Rap 'n Tap
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From: Mike Harville
Date: 5/31/00
Time: 7:21:57 PM
Remote Name: 12.73.97.23
Kelly: as soon as I read your article I ripped one of the old family phones apart and you're right: the little diodes are good and the coil is swell! I pick seven or eight stations at once! Here's where having a bandmaster close by comes in handy! (I don't think I'll install a rejector trap. Too much fun the way it is.)To clear things up a bit I put a .001 uf ceramic cap across the EP clips and it helped. I tried all the telephone caps I found but they blocked out too much to be useful. But I liked the little diodes. I tried several in my try-out set and a couple competed with or surpased the 1N34A for loudness and clarity. Wish I knew what they were called. "Cute Little Diodes"?
While I was at it I knocked the core out of one of the ringer electromagnet coils and got a signal from that, too, though too weak to power a xtal EP or the phone handset. (Used an outboard amp. Even that wasn't too loud. Whole lotta wire on those coils.)
Q: have you also found a way to make a xtal set out of a four year old Maytag washing machine? God help me if you have 'cause I'd be right behind you.
Thanks for the idea. Mike