Seventy years ago this month, the February 1951 issue of Boys’ Life magazine showed how to put together this simple “non-crystal crystal set”. Regular readers will recognize it was the venerable “foxhole radio,” which used a razor blade and pencil lead for the detector.

The coil is wound on a flat piece of wood, measuring 4 by 2 inches and a quarter inch thick. Paper clips are used for many of the components, such as the slider and connectors.

For ideas on sourcing some of the parts, see our crystal set parts page.