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BUILD A MORGAN CRYSTAL RADIO ANTENNA TUNER!!

Alfred P. Morgan was a prolific early writer of books on the subjects of electricity, wireless telegraphy, and radio. His works were written for young people and the average man who wasn’t an expert in mathematics and physics. His book, “THE BOY ELECTRICIAN”, originally published in 1913 and many printings after, taught many a youngster how to make crystal radios, wireless transmitters, antennas, and all kinds of electrical experiments.  Many young people who built Morgan’s projects later became engineers and scientists.  This great little antenna tuner is named after Alfred P. Morgan for his influence on the lives and careers of many people. In the early days of wireless, very low frequency, very long wavelength signals were used. These extremely long wavelengths required exceptionally long antennas in order to be resonant. It was impractical to have antennas that were thousands of feet long, so early designers found a way around this problem by using “loading coils” to artificially lengthen their antennas. These loading coils were adjustable coils of wire, or Inductors.  A variable capacitor was often added in parallel with the loading coils to “fine tune” their shorter antennas to the resonance of a much longer antenna.  During the 1920s, amateur radio experimenters discovered that shorter wavelength signals would “skip” off the Ionosphere and thus allowed very long distance communications using low transmitter power on the “Short Wave” bands. Many antennas were too long to resonate at these shorter wavelengths.  The designers found that a variable capacitor connected in-series with the antenna allowed it to be tuned to resonance at the higher frequency short wavelengths.  Because we like to operate on multiple frequencies, loading coils with parallel-connected variable capacitors and series capacitors were combined into one circuit and were then called “Antenna Tuners.”  The Morgan Crystal Radio Antenna Tuner works to tune random wire antennas from approximately fifty feet and longer for crystal sets and more complex radios on the A.M. Broadcast Band, Short Wave and Amateur Bands up to about 30 MHZ.  By tuning your antenna to resonance, it will transfer the energy from the received radio wave to your set more efficiently. This will result in a louder signal that will allow weaker “DX” stations to be heard that were not audible before. This antenna tuner can also be used to increase the selectivity of simple receivers. This feature helps to separate the faint DX stations from the strong locals. Building this antenna tuner is accomplished using simple assembly techniques and high quality parts.  The air variable capacitors are the same fine American-made units that we use on our Armstrong One Tube Radio Kits, Dunwoody High Performance Crystal Radio Kits, and Bucher Crystal Radio QRM Rejectors. This kit is based on our ELECTRONICS HANDBOOK Magazine article, "How To Build And Use A Crystal Set Antenna Tuner", reprints of which are available in our "Literature" Link. This is an improved version of that antenna tuner. Clip-leads are used for the coil tap connections and for shorting the series capacitor when it is not in use. The clip-leads simplify construction and eliminate the signal-robbing losses that result from the use of a rotary switch and its many leads. Very good results can be expected with this antenna tuner. It has been used successfully used with our Dunwoody High Performance Crystal Radio and with our Armstrong One Tube Radio. It also works well with our Cornell WW-II Foxhole Radio and our Pickard Crystal Radio.  It has been used with antique radios and commercial communications receivers. In addition to this, it can be used with low power “QRP” amateur radio transmitters to match the transmitter’s output impedance to an end-fed wire antenna.  One customer says, “This antenna tuner will increase the number of A.M. DX stations received on a one-tube set ten-fold!”  Highest quality parts are used throughout. The pre-drilled routed baseboard is made for us by TOLEWOOD.COM from clear furniture grade pine that can be stained for an attractive vintage look. The pre-punched coil form is made from the same heavy cardboard shipping tube as our Dunwoody High Performance Crystal Set.  Quality black Bakelite knobs contribute to the vintage appearance. Nickel-plated brass fahnestock clips are used for the input and output connections. All parts, screws, clip-leads, and wire are included in this fine quality kit. The easy-to-understand instructions were designed for beginners, however the coil winding is at a level of difficulty for more experienced builders. Soldering is required.

Complete kit including all parts and easy to follow instructions:

$49.95 each
These great kits are now available for immediate shipping!

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BUILD A BUCHER CRYSTAL RADIO QRM REJECTOR!!

Elmer E. Bucher (pronounced, “boo-cher”) was an instructing engineer at the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America in the very early pioneering days of radio just after the turn of the Twentieth Century.  Mr. Bucher was a great mentor to thousands of early amateur and professional operators in the fields of wireless telegraphy and radio. His mentoring was so well known that even today, Radio Amateurs who mentor novices in getting their “Ham” licenses are commonly called, “Elmers.” His book, “Practical Wireless Telegraphy”, was published from 1917 to 1920 and covered everything from batteries and magnets to setting up and operating a complete wireless station. In his own words, “…The author has endeavored to give the non-technical student and the practical telegraphist an understanding of the functioning of present day commercial wireless telegraph apparatus…” This very effective wave trap, notch filter, or “QRM Rejector” is named afterElmer E. Bucher for his mentoring so many people in the field of wireless that his name lives on with experienced radio amateurs “Elmering” radio beginners every day. QRM is radio operator language for man-made interference. The most difficult problem facing crystal radio DXers who live in or near a city is trying to hear weak DX stations while being bombarded by strong local stations. A very effective method of overcoming this problem is to use a rejector trap. This circuit is connected in-series, between your antenna and your radio’s antenna connector. When it is tuned to an interfering A.M. station, it will absorb most of the signal at that frequency and thus allows you to hear the weak stations on either side of this frequency.  Several of these circuits can be connected together in-series if necessary to reject several strong stations. The Bucher Crystal Radio QRM Rejector works on the A.M. Broadcast Band from about 500 KHZ to over 1700 KHZ. It works very well when used with Short Wave crystal sets and one tube radios that are being “jammed’ by a strong local A.M. station. Building this QRM Rejector is accomplished using simple assembly techniques and high quality parts. The air variable capacitor is the same fine American-made unit that we use on our Armstrong One Tube Radio Kits, Dunwoody High Performance Crystal Radio Kits, and Morgan Crystal Radio Antenna Tuners. This kit is based on our ELECTRONICS HANDBOOK Magazine article, "How To Build A Rejector (QRM) Circuit", reprints of which are available in our "Literature" Link. This is an improved version of that QRM Rejector. Amazing results can be expected with this QRM Rejector. It has been used successfully used with our Dunwoody High Performance Crystal Radio and with our Armstrong One Tube Radio. It also works well with our Cornell WW-II Foxhole Radio and our Pickard Crystal Radio.  One customer says, “I am very impressed with how narrow this thing tunes and how it almost completely eliminates a very powerful nearby station.”  Highest quality parts are used throughout. The pre-drilled routed baseboard is made for us by TOLEWOOD.COM from clear furniture grade pine that can be stained for an attractive vintage look. The pre-punched coil form is made from the same heavy cardboard shipping tube as our Armstrong One Tube Radio. A quality black Bakelite knob contributes to the vintage appearance. Nickel-plated brass fahnestock clips are used for the input and output connections. All parts, screws, and wire are included in this fine quality kit. The easy-to-understand instructions were designed for beginners, however the coil winding is at a level of difficulty for more experienced builders. Soldering is required.  The use of Super Glue is also required.   (Customer supplies gel-type super glue because this product doesn't store well and must be fresh in order to work properly)

Complete kit including all parts and easy to follow instructions:

$34.95 each
These great kits are now available for immediate shipping!

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THE DUNWOODY HIGH PERFORMANCE CRYSTAL RADIO KIT!!

BUILD A DUNWOODY HIGH PERFORMANCE CRYSTAL RADIO!!
  U.S. Army Signal Corps General Henry H. C. Dunwoody received a patent for the carborundum crystal detector in 1906. This work paved the way for later crystal detector inventions. This fine crystal set kit was named after General Dunwoody for his contribution to the science of radio and electronics. The circuit is based on a very selective and sensitive design that has been used since the very early wireless days. It employs an antenna/ground tuning capacitor to fine tune the input to the parallel tank tuning circuit for optimum selectivity and signal level. The air variable capacitor tuned parallel tank circuit is then adjusted to resonate at the desired frequency. The combination of these two air variable capacitor tuned circuits makes this set perform far and away better than regular single-tuned, or slider-tuned crystal sets. The air variable capacitors are the same fine American-made units that we use on our Armstrong One Tube Radio Kits. This kit is based on our ELECTRONICS HANDBOOK Magazine article, "Build A High Performance Crystal Set", reprints of which are available in our "Literature" Link. This  is an improved version of that radio. The tapped coil circuit allows selection of frequencies from below the bottom of the A.M. Broadcast Band all the way up to about 12 MHZ in the Short Wave bands. It is common to be able to hear real DX from short wave broadcast stations thousands of miles away when conditions are right. It is a real thrill to hear the BBC London, Radio Netherlands, Radio Taiwan, and others on a CRYSTAL SET!  The performance on the AM Broadcast Band is also exceptional. It is possible to hear AM stations hundreds of miles away when conditions are good.  One inovation in this circuit is the Detector Tap Cliplead. This feature allow you to select the point on the coil where the signal level is highest for the crystal detector. This point varies with the frequency to which the set is tuned. Most crystal sets have a fixed detector connection that does not allow for this performance enhancing feature.  Highest quality parts are used throughout. The pre-drilled routed base board is made for us by TOLEWOOD.COM from clear furniture grade pine that can be stained for an attractive vintage look. The pre-punched coil form is made from heavy cardboard shipping tubing like our other sets.  Quality black bakelite tuning knobs contribute to the vintage appearance. The 1N34A Germanium crystal detector is hand selected and tested for greatest sensitivity. The use of Detector Fahnestock clips allows the use of external detector stands. Enough room has been designed into the detector area to allow installation of a detector stand on the board in place of the germanium diode, if so desired. We sell vintage detector stands in our "Detectors" Link on this web site. Nickel plated brass fahnestock clips are used for all connections. All parts, screws, washers, sandpaper, and wire are included in this fine quality kit. The easy-to-understand instructions were designed for beginners, however the coil winding is at a level of difficulty for adults or more experienced young builders. Soldering is required. This set requires a high impedance magnetic headset or ceramic earphone available on the "Headsets, Earphones...."  link on this website. This radio also performs exceptionally well with the Radio Shack Speaker Amplifier we sell for $18.99.  The Radio Shack Speaker Amplifier requires an adapter cable we sell for $4.95. An outside antenna is necessary for optimum performance. An outside antenna kit is available from us for $24.95.

Complete kit including all parts and easy to follow instructions:
  $54.95 each
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ARMSTRONG ONE TUBE RADIO SPECIAL PARTS KIT!!