The rocket didn't fit easily into a shirt pocket, whereas mine did.

Mine was not squarish, like most, but rectangular and used permeability tuning. If I could find one today, it would complete my personal radio collection.

I see them some times at sales etc etc ,,But I think the Crystals would be dead ??? Do they last ?? I dont think they do ...Like cartridges

But I think the Crystals would be dead ???

Those Japanese crystal sets used germanium diodes, not the "cat's whisker" crystals of old. And those old crystals were metallic, not salt like gramophone cartridges which do fall apart with age.

Not much can go wrong with those Japanese crystal sets, apart from broken wires.

Yep here they are ....

http://www.esnarf.com/rs1.htm

End of 2CH? They can shove their sports where the sun don't shine.

Guess I'll stick with 2UE then.

Radio reception here is not great. I listen to 2CH via the Internet fed into an AM transmitter.
I have not noticed any difference in the formatt or the announcers I think this is what you all are saying here . The standard 2CH AM transmission has changed but the internet is still transmitting the old formatt is this correct ?
I don't know how you are able to listen to it down there in Albury Pete. You must have a pretty special receiver.

Secondly I have been following you comments on crystal sets. The ones I made as a Kid with a lump of germanium always required a huge antenna and a solid earth connection to the old galvanised water pipe. How are these ones portable ? The other issue was selectivity back in those days originally we only had radio station 2WL later on 2WN the ABC station came along and selectivity became an issue . These ones you are talking about must be more complex than a tunning capacitor and a coil and a cats whisker detector and High impedance headphones.
Regards Jim.

Hi Jim ,,
It would of been in 1975 -1976 and I was 5 and 6 then , I dont think its Crystals , The link says they are germanium diodes. I cant Remember what the Reception was like ,,Too long ago now .. Black in the in the Black and white Era ,,

Pete

How are these ones portable ?

A crystal set has a very simple circuit and can use small components:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio#/media/File:Common_crystal_radio_circuit.svg

The standard 2CH AM transmission has changed but the internet is still transmitting the old format is this correct ?

Right now, 2CH AM is still on air. From that article, I really can't work out what the hell they are supposedly doing and when.

It would of been in 1975 -1976 and I was 5 and 6 then , I don't think its Crystals

As I mentioned earlier, crystals were used in the first such sets. By the 1950s, if not earlier, germanium diodes were used. The name crystal set (in the sense of the most basic set) stuck.

I did also build some simple ones with the Germaniumm diode but they still required a good antenna and a good earth.
Is that still the case with the ones that are being referred to here ?
Regards Jim.

The ones for sale in the link above are NOS apparently......from the 60s and 50s.
I wouldn't pay a 100 bucks for one though.
As a kid they are a great device,fits in the pocket and keeps the mind wondering how it works . I will keep an eye out for a nice set to buy ,It would look good next to my 1958 little transistor Radio , which looks more like a walkie talkie......
Pete

I did also build some simple ones with the Germanium diode but they still required a good antenna and a good earth.
Is that still the case with the ones that are being referred to here ?

A crystal set has no power supply and therefore no amplification. It relies on sheer signal strength to power the high impedance earphone, hence the need for a good antenna and a powerful signal in the first place.

Germanium semiconductors preceded silicon. In crystal sets they had the advantage of a lower voltage drop across them than silicon (~0.3V as opposed to ~0.6V).

These day small signal diodes are used, such as: https://www.jaycar.com.au/bat46-bat48-schottky-diode-do35g/p/ZR1141

I certainly don't remember the circuit used (I imagine they are mostly identical) but when I was in the cub scouts we had a crystal radio making competition. I think there were just breadboards, a germanium diode, a hand-wound coil on a glad wrap roll and a crystal earpiece, oh.... and a baby tuning gang. I remember the volume being surprisingly good but of course there wasn't enough juice to drive a loudspeaker.

Didn't take long to get OT, as usual.

My first radio was a Tandy crystal set, to which I added a stage (or two?) of amplification, using such oldies as 2SA52 and 2SB56.

Worked very well, and I could listen to 3NE at night on 1600 as it was then. One evening the entire band was swamped with Radio Australia, which I had never heard of. Nobody said crystal sets were particularly selective.

Eventually a school teacher gave me my first valve radio (featured elsewhere in this forum) and the crystal set went into retirement.