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Radio: Crystal Sets & CB Radio

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
  • Start date Start date
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O.C.

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How many people had a crystal set or made one? I remember the first one I ever made copied from plans in the Hobbies Magazine
My bedside cabinet I made from an old Jaffa Orange box which I painted Gloss Custard Yellow and to the side I screwed a cup hook to hang my Head phones made from telephones I pinched from -------( which I now know was wrong )
I had a bedside lamp made from an old army torch and on the door I had a picture of Charles Laughton as Henry The Eighth I had aerial wires going all over the roof and my steel army bed was the earth as well as the drainpipe. and the only station I could get was Germany but I thought I was the bees knees.and with a pot under the bed and a packet of spangles under my pillow what more could I want at the age of 10
 
my dad used to make them...(he tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't understand...was very glad when he used to fix the wiring in my cheap tranny's though, when I was a teenager).

he went onto to Citizens Band radio in the 70's/'80's..

how he would have loved the Internet. :(
 
I never had a crystal set...  But I did buy a Racal RA17 receiver back in the Eighties..... 0-30 megs it didnt miss a beat, and I got some good copy across the bands. It had a BFO so I could also resolve sideband. Got a few QSL cards returned from VK land which I think was my best copy? Also some interesting stuff on other frequencies, especially international phone calls and the like. Russian Woodpecker played havoc some nights then other times we had cracking reception. I bought a little device that converted the receiver for 2mtrs and listen to HAM stuff for a year or two, then link the whole thing to a Dragon 16 and played with RTTY for a while. Like a fool I sold it, and frankly if I could lay my hands on one cheaply enough I'd buy it

ra117-1.jpg


I was quite keen on CB for a while Mazbeth, but we had some good people around here, it soon went down the drain!!
 
You cant transmit on a reciever Sue  :-[

Did that on the CB though!! ::)
 
Rod, If I would have had one of those I would have thought I was Dan Dare or Flash Gordon.
Ain't it strange that they did not use any energy and was never promoted.............Food for thought
I could build a crystal set in a matchbox and it would work in the back of the beyond
STRANGE and it was all free, now we have to pay for this and that.
Someday someone will invent a receiver that picks up all thats ever been said ............. Then we will be in trouble
 
I was picking up on the CB part of the thread - never had a crystal set - but enjoyed my stint on the CB Radio
 
They were good sets made in the 60's I think, and yes it sort of made me feel like i was praps Dan Dare or some such bloke..... Its a kids thing aint it
 
Rod
I am told the Racal RA17 was a brilliant receiver,I have seen quite a few but have never had the opportunity to use one.I think to get one in as good condition as the one in the photo would be rather expensive,however there are many modern receivers available on the second- hand market and quite reasonably priced.
I started listening the airways in the late 70's ,using a old "home brew " receiver that my Dad had,it was connected to a long wire antenna that ran the length of the garden ,some 300 foot.It was however very deaf and I was very lucky to hear anything outside of the UK,never mind Australia.I then graduated to CB ,and after a couple of years on AM (illegal) and FM (legal),I decided to take the Radio Amateur Examination.I passed and have held a Ham licence for over 23 years .I am not so active on the air now due to circumstances,but still enjoy a good rag chew on the mike whenever possible
Did you ever want to get on the air to speak to these people that you could hear ?

Colin

73's de G6ZDQ
Dah-di-dah

73's.........best wishes
Dah-di-dah....... Morse code letter K ....request for other stations to reply.
 
My hubby Michael has always loved radio from his crystal set to his sideband he has a reciver now and listens to a lot of radio hams I told him he should take the test and get a licence so he can have a chat.
We were heavily into C.B. radio Michael was the chairman of The Tamworth United Breakers our meetings were at the Warren on the side of the Mile Oak Pub(sadly gone now) we used to get over 100 people some weeks on a Monday night!. We used to run a weekly quiz on Wednesdays where people would drive to Tamworth just to join in. We also went on several family camping trips. I think it was more family orientated then now its just bad language!
 
blimey ,how more sadder can i get ,just found these in my drawer ,i NEVER throw anything away
OVER AND OUT
BROADSWORD TO DANNYBOY CAN YOU HEAR ME OVER,,NOW THAT IS SAD
 
Cristal Sat

Hi All/
I had several crystal sets in my time but the first one, "wound on a toilet roll" was the best. A long wire had been attached to the tree at the end of the garden with the other end attached to the house then throught he window to the "radio", an earth came from the mains plug and the headphones were army surplus "Browns 4000 ohms" with the horrid cotton flex that defied connecting to if you foolishly cut off the logs on the ends, I cheated by using a Geramium glass diode instead of the "cats whisker" but made the rest. An old chap across the road was well versed in the ways of radio and long hours were spent learing to solder, "chassis bashing" and the like!
I progressed to a mullard OC71 transistor and a circuit in "Practical Wireless" for a one transistor Amp and it worked for many years until I removed the transistor to use in another experiment ( I still have it, its 46 years old now!)
A customer of mine gave me an old "radio" which turned out to be a crystal set with a "cats whisker" in it but thats missing so I need to find another, anyone got some coal?
Does anyone remember the shop just up from Southalls, on the same side of the road, that sold surplus components I think it was called Millwards?
Pete
 
re xtal sets

cq cq.great stuff still build em.how things have changed,mr marconi has got me in a lot of troouble over the past years,i have coms now all over the world.my latest is navtex,seatty.great prog for reciever owners or hams. 73s de mw0njm/gw7njm -.-
 
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re xtal set

hello.bilsat.due you remember the b40 i bought one from shop in
stockfied rd.it was so heavy,it took 2 to carry it in the shack.and the row it made clanking,when the changed freq,my wife said get rid of it bloody
load of junk.so back to yardley it went. pete martin
 
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Thanks Pete.
I thought that the shop was milwards, I went in to buy a transformer and he came out with a brand new oil filled and sealed one with four sets of 3.5 volts so that I could join all together to get 14 volts for my radio, trouble was, it weighed a ton!
Yes and I do remember that radio of yours.
Pete
 
re xtal set

BILSAT.wardy was the same you went in for a 1/4 watt and come out with one on a fork truck,thats why i called him aunty wainright,you never got out without some junk pete
 
Peter the shop in Stockfield Road was the very same shop I sold my Racal to :-) What a fool I was
 
re xtal set

rod did it work ok?i love mine it is now world service.some action on the oil rig good god.cant say any more offical secret acts appy. pete
 
I think I said before Peter it was in mint condition and never missed a beat 0-30 megs. If a band was active the Racal performed flawlessly. The BFO was particularly good at resolving sideband. I had a variety of Ariels I could use dependant on Tropo Bovver LOL. It needed the hand of a safecracker to get it to perform well, But I had good copy from all over the world VK VA W so many prefixes I cant remember........ I do wish Id kept the radio and my QSL cards
 
re rec

ROD.buy another hf,they are only small now,expanded tx and rx,not like that one he sold me did you see the pic my god it took 2 two carry it in the house.also go for your m3.it is easy now. pete
 
re xtal set etc

ROD when i find a radio station (not hams) i email them for qsl card. there is one in irland and it is uncencerd rock,how deare me i did not know the uncencerd song , who are you from the who was so, you know. pete:cry::010::010:
 
Crystal sets

I used to build crystal sets and sell them at school for around three shillings in 1946/7 Head phones and choke coils in wooden boxes and other bits came from Kershaws in Bradford Street and the crystal detectors and crystal from a shop in Hay Mills. My pride and joy was a BTH set in a polished wooden box with a slate top with twin crystal detectors under a celluloid cover with a change over switch to select the most sensitive.

A frequent problem at that time was microphones in PA systems acting as untuned aerial circuits picking up the home service from Droitwich, or was it Daventry?, oxidization on the jacks would make them act as diodes.

George
 
re xtal sts

gorge,mine was a bush,it was ten bob from a shop on nechells park rd. a long wire out the window.was fastend to the factory opersit.david jacobs was the first voice i heard.i was thrild to bits.i lay in bed with the phones on and fell asleep,waking all tangled up in wires pete
 
Head phones

Peter,

Kershaws used to sell the high impedance headphones for about one and six. I remember the lady in the shop telling me they used to check the diaphragms on these head sets before selling them because the air force radio operators used to write rude words on them.

George
 
Crystal sets

I built my first crystal radio set in the 50s so that I could listen to some music, my step dad wouldn't let me touch his accu battery powered radio. He would have the battery charged at Roger's Cycle shop on Stoney Lane, Sparkbrook, where I later bought my first new cycle.

I bought all my crystal set parts at a shop opposite Leamington Road, on the Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook. I had miles of wire up in the air for a good reception, even built a flashing red light on top of my aerial so that low flying aircraft wouldn't trash my listening pleasure! The light was an old Ever-Ready rear cycle light and the flasher was driven by an old wind-up gramaphone player, that gave a lot of interference with each flash, but I didn't care, it was all mine and I was in heaven.
 
From crystal sets to Belgium

Hello Cadeau,

I saw your reference to Belgium in your posting. I ended up living there from 1980 to 87, after meeting a Dutch girl when living in Guernsey. I was mostly in Brussels but I did spend a year in Gent. Spent my last few years in Rue Stevin just opposite the European Commission at Berlaymont.

I got see most of Belgium from playing banjo in a jazzband. Once did a 34 day tour of the Belgium coast for Stella Artois that nearly drove us mad.One year we spent Monday evenings in the summer busking on the main square in Antwerp. That was very profitable, got us the contract with Stella Artois and a broadcast from Hilversum.

Also made my living as a plumber, I got the impression that the crystal set was slightly more advanced than Belgium plumbing. Still had a Belgium lady friend until we parted three years ago. I used to wind her up by saying the Flemish were better at English than the French speakers, you can imagine her reaction to that remark.

George
 
re ztal set

gadeau,great stuff,xtal sets were lf inthe hf band,most transmitions
were horizontal,hence the long wire,virtical transmitions were not very good,unles you were on a boat.Any way round they were grate fun.to experiment with.radio experimenters like us dont play,with radios,do we hi
hi means ham lingo for a laugh. pete mw0njm qth pwllheli
io72qv
 
re xtl set

I built on by winding wire around a bog roll,500pf tuning cap some screws
a 1.5 battery a transiter and some ressistors,and geranium detecter.my head fhones were a bit better than wb jobbies,it worked ok.you could hear
it trough a small speaker,not very loud though. pete
 
Busking in Belgium

George Wheeler said:
Hello Cadeau,

I saw your reference to Belgium in your posting. I ended up living there from 1980 to 87, after meeting a Dutch girl when living in Guernsey. I was mostly in Brussels but I did spend a year in Gent. Spent my last few years in Rue Stevin just opposite the European Commission at Berlaymont.

I got see most of Belgium from playing banjo in a jazzband. Once did a 34 day tour of the Belgium coast for Stella Artois that nearly drove us mad.One year we spent Monday evenings in the summer busking on the main square in Antwerp. That was very profitable, got us the contract with Stella Artois and a broadcast from Hilversum.

Also made my living as a plumber, I got the impression that the crystal set was slightly more advanced than Belgium plumbing. Still had a Belgium lady friend until we parted three years ago. I used to wind her up by saying the Flemish were better at English than the French speakers, you can imagine her reaction to that remark.

George
Click to expand...
George,

I take it that she was from the French speaking part of Belgium? :D I live in Flanders but am married to a French speaking Belgian, we always speak Flemish at home without having a war!

I live near Ghent and here is a photo taken this week on the Graslei where you get some buskers. Click on the photo for a slide show of Ghent.

One of my grand kids, from Antwerp, plays in a band you can hear him here.
https://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=113330282
 
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