exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Hi all,

My good lady has recently expressed her interest in building a crystal radio for herself, preferably following a proven design (as, by her own admission, she has basically no electronics skills or background)

So, on the off-chance that someone knows of a kit or design (e.g. from an old magazine or similar) I thought I'd ask here before spending too much time searching through fake AI results ;)

Any guidance would be most welcome

TIA

For a beginner, I'd suggest a cheap electronics kit...

So further to my PM, this sort of thing is great for a beginner:


And this also has instructions and talks about the circuit a little:


This is my own 150 in 1 kit.

They are great kits if a little expensive, but this one isn't bad: 60 in 1 electronic project kit

One thing though if you do look for something like this, make sure it has the manual. the wires and earphone can easily be replaced but the manual is much harder to find

rubber_jonnie wrote: 05 Feb 2026 10:04 They are great kits if a little expensive, but this one isn't bad: [url=https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286952103471?

I had that exact same one :) The antenna melted on mine mysteriously :)

I had a smaller brown PCB version, can't find any images of it though on the internet.

exxos wrote: 05 Feb 2026 10:19

rubber_jonnie wrote: 05 Feb 2026 10:04 They are great kits if a little expensive, but this one isn't bad: [url=https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286952103471?

I had that exact same one :) The antenna melted on mine mysteriously :)

I had a smaller brown PCB version, can't find any images of it though on the internet.

I just noticed the earpiece is missing from my set so I need to find one.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 05 Feb 2026 11:00 I just noticed the earpiece is missing from my set so I need to find one.

It's a shame I chucked away a near new 160 in one kit last year :roll:

I'm sure you can find the part on aliexpress or similar, probably get 10 for a quid these days :lol:

exxos wrote: 05 Feb 2026 11:03

rubber_jonnie wrote: 05 Feb 2026 11:00 I just noticed the earpiece is missing from my set so I need to find one.

It's a shame I chucked away a near new 160 in one kit last year :roll:

I'm sure you can find the part on aliexpress or similar, probably get 10 for a quid these days :lol:

I may have one in a box under my desk, will look in a bit.