Allison's Radio

Hi Friends,

Every year at the Tompkins County Amateur Radio Club's hamfest at Trumansburg, the guys from the Ithaca Sciencenter offer to help kids build crystal sets that they can take home. The volunteers have at least as much fun helping and educating as the kids building the sets. I closed up my little hamfest display of crystal sets and joined the group helping the young people build their radios. I offered to help and I was assigned to help Allison build her set.

Allison did all the soldering, and she did an expert job too. There aren't too many kids that can solder before going into the 4th grade. I wound the coil while Allison counted the turns and glued the wires to the coil form. We used a completed radio to figure out how to wire her radio. After a minor adjustment, the local station came in just as well as the other kids radios.

The top picture shows Allison proudly holding her radio while listening to it. The center picture shows a better view of the radio she built. The bottom photo is me observing the radio during the test period. We all had a great time!

Carl, KB2KDV, the group leader, tells me that the annual build at the Tompkins County ARC fest is a part of our "Radio Days" children's workshops on radio science and technology at the Ithaca Sciencenter, a collaboration between the Ithaca Sciencenter, and Tompkins County Amateur Radio Club and Cornell University.

Folks interested in participating in these Saturday morning programs held several times a year can contact the Sciencenter at 607-272-0600 ext 23, to sign up with Shannon McSurely.

Here is link to a past Radio Days build.

Dave