The Xtal Set Society

My son is in the Cub Scouts, and I thought it would be fun to build a crystal radio for credit toward one of his badges. (I think the whole Cub Scout badge thing has gotten way out of hand since I was in the scouts, but that’s a post for another day and another blog.)

At first I thought it would be easy to find plans on the internet for a crystal radio we could build from household materials and a couple of components from Radio Shack. As I was surfing around, however, I discovered a local group called The Xtal Set Society out of Lawrence, KS, that produces several crystal radio kits that are very reasonably priced.

While I’m sure I could have put something together myself, I decided to purchase the XS 500 Basic Crystal Radio set. I just received it today and am reviewing the instructions so my son and I can take a crack at it soon.

Electronics have always been an enigma for me, and I’m not sure why. I get the basics… Ohm’s law and all that. I completely understand how the various components function. But then there’s a point where actual circuits come into play, and there’s nothing “circuitous” about them. There are wires and grounds and pieces going every which way!

My hope is that by starting out with this nice little radio set, I can gain more familiarity, and my son can start to learn, too.

My “Rig”

My biggest problem after getting licensed was getting my hands on a radio. I didn’t want something too restrictive, but I didn’t have a lot of extra cash to blow on something that, let’s face it, is pretty much a luxury. It is a hobby, after all.

Everything I read recommended that new hams pick up a decent mobile rig that could at least handle two bands. The rationale, as I understood it, was to get new people onto the air with equipment that offered decent power and didn’t keep them stuck on the 2m band (most of the more inexpensive radios are 2m only). Some folks did recommend handhelds since they’re so portable, but more experienced people seemed to suggest that a handheld may not be powerful enough and may get a newbie frustrated.

My personal thought was that a handheld (commonly called an HT) would be the most convenient since I wouldn’t need a power supply and a separate antenna. I live in the KC metro area, and there are many repeaters I would have access to. Because of that, I figured the relatively low power output of an HT wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Plus, I found quite a few dual- and tri-band options out there in HTs that weren’t all that expensive.

After reading a lot of reviews on eHam.net, and other web sites, I decided to go for the Yaesu VX-3R. There were two main motivations: for one, it’s a dual-band radio (2m and 70cm). Second, I was able to pick one up for around $150.00 which allowed me to get in with very little investment.

So far, I’ve been pretty happy with the little thing—and it is little. I’d say it’s about the size of your average cell phone. In fact, it’s smaller than my iPod Touch, not including the length of the antenna. It’s packed with several features I’ll never use, but for what I’ve done so far, it’s been great. I plan on grabbing a better antenna, since I don’t think the stock antenna is all that great.

I’m sure I’ll get myself a better mobile rig at some point, but for now the VX-3R is doing the job just fine.