This radio is big improvement over the radio that I entered in the 2001
Crystal Radio building contest. I started tinkering in early January 2008
and finally decided on a design on 17 January 2008, and built the radio that
afternoon … ready to use the next day.

My coils are wound on 4.5” PVC pipe with 80 turns #18 wire space wound the
width of the wire with nylon masonery cord. The coils actually have too much
inductance, however I did not have time to change them. The variable capacitors
have ¼” dowel wooden extensions to avoid the effect of hand capacitance. To
provide smooth operation and stability a ¼” washer is glued to the front panel.

My antenna is about 200 feet of wire strung through the trees in the backyard
about 20 feet up. In operation, the right side is tuned to where you want to
be, then the left side is tuned for the strongest signal, the coils are moved
in/out as needed for signal strength and selectivity. I have had real good results
with this design.

At my location in Winston Salem, NC we have a real strong station at 830 KHz and
I can routinely hear 840 KHz WHAS in Louisville, KY in the clear. Two small
stations were heard during the 2008 contest: (1) WMAC 940 KHz in Macon, GA
(2) CKNX 920 KHz in Wingham, Canada. A total of 35 stations were copied. A
simple piezo earphone was used. I plan to tinker with this design to
optimize reception.

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