29 Jan 2020

Crystal sets

It is some years now since I last played with crystal sets. If you have never tried these I urge you to have a go. These are powered entirely by the received signals, so no batteries or power source of any kind is needed.

Being envelope detectors, they are only really suitable for AM, although I have detected SSB and CW signals on mine in the past. There are even designs for band 2 FM using high-Q circuits and slope detection!

In the past, I have copied all over the world on a short wave crystal set. These were genuine receptions from the originating countries and not from relays nearer home. I have copied several amateur signals on 160 and 80m too.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/crystalset

See also https://crystalradio.net/crystalplans/index.shtml

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