Jim from Halton Radio Club was just one of the members who went back to basics and made a traditional crystal set using a selection of items both new and old. He built it over a couple of evenings and brought it to the club for inspection last week.

Or should that be to show off!

Unfortunately he hadn’t brought an aerial or earth wire to test it out. Not wanting to wait until next week to hear the results of his hard work we bodged together a large length of solder to use as an aerial.  And using the earth wire from a mains extension lead and an old pair of PC speakers we were soon up and running and soon heard some crackly foreign stations. Tuning around we heard another two or three weak foreign stations having made a slightly better connection on the earth. And switching to another coil tapping we were soon listening to a very strong English-speaking station.  We listened in for a couple of minutes but were unsure of its location. And due to time we regrettably had to tidy everything up and go home.

Considering what were using as an aerial and an earth both Jim, Sam and myself were impressed with the signal's clarity, strength and stability.

Well done Jim, keep up the good work.....