Posted: 8/24/2016 12:24:57 AM EDT
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Noticed one of the antique stores in town had an interesting radio that I had no idea what it was, so when the Wife & I got back from dinner I looked it up.
It is a Lemco 340 Crystal Radio. If any of you guys are interested in it, I'll go get detailed pics. It was listed at $129. Stock photos from the net. But it was in about that shape. 
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Galena crystal and cat whisker looks serviceable.
I used to build stuff like that over 50 years ago. All you need is an antenna, headset and a GOOD ground. A few years ago I build a foxhole radio for one of the local kids and he was amazed. It didn't work unitil I dumped a pail of water in the ground and stuck a long piece of steel through the puddle. You should have seen the kids eyes light up. I later moved it to a bedroom and grounded it through a water pipe and it played 24/7 for years until Mrs. Pic disconnected it. Uses NO outside electricity. |
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Go for it! That set is darn good shape and there's not too many left. High impedance magnetic headphones are expensive, but you can use cheapie Piezo 'phones that fit in the ear. Just shunt them with a 10k resistor.
Crystal set DXing can be habit forming. Just about any wire antenna worked against a good ground will produce amazing results. Here's a bunch of crystal set fans: www.midnightscience.com This is my DX set: 
It covers from about 300 KHz to about 20 MHz and the coils slide on a track to adjust coupling. All connections are made with clip leads. Using switches to select all possible wiring configuratins would be a nightmare, |
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HUh, not quite what I expected. I thought this was going to be about the bigger AM radio sets, the furniture looking ones.
Anyways I like the old school subtle hiss in the background. I listen to classical music at home when I'm working on something and I instantly notice when they actually spin a vinyl disc versus the CD music. I don't know why but I find it reassuring to hear that needle hiss and the hum of the old radios. |
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Quoted:
HUh, not quite what I expected. I thought this was going to be about the bigger AM radio sets, the furniture looking ones. Anyways I like the old school subtle hiss in the background. I listen to classical music at home when I'm working on something and I instantly notice when they actually spin a vinyl disc versus the CD music. I don't know why but I find it reassuring to hear that needle hiss and the hum of the old radios. I was surprised as well. It is about the size of a 3x5 index card box. I may need to take lunch up there today. 
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