There was even a supercharged version of the crystal set, using a germanium
transistor which harvested the power from the aerial to give some
amplification. It was not very good but better than a straight crystal set.
Then if you had a 1.5 v battery you could get the ZN414, which was a thre
pin trf radio. It was often used instead of a diode in superhets in the
70s.


Of course my favourite sets were those with regeneration or reaction as it
used to be named.
Then there was the superregenerative sets. One transistor and it could get
fm or aircraft etc, little selectivity, but its mai drawback was the crud it
generated on any radio nearby.

Those were such simple days.. sigh.
Brian

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
On 25/02/16 10:08, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Apologies to those who know about this stuff, if this is a stupid
question. Seeing the electronics thread reminded me of some of my
mis-spent youth. I never knew enough about electronics to design
anything, but I could usually get something like an amp or a tape
recorder from the tip, and fix it. That was about my limit. I used to
enjoy making crystal radios from some of the bits I'd have lying around,
but no matter what I used, I only ever seemed to be able to pick up what
seemed to be radio 4. If you were to build one nowadays, would there be
any suitable non-digital station left to pick up?

Oh yes, there's a few. Radio 4 on long wave and a few on MW as well


--
All political activity makes complete sense once the proposition that all
government is basically a self-legalising protection racket, is fully
understood.


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