Will this simplest AM receiver work in theory or even in practical?

[Nigel Goodwin]

I was told they were coke fires by a very old bearded gentleman tending to one when I passed once and asked. As for the logistics of transporting it there, I have no idea.

He was perhaps "having you on"

Coke production is more industrial (and isn't made like that), nor a cottage industry like you saw there.

BTW, have you seen it more than once?, I would suspect it's only a very occasional process?.

Like you say, why bother transporting it there (not exactly an easy place to drive a truck to) when B&Q sell charcoal in bags - mass produced somewhere but I doubt in the Derbyshire Dales.

It has to come from somewhere (although I also doubt it's the Derbyshire Dales) - I would imagine it was being done to use the wood cut down from clearing the paths and grassland, making a saleable product whereas small parts of trees and bushs wouldn't be worth the cost of removal.

Perhaps you weren't aware?, but before the advent of coal in iron making, charcoal was used instead (the invention of using coal instead was made in Ironbridge, Shropshire), and this devastated huge areas of forestland in the UK where charcol was produced, just as you saw in Lathkill Dale.

Maybe there are natural coal seams in Derbyshire. I have no idea of that either. In Lathkill Dale, there are certainly many deep man made tunnels into the rock faces. Just past the crossing in the Dale from the steep road upto Over Haddon.

No coal mines those were lead mines, the area is covered with them - many totally unknown - this is particularly dangerous in many areas of Derbyshire, because many shafts were 'capped' simply by placing planks across them. Over the many decades (centuries?) the soil and grass grows over the top completely hiding them, and the planks rot away - leaving deep shafts covered by nothing but a layer of grass and an inch or two of soil.

You were lucky to grow up in such a nice part on the country. I grew up on the edge of the West Pennine Moors in Lancashire.

Aren't the Moors nice there?, I grew up on the edge of Stanton Moor, at a small village called Birchover.

 

[Willen]

Wow it is amazing! I collected few black stones (brunt out coals?) from old railroad tracks. I tested conductivity through this materials and measured on multimeter, it is conducting current fully! Then I think it can be used as a AM rectifier like Cat's Whisker's radio

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Wow it is amazing! I collected few black stones (brunt out coals?) from old railroad tracks. I tested conductivity through this materials and measured on multimeter, it is conducting current fully! Then I think it can be used as a AM rectifier like Cat's Whisker's radio

To work as a rectifier it has to only conduct current in one direction, the point of the 'cats whisker' is to search the 'stone' for a spot that works.

Rubble off a railway track is unlikely to be coke, you need to process coal in a specific way to produce coke.

 

[WTP Pepper]

He was perhaps "having you on"

Coke production is more industrial (and isn't made like that), nor a cottage industry like you saw there.

BTW, have you seen it more than once?, I would suspect it's only a very occasional process?.



It has to come from somewhere (although I also doubt it's the Derbyshire Dales) - I would imagine it was being done to use the wood cut down from clearing the paths and grassland, making a saleable product whereas small parts of trees and bushs wouldn't be worth the cost of removal.

Perhaps you weren't aware?, but before the advent of coal in iron making, charcoal was used instead (the invention of using coal instead was made in Ironbridge, Shropshire), and this devastated huge areas of forestland in the UK where charcol was produced, just as you saw in Lathkill Dale.



No coal mines those were lead mines, the area is covered with them - many totally unknown - this is particularly dangerous in many areas of Derbyshire, because many shafts were 'capped' simply by placing planks across them. Over the many decades (centuries?) the soil and grass grows over the top completely hiding them, and the planks rot away - leaving deep shafts covered by nothing but a layer of grass and an inch or two of soil.



Aren't the Moors nice there?, I grew up on the edge of Stanton Moor, at a small village called Birchover.

They surely are. He maybe have been a drunken crank, I don't know. Nor am an expert in coke production. I try to use strolls through places like Lathkill, Winter Hill and Anglezarke moors to forget about biasing transistors, return losses, lookup tables and diode alternatives....When last up Winter Hill over Rivington Moor, I chose to think about non linear amplifiers and double balanced mixer circuits to help with my Father's hearing as a little project ...as you do

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

They surely are. He maybe have been a drunken crank, I don't know. Nor am an expert in coke production. I try to use strolls through places like Lathkill, Winter Hill and Anglezarke moors to forget about biasing transistors, return losses, lookup tables and diode alternatives....

Well I've heard of Winter Hill (as there's a TV transmitter there - that feeds Manchester, and I'd presume there's a moor there?) - but Anglezarke? - never heard of that, I'll have to go and google it.

When last up Winter Hill over Rivington Moor, I chose to think about non linear amplifiers and double balanced mixer circuits to help with my Father's hearing as a little project ...as you do

I know exactly what you mean

 

[WTP Pepper]

Well I've heard of Winter Hill (as there's a TV transmitter there - that feeds Manchester, and I'd presume there's a moor there?) - but Anglezarke? - never heard of that, I'll have to go and google it.



I know exactly what you mean

Yep there is a TV transmitter there. pretty high up. Anglezarke is the moor at the back heading out towards Chorley.

Back in 1986, me and my mate who were studying electronic engineering knocked on the door at Winter Hill while out on a stroll up there. Talk about isolation, the engineer present was happy to show us around the station. We couldn't shut him up...bless. 7.5KW up the pipe to the aerial. Valves the size of my cooker. Fascinating experience. A bank of 4CX10000 output valve stages IIRC. Don't quote me exactly. I was a long time ago.

And the attached is why I always carry a camera in one form or another. Taken on the footpath to Winterhill last Boxing day.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Yep there is a TV transmitter there. pretty high up. Anglezarke is the moor at the back heading out towards Chorley.

So I found on google.

Back in 1986, me and my mate who were studying electronic engineering knocked on the door at Winter Hill while out on a stroll up there. Talk about isolation, the engineer present was happy to show us around the station. We couldn't shut him up...bless. 7.5KW up the pipe to the aerial. Valves the size of my cooker. Fascinating experience. A bank of 4CX10000 output valve stages IIRC. Don't quote me exactly. I was a long time ago.

And the attached is why I always carry a camera in one form or another. Taken on the footpath to Winterhill last Boxing day.View attachment 74663

Nice - I had a standing invitation to go and visit Emley Moor, but never got round to it - but it's not even the same company any more.

 

[Willen]

WOW!!!
I made a radio with THREE components- an AM coil, a diode and an earphone. I removed few components because I didn't notice any changes without them. I removed tuning capacitor because here is a single AM station. It is working VERY well! Here is an AM radio station approx. 20km far away. I am listening the station with VERY clear sound like a Panasonic or Philips radio with smaller sound. You can compare the sound of it with cell phone's mp3 player's lowest sound level-1.

I used my entire metal roof of my house (bigger than basket ball play ground) so it is VERY big antenna. But once I used just only 4 meters wire and got little less loudness. But it was also loud as before. Expert used to say "Most use crystal earphone or hi impedance earphone like 20k" I got it is unnecessary! I tested lots of earphones of cell phone and it is working. It is better to choose a good quality earphone for louder sound. I have an earphone from NOKIA and comparatively its sound is very loud than others.

 

[WTP Pepper]

At that distance you may only need to rely on the self capacitance on the coil to get a vague resonance. Well done. With a tuning cap or coil you will be able to hear stations farther away. The experimenting is the fun.

 

[Willen]

I got it is very sensitive during night. I received various stations from China, India, Bangladesh and others which are 100th of KM far from my country. Due to this overload, my local station had dissapered during night. This receiver was focused on a station of China which has almost 1400 KHz but my local station has 648KHz only. So I decided to use a fix cap parallel with coil and used 330pf. Now all stations has been eliminated and my local station is clear even at night. Amazing!

 

[WTP Pepper]

You will get better reception from far away stations at night as the ionasphere moves at night allowing a change in reflections from far away stations in the atmosphere. Also improved because local interference reduces at night as factories close down.
The real fun I found with crystal sets was experimenting with different coil and capacitor values and listening to stations from all over the world on shortwave. You also learn so much about basic radio.

Far more fun than Internet radio where they are all at your fingertips.