What Happened to Cat’s-Whisker Detectors? The Crystal Contact Behind Battery-Free Early Radios
895 views · Sep 30, 2026 · People & Blogs
Comments · 4
@craxd1 · 6 hours ago (edited)
Does anyone remember building a crystal set as a kid? I did when I was about ten, and that led me into the electronics field I pursued.<br><br>You should do one on the old copper oxide diodes. You'll find these in the oldest tube testers, and they're important. I have the original book by the man who invented them in 1920.
2
Up next

What Happened to Ferrite Rod Antennas? The Antenna That Never Stopped Listening
Circuit Relics · 2.2K views

What Happened to Neon Indicator Lamps? The Tiny Orange Lights That LEDs Pushed Aside
Circuit Relics and The American Shoe Archive · 13K views

What Happened to CRT Deflection Yokes? The Copper Coils That Steered Every Television Picture
Circuit Relics · 1.6K views

What Happened to Tube Sockets? The Ceramic Bases Every Vacuum Tube Needed
Circuit Relics · 80 views

What Happened to Carbon Microphones? The Granules Inside American Telephones for Decades
Circuit Relics · 6.2K views

What Happened to Ballast Tubes? The Strange Glass Resistors That Regulated Early Radio Power
Circuit Relics · 3.2K views

Israel Brought Millions of Fish to the Desert and Left Them for Months — The Result Was Crazy
Ambrose Wild and Ambrose Discovery · 40K views

What Happened to Mercury-Wetted Relays? The Precision Switch Engineers Once Loved
Circuit Relics and The American Shoe Archive · 11K views

Japanese Engineers Tore Down a Chinese Engine — What They Found Shocked Them
Forever Engine and 2 more · 153K views

Trump Falls Asleep on Live TV, Tells the Truth for First Time & Our Favorite Foxtrotter Guillermo!
Jimmy Kimmel Live · 2.8M views

What Happened to Selenium Photocells? The Sensor That Let Light Meters Work Without Batteries
Circuit Relics · 4.5K views

What Happened to CRT Degaussing Coils? The Hidden Copper Loops That Kept Color TVs Looking Right
Circuit Relics · 6.3K views

What Happened to Field-Coil Speakers? The Loudspeakers That Needed an Electromagnet
Circuit Relics and 2 more · 40K views

What Happened to Car Radio Vibrators? The Mechanical Part That Powered Tube Radios
Circuit Relics and 3 more · 58K views

What Happened to Mechanical TV Tuners? The Clicking Channel Selector America Remembers
Circuit Relics · 4K views

What Happened to Magic Eye Tubes? The Green Glow That Helped America Tune the Radio
Circuit Relics and 3 more · 25K views

What Happened to IF Transformers? The Little Metal Cans That Made AM Radios Work
Circuit Relics and Vintage Electronics Archive · 13K views

INSANE WATER VEHICLES THAT WILL DASH YOU!
Eagle Tech · 28 views

America's New Train Is Faster Than a Plane
Hidden Globe and 4 more · 3.9K views

What Happened to Can Capacitors? The Aluminum Cylinders Inside Old Tube Radios
Circuit Relics and 4 more · 29K views

What Happened to Carbon Composition Resistors? The Tiny Parts Once Packed Inside Radios and TVs
Circuit Relics · 12K views

These New Robots From China Look Almost 100% Human
Prime Insights · 1K views

Trump’s TV Network FLOPS, Panicking Republicans Spew NONSENSE & Guillermo Dances His Heart Out!
Jimmy Kimmel Live · 5.3M views

What Happened to Tuning Capacitors? The Moving Metal Plates That Found the Station
Circuit Relics and 3 more · 45K views

China is already building THESE? Will SMRs make our solar plants useless?
Andreas Schmitz (Der Akku Doktor) · 82K views

Oktoberfest: 12 Stunden zwischen Anstich, Notfall und Maßkrug-Stress | Abendschau Reportage | BR24
BR24 · 1.3M views