Want to do something fun and purposeful?

Alex, KO4OJQ, came to the Club with an interesting build in work to show off! A Fox Hole Radio?

What is a fox hole radio?! A foxhole radio is a makeshift crystal radio that soldiers built during WW2 to listen to local radio stations for entertainment. The radios were a safer alternative to vacuum tube radios, which could be traced by the enemy, and were often built using basic parts that didn’t require a battery. That’s right!! No power required!

Supplies
• Toilet paper tube
• Razor blade (If you can find a Blue one like the “PAL Super Single Edge”
then great. Otherwise, you’ll have to blue it by heating it up)
• Earphone
• Large safety pin
• Wood pencil stub
• Magnet wire
• A scrap of wood
• Paper clips
• Tacks

To make it, in short, 120 wire wraps around a tube tied to an antenna, a ground and a detector. They serve in conjunction with a cat whisker (pencil) and a razor blade with a high impedance earphone as a monitoring device.

This is essentially a crystal radio that can be used to hear music, news, and all other information transmitted over the AM broadcast band. AM radio is still viable the world over and in the United States, vital information is still passed over it. Don’t believe us? Turn off your Spotify and take a listen!

For detailed instructions go here: https://cdn.makezine.com/make/wp_foxholeradio.pdf

Don’t forget to stop in at the Playground Amateur Radio Club on Sunday’s at 3 pm central time! You never know what will come in the door!