As a lad during a very hot summer I visited my younger cousin Adrian, I showed him how to build a Crystal set from scrap wire etc. He told me just before his death that he was so fascinated by this magical thing we had built that he went on to study Radio, I only just found out his job was designing receivers for military satellites. Great channel, old school just the way we like it. I wish you were my teacher.
Everyone should make a crystal set it is truly magical to a young mind, thank you Foxxy for your kind words, I only learnt of some of Adrian's achievements in "special radio stuff" when he was gone apparently he developed some funky modulation thingy. We built that crystal set in the mid 60's I can see us now unravelling toilet roll for the cardboard tube to make the coil. His last call to me was to tell me he remembered the set and he wanted me to know how much it meant to him. He died a few days later.
@@Woffy. No worries, I love stuff like that an how one little thing or moment can change absolutely everything. I've not thought about them since I was a kid an stuffs more freely available in the net so might have a go an make one from some scrap
My older brother got a little crystal radio for Christmas when he was about 10 years old. It was in a little red rocket ship looking thing. He eventually took it apart and hooked up an antenna to it and was receiving AM signals from all over the country. Years later when he was 14 and I was 13 he had progressed in his electronics tinkering to the point that he used that same little crystal radio as the guts of a broadcast station in our room with a horizontal wire antenna on top of our house. We had a radio show every evening, with me playing records (single 45s) and talking. The kids at school the next day always gave me reviews on our shows. Later still he did things like going through a local computer manufacturer's dumpster to retrieve mistakes they had thrown away and building super computers out of the parts. He joined the Air Force at 17 and his job was repairing guided missile systems. All from getting a toy for Christmas.
I also had the Rocket Pocket Crystal Radio in 1952 0r 1953 - I was born 12/12/1949 my Father (dead) had been a Radio Man ww2. I had many Radio Books and was taught to read & Wrte age 14 when I had some child Illness and was Bed Riddend one wear. I was amazed to hear Stations at night from Chicago, on the Coil Indunce $ Xal Radio. I was in Waco Texas. I learned from Drakes Cyclopedia of Radio & electroncs date 1938 to make Wire Indinced Booster for Better Signals, I had 1953 Amateur Radio Handmbook NOT the ARRL Book, i had that from 1954 hen ARRL & all were looking to the HCC allowing Ham Radios to allowed again. Hyram Pecey Maxion the Worlds most Famour Radio Inventer & Inventer of Maxium Automatic Rifle A/K/A/
I received a cheap crystal radio kit for Christmas in about 1966. I had to wind the coil, assemble the parts etc. It didn't work. My grandfather, an aviation radio technician, came over, found the problem and replaced the 1N34 germanium diode. Presto! It worked! I thought he a was a genius. I spent many, many nights listening to radio stations thousands of miles away when I should have been sleeping.
I got mine in 1969 for Christmas but it was missing parts. It was the iconic Remco kit and it was replaced by the Philco kit. It used a piece of galena and it didn’t work either. It would have helped to have a long enough wire antenna and a ground. In 1975 I built one from Radio Shack parts, 1N34a, AM slug tuned loop stick coil, crystal earphone and a 2K resistor. This time it worked because and had a long enough piece of wire and a ground. It initially picked up shortwave because I used the lipstick’s tap and not the full coil length. Once I did that it picked up AM broadcast radio.
Great video. As a kid I read about trench or foxhole radios, and was amazed when I built one and it worked. Razor blade, pencil lead, coil wound on a toilet paper core, the whole shebang. I even surprised my dad.
Same way I saw them. But had no clue on how to build one an even my library had no info...or I wast just young an looking in wrong place. But I did remember that in one film they put the set in a helmet to amplify it...an I do that now with my phone in a bowl😂
@@foxxy46213mom grew up during the Great Depression and WWII, she told me about listening to a few crystal radios, whose earpieces would be put into a glass bowl so that those gathered around could hear the news.
I built my first crystal set at about seven years of age. That was ~1950. It was like magic. I've been interested in all things electrical and electronic since.
It was the early 1960s. My grade school teacher gave us an assignment to pick up a book at the bookmobile and write a report. None of the books interested me, except for a book by Alfred Morgan, called the Boy's First Book of Radio and Electronics. I was instantly hooked. I built one of the crystal radios and was fascinated that I could actually do that. Fast forward, that interest resulted in me studying electrical engineering in the early 70s which led to a fabulous career. All that, thanks to the humble crystal radio. Too bad kids don't do things like that anymore.
Oh, THAT Alfred Morgan? I have one of his other books, "Things a boy can do with electrochemistry!" It's one of my favorites among my collection, which I admit is partly because it casually mentions going down to the "general store" and picking up some asbestos paper for one recipe like it's nothing at all. Ah, the 50s.
@@boxcarz In the late sixties, as a thirteen year old, I would regularly visit the local chemist to buy sulphur, potassium nitrate, charcoal, magnesium and a bunch of other stuff. It was like a toyshop for me. Oddly, I had to sign for the magnesium but not for anything else. I also had no problems buying matches, 20 boxes at a time, meths, lighter fluid, fireworks etc.
I’m 16 and do all sorts of junk like that! I’ve admittedly never made a radio but I’ll dick around with high voltage electronics and old 80s computer systems
I won the "Rocket Crystal Radio" in a newspaper contest and loved the way it picked up our local AM radio station and played music, battery free, while Imwas in bed getting ready to go to sleep. The good old days.
My grandmother lived in a relatively small rural community in Illinois, about 30 miles away from St. Louis. Her farm, as well as the rest of the town received its electricity from a diesel generator located in the nearby firehouse. It was only run for a few hours each day, during which everyone ran their washing machines, vacuumed, listened to their radios, or did whatever else required electricity before it was shut off again. I don't think her community was tied to an official 24/7 energized grid until after WWII, and my grandfather, who was a lineman for most of his career, helped do it.
When I was in Junior High back in the '90s, I had a teacher (Mr. Dollar) who did an exploratory class on radio, and something we got to do was build crystal radios from kits. It taught me a lot about the basics of radio. I have two nephews that, when they get old enough, I'm gonna find some kits and teach them what I learned
I had many crystal radios as a child - several from Radio Shack. But, out of of all the ones I ever used? That rocket radio blew them all away!!! - don't know why, but wow oh wow - they work beyond well...... And they were dirt cheap - available at the downtown Army and Navy store. I used take my to school, and just clip the alligator clip to the school chain link fence, and it worked rather well. (Grandin School) At home? Just clipped to the heater vent by my bed - listened to CFRN and Irv Shore in the morning. And to not be puny? That CFRN signal was crystal clear. Very cool, and no batteries. Loved that Rocket radio as a child - and it worked really well.
I had one of those rocket radios in college. I would clip the wire to the radiator in my room. About the only thing I can pick up was the compass radio station what was still kind of cool cuz it had no batteries or anything.
Yes, the rocket radio. My Dad gave me one as a present around 1960, not quite the same design, but prob. the same guts. It wasn't just an intriguing curiosity, it was quite practical as a radio. Every night I lay in bed listening to the local station in Vancouver playing BBC's The Goon Show. So instead of wasting a pointless hour or so sleeping, I was getting an education...
I also grew up in St Albert until Gr. 4. I attended Sir Alexander Mackenzie. I had a crystal rocket radio when I was 7. I could pick up CHED, CFRN, CJCA amongst others. Those little radios made in Japan? Were impressive considering their simplicity. I would wind the antenna lead around my bed frame. That improved reception capability.
@@eyerollthereforeiam1709Same. One of my chief regrets is not seeing them a few years before they retired when the were doing the Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves concerts
In 1958, I was 7 years old. My brother-in-law's step-father had a small plastic box with a wire coming out of it with an alligator clip on the end. Also had another wire with an earphone coming out of the other side. He let me listen to it. He opened the back of the plastic box and there was hardly anything in it. Fascinated me! We had a radio at home but it had to be plugged into the wall and turned in different directions to pick up various stations. I wasn't allowed to touch that radio. The crystal set had only one dial, 1-10, and turning it slowly would change the stations. I credit Mr W for getting me interested in electronics, building Heathkits in high school, electronics in the service and then a career with 2 electronics companies. Retired now!
England. What an excellent video. I built and did terrible things to crystal radios, some of which actually worked. With a roughly 200 ft aerial at 30 ft, I could even use an old extension loudspeaker. I learned more about the history of crystal radios, etc. watching your videos, than all the books I ever read. Well done that man, I'll put you up for a knighthood (but don't hold your breath).
Funny story. I built a crystal radio for a science fair project as a kid in the 80's...got a blue ribbon! I still remember being fascinated by the ability to build a radio with just a few components and some blocks covered with aluminum foil (you'd slide the blocks over one another to act as a variable capacitor). I still remember Dad having to visit multiple Radio Shack locations to find the right components. I wish I still had it. It was little more than a handful of wire stuck to a block of wood using thumbtacks to complete the junctions.
Discovering the 1N34 Germanium diode at Radio Shack was the greatest thing in my young life. Crystal radio was so much easier without the cat whisker and potted diode.
Wow. Someone out there remembers Radio Shack. I practically lived there as a kid, using my evil genius 🤣 to build spy transmitters. Did you also read Poor Man's James Bond? Bet ya did.
That box of flashcubes makes me kinda crazy, for some reason. I built my first crystal radio sometime around 1970. This is absolutely the best explanation of their operation I have ever heard.
I built my first in 1972 when I was 13 and then a proper kit 2 years later. I set up massive aerials on my farm, one 300 foot long. My father got a terrible fright one dark windy night when my aerial came out of the sky and took his hat off! I had 3 aerials of different lengths and had to incorporate a volume control. I climbed a lot of trees
Love it, Spirit of the Radio, Eh Canida?!. I'm glad crystal sets are having a bit of a moment again. Still remember by pals RadioHack 101 project kit back in the 70's and grounding to a radiator, wire in a tree, sharing the earpiece. Good times.
Yes, I am seeing a lot of youtube videos about making them. I even made video to try to help them out on the topic of the 1N34 diode that normally was used as the detector. You can't get real 1N34 diodes easily these days.
Making the detector is the magical bit but as mentioned in the video there are a number of solutions one being carbon and razor blade or a salvaged point contact signal diode. Have fun. Best @@kensmith5694
I was in Cub Scouts in the early 60's, and I built one to get an Arrow Point (the symbol for completing an activity). I bought 100 feet of Belden hookup wire and ran an antenna in my back yard. It didn't work. Then I moved it to sit on our washing machine in the garage. I connected the ground to the cold water pipe. It worked! I was so impressed I later became an electrical engineer and worked in the radio industry. And it all started in Cub Scouts!
Just before and just after the Great War, my great uncle used to bike around places in the Lincolnshire Wolds to log propagation with a crystal set. He'd post off the logs to some magazine (when he told me, he was in his early 80s and no longer remembered the name of it), as part of a data collection initiative of how weather and time of year affected domestic and international radio.
I know the ARRL did something collecting reports like that at one time, but I don't know if they had people in England sending in reports. The ARRL's magazine is still being published, it's called QST.
Received the Heathkit crystal radio kit in the 1950’s for Christmas. Lived in South Carolina - AM was predominant Father helped me build - was ~8yo. Great memory.
In the 1970's I put together a crystal radio kit (from Radio Shack..Natch..) AND an AM transmitter (Also from RS.) Both worked, No great distances covered, but they were FUN. Been into radio of all kinds ever since!
There are also variable inductor sets which use two pancake coils in series, one of which is attached to a movable arm so that the coupling between the two can be varied. As a kid I built a set like this from instructions provided by a BBC expert called Mr Farley who I wrote to following a TV program about this topic. It worked and I was totally hooked on electronics from that point.
Back in the early 70s, I had a crystal radio kit from Radio Shack. After assembling it, I was hearing an AM station through it's earphone. Very cool. Thanks for sharing this.
I had a crystal radio as a child, around 1958, that looked like an egg with a knob on one end that you turned to tune, a wire with an alligator clip that I clipped to the steel frame of the bunkbed and a earpiece. I loved that thing and could get all of the local AM stations. Thanks for reminding me of it 🙂
Built one at the age of 10 from a library book. My dad had all the parts in little glass jars hanging from the ceiling. 40 years later I found myself teaching basic AC electricity to aircraft maintenance apprentices. I am grateful.
" From little Acorns grow great Oak's " Your memory of a special moment ......... What I like about this channel are the long lost memories it restores. It really is a pleasant few minuts in my day.
At an AM station I engineer for I occasionally do tricks like putting some headphones on someone, touch the jack with my finger sometimes touch a ground and you can hear the broadcast in a similar principle to how a crystal radio works. l can also hold a curly bulb near the tuning coil (matches the transmitter to the antenna) and it will blink along with the modulation. Visitors think it's neat. Former engineer and mentor has some radios from the 20s when they were still experimental in his collection. They are beautiful both in looks and design for their time. I can sit for hours and talk with him about a 75 year career in radio learning as much as I can and do whenever I can while I still can. The engineers and teachers like him that really know this stuff that were there through most of its important evolutions and really know the history are a rapidly dying breed.
THANK YOU FOR THE HISTORICAL TUTORIAL. WHAT A GIFT OF NATURE! UNDERSTOOD AND ENABLED BY CLEVER PEOPLE, SHRINKING THE WORLD. EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL APPROACH.
You're a very brave man to speak about amateur radio and semiconductor physics on UA-cam. There are lots of experts around just *dying* to correct miniscule mistakes and criticize simplifications made for clarity to a lay audience. Good video.
@@kenbakker3241 Did you know the way they came up with the name Canada? They started pulling letters out of a hat. First letter was "C", so the man pulling the letter says "C" eh. "N" eh. "D" eh. and a nation was born.
My parents bought me a crystal radio similar to the rocket ship radio at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. I went on to build other crystal sets including the foxhole radio using a blue raiser blade. When my son was in the Cub Scouts I out together a project for the boys where they built a crystal radio set on a board. I found a forum on line for crystal radios. The guys on the forum were so generous they mailed me the ear pieces, geranium diodes and variable capacitors needed so each boy had their own set. Pass it on.
Thank you for a clear and educational video. I live in France. France no longer has medium wave AM radio transmissions, so I was unable to test the crystal set which I had made for my grandson in Perth, Australia. He should get good reception as he lives just 7km from a 50kW transmitter! Like some other responders, I was given a crystal set when I was 12, in 1953. I eventually left school to study electrical engineering at university and ended my career as a head of a section of electronic engineers, having worked my way through the various levels of electronic engineering.
Built one from a kit, early 70's, loved it, started my passion for audio tech. Although an amateur, I've installed PA at Notting Hill Carnival, amongst countless parties, festivals, set up SW stations for sonic art projects, built and sold countless experimental fx, mixer, tape devices. I'd like to say it's kept me out of trouble, but I'm too honest, lol.
Thanks for this informative video - explained a lot as I’ve always liked listening to radio at night and listening to AM channels across the country (Skip was a listener‘a best friend)
Great detailed and historical video! You brought back memories of me in the 1950"s moving a cat whisker over a crystal and then being amazed at picking up a radio station.
With the advent of all radio stations migrating to digital, these crystal radios without an AM transmission to receive will just become curiosities for the museum. Even SSB is totally undecipherable by these simple tuned circuits, however FM stations can be slope detected but I've never seen a crystal set that works at VHF where FM stations can be found. I remember building a crystal set nearly 70 years ago to listen to Radio Luxemburg, happy days :) .
Looking at the Rocket Radio, it's easy to imaging a discreet pocket-sized crystal radio in the form of a fountain- or clip-style pen, with the wires being disguised as the strap/chain for a pair of eyeglasses/sunglasses.
When I was a kid in about 1960 I got a crystal radio kit for my birthday that was from Radio Shack. I was amazed that I could hear radio programs through headphones with no power but it did have to be attached by wire to a pipe in the ground outside my window for the electrical ground.
20 years ago, a guy I knew bought a couple of mysterious boxes from an estate sale for nearly nothing, as no one knew what they were. They featured electrical terminals & knobs, but he couldn't figure out where a battery or other power supply hooked up, much less figure out what they were, or what they were supposed to do? He knew, that I was good at figuring things out, so he asked me. They were a couple of ready made crystal radio sets, which resembled if not identical to the Ariel one featured in the video. He was a technical person, who'd grown up making Radio Shack "Science Fair" kits & working on cars, so he knew about crystal radio sets, but had always thought of them as homemade, & never realized, that they were once a commercial product, placed in an attractive wooden cabinet! History books had always depicted crystal sets as diy contraptions.
Great show. Thank you. I had a Spy Pen Radio as a kid back in the early 70s. Tuned by sliding the tip in and out. Best earpieces ever. That Q he is talking about is important. Also as a kid I spent too many hours making electronic bugs A high Q transistor in a spy transmitter is a world of improvement. I watched too many James Bond movies as a kid, which is why I got into this stuff. Fun Times.
I grew up in the 50's and used to build these radios with enameled wire wound around toilet paper tubes. An open safety pin to spring load the point of the pin against the crystal. The earplug used a crystal as well to convert the electrical vibrations back into mechanical vibration of the earplug diaphragm.
You nailed this video very nicely. I started building crystal radios since the 1960's and had a sizable collection of early 1920's sets. I have been a Ham ( wa4jat ) since 1974 and still enjoy building crystal radio circuits for the short wave bands.
Both of my grandfathers played with these as kids, trying to listen to radio at night without their parents knowing. When WW2 happened, one of them had 'messing about with radios' as his only useful skill, so that's what he ended up doing.
20:49 Shortwave radio doesn't actually bounce on the ionosphere but the radio signal is absorbed by charged particles in the ionosphere and re-emitted by them, going further along the curve of the Earth each time it encounters the ionosphere again. This chain induction eventually introduces some random noise into the system.
'"but the radio signal is absorbed by charged particles in the ionosphere and re-emitted by them," Not so! If the radio signal is 'absorbed' in the ionosphere - it would be turned into heat. But the 'ions' are moved (accelerated) by the radio waves, they are too far from other atoms, molecules or 'ions'. The ions are, of course, electrically charged so they radiate as if they were an antenna. To sum up - working together these ions work like a mirror, and they 'reflect' the signal in the same way a mirror reflects light.😇.
Clear and comprehendible explanations, as we have come to expect and should not take for granted. The explanation of the difference between single and multi-strand conductors for AC is interesting. I always thought it was about flexibility, which would explain why the wiring for the main circuits in a house are single-strand while the connection wires for appliances, lamps, etc. are multi-strand. I assume the use of single strand wiring for main circuits is essentially a trade-off between economy and efficiency. With the price of copper these days, it seems like converting to multi-strand wires for mains might be worthwhile.
I built one of these from a kit as a child. It was of the sliding tap tuner type. I remember having fun stringing antennae allover the yard. I was inspired by a story of an uncle making the cat's whisker type and using a steel bed frame as the antenna. That would have been before the war.
Of course, this also needs you to have local AM transmitters, which are vanishing fast, and with the local rise of all the poorly shielded (if they have any at all) electronics, that all emit wideband RF noise, you will not get any signal out of a crystal set these days, unless you are lucky enough to live very close to a transmitter that is still active.
Was it Six Million Dollar Man? My recollection was that it was GI Joe that had the backpack radio. It’s entirely possible that it was both, and probably the exact same unit! Maybe different colored plastic. I think it was dark green, or maybe black.
@@davidpeterson620 Definitely one for 6 Million Dollar Man as we didn’t have GI Joe in the UK; however there is a very good chance it was also badged for the GI Joe range so we’re probably both right!
14:21 For any electronics hobbyists watching this, for commercial diodes, a Schottky metalsemiconductor junction typically has a forward voltage of around 0.1V, whereas a typical PN silicon diode (eg; a 1N914) has a forward voltage of 0.6V, making it pretty useless as a detector in a crystal radio. Schottky diodes are also much faster, as they aren't slowed down by the capacitance inherent to a PN junction, but are 'leakier' in the reverse direction.
I made a crystal radio a a kid with an OA91 diode, a coil of wire wound around a spool of thread and a crystal earpiece, didn't use a capacitor. Got a great signal when attached to the radiator, Atlantic radio 252, 500,000 watts.
Kids in the neighbourhood had rocket radios in the 19550’s. We would attach them to a phone wire running up the side of the house. The reception was pretty crackly but it was fun.
Hanford High School, Hanford, California, was the only high school in America in the early 1970s with an electronics class. Our first project was the Crystal Radio, and I was fascinated by the way it worked.
When we were 6 years old my cousin came over and had my dad draw a schematic for a crystal set. My cousin built it. It looked like the thumbnail of this video. 16 years later my cousin got his engineering degree with perfect grades. It took me 5 more years, as I was a dumb engineering student. 40 years later I was a consultant to an electronics company where another guy worked, who could turn anything into a crystal set. I never made a crystal set, but a poorly grounded guitar can pick up AM stations.
Made one as a kid from a magazine article. The detector was made from a razor blade and a pencil lead. You moved the point of the lead along the top of the razor blade to get a signal.
As a lad during a very hot summer I visited my younger cousin Adrian, I showed him how to build a Crystal set from scrap wire etc. He told me just before his death that he was so fascinated by this magical thing we had built that he went on to study Radio, I only just found out his job was designing receivers for military satellites. Great channel, old school just the way we like it. I wish you were my teacher.
That is so cool. You showed him something interesting that shaped his whole life. amazing how one little thing can change someone's whole life.
Everyone should make a crystal set it is truly magical to a young mind, thank you Foxxy for your kind words, I only learnt of some of Adrian's achievements in "special radio stuff" when he was gone apparently he developed some funky modulation thingy.
We built that crystal set in the mid 60's I can see us now unravelling toilet roll for the cardboard tube to make the coil. His last call to me was to tell me he remembered the set and he wanted me to know how much it meant to him. He died a few days later.
@@Woffy. No worries, I love stuff like that an how one little thing or moment can change absolutely everything. I've not thought about them since I was a kid an stuffs more freely available in the net so might have a go an make one from some scrap
Go for it, I think I will do the same. @@foxxy46213
Sorry for your loss. Sounded like a great engineer.
My older brother got a little crystal radio for Christmas when he was about 10 years old. It was in a little red rocket ship looking thing. He eventually took it apart and hooked up an antenna to it and was receiving AM signals from all over the country. Years later when he was 14 and I was 13 he had progressed in his electronics tinkering to the point that he used that same little crystal radio as the guts of a broadcast station in our room with a horizontal wire antenna on top of our house. We had a radio show every evening, with me playing records (single 45s) and talking. The kids at school the next day always gave me reviews on our shows. Later still he did things like going through a local computer manufacturer's dumpster to retrieve mistakes they had thrown away and building super computers out of the parts. He joined the Air Force at 17 and his job was repairing guided missile systems. All from getting a toy for Christmas.
I had one of those Rocket Radios, too.
I also had the Rocket Pocket Crystal Radio in 1952 0r 1953 - I was born 12/12/1949 my Father (dead) had been a Radio Man ww2. I had many Radio Books and was taught to read & Wrte age 14 when I had some child Illness and was Bed Riddend one wear. I was amazed to hear Stations at night from Chicago, on the Coil Indunce $ Xal Radio. I was in Waco Texas. I learned from Drakes Cyclopedia of Radio & electroncs date 1938 to make Wire Indinced Booster for Better Signals, I had 1953 Amateur Radio Handmbook NOT the ARRL Book, i had that from 1954 hen ARRL & all were looking to the HCC allowing Ham Radios to allowed again. Hyram Pecey Maxion the Worlds most Famour Radio Inventer & Inventer of Maxium Automatic Rifle A/K/A/
@@ElijahRadioProphet-mb9zu now that's living a full life !
It's like the Crystal Radio is The Spirit of Radio.
Rush, My home band in Toronto
Radio, what's new? Someone still loves you
I received a cheap crystal radio kit for Christmas in about 1966. I had to wind the coil, assemble the parts etc. It didn't work. My grandfather, an aviation radio technician, came over, found the problem and replaced the 1N34 germanium diode. Presto! It worked! I thought he a was a genius. I spent many, many nights listening to radio stations thousands of miles away when I should have been sleeping.
You sound like me I got a crystal radio set about 1968. I didn’t sleep much after that. I was 10.
I got mine in 1969 for Christmas but it was missing parts. It was the iconic Remco kit and it was replaced by the Philco kit. It used a piece of galena and it didn’t work either. It would have helped to have a long enough wire antenna and a ground. In 1975 I built one from Radio Shack parts, 1N34a, AM slug tuned loop stick coil, crystal earphone and a 2K resistor. This time it worked because and had a long enough piece of wire and a ground. It initially picked up shortwave because I used the lipstick’s tap and not the full coil length. Once I did that it picked up AM broadcast radio.
@@briandawkins984 ditto...
Great video. As a kid I read about trench or foxhole radios, and was amazed when I built one and it worked. Razor blade, pencil lead, coil wound on a toilet paper core, the whole shebang. I even surprised my dad.
Same way I saw them. But had no clue on how to build one an even my library had no info...or I wast just young an looking in wrong place. But I did remember that in one film they put the set in a helmet to amplify it...an I do that now with my phone in a bowl😂
@@foxxy46213mom grew up during the Great Depression and WWII, she told me about listening to a few crystal radios, whose earpieces would be put into a glass bowl so that those gathered around could hear the news.
I built my first crystal set at about seven years of age. That was ~1950. It was like magic. I've been interested in all things electrical and electronic since.
It was the early 1960s. My grade school teacher gave us an assignment to pick up a book at the bookmobile and write a report. None of the books interested me, except for a book by Alfred Morgan, called the Boy's First Book of Radio and Electronics. I was instantly hooked. I built one of the crystal radios and was fascinated that I could actually do that. Fast forward, that interest resulted in me studying electrical engineering in the early 70s which led to a fabulous career. All that, thanks to the humble crystal radio. Too bad kids don't do things like that anymore.
Oh, THAT Alfred Morgan? I have one of his other books, "Things a boy can do with electrochemistry!" It's one of my favorites among my collection, which I admit is partly because it casually mentions going down to the "general store" and picking up some asbestos paper for one recipe like it's nothing at all. Ah, the 50s.
@@boxcarz In the late sixties, as a thirteen year old, I would regularly visit the local chemist to buy sulphur, potassium nitrate, charcoal, magnesium and a bunch of other stuff. It was like a toyshop for me.
Oddly, I had to sign for the magnesium but not for anything else.
I also had no problems buying matches, 20 boxes at a time, meths, lighter fluid, fireworks etc.
I failed.
I’m 16 and do all sorts of junk like that! I’ve admittedly never made a radio but I’ll dick around with high voltage electronics and old 80s computer systems
Kids still do all kinds of neat stuff you old fart
I hear your "Spirit of Radio" sir. Longtime RUSH fan here. Great video!
I won the "Rocket Crystal Radio" in a newspaper contest and loved the way it picked up our local AM radio station and played music, battery free, while Imwas in bed getting ready to go to sleep.
The good old days.
My grandmother lived in a relatively small rural community in Illinois, about 30 miles away from St. Louis. Her farm, as well as the rest of the town received its electricity from a diesel generator located in the nearby firehouse. It was only run for a few hours each day, during which everyone ran their washing machines, vacuumed, listened to their radios, or did whatever else required electricity before it was shut off again. I don't think her community was tied to an official 24/7 energized grid until after WWII, and my grandfather, who was a lineman for most of his career, helped do it.
When I was in Junior High back in the '90s, I had a teacher (Mr. Dollar) who did an exploratory class on radio, and something we got to do was build crystal radios from kits. It taught me a lot about the basics of radio. I have two nephews that, when they get old enough, I'm gonna find some kits and teach them what I learned
I had many crystal radios as a child - several from Radio Shack. But, out of of all the ones I ever used?
That rocket radio blew them all away!!! - don't know why, but wow oh wow - they work beyond well......
And they were dirt cheap - available at the downtown Army and Navy store.
I used take my to school, and just clip the alligator clip to the school chain link fence, and it worked rather well.
(Grandin School)
At home?
Just clipped to the heater vent by my bed - listened to CFRN and Irv Shore in the morning. And to not be puny? That CFRN signal was crystal clear.
Very cool, and no batteries. Loved that Rocket radio as a child - and it worked really well.
Can confirm. 👍👍
I had one of those rocket radios in college. I would clip the wire to the radiator in my room. About the only thing I can pick up was the compass radio station what was still kind of cool cuz it had no batteries or anything.
Yes, the rocket radio. My Dad gave me one as a present around 1960, not quite the same design, but prob. the same guts. It wasn't just an intriguing curiosity, it was quite practical as a radio. Every night I lay in bed listening to the local station in Vancouver playing BBC's The Goon Show. So instead of wasting a pointless hour or so sleeping, I was getting an education...
I also grew up in St Albert until Gr. 4. I attended Sir Alexander Mackenzie. I had a crystal rocket radio when I was 7. I could pick up CHED, CFRN, CJCA amongst others. Those little radios made in Japan? Were impressive considering their simplicity. I would wind the antenna lead around my bed frame. That improved reception capability.
@briandawkins984
Great memories, thanks for sharing. As noted I had a number of crystal radios but those rocket radios worked the best.
I love your opening gags, but THAT ONE IS THE BEST!!!
Im 65, but boy, that song brought back some great memories. From what i remember, i saw Rush about 3 times. 😅
@@stevebailey325 I'm not a big one for concerts, but I wish I had seen them at some point.
@@eyerollthereforeiam1709Same. One of my chief regrets is not seeing them a few years before they retired when the were doing the Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves concerts
@@stevebailey325 Saw them 4 times, which is about 40 too few!
Quite! it's the Spirit ;-)
In 1958, I was 7 years old. My brother-in-law's step-father had a small plastic box with a wire coming out of it with an alligator clip on the end. Also had another wire with an earphone coming out of the other side. He let me listen to it. He opened the back of the plastic box and there was hardly anything in it. Fascinated me! We had a radio at home but it had to be plugged into the wall and turned in different directions to pick up various stations. I wasn't allowed to touch that radio. The crystal set had only one dial, 1-10, and turning it slowly would change the stations. I credit Mr W for getting me interested in electronics, building Heathkits in high school, electronics in the service and then a career with 2 electronics companies. Retired now!
England. What an excellent video. I built and did terrible things to crystal radios, some of which actually worked. With a roughly 200 ft aerial at 30 ft, I could even use an old extension loudspeaker. I learned more about the history of crystal radios, etc. watching your videos, than all the books I ever read. Well done that man, I'll put you up for a knighthood (but don't hold your breath).
Funny story. I built a crystal radio for a science fair project as a kid in the 80's...got a blue ribbon! I still remember being fascinated by the ability to build a radio with just a few components and some blocks covered with aluminum foil (you'd slide the blocks over one another to act as a variable capacitor). I still remember Dad having to visit multiple Radio Shack locations to find the right components. I wish I still had it. It was little more than a handful of wire stuck to a block of wood using thumbtacks to complete the junctions.
I had a Radio Shack kit as a kid to make one. That's how I learned that a microphone and speaker are the same thing.
I miss Radio Shack 😔
Discovering the 1N34 Germanium diode at Radio Shack was the greatest thing in my young life. Crystal radio was so much easier without the cat whisker and potted diode.
Wow.
Someone out there remembers Radio Shack.
I practically lived there as a kid, using my evil genius 🤣 to build spy transmitters.
Did you also read Poor Man's James Bond?
Bet ya did.
That box of flashcubes makes me kinda crazy, for some reason.
I built my first crystal radio sometime around 1970. This is absolutely the best explanation of their operation I have ever heard.
I built my first in 1972 when I was 13 and then a proper kit 2 years later. I set up massive aerials on my farm, one 300 foot long. My father got a terrible fright one dark windy night when my aerial came out of the sky and took his hat off! I had 3 aerials of different lengths and had to incorporate a volume control. I climbed a lot of trees
My dad wouldn’t allow me to erect a long wire antenna for fear of a lightning strike.
Huh I remember seeing this in Masters of the Air the other day when they crafted one in a POW camp, great timing!
I came to the comments to mention the same thing and wondered if this video was a coincidence or not . . . .
@@12Q46HPRN yep, was just about to do the same
Love it, Spirit of the Radio, Eh Canida?!. I'm glad crystal sets are having a bit of a moment again. Still remember by pals RadioHack 101 project kit back in the 70's and grounding to a radiator, wire in a tree, sharing the earpiece. Good times.
Yes, I am seeing a lot of youtube videos about making them. I even made video to try to help them out on the topic of the 1N34 diode that normally was used as the detector. You can't get real 1N34 diodes easily these days.
Making the detector is the magical bit but as mentioned in the video there are a number of solutions one being carbon and razor blade or a salvaged point contact signal diode. Have fun. Best @@kensmith5694
I had a three transistor radio shack p box I listened to the fall of South Vietnam and the watergate scandal on VOA. Great stuff.
I was in Cub Scouts in the early 60's, and I built one to get an Arrow Point (the symbol for completing an activity). I bought 100 feet of Belden hookup wire and ran an antenna in my back yard. It didn't work. Then I moved it to sit on our washing machine in the garage. I connected the ground to the cold water pipe. It worked! I was so impressed I later became an electrical engineer and worked in the radio industry. And it all started in Cub Scouts!
Look at whose channel is blowing up. Congrats my friend. You’re awesome.
Just before and just after the Great War, my great uncle used to bike around places in the Lincolnshire Wolds to log propagation with a crystal set. He'd post off the logs to some magazine (when he told me, he was in his early 80s and no longer remembered the name of it), as part of a data collection initiative of how weather and time of year affected domestic and international radio.
I know the ARRL did something collecting reports like that at one time, but I don't know if they had people in England sending in reports. The ARRL's magazine is still being published, it's called QST.
Build my first short wave crystal receiver 45 years ago when I was 7,thanks for this! ❤
Loved this channel before but throw in a Rush reference... now you're God tier
Received the Heathkit crystal radio kit in the 1950’s for Christmas. Lived in South Carolina - AM was predominant Father helped me build - was ~8yo. Great memory.
My entire family loves your channel! Especially my 20 something children who are fascinated by the technology that I grew up with 😀
Your description of Semiconductors was very good!
I was literally watching your videos and then videos about crystal radios all week, this is freaking me tf out lol
In the 1970's I put together a crystal radio kit (from Radio Shack..Natch..) AND an AM transmitter (Also from RS.) Both worked, No great distances covered, but they were FUN. Been into radio of all kinds ever since!
There are also variable inductor sets which use two pancake coils in series, one of which is attached to a movable arm so that the coupling between the two can be varied. As a kid I built a set like this from instructions provided by a BBC expert called Mr Farley who I wrote to following a TV program about this topic. It worked and I was totally hooked on electronics from that point.
Back in the early 70s, I had a crystal radio kit from Radio Shack. After assembling it, I was hearing an AM station through it's earphone. Very cool. Thanks for sharing this.
I had a crystal radio as a child, around 1958, that looked like an egg with a knob on one end that you turned to tune, a wire with an alligator clip that I clipped to the steel frame of the bunkbed and a earpiece. I loved that thing and could get all of the local AM stations. Thanks for reminding me of it 🙂
Built one at the age of 10 from a library book. My dad had all the parts in little glass jars hanging from the ceiling. 40 years later I found myself teaching basic AC electricity to aircraft maintenance apprentices. I am grateful.
" From little Acorns grow great Oak's " Your memory of a special moment .........
What I like about this channel are the long lost memories it restores. It really is a pleasant few minuts in my day.
Yes: Ladybird Book How To Build A Radio, also around age 8 or 9 or so.
Love this story!!❤
At an AM station I engineer for I occasionally do tricks like putting some headphones on someone, touch the jack with my finger sometimes touch a ground and you can hear the broadcast in a similar principle to how a crystal radio works. l can also hold a curly bulb near the tuning coil (matches the transmitter to the antenna) and it will blink along with the modulation. Visitors think it's neat. Former engineer and mentor has some radios from the 20s when they were still experimental in his collection. They are beautiful both in looks and design for their time. I can sit for hours and talk with him about a 75 year career in radio learning as much as I can and do whenever I can while I still can. The engineers and teachers like him that really know this stuff that were there through most of its important evolutions and really know the history are a rapidly dying breed.
THANK YOU FOR THE HISTORICAL TUTORIAL. WHAT A GIFT OF NATURE! UNDERSTOOD AND ENABLED BY CLEVER PEOPLE, SHRINKING THE WORLD. EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL APPROACH.
My first radio as a kid in the 60’s was a crystal set. Built it myself (grandfather helped). It was magic.
You're a very brave man to speak about amateur radio and semiconductor physics on UA-cam. There are lots of experts around just *dying* to correct miniscule mistakes and criticize simplifications made for clarity to a lay audience. Good video.
Very complete description of all old technology. Thank you
I love the intros you've been doing..... Rush, spirit of radio. Pun intended.
They are also Canadian, eh!
@@kenbakker3241 Did you know the way they came up with the name Canada? They started pulling letters out of a hat. First letter was "C", so the man pulling the letter says "C" eh. "N" eh. "D" eh. and a nation was born.
I was building these in the 1950's. Led to a great career. Always a hobby as well to this day.
My parents bought me a crystal radio similar to the rocket ship radio at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. I went on to build other crystal sets including the foxhole radio using a blue raiser blade. When my son was in the Cub Scouts I out together a project for the boys where they built a crystal radio set on a board. I found a forum on line for crystal radios. The guys on the forum were so generous they mailed me the ear pieces, geranium diodes and variable capacitors needed so each boy had their own set. Pass it on.
Thank you for a clear and educational video. I live in France. France no longer has medium wave AM radio transmissions, so I was unable to test the crystal set which I had made for my grandson in Perth, Australia. He should get good reception as he lives just 7km from a 50kW transmitter!
Like some other responders, I was given a crystal set when I was 12, in 1953. I eventually left school to study electrical engineering at university and ended my career as a head of a section of electronic engineers, having worked my way through the various levels of electronic engineering.
I find your radio related videos to be interesting and a good contribution to the youtube community. Thanks!
I loved your video on practice bombs, I was lucky enough to find an 8.5lb Mk2 practice bomb in an antique store
Such a simple and elegant device.
I didn't know about the variable capacitor models!
Both videos still stand well on their own this was a nice update.
Great explanations of how crystal radios work! Thank you!
Something this simple "wows" me more than the more complex things. To get something that works with so few components is amazing.
Wonderful explanation of the resonate tank circuit.
I literally had the weird feeling that I was going crazy and that I must have imagined it was you that covered this subject before.
You can’t literally have a feeling.
We are all crazy for enjoying this.
@@ferretyluv I phenomenoligically had a feeling?
Built one from a kit, early 70's, loved it, started my passion for audio tech. Although an amateur, I've installed PA at Notting Hill Carnival, amongst countless parties, festivals, set up SW stations for sonic art projects, built and sold countless experimental fx, mixer, tape devices. I'd like to say it's kept me out of trouble, but I'm too honest, lol.
Built the Radio Shack version at 10. Pure magic.
I grew up in the 80's and 90's but I would of loved to live in those olden days 1920's. Life seemed so easy and comfortable back then.🥰👍💯
Knowing what was coming, I hit "Like" as soon as Rush kicked in.
You are awesome. So seriously interesting. Amazing that people have evolved these ideas.
Thanks for this informative video - explained a lot as I’ve always liked listening to radio at night and listening to AM channels across the country (Skip was a listener‘a best friend)
As a boy I had a crystal radio. I lived in Michigan and loved that I could get stations from Chicago and New York.
Great detailed and historical video! You brought back memories of me in the 1950"s moving a cat whisker over a crystal and then being amazed at picking up a radio station.
What a great explanation! I learned so much in spite of my 60 years of working with radio circuits. Thank you for this lesson.
Great video and history on radio. Thanks.
Had one as a kid, it was great fun at night to pull in distant stations.
I made a several crystal radios as a kid. It was a lot of fun.
An absolutely supurb description of early equipment and theory of operation! Thank you!
I've made one of these couple of years ago. It was fascinating to build this very simple receiver with like 5 parts and then actually hear it work.
With the advent of all radio stations migrating to digital, these crystal radios without an AM transmission to receive will just become curiosities for the museum. Even SSB is totally undecipherable by these simple tuned circuits, however FM stations can be slope detected but I've never seen a crystal set that works at VHF where FM stations can be found. I remember building a crystal set nearly 70 years ago to listen to Radio Luxemburg, happy days :) .
Looking at the Rocket Radio, it's easy to imaging a discreet pocket-sized crystal radio in the form of a fountain- or clip-style pen, with the wires being disguised as the strap/chain for a pair of eyeglasses/sunglasses.
When I was a kid in about 1960 I got a crystal radio kit for my birthday that was from Radio Shack. I was amazed that I could hear radio programs through headphones with no power but it did have to be attached by wire to a pipe in the ground outside my window for the electrical ground.
Fascinating deep dive into the history and impact of crystal radios on communication technology!
20 years ago, a guy I knew bought a couple of mysterious boxes from an estate sale for nearly nothing, as no one knew what they were. They featured electrical terminals & knobs, but he couldn't figure out where a battery or other power supply hooked up, much less figure out what they were, or what they were supposed to do? He knew, that I was good at figuring things out, so he asked me. They were a couple of ready made crystal radio sets, which resembled if not identical to the Ariel one featured in the video. He was a technical person, who'd grown up making Radio Shack "Science Fair" kits & working on cars, so he knew about crystal radio sets, but had always thought of them as homemade, & never realized, that they were once a commercial product, placed in an attractive wooden cabinet! History books had always depicted crystal sets as diy contraptions.
Great show. Thank you.
I had a Spy Pen Radio as a kid back in the early 70s. Tuned by sliding the tip in and out.
Best earpieces ever.
That Q he is talking about is important.
Also as a kid I spent too many hours making electronic bugs
A high Q transistor in a spy transmitter is a world of improvement.
I watched too many James Bond movies as a kid, which is why I got into this stuff. Fun Times.
I grew up in the 50's and used to build these radios with enameled wire wound around toilet paper tubes. An open safety pin to spring load the point of the pin against the crystal. The earplug used a crystal as well to convert the electrical vibrations back into mechanical vibration of the earplug diaphragm.
You nailed this video very nicely. I started building crystal radios since the 1960's and had a sizable collection of early 1920's sets. I have been a Ham ( wa4jat ) since 1974 and still enjoy building crystal radio circuits for the short wave bands.
Both of my grandfathers played with these as kids, trying to listen to radio at night without their parents knowing. When WW2 happened, one of them had 'messing about with radios' as his only useful skill, so that's what he ended up doing.
Great Job on this video. Take it from a man who has collected antique radios for almost 3 times your age.. LOSE THE BOW TIE
man gilles so cool that your channel took off, so well deserved, such aweseome videos, greetings
Excellent, thank you for your presentation, I really enjoyed it
20:49 Shortwave radio doesn't actually bounce on the ionosphere but the radio signal is absorbed by charged particles in the ionosphere and re-emitted by them, going further along the curve of the Earth each time it encounters the ionosphere again. This chain induction eventually introduces some random noise into the system.
Ummm, curve??? What curve??? Link please
'"but the radio signal is absorbed by charged particles in the ionosphere and re-emitted by them,"
Not so!
If the radio signal is 'absorbed' in the ionosphere - it would be turned into heat.
But the 'ions' are moved (accelerated) by the radio waves, they are too far from other atoms, molecules or 'ions'.
The ions are, of course, electrically charged so they radiate as if they were an antenna.
To sum up - working together these ions work like a mirror, and they 'reflect' the signal in the same way a mirror reflects light.😇.
I finally understand what is meant by cats whisker, excellent video.
Your my new favorite, thanks again
Clear and comprehendible explanations, as we have come to expect and should not take for granted. The explanation of the difference between single and multi-strand conductors for AC is interesting. I always thought it was about flexibility, which would explain why the wiring for the main circuits in a house are single-strand while the connection wires for appliances, lamps, etc. are multi-strand.
I assume the use of single strand wiring for main circuits is essentially a trade-off between economy and efficiency. With the price of copper these days, it seems like converting to multi-strand wires for mains might be worthwhile.
Built one when I was 6-7. Crystal, cat's whisker, condenser and old RAF head set. Listened to all sorts of stuff,
I built a few of these when I was little back in the early 1950s... They worked quite well... :-)
I built one of these from a kit as a child. It was of the sliding tap tuner type. I remember having fun stringing antennae allover the yard. I was inspired by a story of an uncle making the cat's whisker type and using a steel bed frame as the antenna. That would have been before the war.
Thank you for sharing! This was a very informative video.
My Dad built me a crystal radio in the mid 1960's, I still have it.
I bought and assembled a crystal radio decades ago when I was a kid. I'm 68 and retired.
All of these early devices need to be remembered, civilization might need them at some point.
More importantly, the theory is simple enough and is the basis for far more advanced subjects in physics and electronics.
Of course, this also needs you to have local AM transmitters, which are vanishing fast, and with the local rise of all the poorly shielded (if they have any at all) electronics, that all emit wideband RF noise, you will not get any signal out of a crystal set these days, unless you are lucky enough to live very close to a transmitter that is still active.
I happen to have about 4 in my area. There are still quite a few stations but the broadcast rubbish.
Who remembers the Six Million Dollar Man action figure “Backpack Radio” accessory with a built in crystal radio?
Was it Six Million Dollar Man? My recollection was that it was GI Joe that had the backpack radio. It’s entirely possible that it was both, and probably the exact same unit! Maybe different colored plastic. I think it was dark green, or maybe black.
@@davidpeterson620 Definitely one for 6 Million Dollar Man as we didn’t have GI Joe in the UK; however there is a very good chance it was also badged for the GI Joe range so we’re probably both right!
These crystal radios gave more joy than today's huge hifi systems.
14:21 For any electronics hobbyists watching this, for commercial diodes, a Schottky metalsemiconductor junction typically has a forward voltage of around 0.1V, whereas a typical PN silicon diode (eg; a 1N914) has a forward voltage of 0.6V, making it pretty useless as a detector in a crystal radio. Schottky diodes are also much faster, as they aren't slowed down by the capacitance inherent to a PN junction, but are 'leakier' in the reverse direction.
I made a crystal radio a a kid with an OA91 diode, a coil of wire wound around a spool of thread and a crystal earpiece, didn't use a capacitor. Got a great signal when attached to the radiator, Atlantic radio 252, 500,000 watts.
Kids in the neighbourhood had rocket radios in the 19550’s. We would attach them to a phone wire running up the side of the house. The reception was pretty crackly but it was fun.
Hanford High School, Hanford, California, was the only high school in America in the early 1970s with an electronics class. Our first project was the Crystal Radio, and I was fascinated by the way it worked.
When we were 6 years old my cousin came over and had my dad draw a schematic for a crystal set. My cousin built it. It looked like the thumbnail of this video. 16 years later my cousin got his engineering degree with perfect grades. It took me 5 more years, as I was a dumb engineering student. 40 years later I was a consultant to an electronics company where another guy worked, who could turn anything into a crystal set. I never made a crystal set, but a poorly grounded guitar can pick up AM stations.
Made one as a kid from a magazine article. The detector was made from a razor blade and a pencil lead. You moved the point of the lead along the top of the razor blade to get a signal.
That's a nice touch, a splash of "Spirit of Radio" to open things. What better intro?
LoL so Canadian rocking out to RUSH 🤣
Yeah, but not just any Rush song.