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Never could get these to work in the middle of nowhere because we had no strong AM stations, but here I'm close enough to a couple that I had my choice of far-right religion or sports talk radio. Eh....

But hey. crystal radio is cool, and this thing is surprisingly good (although not very selective) at receiving stuff when there are decent signals.

Yeah, I've got it amplified because the earpiece in the kit needs repair, it has a broken wire from sitting curled up since the 90s.

Never could get these to work in the middle of nowhere because we had no strong AM stations, but here I'm close enough to a couple that I had my choice of far-right religion or sports talk radio. Eh.... But hey. crystal radio is cool, and this thing is surprisingly good (although not very selective) at receiving stuff when there are decent signals. Yeah, I've got it amplified because the earpiece in the kit needs repair, it has a broken wire from sitting curled up since the 90s.

(post is archived)

[–] • 1 pt

Those old RS Science Fair kits were awesome. I built a lot of those back in the late 70s and early 80s. They were a fun way to learn electronics and circuit theory. Glad to see one operational in the current year.

[–] • 2 pts

I found this one new in box, couldn't resist it.

It's really a shame that those guided kits aren't really a thing anymore. All kinds of components are available at the press of a button, but these "all the parts are there all the time" kits were just beyond compare. I still have my 160-in-1 that led me to get into electronics.

[–] • 1 pt

I feel like there is a business opportunity here. Not sure what it would take to make a profit but some companies still do soldering kits for learning.

Just need to find an audience.

[–] • 1 pt

Finding that audience might be hard - there's no instant gratification here.

[–] • 1 pt

Electronics were never in my life’s playbook. Never could wrap my head around that stuff. Stuff like this makes me wish I could. Especially since it is such a huge part of modern human history and its “advancement”.

[–] • 2 pts

Yeah, like said. Kits like this are very "lego" like. Just read the instructions and put the right thing in the right place.

Everyone has to start somewhere. I had a kit like 118 electronics projects in 1. It was basically a simplified "breadboard" with components and instructions. Too bad mine were always from a garage sale or something and were missing parts. That lead to me learning about the parts I was missing and going somewhere like the local rat-shack (radio shack) to find replacements from their ever dwindling supply of components.

[–] • 1 pt

As I got older I appreciated the "everything's there, nothing other than some wire and spring clips" aspect of the device.

I'd love to figure out what kind of tuned coil they were buying, I'd like to make some cheap radio devices based around that.

[–] • 1 pt

I think if I had some formal training I’d probably start to get a better grasp on it. It’s weird, I excelled really well in mathematics in my school years. You just followed the rules of it and came to the answers so you’d think I’d find electronics to be very much the same process and understandable. In my replies to stupidbird you can see I dabbled a bit with guitar pedal kits and the like. All of this after the crash of rat shack, but did have access to a Fry’s Electronics store and tinkered with breadboard learning, then they began to crumble shortly thereafter ending that self learning pursuit. If I wasn’t so long in the tooth now and so busy just try’n to keep my head above water, while pursuing other interests, while watching and studying the shit show that this world has become my going out will probably be with the regrets of failing to grasp the electronic age that has stood before me my entire life. Like I said to stupidbird, I have great admiration for you guys that have an understanding of it, it is cool shit!

[–] • 2 pts

A kit like this doesn't need to be understood in order to work, you just need to follow directions - but it can be a gentle introduction to bigger things if you ever decide to try again.

[–] • 1 pt

Lol, kits no problem. It’s that business of understanding why and how it works. I’ve tinkered with guitar pedal kits over the years never really understood what did what and why or how it did what it did. I did learn however that not all components of the same type were not equal by brand or even year made. Which made it all the more confusing! Like amp tubes, I finally gave up chasing those around. Sometimes with subtle changes and sometimes huge changes to sound and not always in the direction I sought. I don’t know why, but it’s some kind of mojo magic I’ve never been able to grasp for some reason. All of which has given me a great admiration for those who do grasp and understand it so well. It really is a fascinating science that seems to have no end in sight, not to mention the part it plays in all of the universe. Lol, it’s mind blowing to my feeble pea brain and I can’t help but feel I’m missing out on something cool because of that!

[–] • 1 pt

You know. Stuff like that used to be "toys" for kids.. Now a lot of kids can't figure out a board game let alone something like that (with clearly written instructions and very basic design). It's sad.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

damn birds...

[–] • 1 pt

Your primitive technology amuses us.

[–] • 1 pt

Right on, that's cool.

[–] • 1 pt

As I remember, they always came in better at night. I made an AM crystal radio as a kid.

[–] • 1 pt

Yeah, less interference in the atmosphere.

[–] • 1 pt

What freqs do you have?

[–] • 0 pt

You mean what stations do we have on the air here?

[–] • 1 pt

No, cyrstals. We had crystal scanners long ago. Listened to local police and fire.

[–] • 0 pt

Ah, I see. Crystal in this radio refers to the germanium crystal in the diode detector. Originally, this would have been something like galena and a phosphor-bronze catwhisker.

[–] • 1 pt

Is it the cool far right religion or the Zionist type broadcast

[–] • 0 pt

It's the "Plastic bottles are making the frogs gay" religion.

[–] • 1 pt

Ain't there some truth to that though

[–] • 0 pt

Chemicals leaching into the environment at large from our waste isn't a good thing, but some of these people just go off the rails with psuedo-science.

Some of the programming on those stations is just good 'ol fashioned fear 'o god stuff, but some of it is comedy gold.