Almost anyone who has tinkered with electronics has built a crystal radio. I’ve always marveled not only at how amazing these little devices were, but also at the lack of descriptions regarding their inner workings. Descriptions of crystal radios almost invariably use some terminology synonymous with, “The detector changes the back and forth radio wave [...]
After I restored my Crosley 516, I was faced with a new problem: what was I going to use it for? Short wave reception was non-existent with a short wire antenna, and there’s nothing that I particularly care to listen to on AM; what I really wanted to do was listen to some old time [...]
I picked up a Crosley 516 AM/SW radio at a hamfest for $30 last year; electrically it worked fine, but was in terrible cosmetic condition; the wood was chipped and warped in places, it was missing knobs, the grille cloth was completely rotted away, and it had been painted over several times: