Crystal set under a 100kW radio station: How does it sound?

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[alanhewitt]

Well yet another fun project.People think about doing this kind of stuff, but you go ahead and just do it, .love it.Bet you light up the room at night .😂

[thebuggy]

I build a crystal set together with a boy scout. Here in Townsville the ABC 630 kHz is the strongest station. We used a Schottky diode and a tuning capacitor and coil from an old AM pocket radio.

Inside a Queenslander house with a short earth connection to a water tap and an about 8m inside antenna wire we receiced a station from Cains.
After we connected a disc capacitor in parallel to the tuning capacitor we had the strong ABC station in the middle of our tuning range.

[vkcrg]

I’m surprised by the selectivity with two 50Kw stations booming in. I’ve always found selectivity to be an issue with crystal sets. Here in Geelong growing up all I could hear was 3LO, 3AR and our strongest signal was 3GL back in the 80’s. Well done Peter! Such an interesting video. The stories of people having issues living around that transmitter site, including AM radio on their phones and some even hearing it in their teeth with fillings etc.

[BrekMartin]

Nice. I used to live near an Amberley weather beacon at 359kHz. Well I still live here, but the beacon only operates on VHF now. I’d be surprised you really needed anything other than headphones. Just about anything became a radio here when I least expected. A detector is any two differing metals touching ie. just about any wire connection to anything. Crystal radios always worked well for this freq, even if it was a failure on MW.

[peter-vkacz]

Another great video, Peter!
I’d bet it’s likely that most Hams, in their teens, or pre-teens got their ‘start’ with the fascination of radio via a simple crystal set!

[theodoresears]

I did this with a crystal set without a antenna. The 1000 watt station plays music. In Portlland oregon usa. Audio was very nice with high z headphone.

[movecizetodobryfilm]

I very like your experiments. It's educated and lot of fun. So it's good for (related) fast build and check most radio circuit.

[InvestigationsDepartment]

It's similar to this in Southern Ontario Canada. The signal can be so strong at the transmitter site that the coil in most cases isn't so important.

[Dark_Matter]

I always wanted to do this. Great job!

[johnwest]

At that site the signal will probably light up a fluorescent bulb.

[Kitsaplorax]

Aren't you in the near field area of the transmitter? I live about 50 meters from a 1 KW AM transmitter, and our steel fence was re-radiating the station into every audio device in our house so loudly that we had to take the fence down to listen to any audio without interference.

[Steve-GMHUU]

👍Nice one Peter. Good on you for travelling to the site for the experiment. It would be nice to try that transmitter antenna with some 630m ham equipment 😂.

[WECB]

I'm surprised that this wasn't much louder. I wonder if the Germanium diode suffered some breakdown due to the excessive voltage or currents. I used to drive a speaker with my crystal set from a good 10 miles away from a 5Kw, so a 50Kw at close range should be able to light a small lamp and power a PA horn with ease.

[paulkocyla]

I guess it would also work if you just shortened a headphone with a germanium diode. With that power, the cable and the coil would pick up enough energy to drive the headphone, and the diode would rectify the loop enough to get a demodulation. Would be cool if you´d try it out when you are around there, with a piezo and with a magnetic headphone :) I´d do it myself, but we don´t have any AM transmitters over 10W, yeah Watt, not Kilowatt, anymore :( Dunno if it´s true, but old stories tell that tea pots on an oven played music - sounds plausible, the oxidized plate under the teapot might act as a rectifier.

[coolvintagetechnology]

A tuned loop aerial would be interesting to try in that location. Should light a LED at least.

[kqup]

It is amazing that you do not get accosted as some sort of terrorist. I have had that happen in the field here in the US. Unfortunately it has happened several times. You almost have to have a sign explaining what you are doing and wear a fluorescent vest to ward off worry. In contrast, everyone left me alone in Portugal.

[ProdigalPorcupine]

Peter - a facinating experiment! I'm curious - do you ever draw the attention of Melbourne's boys in blue when you're putting up antennas and operating your gear in public places?

[KG-jprx]

What is the schematic for your receiver?

[realjohnboxall]

Another interesting video, thank you. I'm surprised you didn't get a visit from a nosy policeman.

[benotsilent]

Ok, my curiosity is getting to me. What does the Noise Filter do on what appears to be only an external speaker in a case?