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"Peebles
Originals" PO-101 Crystal Radio Kit |
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This is a clone of the Mike Peebles
PO-101 crystal set, assembled in September of 2022. |
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The kit was made by Victor Rodriguez. |
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The panels were laser cut, and the coil
forms were made on a milling machine, which is an
improvement over the original kit. |
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Rear view. The set uses "spider web"
coils with variable coupling between them. |
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This is one of the coolest looking crystal set
kits ever made! |
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The first time I used it, it exploded!!
It blew right off the table! |
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(See the link below labeled "Video Part 4.") |
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| This is the original PO-101 kit that
Vic cloned, purchased from ebay. The kit is old, possibly from the 1990s. Mike Peebles stopped using plywood for the panels years ago
because they splintered, and he switched to Masonite panels. |
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| The clone of the kit. Vic put
as much time into this (if not more) as Mike Peebles would have. |
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Hand cut coil forms made by Mike Peebles. |
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Peebles' coil form reproductions
made
with a computer controlled milling machine.
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If Mike were still with us he would
appreciate the milling machine. It looks like it took quite some
time to make a coil form by hand. |
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Under construction, showing the clean
layout of the set. |
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ANTENNA TUNER |
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| "Peebles Originals" PO-103
antenna tuner. |
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Same construction style as the PO-101
crystal set. It has the same base and front panel. |
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| This is an excellent wave trap and
antenna tuner, but the two-pole switch in the instructions
doesn't match the switch that came with the kit. This is
easily remedied by using an ohmmeter to find which
switchpoints go to which poles. (Link to instructions is
below.) |
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| The "Peebles Originals"
PO-103 antenna tuner and PO-101 crystal set. |
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The Peebles PO-101
works well, but with my (crappy) antenna, at my location
(about 15 miles north of Philadelphia, PA) it only picked up
one station on the AM band, KWY 1060. However, it picked it up VERY
WELL and it was very loud in the headphones.
With the addition of the PO-103 antenna tuner I was able to
null the strong local station and receive several stations
that were "hiding" under the local. The selectivity was very
good. I was able to receive some shortwave stations without
the antenna tuner, though the antenna tuner helped. The
shortwave stations are only able to be heard around sunset
or late at night. |
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| LINKS |
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PO-101
AM/SW Crystal Radio Kit
Instruction Manual |
PO-103
Trap/Antenna Tuner
Instruction Manual |
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Video Part 1. Examining the kit. |
Video Part 2. Making the coils. |
Video Part 3. Building the kit. |
Video Part 4. Testing the radio. |
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| As of October 2023, the "Peoples
Originals" website is still active and plans for the various
Peebles kits can be downloaded. Click on the logo above to
go to the site. |
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NEXT, some thoughts on the antenna tuner
switch. |
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