"tap tap" again Bryan1 :LOL:
Before I saw this reply, I actually managed to pick up a faint TV station. it sounded like CTV (from Toronto). and that is all from just playing with the capacitor (connected across the 18K pull-up resistor).
I noticed that if I make the capacitor too large, I get a metronome style sound. So I know I'm on the right track so far.
I still can't seem to determine the optimum quench frequency. I'll look again at that page you pointed out to see if it is there.
I'm beginning to think that my room is 1/2 the problem because I take a store-bought radio and try to connect to a distant station (103.5Mhz) with a long antenna, and with a short one, and I can hardly pick it up. It is only located in toronto. The stations that I can pick up are 102.9Mhz in Hamilton which takes up at least 1/8th of the band, and I can pick up 104.5Mhz in Toronto.
But it seems that if I have the antenna end in the right spot (somewhere at a corner on my ceiling), I can pick up 103.5Mhz a bit more.
If I drilled a hole in my ceiling until I can see the sky and stick the antenna through that, would I be able to pick up stations better? LOL
By the way, I live across the street from a chain of hydro (electricity) towers.