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Step 5The Circuit
THIS IS THE HARDEST PART!!
CAUTION
THE SOLDERING IRON IS SO HOT SO BE CAREFUL~
we will attach the Germanium diode to the wire at the bottom of the bottle. It is best to solder this connection, although you can also just twist the wires together and tape them, or you can use aligator jumpers (Radio Shack part number 278-1156) if you are really in a hurry.
Cut one end off of the handset cord to remove one of the modular telephone connectors. There will be four wires inside. If you are lucky, they will be color coded, and we will use the yellow and black wires. If you are not lucky, the wires will be all one color, or one will be red and the others will be white. To find the right wires, first strip off the insulation from the last half inch of each wire. Then take a battery such as a C, D, or AA cell, and touch the wires to the battery terminals (one wire to plus and another to minus) until you hear a clicking sound in the handset earphone. When you hear the click, the two wires touching the battery are the two that go to the earphone, and these are the ones we want.
The 'wires' in the handset cord are usually fragile copper foil wrapped around some plastic threads. This foil breaks easily, sometimes invisibly, while the plastic threads hold the parts together making it look like there is still a connection. I recommend carefully soldering the handset wires to some sturdier wire, then taping the connection so nothing pulls hard on the copper foil.
Attach one handset wire to the free end of the Germanium diode. Solder it if you can.
you can try a soldering iron powered by 12V
Attach the other wire to the wire from the top of the bottle. Soldering this connection is a good idea, but it is not necessary.
Now clip an alligator jumper to the antenna. Clip the other end to one of the taps on the coil.
Clip another alligator lead to the wire coming from the top of the bottle. This is our 'ground' wire, and should be connected to a cold water pipe or some other metal object or wire that has a good connection to the earth.
CAUTION
THE SOLDERING IRON IS SO HOT SO BE CAREFUL~
we will attach the Germanium diode to the wire at the bottom of the bottle. It is best to solder this connection, although you can also just twist the wires together and tape them, or you can use aligator jumpers (Radio Shack part number 278-1156) if you are really in a hurry.
Cut one end off of the handset cord to remove one of the modular telephone connectors. There will be four wires inside. If you are lucky, they will be color coded, and we will use the yellow and black wires. If you are not lucky, the wires will be all one color, or one will be red and the others will be white. To find the right wires, first strip off the insulation from the last half inch of each wire. Then take a battery such as a C, D, or AA cell, and touch the wires to the battery terminals (one wire to plus and another to minus) until you hear a clicking sound in the handset earphone. When you hear the click, the two wires touching the battery are the two that go to the earphone, and these are the ones we want.
The 'wires' in the handset cord are usually fragile copper foil wrapped around some plastic threads. This foil breaks easily, sometimes invisibly, while the plastic threads hold the parts together making it look like there is still a connection. I recommend carefully soldering the handset wires to some sturdier wire, then taping the connection so nothing pulls hard on the copper foil.
Attach one handset wire to the free end of the Germanium diode. Solder it if you can.
you can try a soldering iron powered by 12V
Attach the other wire to the wire from the top of the bottle. Soldering this connection is a good idea, but it is not necessary.
Now clip an alligator jumper to the antenna. Clip the other end to one of the taps on the coil.
Clip another alligator lead to the wire coming from the top of the bottle. This is our 'ground' wire, and should be connected to a cold water pipe or some other metal object or wire that has a good connection to the earth.
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