[geeks] While on the subject of weirdness

[James Fogg]

> I got a real puzzler, and the only lead I had was a HAM's (Nyle
> Steiner) web site, but haven't heard anything back from him
> so I'm assumed he has changed email. In the meantime, I've
> contacted many radio geeks, electronic wizs etc. I figured
> I'd give it a shot on the Geeks list, with all the
> electronics posts we've had recently.
>
> In short, I'm getting radio reception out of a little puddle
> of salty water, a copper wire and a piece of aluminium. But
> there is much more to the story.

 It sounds like you have an accidental diode detector. Add an LC network
or Pi network and you might be able to tune to specific frequencies. The
rocket science website describes the accident that led to their
discovery, how did you stumble upon it?

With an AM signal generator and an oscilloscope you might be able to
determine if you have a diode detector. In my youth (30 years ago - my
god!) I played with crystal and cat's whisker detectors and learned some
surprising things will detect. A ham friend of mine who used to operate
at legal maximum (1500 watts) using AM told me his neighbor complained
that their toaster used to detect his signal and they had a "talking
toaster". There have also been documented cases of dental fillings
detecting and the person hearing the audio signal (there was a TV show
called the Partridge Family that had an episode about this).

The presence of AL and CU in a brine could do several things, but a
chemist would know. Some things I'd look for are galvanic action,
oxidation (an easy semiconductor source for a diode) and possibly a
electro-chem reaction that makes a battery (two dissimilar metals in
acid will do this, maybe the brine in contact with one of the metals
changes the PH).

Could you perhaps diagram everything needed to reproduce your "circuit".
I think I might be getting the old radio bug back. It might be time for
me to play again.