2000 Crystal Set Competition

Judged 19 March 2000 at Maleny

Crystal sets ready for judging
The crystal sets ready for judging
Crystal sets on display tables
More shots of the display tables
More shots of the display tables
More shots of the display tables

The Judges

The judges tuning in to a local radio station to test reception
The judges tuning in to the local radio station to test reception
The judges test the crystal sets for performance, frequency etc
The judges test the crystal sets for performance, frequency etc.

The Winners - Best Performance Crystal Set

Best Performing set winners
Matthew Weatherley (2nd) - Brian Reid (1st) - Ray Creighton (3rd)

First prize went to Brian Reid's Super Deluxe set

Brian Reid's Super Deluxe set
1st Prize - Brian Reid - The Super Deluxe set
The Super Deluxe set - inside

The Winners - Best Reproduction Crystal Set

The winners of the Best Reproduction Crystal set category
Brian Reid (2nd) - Ray Creighton (1st) - Frank Sinko (3rd)
The winning entry was Ray Creighton's Mystery Crystal Set
First prize - Ray Creighton - the Mystery crystal set
The Mystery Crystal Set from the back
The Mystery crystal set from the back

Second prize went to Brian Reid's Super Deluxe set

The Super Deluxe set won second place
The Super Deluxe set from the front
Inside shot of the Super Deluxe set
The Super Deluxe set - inside

The Winners - Most Unusual Crystal Set

Kevin Apps (1st) - Rex Newsome (2nd) - Roland Clark (3rd)
First prize went to Kevin Apps
1st Prize - Kevin Apps
Kevin Apps set from the back
Circuit diagram for Kevin Apps set

I had acquired two 30cm diameter circles of blue plastic (the off-cuts from a Mobile Service Station sign) and thought they could form the basis for a crystal set that looked like a pot of colorful flowers?

Believing that the larger the coils the better the Q would be I decided to use the two 30cm diameter.

Coils in a band-pass circuit, the amount of coupling between the two coils being adjusted by altering the distance between the two and the antenna being connected to a separate coil wound below the first tuned circuit.

L1 has 20 turns of colourful hook-up wire with antenna coupling coil of 3 turns of wire tapped each turn on the inside of L1. L2 has 20 turns of different colour hook-up wire with detector tap at 15 turns.

The two-gang tuning capacitor had trimmers attached, which were adjusted for tracking at the HF end of the band.

The finished Crystal Set did not look much like a pot of flowers but definitely unusual!!

There was a category for the most unusual crystal set
Rex Newsome was awarded Second Prize.
The coils are wound with fencing barb wire and mounted on a dunny seat!
Rex Newsome's crystal set
Roland Clark was awarded third prize
Roland Clark was awarded Third Prize.
Yes there was whiskey in the bottle inside the coil former!