Cache Lake Country

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For a cup to hold our detector crystal we used one of the Chief's .3855 caliber rifle shells cutting it off about one-half inch from the cap end so that we could screw it to the top of the coil. Matter of fact you could use the end of a 28-gauge shotgun shelf or even one of those little cups they use on brass curtain rods.

For a cat whisker you take about two inches of fine steel wire sharpened to a point at one end where it touches the crystal, which should be a little lump of galena or silicon or even iron pyrite. I have heard that you can use a couple of razor blades set in slots in a block of wood, with a fine wire resting on the edges for a detector. Some fellows say a small piece of coal will do, but I don't put much reliance on such detectors.

The best detector of all is one of the small fixed crystals that you can buy in any radio store. When our earphones arrived, tucked in with them was a fine fixed crystal and I can tell you we didn't lose much time putting it in place. It has a small tip o n one end, so we set the large end in the holder and made it snug by tamping in tinfoil and then wound the fine bare wire around the tip to make the other connection, for the cat whisker is inside these manufactured detectors.

For a spell it looked as if we would have no antenna, but then I thought of the copper wire I used for deep trolling for lake trout and we stretched a hundred feet of it between two jack pines above the cabin, taking care to insulate the ends. From one end we brought an insulated lead wire through the window to our receiver. We also took some bare wire through the window and buried it in a damp place below the eaves for a ground connection.

For insulators on our aerial we used pieces of broken syrup bottles, but if you have no glass you can take a well-seasoned piece of hardwood, such as the end of a broomstick, about six inches long, drill holes about an inch from each end, and boil it in candle wax to keep out moisture.

I never will forget that evening when at last we had everything ready and I put on the earphones and listened for the new government station that has been built in the woods about twenty-five miles from us to cover the north country. At first I didn't hear anything so I changed the little switch blades and moved the condenser slider and all of a sudden I heard a girl singing Annie Laurie, clear and sweet!

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One of the little problems of living in the woods in winter is coming home and having to get a fire going and wait for a meal to cook when you are hungry enough to chew rawhide. Well, I've got that one beaten, for I made myself a fireless cooker and now when I am away for a day I come back to a hot meal ready for me the minute I step in the door.

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