How to Build a Simple Radio Receiver

Radio receivers are simple to build.

Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic waves that are in the air all around us. By creating a radio receiver and being within the proximity of these waves, you can detect and interpret them as sound. Simple radio receivers are easy to make out of household items and are a favorite at-home experiment.

Things You'll Need

• Earphones
• Wire cutters
• Wire stripper
• Germanium diode
• Electrical tape
• Copper pipe

Instructions

1. Cut off the jack of the headphones (the side that is not the ear plugs).

2. Separate the wires and strip about two inches of insulation from the cut end of each, by cutting through the insulation with a wire stripper and pulling it off the copper inside. Look at the cut end to see how much of the wire is insulation and how much is copper.

3. Wrap one of the wires around a wire on the germanium diode and affix it with tape. Tape the other germanium diode wire to your copper pipe.

4. Listen to your ear plugs to see if you are picking up an AM signal. You may hear static (which is common on AM frequencies) or a station broadcast.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do not initially pick up a signal, tape the extra headphone wire to a bigger piece of metal.

References

• Sci Toys: Radio

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish