Swapmeet Find

Every once and a while over the years I've picked an item at a swapmeet just because it was interesting and if it could talk would have a story to share.

Here's one. I don't remember when or where I got it but probably at a central Texas swapmeet a few years ago. Some one on a budget wanted to get into ham radio. The local trash heap contributed an old crystal set complete with loose coupler. The tuning coil was rewound as the antenna transformer primary. Some tuning was allowed by striping off insulation in a few places. The loose coupler became the antenna coil and allowed variable coupling. I found a section of the Sunday comics shoved into the loose coupler to keep it in place..date1930. Two of the holes on the board next to the spark coil match the mounting holes for a Bunnell telegraph key.