I've been looking at a number of simple crystal radio designs, and
I've found the Australian mystery crystal set, and am interested in
building that, mainly because it's an Australian design, and I've
heard it it's a pretty good performer. I only have 2 questions- can I
substitute the detector for a 1N34? and what is double silk covered
wire and do I really have use that? What's wrong with regular coil
wire? I can only find 23 SWG, 25 SWG, and 33 SWG where I need 24 SWG,
30 SWG.

Thanks

Dave

"Dave.H" wrote:

> what is double silk covered wire

It's wire insulated with silk.

> and do I really have use that?

Not unless you want it to be 'period authentic'.

Graham

"Dave.H" wrote:

> can I substitute the detector for a 1N34?

You might do rather well with a zero bias schottky diode.

Failing that, any germamium point-contact type (like the 1N34) would be a
decent sub.

Graham

"Dave.H" <the1930s@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:940ac3e1-5a04-4881-8d2f-9db8558f5c5d@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Mar 10, 5:53 pm, Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelati...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> "Dave.H" wrote:
>> > can I substitute the detector for a 1N34?
>>
>> You might do rather well with a zero bias schottky diode.
>>
>> Failing that, any germamium point-contact type (like the 1N34) would be a
>> decent sub.
>>
>> Graham
>
> I'll go with the 1N34. I'm also going to install a 1S5 tube as a
> second detector, switchable between the two, with a 'D' cell >powering the
> filament.

Hi Dave,
I almost feel bad giving you this URL, it is so full of useful information
that it may be a while before you have time to get anything done. See
section 1. Out of the 29 atricles, I think 5 or 6 are about how to improve
the diode/detector operation. Oh, and see #19, Ben discusses the 1932
"Mystery Crystal Radio"
http://www.bentongue.com/xtalset/xtalset.html
Have fun, Mike
*and what's this stuff about a D cell on a crystal radio

"Dave.H" <the1930s@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:039c2b9f-720f-49b2-ac76-3aada2bf0309@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Mar 11, 6:05 am, "amdx" <a...@knology.net> wrote:
>
> *and what's this stuff about a D cell on a crystal radio
>
> I got the idea from one of Dave Schmarder's radios, #26
>
> http://www.schmarder.com/radios/crystal/26.htm

Hi Dave,
My point was, the purists would shudder at the thought of an external
power source on a crystal radio. Now if you extract the power from a strong
local and use that to amplify a weak signal then your doing good work.
Mike

"Dave.H" <the1930s@googlemail.com> writes:

>On Mar 10, 11:03 am, "Dave.H" <the19...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> I've been looking at a number of simple crystal radio designs, and
>> I've found the Australian mystery crystal set, and am interested in
>> building that, mainly because it's an Australian design, and I've
>> heard it it's a pretty good performer. I only have 2 questions- can I
>> substitute the detector for a 1N34? and what is double silk covered
>> wire and do I really have use that? What's wrong with regular coil
>> wire? I can only find 23 SWG, 25 SWG, and 33 SWG where I need 24 SWG,
>> 30 SWG.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Dave

>Forgot to give the schematic
>http://www.clarion.org.au/crystalset/mystery.html

Substitutes will work fine. All the other stuff is to make it look like
a "period piece." Go to a rock shop and get some galena for the detector
if you want to go retro.

Steve.
--
Steven D. Swift, novatech@eskimo.com, http://www.novatech-instr.com
NOVATECH INSTRUMENTS, INC. P.O. Box 55997
206.301.8986, fax 206.363.4367 Seattle, Washington 98155 USA