17 May
2005
17 May
'05
6:37 p.m.
Or at least I am darn sure I could still make a
crystal set the hard way
The amazing thing some WWII POWs did was to make a radio detector
with a rusty blue razor blade and a short piece of pencil carbon.
Or was that some Poles. Poked around with the razor blade to hit
an actively-rectifying spot, ala galena cat's whisker.
It wasn't like making radios from literal garbage (eg. no
electronic components AT ALL -- NONE) was widespread or anything
in ye olden dayes. It still took spectacular ingenuity and a good
handful of fundamental knowledge. Probably more people today could
do it.
It does obviously require massive output AM transmitters
to detect. We're talking gains << 1 here. Try that with XM...