Radio Shack

Finally fasten a 40-inch length of steel stranded wire to each of the
eyes of the withes on the middle of each of the spreaders, loop the
other end over the thimble and then wrap the end around the wires that
are fixed to the ends of the spreaders. One end of the aerial is shown
complete at B in Fig. 9, and from this you can see exactly how it is
assembled. Now cut off three or four pieces of wire 15 or 20 feet long
and twist and solder each one to one of the aerial wires; then slip
them through the hard rubber tubes in the leading-in spreader, bring
their free ends together as at C and twist and solder them to a length
of wire long enough to reach to your lightning switch or instruments.
Making a Good Ground.–Where you have to make a _ground_ you can do so
either by (1) burying sheets of zinc or copper in the moist earth; (2)
burying a number of wires in the moist earth, or (3) using a
_counterpoise_. To make a ground of the first kind take half a dozen
large sheets of copper or zinc, cut them into strips a foot wide,
solder them all together with other strips and bury them deeply in the
ground.
It is easier to make a wire ground, say of as many or more wires as
you have in your aerial and connect them together with cross wires. To
put such a ground in the earth you will have to use a plow to make the
furrows deep enough to insure them always being moist. In the
counterpoise ground you make up a system of wires exactly like your
aerial, that is, you insulate them just as carefully; then you support
them so that they will be as close to the ground as possible and yet
not touch it or anything else. This and the other two grounds just
described should be placed directly Georgia-alabama Broadcasting, Inc. Wcag-lp under the aerial wire if the best
results are to be had. In using a counterpoise you must bring the wire
from it up to and through another leading-in insulator to your
instruments.
CHAPTER III
SIMPLE TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE RECEIVING SETS
With a crystal detector receiving set you can receive either
telegraphic dots and dashes or telephonic speech and music. You can
buy a receiving set already assembled or you can buy the different
parts and assemble them yourself. An assembled set is less bother in
the beginning but if you like to experiment you can _hook up_, that
is, connect the separate parts together yourself and it is perhaps a
little cheaper to do it this way. Then again, by so doing you get a
lot of valuable experience in wireless work and an understanding of
the workings of wireless that you cannot get in any other way.
Assembled Wireless Receiving Sets.–The cheapest assembled receiving
set [Footnote: The Marvel, made by the Radio Mfg. Co., New York City.]
advertised is one in which the detector and tuning coil is mounted in
a box. It costs $15.00, and can be bought of dealers in electric
supplies generally.
This price also includes a crystal detector, an adjustable tuning
coil, a single telephone receiver with head-band and the wire,
porcelain insulators, lightning switch and ground clamp for the aerial
wire system. It will receive wireless telegraph and telephone messages
over a range of from 10 to 25 miles.
Another cheap unit receptor, that is, a complete wireless receiving
set already mounted which can be used with a single aerial is sold for
$25.00. [Footnote: The Aeriola Jr., made by the Westinghouse Company,
Pittsburgh, Pa.] This set includes a crystal detector, a variable
tuning coil, a fixed condenser and a pair of head telephone receivers.
It can also be used to receive either telegraph or telephone messages
from distances up to 25 miles. The aerial equipment is not included in
this price, but it can be bought for about $2.50 extra.