Your radio will be able to pick up local AM stations
During the First World War, soldiers who were knowledgeable about radio technology constructed their own receivers to be able to listen to music and other programs at the front. These first crystal radios used simple, everyday items like pencil leads, razor blades, and tinfoil to recreate a useful piece of technology. Today, with easily available solid-state electronic components you can build a primitive radio in half an hour or so.
Instructions
1. Punch two holes, separated by about 1/2 inch at the top of the bottle. A line connecting the two holes should run perpendicular to the length of the bottle -- they should run along the rim below where the bottle tapers to its cap. Punch another two identical holes in the bottle near the bottom rim so that they are parallel with the two at the top. If you look at the bottle from the side, they should form a rectangle.
2. Thread the enamel coated wire through the top two holes so that 8 inches hangs free out the other side. If the wire is loose because it is much smaller than the holes, you can loop it back through until it is snug; just make sure that there are still 8 inches left hanging out of the second hole.
3. Wrap the long end of the wire around the bottle in neat, tight coils until you reach the bottom two holes. Every five turns, make a loop that stands out from the bottle by wrapping the long end of the wire around a pen or pencil -- which should be removed when you are done. The overall effect should be of a coiled wire with periodic loops running in a line down the side. These loops will allow you to select the station you want to listen to. Thread the remaining wire through the two holes at the bottom of the bottle in the same way you did at the top, and snip it off so that only 8 inches remain.
4. Sand the enamel off the ends of the wire and off the loops that stand out from the side of the bottle. Attach one end of the germanium diode to the wire at the bottom end of the bottle by twisting them together and wrapping with electrical tape.
5. Cut one end off the telephone handset cord to reveal four wires inside. Two of these should be color-coded yellow and black. Attach one of these to the free lead of the germanium diode using electrical tape. Do not twist them together, as the handset cord wire is very fragile. Attach the other to the free end of the wire from the top of the bottle. Plug the handset into the end of the cord that still has the connector attached.
6. Strip the end of the stranded insulated wire. This will serve as the antenna. Clip one end of one of the alligator jumpers to the stripped end of the antenna and the other end to one of the loops that stands away from the bottle; these are called "taps." Clip one end of the second alligator jumper to the wire that comes from the top of the bottle and is connected to the diode and clip the other to a grounded object -- a cold water pipe is good for this. You should now be able to hear radio stations through the handset, and you can change the channel by changing which tap the end of the alligator jumper is clipped to.
Tags: from bottle, alligator jumper, bottom bottle, electrical tape, from side
