen this in practise. I think Your solution was brilliant (I promise not to tell).
"If I had any common sense, I would have measured it..." This is why I like watching your videos. You're the opposite of a youtube sperg. These are the people who think because you own a torque wrench, every single fastener you ever touch should be torqued to "specs" they just made up or are generic to the fastener size. They are joyless. They are also the type of people who pretend, through editing, that they never make any mistakes.
One of the great things about Ron is the ability to move on from any disaster. Finding a way to fix or make what is needed. The sprinkling of knowledge throughout keeps it interesting educational and fun.
I decovered crystal radio a couple years ago and have had a great time doing different types. I ran across 100 in 1 electronic project kit and built and hooked up the amplifier to the crystal and it was very nice. A lot louder then I thought it would be.
Great work and at the same time practical and accurate. I have followed you since you started your UA-cam channel and learned a lot and a lot. I live in North Africa and I do not have the capabilities to work with. this field, thank you
What a great video. Considering the era of the tubes you used, I suggest that an additional but related project could be a single battery power supply. That would be the type using a mechanical vibrator booster circuit. You probably remember those in portable and car radios. The vibrator was about the size of a vacuum tube and made a low hum.
I’d say make a simple speaker box (same wood), grill cloth, and hide a psu in speaker box. Just because Ron used loctal tubes (compact and smart), I wouldn’t want to go overboard. I guess one would see it as a quasi farm/auto radio.
When I built genuine galena crystal radios as a kid, I found that washing the chunk of galena in soap and water, then rinsing in alcohol made the surface much more sensitive and easier to find a "hot spot".
👍🏼. Thank You Sir/Madam…. Your videos are just outstanding! I was watching with my grandson and he hasn’t stopped with the harassment…. “WHEN ARE *WE* STARTING THE RADIO PROJECT BUILD?” 😳 Now, I’m kinda stuck . But I’ll be enjoying every second!! Your knowledge and skills are just amazing. Thanks for keeping vacuum tube technology alive! BUT….. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH OIL …. THE GE X-RAY VIDEO FRIGHTENED THE HELL OUT OF ME. WATCH OUT FOR PCB CONTAMINATION . Thanks again.
Hi Ron your tech friend Dave here another amazing video how you professionally built that Crystal radio you're very good at what you do I always enjoy your videos you're the best in the business may God bless you and keep you safe always your friend Dave
Great video...I remember trying to make a crystal radio as a kid in the 50's using a blued razor blade and pencil lead . Had the same kind of problem you found
You remind me of a guy that built outlaw linear amplifiers for CB radios back in the seventies. We would go on parts scavenging raids to the local salvage store mostly searching for transformers and whatnot. He built me a 160 watt amp that was clear and powerful. Those were the good old days!
The tip must be very sharp and the contact pressure must be very low for the diode effect to appear. When I was a child, I periodically tried to sharpen the tip, and then very quickly I could find a "sensitive" point and listen some music. My father, who was literally making transistors for his PhD thesis, advised me this way. At college, 12 years later, I learned why the contact region must be very small. Point contact theory is no longer taught, but it was interesting.
Multumesc mult dm, m-am distrat privinduva si citind comentariile Frumos si educativ ptru cei ce vor sa invete tanele radio Da astea sint primii pasi in practica dar fara o pregatire serioasa si o intelegere profunda a multor cunostinte teoretice nu va reusi nimeni Prin urmare indrumarea catre cei ce doresc asta, sa dobindeasca mai intii cunostinte teoretice si sa le si inteleaga
I used to use Galena (PbS) and works all the time. Maybe the pin wasn't fastened tight or not sharp enough. Great work I must say. I showed my grandson how one can get sound from a piece of rock.... and he was amazed. Hope I can make him build his own radio one day.
судя по умению обращаться с инструментом и по наличию оборудования высокого класса эта уважаемая дама серьёзный специалист в радио электронике. процесс изготовления наглядного пособия ( детекторный приёмник на кристалле сернокислого свинца )напомнил мне моё детство 1958 год, мой первый радиоприёмник.
You showed 2 schematics, 1 with directly heated types and the 2nd with an indirectly heated type (2X). Which schematic did you actually use? Given a 45 VDC B+, I'm guessing 1U4 and 1S4. What is the length of your long wire antenna?
Actually, I built the radio initially with the battery tubes but the performance was so bad I had to change to the isolated cathode type so I could bias the tube. The old schematic was from using part of the original video. The antenna I use here in Houston is a 10 foot indoor. The stations are so close and powerful a longer antenna is too much.
I learned something new, as always with your videos! I wasn't aware that Litz wire's usefulness drops off in the MHz range until now. I remember a clear demonstration of it's effectiveness in the 20-100kHz range from years ago though. I was playing around with a TV flyback driver circuit and "pushing the limits" to say the least... I initially used several turns of solid enameled copper wire on the primary, and they were getting hot enough to burn the enamel. I swapped it out for some Litz wire salvaged from an old CRT TV, which was a smaller overall diameter, but this completely resolved the heating issue. It still got warm, but the difference was night and day!
It's always a joy to hear the first noises on a home brewed radio. 71% of windings is roughly half of the inductivity which would be theoretically the optimum. Built my first detector radio in the 60s ;-) I would suggest to test all different kinds of diodes - even some schottky's work ...crystals don't have any advantages is my experience.
At least its am and not FM I remember making one with a radio shack kit as a kid some 50 years ago. Its funny as far as electronics has evolved over the years this is very basic and above most younger peoples heads. You retained all what you learned. Thats cool
I really enjoyed watching this video. Moment by moment, this video is the result of experience, knowledge, and interest in electronic work. I wish you health, happiness and success. Greetings
Basically the variable cap on the antenna is an antenna tuner which in more modern tuning caps is built into them as an adjustment on the back. Your setup is more of a direct adjustable attenuation setup where you have the ability to adjust the signal attenuation rather than it being preset to a central point of the band.
I once had a piece of galena and made a crystal set with catswhisker adjustment. Very difficult to get working until I cheated and used the stripped end of stranded wire as a brush. Far easier to get going. Back when people were using crystal sets with amplifers for radio reception the tubes would have been triodes much like the tubes you make in your workshop. The type of pentodes you are using in this amplifier date from at least twenty years later than when this type of radio was in common use.
I have some rolls of litz wire I don't know what to do with. I was going to use it to make a high frequency ceramic motor, but others have done that now.
The design and tuning procedure is fine. The problem is that Galenite (PbS) and other crystals from the era of these receivers can not direct middle and short waves. The crystal receiver was used exclusively in the band of long and very long waves. Today, these bands are no longer broadcast in the amplitude modulation. The Lord of the video tried to put his receiver into operation, but forgot the scope that the crystal receiver needs. The fast semiconductor diode hidden under the detector saved this great work. :)
@@glasslinger If you use a very thin golden wire (0.2mm) with a preload using a small loop, you find the directing point very quickly. The then transmitters on long waves in the amplitude modulation achieved performance in kW. Today, the receivers have higher selectivity and the transmitter performance is in fractions. As I said, the PbS crystal cannot detect medium and short waves AM, nor FM. Therefore, crystal receivers do not work today. If you want to look at my collection of crystal receivers, Flickr look for the name Waldemar Winter ...
Hello , Change the 1N34 for a modern Schottky diode you will greatly improve the gain efficiency of your radio , for example BAS 40 or BAT19 , BAT15 their threeshold atart as low 190 mV . Also you will have to modify the RC network after to better match the reactance of your LC tank circuit Nice day .
If you saw the test in the video the 1n34 rectified at 160 mV, and that was generous. The old point contact diodes have the lowest gap voltage of any solid state diode.
Really great work I admit. Got a question. Back some years ago when I was working in Texas I got into radio’s and amps and ran across the best home tube transmitter I’ve ever had. It was clear and clean as a mouse. I had to sale everything when I had a stroke and heart surgery. This AC amp ran off 220 volt and it had four big tube’s. I can’t remember the number or the name of them but it had to be driven by another smaller 500 to a 1000 watt amp I only used 500 and I’d get 4000 watts plus from it. I want to say the tube numbers was 4/500z or 4/600z or something like that. They was almost three inches in diameter and only around three inches tall. Only four pens on the bottom where they plugged into the sockets. A friend of mine that lived in tomball Texas did my work on it for me when I had a issue which was only once and it was a zener diode. The tubes was matched by what the guy told me that I bought it from and I paid 250 bucks for it the way it sat. Just needed a operator and a foot pedal like on a sewing machine , to engage the relay system to transmit. The owner said he had it up to 10,000 watts with his driver and radio station. I had a galaxy radio system that would do 250 watts tuned up correctly. But could you build a tube amp like this with the same tubes I mentioned. I’ve seen some guys have just one big ceramic tube and I’ve seen them put out eight grand with that one tube and with a 250 watt driver. I use to build dc units for truck drivers and my cb handle was and is Hot Waters. The brand name I put on my amps was ,Laser. I made anything from a 100 watt to 10 grand and even built dead motor malls that changed 12 volts to 24 volts and over 300 amps. I used 2sc2879 tasibas transistors in my amps. But please let me know if you can build me a amp like I’m talking about. Thanks again for all you do.
Litz wire works well with thicker strands down to maybe about 10KHz. It's used in high power/high current switching supplies like mains inverters, welding inverters, exc which run in the 20-30KHz range.
Have you ever built a reflex receiver? I recently learned about those and they seem interesting. They use a crystal detector and a vacuum tube but arranged in a way that the tube does double duty, providing a stage of RF amplification and a stage of audio amplification with just one triode. For this the triode needs to operate in the linear region hence the need for the external diode detector. Magazines I've read say that you could drive a modest speaker with this setup.
Thanks. An enjoyable trip back to my 11 year old self in 1960. I used to make and sell xtal sets to my friends
Two 6.0 Volt tubes and a crystal diode AM radio. The tricky part is making the Lexan tube socket stand and components
on it. Neat job there Ron. Circuit shown at 40:43 in video. Fun watching you build this radio! Needs a 1N34A cleverly
hidden under the crystal. I won't tell anyone!
Fascinating discussion on the type of wire in the coil. I did NOT know any of that! Thanks for sharing your expertise, Ron.
Oh how the memories from over 70 years ago were stirred by this video. Waggling the cats whisker using the red plastic knob on my Ivalek crystal set to try to get a signal, which would only be heard if I happened to be tuned to a station, so it was 'wiggle and tune' together until a sound was heard in my ex-RAF headphones. Then my fingers would twitch, the non-linear connection would be lost, and the process had to be started again. When someone showed me a germanium diode for the first time I couldn't understand how something so small, with no knobs to twiddle, could work. But it did - and what a wonderful innovation it was!
It's 2am and I stayed up much later than I should have, but watching you build a Cats-Whisker valve radio from scratch was compulsive viewing.
That is a work of art Ron.
I love it when there’s another video of yours up!
I remember as a kid my dad bringing home a pair of old headphones and an old variable capacitor and telling me about Crystal sets. My dad knew nothing about electronics, but I got a book from the library about making Crystal sets, and I wound a coil on a card tube from the inside of a toilet roll, saved up pocket money to buy other parts like the OA91 diode and wired things up as per the book, wrapping a piece of wire around the cold water pipe and stringing a length of wire out of my bedroom window down the garden. Amazingly, I could hear radio stations in the headphones. This nailed my future in stone as to what I would do later in life!
Been dying for more of the basics. I could watch basic tank circuit radio stuff all day.
40:40 just for my reference. Thanks ron
Really enjoyed! Didn't expect your doing this from scratch ... wonderful Ron, . Such a clever guy. thank you
Vintage mica caps and Allen Bradley carbon resistors make this radio a period authentic reproduction. Nice work !!
Allen Bradley CC resistitors are about 50 years off the mark but the domino micas could be Era correct though. Sweet build!
@@sambekins True, the old carbon bar resistors would be period correct. I still have a handful of them though they rarely test to their marked resistance.
Ron has the tools, the knowledge and the skills. He also has courage and great taste in fashion. I have nothing but admiration!
That’s a beautiful work of art! The diode is a whole lot better than trying to tune a station off a rusty razor blade.
Ron, you amaze me every time with your skills to create anything.
When i was a kid, i made a crude crystal set, a toilet roll tube to wind wire around for the coil.
a 500pf variable capacitor, a diode, and an old telephone ear piece.
The antenna was a long wire, and i gave it a copper rod earth.
It was so loud,, Radio luxemburg was very clear indeed.
Great fun :-D
Havent seen a glasslinger video in quite some time....... EXCELLENT!!
Great vid!! I’ve been winding coils for crystal radios on Quaker Oats boxes. I apply a few coats of lacquer to “stiffen” the box a little bit, before winding the coil. There are much better coil forms, but using a Quaker box adds a bit of nostalgia…..and it is what I have on hand. I teach science classes for home schoolers and the kids get a kick out of making one. No whisker….just a germanium diode. Cheers es 73!
Nice job my friend. Always a nice treat to see a new video.
I also have a home made crystal receiver from this period; but without an amplifier stage.
you did good job 👍
Thanks Ron! It was interesting see You fiddle with the cat's whisker, showing it's not that easy.
It's the first time I ever seen this in practise. I think Your solution was brilliant (I promise not to tell).
An interesting build and fine looking vintage receiver. Thanks for sharing. Well done...David
"If I had any common sense, I would have measured it..." This is why I like watching your videos. You're the opposite of a youtube sperg. These are the people who think because you own a torque wrench, every single fastener you ever touch should be torqued to "specs" they just made up or are generic to the fastener size. They are joyless. They are also the type of people who pretend, through editing, that they never make any mistakes.
One of the great things about Ron is the ability to move on from any disaster. Finding a way to fix or make what is needed.
The sprinkling of knowledge throughout keeps it interesting educational and fun.
I decovered crystal radio a couple years ago and have had a great time doing different types. I ran across 100 in 1 electronic project kit and built and hooked up the amplifier to the crystal and it was very nice. A lot louder then I thought it would be.
Great work and at the same time practical and accurate. I have followed you since you started your UA-cam channel and learned a lot and a lot. I live in North Africa and I do not have the capabilities to work with. this field, thank you
Used to play a round like that on a peg board as a kid. It never looked that good. But it helped me get a job in telecoms.
What fun! I love this video. It reminds me of the old days when I used to build Heathkit stuff, but you do it from scratch!
At 42:40 -- that was the best radio circuit description I have ever heard. For once I sorta understood what was going on. Thank you so much.
Ron your Just amazing, You where born to do This,
What a great video. Considering the era of the tubes you used, I suggest that an additional but related project could be a single battery power supply. That would be the type using a mechanical vibrator booster circuit. You probably remember those in portable and car radios. The vibrator was about the size of a vacuum tube and made a low hum.
I’d say make a simple speaker box (same wood), grill cloth, and hide a psu in speaker box. Just because Ron used loctal tubes (compact and smart), I wouldn’t want to go overboard. I guess one would see it as a quasi farm/auto radio.
Amazing..I just love watching you make all sorts of radios values just keep the video coming. Please
When I built genuine galena crystal radios as a kid, I found that washing the chunk of galena in soap and water, then rinsing in alcohol made the surface much more sensitive and easier to find a "hot spot".
Amazing how you build from scratch such "period correct" masterpieces!
Now i know why my grandfather went on one if someone touched his whisker, great content - stay safe
I've always thought about building; that project, but with transistors. Perhaps I will.
Thanks for the video and have a great week.
👍🏼. Thank You Sir/Madam…. Your videos are just outstanding!
I was watching with my grandson and he hasn’t stopped with the harassment….
“WHEN ARE *WE* STARTING THE RADIO PROJECT BUILD?” 😳
Now, I’m kinda stuck . But I’ll be enjoying every second!!
Your knowledge and skills are just amazing.
Thanks for keeping vacuum tube technology alive!
BUT….. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH OIL …. THE GE X-RAY VIDEO FRIGHTENED THE HELL OUT OF ME.
WATCH OUT FOR PCB CONTAMINATION .
Thanks again.
Hi Ron your tech friend Dave here another amazing video how you professionally built that Crystal radio you're very good at what you do I always enjoy your videos you're the best in the business may God bless you and keep you safe always your friend Dave
Great video...I remember trying to make a crystal radio as a kid in the 50's using a blued razor blade and pencil lead . Had the same kind of problem you found
I really enjoyed your unpretentious down to earth discussion. So much more enjoyable to listen to.
That was the best description I’ve heard for Litz wire.
What a pleasure to see somebody use their brain to safely use power tools instead of a heap of gadgets that just get in the way.
You remind me of a guy that built outlaw linear amplifiers for CB radios back in the seventies. We would go on parts scavenging raids to the local salvage store mostly searching for transformers and whatnot. He built me a 160 watt amp that was clear and powerful. Those were the good old days!
The tools, the skill, the safety, the experience........... Beautiful.
@18:00 Thanks for explaining the litz wire principle, I never knew. Very helpful. 🎈
Ron, you DO have a soldering IORN after all! None of that gun stuff! 🤣 Just messing, what a great video, a pleasure to watch! Thank you
The tip must be very sharp and the contact pressure must be very low for the diode effect to appear. When I was a child, I periodically tried to sharpen the tip, and then very quickly I could find a "sensitive" point and listen some music. My father, who was literally making transistors for his PhD thesis, advised me this way. At college, 12 years later, I learned why the contact region must be very small. Point contact theory is no longer taught, but it was interesting.
Multumesc mult dm, m-am distrat privinduva si citind comentariile Frumos si educativ ptru cei ce vor sa invete tanele radio Da astea sint primii pasi in practica dar fara o pregatire serioasa si o intelegere profunda a multor cunostinte teoretice nu va reusi nimeni Prin urmare indrumarea catre cei ce doresc asta, sa dobindeasca mai intii cunostinte teoretice si sa le si inteleaga
This just makes you imagine how excited the original designers were when they first heard signal coming through.
Was a fun project - congratulations - you sure know your stuff too. Thanks for the voyage back in time.
I used to use Galena (PbS) and works all the time. Maybe the pin wasn't fastened tight or not sharp enough. Great work I must say. I showed my grandson how one can get sound from a piece of rock.... and he was amazed. Hope I can make him build his own radio one day.
судя по умению обращаться с инструментом и по наличию оборудования высокого класса эта уважаемая дама серьёзный специалист в радио электронике. процесс изготовления наглядного пособия ( детекторный приёмник на кристалле сернокислого свинца )напомнил мне моё детство 1958 год, мой первый радиоприёмник.
Good job my friend! our little secret 😂
I'm so glad you are making one of these
Loved it! Looks great. Thank you Ron.
That is just beautiful. I have made a few but so far my favourite is the " Mystery Crystal set " from around 1932
Хорошая катушка индуктивности и отличный конденсатор ! )) 73
You showed 2 schematics, 1 with directly heated types and the 2nd with an indirectly heated type (2X). Which schematic did you actually use? Given a 45 VDC B+, I'm guessing 1U4 and 1S4. What is the length of your long wire antenna?
Actually, I built the radio initially with the battery tubes but the performance was so bad I had to change to the isolated cathode type so I could bias the tube. The old schematic was from using part of the original video. The antenna I use here in Houston is a 10 foot indoor. The stations are so close and powerful a longer antenna is too much.
I learned something new, as always with your videos!
I wasn't aware that Litz wire's usefulness drops off in the MHz range until now.
I remember a clear demonstration of it's effectiveness in the 20-100kHz range from years ago though. I was playing around with a TV flyback driver circuit and "pushing the limits" to say the least... I initially used several turns of solid enameled copper wire on the primary, and they were getting hot enough to burn the enamel. I swapped it out for some Litz wire salvaged from an old CRT TV, which was a smaller overall diameter, but this completely resolved the heating issue. It still got warm, but the difference was night and day!
That 1960's gogo dancer mini dress was fabulous! Get in a cage and dance!
It's always a joy to hear the first noises on a home brewed radio. 71% of windings is roughly half of the inductivity which would be theoretically the optimum. Built my first detector radio in the 60s ;-) I would suggest to test all different kinds of diodes - even some schottky's work ...crystals don't have any advantages is my experience.
At least its am and not FM
I remember making one with a radio shack kit as a kid some 50 years ago.
Its funny as far as electronics has evolved over the years this is very basic and above most younger peoples heads. You retained all what you learned.
Thats cool
Glad i took the time for this video!
Everytime i'm in awe for your solid skills - just spot on.
Wow, great. Bult some sort of receiver based on this design myself in the 70' was lots of fun.
its so ammusing to see you busy on this things , it feels like time has no effect on you
That’s a beautiful work of art! Thanks for posting.
I really enjoyed watching this video. Moment by moment, this video is the result of experience, knowledge, and interest in electronic work. I wish you health, happiness and success. Greetings
Basically the variable cap on the antenna is an antenna tuner which in more modern tuning caps is built into them as an adjustment on the back. Your setup is more of a direct adjustable attenuation setup where you have the ability to adjust the signal attenuation rather than it being preset to a central point of the band.
I once had a piece of galena and made a crystal set with catswhisker adjustment. Very difficult to get working until I cheated and used the stripped end of stranded wire as a brush. Far easier to get going.
Back when people were using crystal sets with amplifers for radio reception the tubes would have been triodes much like the tubes you make in your workshop. The type of pentodes you are using in this amplifier date from at least twenty years later than when this type of radio was in common use.
Great, Ron, and mum's the word regarding the fitting of the diode in place of the crystal...ye-he.
Well made. Always in a good mood. Thanks.
Great stuff as usual. I just love this early radio technology and I am also developing a fondness of 'dark walnut' stain.
Thanks Ron,what a great build
This is beyond awesome, also for the longest I never realized how they got baseboards to have that specific curved edge until now
Your radio making and repairs are very good
Excellent
Glass linger you are good at restoring vintage shortwave receivers and alignment of vintage shortwave receivers my friend 😊😊😊
Great video! Always good to see you. (Miss Kitty Too) :-)
Dang that is cool. Using 6au6. Oh the point contact diode. Old school. 😷😍keep up the great work
Glasslinger you are good at electronics restoration of radios receivers and shortwave radio Receivers
I have some rolls of litz wire I don't know what to do with. I was going to use it to make a high frequency ceramic motor, but others have done that now.
Stop everything ! Ron has a new video
Yes!
The design and tuning procedure is fine. The problem is that Galenite (PbS) and other crystals from the era of these receivers can not direct middle and short waves. The crystal receiver was used exclusively in the band of long and very long waves. Today, these bands are no longer broadcast in the amplitude modulation. The Lord of the video tried to put his receiver into operation, but forgot the scope that the crystal receiver needs. The fast semiconductor diode hidden under the detector saved this great work. :)
I agree the scope is ideal for finding the sensitive spot. Think of how frustrating it was long ago before scopes, and when signals were much weaker!
@@glasslinger If you use a very thin golden wire (0.2mm) with a preload using a small loop, you find the directing point very quickly. The then transmitters on long waves in the amplitude modulation achieved performance in kW. Today, the receivers have higher selectivity and the transmitter performance is in fractions. As I said, the PbS crystal cannot detect medium and short waves AM, nor FM. Therefore, crystal receivers do not work today. If you want to look at my collection of crystal receivers, Flickr look for the name Waldemar Winter ...
You should offer those for sale. I would buy that one from you right now!
You build custom radios. I loved the radio radio. You do great work
Hello , Change the 1N34 for a modern Schottky diode you will greatly improve the gain efficiency of your radio , for example BAS 40 or BAT19 , BAT15 their threeshold atart as low 190 mV . Also you will have to modify the RC network after to better match the reactance of your LC tank circuit Nice day .
If you saw the test in the video the 1n34 rectified at 160 mV, and that was generous. The old point contact diodes have the lowest gap voltage of any solid state diode.
thanks Ron... really great job... enjoyed this one as always...
Glasslinger do you have a ham license? and do you have ham Transceiver?
I really enjoy spending one hour with your project , your really special , thanks !
You're the first lady I have seen that's not scared of using a bench saw! You are very talented!
@fred james Oh Ok I thought the voice was a bit deep.Whatever floats his boat I suppose.
Lol lady
Your videos are amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome job. That would be a cool daily driver.
What a great thing to do at the end of the weekend watching a great video.
Best UA-camr EVER!!!
This is a very educational video. Great job!
Ask Missy for a whisker? 😄... Cleaning the whisker point and degreasing the crystal surface usually helps with galena.
This is a truly amazing and wonderful video! Wow! Very nicely done - thank you for presenting.
Really great work I admit. Got a question. Back some years ago when I was working in Texas I got into radio’s and amps and ran across the best home tube transmitter I’ve ever had. It was clear and clean as a mouse. I had to sale everything when I had a stroke and heart surgery. This AC amp ran off 220 volt and it had four big tube’s. I can’t remember the number or the name of them but it had to be driven by another smaller 500 to a 1000 watt amp I only used 500 and I’d get 4000 watts plus from it. I want to say the tube numbers was 4/500z or 4/600z or something like that. They was almost three inches in diameter and only around three inches tall. Only four pens on the bottom where they plugged into the sockets. A friend of mine that lived in tomball Texas did my work on it for me when I had a issue which was only once and it was a zener diode. The tubes was matched by what the guy told me that I bought it from and I paid 250 bucks for it the way it sat. Just needed a operator and a foot pedal like on a sewing machine , to engage the relay system to transmit. The owner said he had it up to 10,000 watts with his driver and radio station. I had a galaxy radio system that would do 250 watts tuned up correctly. But could you build a tube amp like this with the same tubes I mentioned. I’ve seen some guys have just one big ceramic tube and I’ve seen them put out eight grand with that one tube and with a 250 watt driver. I use to build dc units for truck drivers and my cb handle was and is Hot Waters. The brand name I put on my amps was ,Laser. I made anything from a 100 watt to 10 grand and even built dead motor malls that changed 12 volts to 24 volts and over 300 amps. I used 2sc2879 tasibas transistors in my amps. But please let me know if you can build me a amp like I’m talking about. Thanks again for all you do.
Not for hire. Sorry.
Very good project I would like to have this radio as a hobby here at home, for what price would you sell it to me, I live here in Brazil
Litz wire works well with thicker strands down to maybe about 10KHz. It's used in high power/high current switching supplies like mains inverters, welding inverters, exc which run in the 20-30KHz range.
Love Ron's attitude: "SCREW THIS....GIMME THE DAMM DIODE!" 🤣🤣
Have you ever built a reflex receiver? I recently learned about those and they seem interesting. They use a crystal detector and a vacuum tube but arranged in a way that the tube does double duty, providing a stage of RF amplification and a stage of audio amplification with just one triode.
For this the triode needs to operate in the linear region hence the need for the external diode detector. Magazines I've read say that you could drive a modest speaker with this setup.
Several. The combination of reflex and regenerative gives the most spectacular results with very few tubes.
Thank you for sharing. I really loved watching your work come to life.
Very enjoyable, as always. Stay Safe Ron.
Very nice radio Ron. 👍