Antenna-
1) Is it long enough? It
should be at least 50 feet or so. If
it’s only 40 feet, don’t worry try it anyway. It will probably be OK.
2) Is it high enough? Should be up as high
as you can get, but be safe. Don’t
get near
electrical lines etc. Min. would be 8 or 10 feet and still work. I’ve
even seen
them thrown out the window and just hanging there and work. It will
depend on
how close and strong your radio stations are .
3) Make sure your
antenna is not “grounded out”.
That is, no
part of the antenna (bare wire) is touching anything like a fence or
tree. This
will “ground out” the antenna.
Ground-
The other part of
the antenna
system is the ground. This can
be a water pipe or a rod pounded in the ground. If you use a water
pipe, make
sure your water pipes are not PVC which is a plastic. If you pound a
rod in the
ground, it will need to be at least 4 or 5 feet deep. Another ground is
the
screw in the middle of a plug in the wall outlet, but the outlet must
be a
grounded type to work.
Insulation-
1) Did you strip the insulation
off
the ends of the wires
before connecting them?
2) Did you remove the insulation
off
the wires at the “Taps”.
The Taps are where the alligator clip connect on to
the coil?
I know this sounds too simple to
be true, but some of us out
there know nothing about electrical properties so…….we will check.
Connections-
1) Are all your connections
sound?
Metal to metal!!!
2) Are they correct? Check them 3 or 4 times at least.
This is
the most common error and sometimes the
hardest to find!
Coil Windings-
1) Did you wind the right amount
of
winding on the coil?
2) Are they fairly tight to one
another. You can’t “scatter
wind” the coils. One wind neatly along the side of
the
next.
Now for
the real problems. The rest of
the components. That
would be the 1) earphone, 2) the diode, 3) and the resistor.
The
“Earphone"-
Here
the most
common mistake is to take an earphone from
Radio Shack or a set of headphones or “ear buds” from a regular radio
and try
to use them. Without getting into a big technical explanation, you
can’t use
them. It must be a “crystal” earphone. Some times called a “ceramic”
earphone.
They are much more sensitive than stereo earphones or ear buds. You can
test
your earphones buy removing them from the radio and putting the
earphone in
your ear. Next take the two wire ends of the cable coming out of the
earphone
and tap them together a few times. You should hear a “clicking” sound.
This is
how sensitive they are. DO NOT USE A BATTERY TO TEST THEM. This will
mess them
up. I have seen lots of earphones brand new that did not work.
Resistor-
The most common
mistake
here is that you
used too small of a
resistor here. In other words the values of the ristor is less than
47,000 ohms
(47k). The resistor bands should be yellow, purple, orange with a gold
or
silver band last. Using a resistor of lesser value will “short out” the
radio
and it will not function. You can also leave out the resistor and it
will work,
just not as good.
Diode- (most look like
they are
made from glass, with one black band)
This is almost
impossible
for a beginner to
check without a
meter of some kind. If you have a meter that reads “continuity”, then
put the
diode on it and it should read in one direction, but if the diode is
turned
around it will not read. If you don’t have a meter all you can do is
try and
replace it.
Second most common
mistake with the diode
is… It has to be a
germanium diode to work. A silicon diode used in power configurations
will not
work (well, not very well).
This radio has
been made by hundreds of people and it has
worked. Sometimes after a mistake is found, but it will work.
I hate to say
this, but maybe you don’t have a radio station
close buy. If you are in the middle of farm country and no station are
near you
(more than 100 miles) you might not be able to pick up any thing with
this set.
99.999% of the time this is not the case.
If you are still
having problems, email me. Maybe I have a
part or so that you can have and try……or ask questions at “Tap N Tap”
at http://www.midnightscience.com/rapntap/
They
have a beginner’s forum that is great!! |
