[Milsurplus] Doubting the Foxhole Radio

[Hue Miller]

I just watched a You Tube video about whipping together a "Foxhole Radio".
I have been doubting this story for a while. I suspect it's mostly myth, as 
far
as the European war theater.  Supposedly, the thing was invented by an Army
infantry Lt. at Anzio. What, I ask, was there to listen to at the 
battlefront?
This wasn't like in the U.S. in the 1990s, where every village has an A.M.
broadcast station. And how much time does an infantryman have to devote
to dabbling with hobby pursuits, rather than attention to safe location, 
rest,
and personal maintenance? I note also that the radio is untuned. Perhaps the
coil acts as solely an RF choke. Those of you who have built crystal radios
know how attenuated the signal is when off resonance. And - the original
article shows it using a single Western Electric telephone technician or
operator headphone of 600 ohm impedance - not a good match to any
crystal radio - not a good choice.
Away from the Europe zone, on a Pacific Island, among the occupation
forces, at a  base where the A.F.R.T.S. had built a broadcast station, i
would agree that such a device had some chance of being used.
-Hue Miller