The quaker oats plans are still on the net.
I'm hoping pvc pipe will work better though.
I saw one video where the ground from a house plug in was being used,
NOT going to teach the kids that trick though.
I'm thinking my first coil failed because I didn't control for the size of the tube I wrapped the wire around (juice concentrate). I'm still learning the basics. Wire size and tube size apparently determine the number of coils needed, who knew?
http://www.crystalradio.net/cal/indcal2.shtml
Got it working today though,
For ground I drilled a hole crosswise in each end of a 4 foot piece of rebar, threaded a bare copper wire though the holes then soldered the bottom hole (plumbing torch) and drove it in the ground next to the bedroom window, took up the slack and soldered the top hole, then finished driving it in, leaving about 4 inches of wire sticking up. I poured a gallon of salt water on it too, just to be sure.
For an antenna I took ~100 feet of barbless fence wire and strung it up between the garage and a cedar tree, using a short piece of 1" outdoor pvc on each end for insulation, goes right by the bedroom window so I can listen from indoors. It was the longest run I could make without doing weird stuff like L shaped or inverted V magic. I ground off the galvanization and soldered a piece of copper wire to it to make sure my connection was strong, the connection is about 1/5 of the way along the wire, I'm not sure that's ideal, I think it's supposed to work better on the end, but I can disconnect the whole thing in seconds.
Still using the crystal radio schematic from the 200in1 book. But some germanium diodes, 47k resistors and 26 gauge magnet wire will be on my ebay card soon. I actually have a big chunk of Galena somewhere, IDK where I even got it, and had no idea it was perfect for a radio until yesterday.
I am able to selectively tune several AM stations using the variable capacitor and different taps. Unfortunately my hand interferes, so I have to adjust a little at a time then back my hand off to check the results.
Playing with different taps and the kit capacitors and variable capacitor was interesting, I also tried using a homemade book capacitor, worked pretty good,.
Most interesting is that a slight mistake in the wiring sometimes made no difference, and weird stuff happens when you start rearranging wires, sometimes with good results.
So many different ways to make it work (even on accident), but one tiny mistake and it doesn't work at all.
Also amazing that humans discovered this stuff 150 years ago.
The homemade stuff is very cool, so many ways to make a capacitor. Nests cups, DVDs, Books. Imagination is the limit.
For the resistor, I'm thinking copper wire around a nail?
The detector is the second hardest part, but figure I'll get good at the rest and save building a detector for last, once I know I can get a working radio.
The ear piece is looking to be the hardest part to make from scratch, not going to try and tackle that any time soon.
Looking to use aluminum duct tape for the next variable capacitor, wrapped around a pvc pipe, then plastic film from a page cover, then wrap more aluminum tape. Should work great and be classy-ish looking and be weather resistant.
I plan on making the whole thing on a piece on 1-1/4" pvc pipe. (maybe in a U shape or square shape.) with coil on one side and variable capacitor on the other. It should float and be water resistant when I get done.
I suppose it could come in handy during the next ice storm (or 'nader) when all the electrics go down (again).
Modding it for shortwave radio reception will be the next challenge.