Crystal sets, POW radios, spy sets & radio related thread

[supermatelot]

Rocking horse droppings. Keep checking e-bay once a week and you might find one pop-up for sale every few years. Good luck with that. Plenty of Yaesu FRG-7s around though, which was it's main competitor. Technology has moved on though. If you haven't got much room for an antenna in the garden maybe try a setup like Endure's, small USB SDR radio, DIY wire picture frame antenna and a simple antenna tuner. If you just want to capture the thrill of analogue radio keep experimenting. Cheap and satisfying when it works.

@endure any chance you could post a pic of your setup please?

 

[endure]

@endure any chance you could post a pic of your setup please?

Radio: Plugs into the USB port on your PC

RSP1 – SDRplay

This has now been superceded by the RSP1A

Antenna: Cheap and cheerful loop. If you've got a big garden a long piece of wire will do as a starter.

Reviews of the Low Cost MLA-30 Wide Band HF Magnetic Loop Antenna

Recently Chinese manufacturers have begun producing a low cost wide band (100 kHz - 30 MHz) magnetic loop HF antenna known as the MLA-30. The loop can be found on eBay for under US$45 with free shipping. In the past wide band HF loop antennas have not been cheap, normally costing $300+ dollars...

www.rtl-sdr.com

All the real work is done by the software on the PC which is a bit hard to get you head round at first but there's a full suite of videos on on Youtube that explains it all.

SDRplayHamGuides

www.youtube.com

The RSP1a is nothing like the Lowe or any other conventional receiver. It's far more capable.

If you yearn for the old days keep your eye out for a Lowe or FRG7 on Ebay.

If you want a palm sized plastic box that can do anything from listening to GQD talking to the nuclear fleet on 19.6KHz (although you won't know what they're saying ) to listening to NOAA satellites and much else in between get yourself an SDRPlay. Designed and made in the UK with super support and a brilliant series of videos made by a Yank called Mike



Here's mine...

 

[supermatelot]

Radio: Plugs into the USB port on your PC

RSP1 – SDRplay

This has now been superceded by the RSP1A

Antenna: Cheap and cheerful loop. If you've got a big garden a long piece of wire will do as a starter.

Reviews of the Low Cost MLA-30 Wide Band HF Magnetic Loop Antenna

Recently Chinese manufacturers have begun producing a low cost wide band (100 kHz - 30 MHz) magnetic loop HF antenna known as the MLA-30. The loop can be found on eBay for under US$45 with free shipping. In the past wide band HF loop antennas have not been cheap, normally costing $300+ dollars...

www.rtl-sdr.com

All the real work is done by the software on the PC which is a bit hard to get you head round at first but there's a full suite of videos on on Youtube that explains it all.

SDRplayHamGuides

www.youtube.com

The RSP1a is nothing like the Lowe or any other conventional receiver. It's far more capable.

If you yearn for the old days keep your eye out for a Lowe or FRG7 on Ebay.

If you want a palm sized plastic box that can do anything from listening to GQD talking to the nuclear fleet on 19.6KHz (although you won't know what they're saying ) to listening to NOAA satellites and much else in between get yourself an SDRPlay. Designed and made in the UK with super support and a brilliant series of videos made by a Yank called Mike



Here's mine...

View attachment 502241

Cheers!!

I think I'll be a bit busy on YouTube for the next few hours now...

 

[endure]

BTW I forgot to mention...

If you buy a Lowe or an FRG7 you get a free gift of a pipe and a pair of comfy slippers

If you buy an SDRPlay you get a beard in a colour of your own choosing...

 

[endure]

Cheers!!

I think I'll be a bit busy on YouTube for the next few hours now...

The difference between old and new is that with old you have to tune up and down to try and find anything which gets boring after a while.

With new you've got a screen full of stations in front of you that you can choose from.

 

[Electromagnetic]

The difference between old and new is that with old you have to tune up and down to try and find anything which gets boring after a while.

With new you've got a screen full of stations in front of you that you can choose from.

Amazing we found anything without recourse to schedules or digital displays ;-p

 

[supermatelot]

The difference between old and new is that with old you have to tune up and down to try and find anything which gets boring after a while.

With new you've got a screen full of stations in front of you that you can choose from.

I'm probably gonna go with what your setup is. Wrt the Lowe etc...I never really knew my grandad...maybe having something where I could 'be' 'do' what he got up to for even a minute. Nostalgia etc.

I also have 3 kids, and a wife who will put the blockers on any extravagent spending!

What do you use for an aerial?

 

[Electromagnetic]

I'm probably gonna go with what your setup is. Wrt the Lowe etc...I never really knew my grandad...maybe having something where I could 'be' 'do' what he got up to for even a minute. Nostalgia etc.

I also have 3 kids, and a wife who will put the blockers on any extravagent spending!

What do you use for an aerial?

I might get one myself, having put it off for long enough but I won't be buying a Chinese aerial. Make sure you get the correct antenna adaptor and so on.

 

[Border_Reiver]

I'm probably gonna go with what your setup is. Wrt the Lowe etc...I never really knew my grandad...maybe having something where I could 'be' 'do' what he got up to for even a minute. Nostalgia etc.

I also have 3 kids, and a wife who will put the blockers on any extravagent spending!

What do you use for an aerial?

Be retro ... buy a Tennis Ball ... attach some fine string ... throw over the roof of the house ... tie on a long wire antennae .... the rest is history .

I am totally blown out by the frequency range and associated software functionality of the RSP1A ... and all in a " Little Black Box " .

 

[Electromagnetic]

Be retro ... buy a Tennis Ball ... attach some fine string ... throw over the roof of the house ... tie on a long wire antennae .... the rest is history .

I am totally blown out by the frequency range and associated software functionality of the RSP1A ... and all in a " Little Black Box " .

An issue these days is double glazing. However, there is software which I understand allows the RSP radios to be used over a LAN. If that LAN is wireless, it could be in the shed. No cables through the house windows. Just needs some source of power.

@supermatelot Instead of a Chinese loop, how about a DIY magnetic loop?
A Magnetic Loop Antenna for Shortwave Listening (SWL) - KR1ST

 

[endure]

Amazing we found anything without recourse to schedules or digital displays ;-p

Speak for yourself

 

[endure]

I might get one myself, having put it off for long enough but I won't be buying a Chinese aerial. Make sure you get the correct antenna adaptor and so on.

A Chinese aerial is the same as a Colombian aerial. It's just a piece of wire

 

[mad_mick]

I could never find the USB port on these buggers...

 

[endure]

I could never find the USB port on these buggers...

View attachment 502346

It's next to the LSB port

 

[mad_mick]

It's next to the LSB port

Which one, LSB or LSB-SC?

NB. Clock, marine, 7 day, 8 bell chime, 11 jewel movement, I've got one in the hall.

 

[Electromagnetic]

Speak for yourself

View attachment 502344

I think I've got one somewhere but not that thick.

 

[endure]

If anyone buys an SDRPlay and finds the SDR Uno software a bit intimidating at first you can always download SDR Console which is easier to get to grips with at first. Also free.

Software Defined Radio

All about software defined Radio (SDR)

www.sdr-radio.com

 

[Tedsson]

Not played with crystal sets since about 1966/67. Used to love them.

If you look at old spy movies and read books about SOE agents the radios they had always seemed to be the size of a suitcase.

And they were always draping long aerials over a rooftop or a tree.

I don't suppose there was much they could do about the size of the radio.

But as for the aerial, would it have been possible to use a steel pylon or even the metal pipework/framework of a building?

 

[Border_Reiver]

Well for years my parents then I had kept copies of Practical Wireless I had been given or bought … binned them all some time ago . I wondered if they had been scanned in and were available on the Internet perhaps as .pdf files . Yesterday and within seconds found this site … PRACTICAL WIRELESS: British Electronics and Hobbyist Magazine ... blow me down it had Issues going back to the 1930’s . I was surprised to see publication continued during WW2 … then again I suppose it provided a means to develop aspiring Radio Operators .

Coming back to the thread title I came across an Issue which contained an article about a POW Radio …. Page 301 ... https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Practical/Wireless/40s/PW-1946-06.pdf .. time allowing I may browse some other issues to see if there are any examples of real “ scratch “ produced radios using Razor Blades etc .

 

[Tedsson]

Lots of free books on crystal sets here:

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