Spiderweb Crystal Radio

thingiverse

This is a crystal radio using a spiderweb litz wire coil based on a design by Dave Schmarder. Unfortunately it looks like his website is down (as of May 2022) so I am including the schematic in the thumbnail. Parts: Diode: 1N5711 (Easy to get nowadays and does a decent job) Capacitors: 365pF plate capacitors purchased from Amazon Antenna Coil: As specified in schematic, coilform included in files Banana Jacks: Cinch Connectivity Solutions PN 108-0903-001 and 108-0902-001 Screws: M3 nylon with nuts (probably don't have to be Nylon but better safe than sorry) The screws that hold on the capacitors are #6-32 x 3/8 zinc plated Headphone jack: scrapped from an old stereo, really not critical. Knob: TE PKD70B101/4 Phones: Anything high impedance (I used a little ceramic earbud and also Western Electric 590W, both worked well) Hook the GND banana plug to a water pipe or ground rod, attach the other banana plug to a long wire. The first capacitor is for tuning the antenna and the second is for tuning to a particular station. Enjoy! Thanks Dave for inspiring a whole new generation of crystal DX'ers!