Foxhole Radio
 

How do you build a foxhole radio? I saw a few plans on the internet,
but I don't understand them. I have read that you can use a telephone
receiver instead of crystal earphones. Is this true? Also, is it
possible to make a version without the razor blade? Sorry if I sound
stupid here. I am not an expert with radio. Thanks in advance.

Sgt. Schultz wrote:

How do you build a foxhole radio? I saw a few plans on the internet,
but I don't understand them. I have read that you can use a telephone
receiver instead of crystal earphones. Is this true? Also, is it
possible to make a version without the razor blade? Sorry if I sound
stupid here. I am not an expert with radio. Thanks in advance.

The intent of a "foxhole" radio was a real-world example of how to build
a functional receiver under the worst of conditions and limitations.
That implies using components that will "get by" in a pinch.

Basically you're referring to a plain old crystal detector set. Yes, a
1N34A diode will work much better than a razor blade and hi-z phones
will work better than a telephone headset. But they didn't have hi-z
phones and 1N34A diodes available in the foxholes and prison camps of
WW2 and thats the legacy of the "foxhole radio".

Building one is an interesting exercise and may provide some learning
experience as well as a baseline comparison for *any* other type of
radio receiver. The more interesting part of such a radio is your
imagination if you can imagine yourself under the same conditions
totally isolated from the outside world of news and how important such a
thing could be.

The downside is that the old-timey razor blades are no more. Read up on
the techniques to modify newer blades...heat, corrosion, etc.

GL,
Bill

Sgt. Schultz wrote in message
oups.com...
How do you build a foxhole radio? I saw a few plans on the internet,
but I don't understand them. I have read that you can use a telephone
receiver instead of crystal earphones. Is this true? Also, is it
possible to make a version without the razor blade? Sorry if I sound
stupid here. I am not an expert with radio. Thanks in advance.

See the websites:
http://www.bizarrelabs.com/foxhole.htm (Extensive detail on the Fox-hole
radio; theory, construction and how-to)

http://www.bizarrelabs.com/rtfox1.htm (I kept cutting my finger on the blade
when I built this set back in the 60's)

Tom

Sgt. Schultz wrote in message
oups.com...
How do you build a foxhole radio? I saw a few plans on the internet,
but I don't understand them. I have read that you can use a telephone
receiver instead of crystal earphones. Is this true? Also, is it
possible to make a version without the razor blade? Sorry if I sound
stupid here. I am not an expert with radio. Thanks in advance.



The 'Foxhole Radio' is a type of crystal radio that can be built out of
scraps that could be found almost anywhere and so it was sometimes built as
a radio for soldiers to use.

There are many forms of crystal radios, most of the recent ones use a
diode that can be purchased at radio shack, or any electronics parts store.
This diode replaces the razer blade that was originally used as a detector
diode.

Here is a website that shows how to build one.

http://www.midnightscience.com/project.html



This website has more technical information, although it shows a slightly
different assembly for a crystal radio.


http://www.electronics-tutorials.com...-radio-set.htm



Jim Pennell
N6BIU

These radios were secretly constructed and used by prisoners in
Japanese prison-of-war camps during WW2 in circumstances where you
can't pay a visit to Radio Shack and purchase the bits and pieces. The
antenna also had to be hidden.

But, for things to work, there had to be a friendly news-broadcasting
station not too far away. Which did not occur very often. Long
distance short-wave stations do not lay down particularly strong
signals.

However, there has been a report of prisoners in the Far East
receiving news of the end of the war in Europe thus giving
encouragement and hope to people who had survived for several years
under the most extreme and terrible conditions.
----
Reg.