[ARC5] Crystal Question

[Henry Mei'l's]

Correction:
I should have written, " to what Kenneth mentions."

Henry M.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henry Mei'l's" <meils at get2net.dk>
To: <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>; "Discussion of AN/ARC-5 military radio 
equipment." <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 7:43 PM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Crystal Question


> I'm sure I tried to use a quartz crystal as a detector when I was a 
> id  --
> I tried just about everything.
> Black and brown coal did NOT work. Also tried all kinds of rocks, 
> including
> those with quartz particles and also flint.
> Think my carborundum sharpening stone did work -- carbarundum was a 
> detector
> type used in xtal sets. I believe
> DC voltage was applied across this type of detector, way back when.
> Pretty sure the quartz didn't work BUT a rusty razor blade using a saftey
> pin as cats whisker did work -- pretty sure
> I read that this was used in foxhole radios-- similar to what Robert
> mentions.
> Just two metal objects, lightly touching, often worked, too.
> If I remember correctly, pencil lead and/or a lead
> pencil-stripe on paper also worked, sometimes  -- think I also tried the
> carbon rods from dry cells because you could
> make a crude carbon microphone by resting a needle across two of these
> rods -- but don't recall if could detect.
> Plug-in radar crystals, of course worked perfectly.
>
> Henry M., Cph.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kenneth G. Gordon" <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
> To: "Robert Eleazer" <releazer at earthlink.net>; "Discussion of AN/ARC-5
> military radio equipment." <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 6:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARC5] Crystal Question
>
>
>> On 11 Nov 2010 at 12:08, Robert  Eleazer wrote:
>>
>>> I did some looking on that website where the B-26 radio compartment
>>> pictures are and found that someone has asked an interesting question.
>>>
>>> It seems they salvaged some parts from some warbird crash sites in
>>> Florida and found some radio crystals. The one he shows looks like it
>>> is out of an SCR-522 . The guy who found them wants to use these to
>>> make a WWII style "foxhole radio" crystal radio receiver and is asking
>>> for help on how to do that.
>>
>> Obviously, we have a misunderstanding of the two different meanings of
>> "crystal" in this case.
>>
>>>
>>> It never occurred to me that a radio crystal might work as a detector
>>> in a crystal set. Is this possible?
>>
>> Hmmm....I would think not, although I have not tried it.
>>
>>> And did the improvised crystal
>>> sets in WWII use radio crystals?
>>
>> Not to my knowledge: most often they used a Gillette "Blue Blade" and a
>> bit
>> of sharpened pencil lead as the "cat's whisker"
>>
>>> I guess that crystals from downed
>>> aircraft and wrecked tanks were probably available on the battlefield
>>> in WWII.
>>
>> Very often.
>>
>> The "Foxhole Radio" was most often a simple "crystal" set which used the
>> Gillette "Blue Blade" (often included in "C" rations) as the "active
>> element",
>> and a bit of sharpened pencil lead with a stiff wire wrapped around it as
>> the
>> "cat's whisker", or, if it was available, a needle or some other sharp
>> object.
>> The earphone was often taken from a field telephone. The Gillette "Blue
>> Blade" had "hot spots" on it due to the blue coating on the steel blade.
>>
>> I suspect that there is a misunderstanding by the "denizens" of that list
>> you
>> mention above. They are using the term "crystal" in the wrong sense, or,
>> rather mistaking a frequency determining "crystal" for a "crystal
>> detector" or
>> diode.
>>
>> Obviously, they are not the same.
>>
>> Ken W7EKB
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