Topic: GECoPHONE

[Anne E.B.]

Look what I've got  I must admit I didn't have a clue what it was when I bought it, but it looked really interesting.  The seller didn't either, having found it in an attic.

Its a GECoPHONE Crystal Detector Set - an early wireless.  There's a BBC stamp and P.O. Reg.No. 102 on the front of the box.  I just love the box - its dove-tailed.  They knew how to make things in those days - 1923!!!!!

I found this fantastic website created by an enthusiast, where there's a really good explanation of the contraption and how it works.  Mine has a spare crystal, and as you can see, an instruction sheet.  It would have head headphones originally.
http://earlywireless.com/gecophone_no1_picinfo.htm

Apologies for the bad pic. the details are rather compressed, but its identical to the one shown in the link.

[Anne]

Wow! Anne that's fabulous!!! And it looks in good nick too... have you tried it to see if you can pick up anything?

It reminds me of when my lad was small and we bought him a science kit to make a crystal radio - which he painstakingly did, then took it up the garden to see if he could get a signal from anywhere attaching it to the garden wire fence which was to act as the aerial - in those days it was chicken wire between us and our neighbour! He stuffed the earpiece in his ear and twiddled things, then there was a huge shout of "Mummy! I can hear voices!" - he'd managed to pick up a radio station on his little crystal set which was unbelievably exciting for him (and us!)

Now we listen over the internet... much simpler but not as much fun perhaps! 

[antiquerose123]

Very good -- and did you get a great deal too? That's really neat!!

[Anne E.B.]

Science kits are wonderful - not just for kids, but adults too!  That must have been an exciting experience. 

My OH remembers his family having an old fashioned radio in the 1950s.  They didn't yet have electricity, so their radio had heavy accumulator batteries which they had to take once a week  to a local garage to be charged up overnight. 

I don't know whether the Gecophone works or not.  It should have headphones.  I'm not going to attempt getting it to do something, but will wait for my daughter to check it over. She's visiting in a couple of weeks and she can't wait to get her hands on it.  I expect I'll give it to her.  She's a broadcast engineer at the BBC, which is quite a coincidence, and I know some of her colleagues would like to have a look at it too. 

It was quite a bargain Rose .  They seem to sell for a fair old bit, so if my daughter keeps it, it might increase in value over the years.