step 1 _____. Start by punching a hole for the wire one inch from the top of the box, anywhere on the side. Thread a foot or so of wire, off the spool, into the hole from the outside.

step 2 _____. Wind forty turns onto the box. I wind the turns onto the box by holding it between my knees and then winding the wire off the spool around the box. Make sure the turns stay snug, side by side. Every five turns, twist an eyelet in the wire -- strip off the plastic coating on the eyelets, but don't cut the wire -- as shown in Figure 2. Then continue winding. It may help to add masking tape as you go to hold the wire in place.

step 3 _____. At forty turns, cut off two feet of wire or so, poke another hole in the oat box right where the coil has ended, and thread the remaining wire through the hole to the inside. Keep the coil wire taught, and use tape again if need be to hold it in place.

step 4 _____. Punch another hole near the bottom of the box and thread the remaining wire out again. Trim the remaining wire to a foot or so. This will be your 'ground' terminal. Now you'll solder together the diode, resistor, and earplug. These will form the 'detector assembly.'

step 5a _____. Make the detector assembly. I am assuming that you'll use the earplug since 2,000 ohm headphones are hard to find. So move on to step 5b. However, if you do find or have a old set of headphones, go ahead and use them. In this case, wire the detector assembly as shown in Figure 2 and move to step 6.

step 5b ____. Start the alternate detector assembly, shown in Figure 3. If the earplug you purchased (or will buy) came with a mini-plug attached, just cut if off and then strip and tin the wire leads. By tinning, we mean apply a bit of solder to the bare wires. This will make soldering to these leads easier in the following steps.

step 5c ____. Solder the 47,000 ohm resistor across the leads of the earplug.

step 5d ____. Solder a 1N34 diode (or equivalent) in series with one of the leads of the earplug. That completes your 'detector assembly.' Don't use a 1N914 silicon diode; it requires too strong a signal from your radio station. If you can't obtain a 1N34, ask your parts store clerk for a germanium diode; any of them will do nicely.

step 6 _____. Solder one end of the detector assembly to the ground wire coming out of the bottom of your oat box.

step 7 _____. Solder the other end of the assembly, to the eyelet that is half-way down the oat box coil. You can move this connection later if need be.

step 8 _____. String 75 feet of antenna wire out a window and tie it to a tree, post, or whatever. Please be careful to avoid any electrical lines! Don't string an antenna above or below any electrical lines. It's your responsibility to avoid electrical shock.

step 9 _____. Attach the other end of the antenna to the lead coming out of the top of your oat box.

step 10 ____. Attach the ground wire from the coil, with another piece of wire, to a cold water pipe or good electrical ground. A water outlet works fine. If you use an electrical ground, please be careful! If you have any questions about safety at all, ask an electrician.

step 11 ____. You are ready to listen. Give it a try. If the set is wired correctly and you have strong AM stations nearby, you should hear one or more stations!

step 12 ____. If you don't hear anything, check your wiring. Check the parts; are they the correct ones? Did you use a high impedance earplug, not an 8-ohm stereo or pocket transistor type? Is you connection to the water outlet good -- did you remove the plastic insulation and wrap a couple of snug turns onto the outlet? Is your antenna connected?

step 13 ____. If you can hear a station, it's time to optimize the set a bit. Try moving the detector to another eyelet on the coil, and try moving your antenna to another eyelet too. Experiment! By moving the antenna and detector connections, you'll optimize your set. Good luck and have fun!"