Crystal Radio 160m SSB Test

Testing SSB reception on 160m with my crystal radio. BFO frequency and injection is from an HP 8924c analyzer.

[@Markcain268]

Takes me back to my childhood!

[@chuckermatinger3794]

Very nice looking xtal set. I like that the toggle switches weren't brought out to the front of the set like is usually done; rather they're installed into the circuit layout. Very cool!

[@KarenLopez-in5ih]

Beautiful work

[@adanlewis7489]

Neat. I need to make a crystal radio

[@hobbyrob313]

nice test! just indicate distance from now on? I have read 15 miles also 24.1KM approximately. and a schematic (from your Crystal RX) would also have been nice, I think

[@chuckermatinger3794]

I'd like to see the xtal set schematic too (very nice layout!)

[@Offsettttt]

This is cool! How far is W9YG?

[@k9yk]

He is approximately 15 miles away from me. My other 2 videos show reception from much farther away.

[@jeromeGrzelak]

Sweet rig kg6mn

[@hauptuhrdotnetblog6700]

👍 how does the USB/LSB toggle work. I bite it’s set to USB on 160M here.

[@k9yk]

There’s no ‘toggle’ to select upper or lower sideband. If you tune the BFO below the SSB signal, then you are receiving upper sideband. Tune the BFO above the SSB signal and you are receiving lower sideband.

[@kensmith5694]

It looks like you could use a tap selecting rotary switch. Where is the BFO brought in?

[@k9yk]

The BFO signal is feed into the coil on the far left. The middle coil is connected to the antenna. The big coil all the way on the right is the tuning/tank coil connected to the variable condenser. The diode is tapped into the tank coil at 20 turns. The tuning condenser goes through the switch labeled "Band Shift" and the two position of that switch go to the taps at 60 and 80 turns. The tank coil has a total of 100 turns (the 100th turn tap isn't used). Flipping the switch on the right up (labeled 160m/broadcast) puts a small trimmer cap in series with the main tuning condenser to lower the capacitance and tune the 160m band.

[@kensmith5694]

@@k9yk Thanks. The design looks to be a good one. I just had a somewhat clever idea for a project I will never do. I presume you know what a "stolen power radio" is but I will explain for others who may read these comments. Basically you need two crystal radios and a strong station you don't want to listen to. You tune one crystal radio to the strong station and put a large capacitor on its output. The voltage from the capacitor can be used as the power supply to run an amplifier connected to the other crystal radio. This lets you get a louder signal from a weak station you do want to hear. Now for the project idea. I wonder if I could make a BFO that takes so little power that it could be run from stolen power.