Trip Report (?)

Nice, interesting, informative, short report.
Wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but my cousin-in-law would love it. He used to repair old radios with his dad.
I’m trying to get him and his wife to Budapest, maybe 2026.

The museum was shocked that they had a customer. LOL. They made the mistake of asking if I was a senior. Yes, I said. Then they had to figure out the senior price. That took a while. Then the tickets were hand written receipts and 3 of 4 pens didnt work. I love it when you get local like this. The guide that took me to each room was smart, kind and spoke excellent English. I asked her where they found all the old stuff and she smiled and said a lot of it was still being used in the country. https://kozlekedesimuzeum.hu/gallery/884/fill/600x400.png

Another museum not frequented often, that I walked past this afternoon, is in a tower at the Pest End of the Szabadság híd (Liberty Bridge) very near the Great Market Hall. Its called the Vámszedőház múzeum (Customs House Museum). This museum is every bit of 400 sf in size and occupies two floors of the bridge tower. https://iho.hu/storage/32954/5111_XS105112_240524_.jpg Its free and while I would love to say it was worth the 7 minutes, not sure that it was. But sort of an interesting little find overlooked by almost everyone that walks past.

Did they have any of the old Crystal Diode Radio receivers? I think they used Galena crystals and pointed wires but I've heard of others. There was a whole World of Radio that existed before they found a way to amplify (Tubes) signals.

I actually looked for one. But no such luck. I had one as a kid.

Yeah. There used to be "precision" ones in the old labs. But nowadays it was kits (or articles) in the back of magazines.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121645639761?chn=ps&_ul=GB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1SWdgc1UeRFG1iL8kFnBGdg41&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-170020-529119-1&mkcid=2&itemid=121645639761&targetid=325425753764&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9198825&poi=&campaignid=20787991648&mkgroupid=157350414682&rlsatarget=pla-325425753764&abcId=&merchantid=7278504&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHC-MFlFUp_fIhkQzkaZEdkBmnEfh3PkArBcxdanW0I2kwcng8r19pYxoCjR8QAvD_BwE

Ah, yes. I was fortunate to have a 50 ft. longwire to the garage. My uncle worked at Dumont and gave me a galena crystal detector and some headphones. The galena was in a small molded lead cup, with a little arm and a springy wire to contact the crystal. Much cooler than the high-tech 1N34 that came later.

1N34, you skipped Fleming's valve and DeForest's triodes. I have about a dozen deforest tube's i found in a 1920's set and picked up over the years. .

"I have about a dozen deforest tube's i found in a 1920's set..."

I'd heard that De Forest didn't have the patent (Armstrong?) and made sets with little diagrams of what wire to cut to get the desired effect. See anything in the set you had?

Apparently there were a couple of guys arguing over tge patent. The RF set was beautifully made with buss wiring. Each of tgr 3 RF coils had exposed windings and they were a work of weaving art. One coil was open when I got the set (still have it). The paper they used between the windings back then tended to have a high sulfur content. Add humidity and an electrical charge and you had sulfuric acid that would eventually eat through a winding. The fix? About 180v DC for a split second welded it closed.

The case is a work of art too. Just a box with 3 big knobs and one small one.

Oh the DeForest tube's. O1As. Perfect cylindrical, white ceramic bases, heavy silvering and pixie tops. Art.

We’ve been in museum like this, small, specific and empty. One was the Red History Museum just outside Dubrovnik in Gruz. I think the part that hurt was that most of the items in the museum are in our apartment, curtesy of my in-laws. My husband remembered the school books, the little pioneer uniforms, the music, etc.