[Boatanchors] Crystal sets

[David Stinson]

On my tenth birthday, my mother and I were in TG&Y 
in south Shreveport
(The WallyWorld of the 1960s... you old enough to remember
"Turtles, Girdles and YoYos?"  Hell- are you old enough
to remember girdles?).

Anyway- I went for anything "science-ie," so I turned down
the very tempting "Mr. Peanut" peanut butter maker 
for a Crystal Radio kit.  
The kit had a stiff cardboard base, a crystal earphone,
spring clip "binding posts" you twisted into pre-cut holes, 
a 1N34 diode and a little coil you tuned by pushing a 
ferrite bar in and out.
The instructions talked about antennas, but I didn't have
any wire.  They suggested touching the antenna post
to the house telephone.

I'm sure many of you remember when the home telephone 
came in one squatty desk model and a rainbow of colors-
black, gloss black, dingy black, semi-rusty black 
and "cornbread skillet" black.  
Oh, yeah- There was also black.
The only things on the phone that weren't black 
were the "finger stop," which was shiny silver,
the cardboard insert at the center of the dial
which identified your home number
and the dial numbers and letters, which were white.

All phones had a metal rotating "dial" with numbered 
finger-holes.  You stuck your finger in the number you 
wanted to "dial" and turned it clockwise until your 
finger hit the silver "stop," then let go.
It went:  "ssssshhhhICK!  ti-ti-ti-ti-tick.  
  sssssshhhICK!  ti-ti-ti-tick."  
I connected the antenna post to that little silver finger stop
and wiggled the ferrite rod.  I barely heard something.
I think....  Maybe.

Then I got thinking....  A long black wire came from 
one of the poles at the street, to the side of our house
and to an aluminum box marked:
"BELL TELEPHONE SYSTEM."  
I went outside, sat on the ground next to the box
and touched the antenna post to it.
KWKH came blaring out of the little headphone.
If I moved the ferrite bar, I could get KEEL.
With careful tuning, more voices appeared.
I was enchanted.

I sat and listened to the voices coming to me
from the thin air, 
coming from something I had built myself.
It was magic.
And it's still magic today.

73 OM DE Dave AB5S