Build a Homemade Radio Receiver from Common Materials

[ISamson]

Hello,
I am interested in making a homemade radio receiver out of common materials.
Do you have any suggestions or websites I could get some ideas from?
Thanks.
I.

 

[davenn]

Do you have any suggestions or websites I could get some ideas from?

google crystal set radio ... lots of hits

 

[ISamson]

google crystal set radio ... lots of hits

Will, I however, cope with some easy to find and cheap materials?

 

[davenn]

Will, I however, cope with some easy to find and cheap materials?

they are all cheap and not too difficult to find

you make the coil
you recover an old tuning capacitor out of an old radio or buy it
same with a germanium detector diode
crystal earpiece are a little more difficult to get hold of but still around
some enamelled copper wire out of an old transformer, or buy it ~ 20 gauge enamelled copper wire

most bits would be available on ebay or similar, you could probably find kits that all you have to do would be build it up
that would give you a good starting pointDave

 

[berkeman]

Do you have any suggestions or websites I could get some ideas from?

You might also consider putting together a simple AM radio kit. They are inexpensive, come with the blank PC board and all of the parts, and generally have a nice basic explanation of how the circuit works. I'd stick with the AM radio (versus FM radio) receiver for your first project -- the 1MHz frequencies are a lot easier to work with compared to the ~100MHz of FM radio.

https://www.google.com/search?q=am+radio+electronics+kit&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8



EDIT / Add -- You will also need to buy a simple soldering iron and some solder for any electronics project.

 

[anorlunda]

During the depression, my grandfather earned a living by making and selling radios. His most visible material was Quaker oatmeal cylindrical boxes.

Edit: he got a quarter for each radio.

 

[wukunlin]

EDIT / Add -- You will also need to buy a simple soldering iron and some solder for any electronics project.

Won't he need an oscilloscope of sorts as well?

 

[berkeman]

Won't he need an oscilloscope of sorts as well?

Not for just putting the kit together and playing with it. If he wants to learn more, then yes, a USB oscilloscope or a regular unit would be nice.

 

[Averagesupernova]

You would have to be pretty close to a station to view much on a scope from a crystal radio. Not saying that you wouldn't see anything, but it would probably be just a varying fuzzy trace.

 

[mishima]

You would have to be pretty close to a station to view much on a scope from a crystal radio. Not saying that you wouldn't see anything, but it would probably be just a varying fuzzy trace.

True, but you can also use it to check values on inductors which is handy for radio stuff, especially if you are salvaging the inductors.

 

[CWatters]

Try youtube as well.

 

[Merlin3189]

Oscilloscope?! I'd built crystal sets, valve and transistor TRFs and a DC receiver long before I got my hands on an oscilloscope (several before I got a multimeter.) Scopes are fun and interesting, and so much more available now, as are meters, signal generators and whatever. But people can do a lot without worrying about any of these things.

Maybe I am misunderstanding, but I thought he meant something more like this:
Foxhole radio
Radio from junk

Both cheat by using ready made wire and a crystal earpiece or even a computer speaker. I'd like to try without those, but a sensitive enough sound transducer still eludes me. I am impressed by the diode though: until now I'd thought you at least needed a lump of galena.