Things look better

If viewed in the right light, everything can seem better. One such light is that bright late-afternoon sun that streams in through the windows and gently warms the belly of a tired engineer lounging on his couch.

Yay seasonal happiness!

Something else that is as reliable as nice weather in summer is the happiness of a child. I made a kit of this simple crystal radio for a friend's nephew. Made of coils of wire on the plastic case that once held a stack of blank CD-R discs, it's almost magical in an age of hyper-dense electronics. I think it's amazing that such a simple arrangement of parts works well enough to be useful as an AM radio. This design is more sensitive than selective, but that can be affected by different arrangements of the components. One of the nice things about "passive" circuits like this is that there is no harm done by hooking it up wrong.

With a proper antenna and relative proximity of the transmitter, FM may also be received by "passive" means, albeit very weakly.