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Comment by geocrasher | Hacker News Reader

   Calling bullshit. Semiconductors cannot be "improvised". PN junctions aren't found anywhere accidentally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxhole_radio

   One common type was made from an oxidized razor blade (rusty or flamed) with a pencil lead pressed against the blade with a safety pin. The oxide layer on the blade and the point contact of the pencil lead form a semiconductor Schottky diode and only allow current to pass in one direction.

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Yep but that doesn't happen accidentally. And good luck getting a quartz crystal in a form that can be heard.

Where did anybody say accidentally? I said it could be improvised. Are you arguing just to argue?

Edit: I realize that the headboard story implies an "accidental" semiconductor. And yes that's totally possible.

It could absolutely happen accidentally. Any bad contact between two conductors can cause a non-linear junction that can detect an AM radio signal.

TFA refers to, presumably an FM signal (because of the 3.3 meter band and what's usually broadcast there), so I doubt this story a bit.

Yep I mentioned that in a comment below, an accidental semiconductor IS possible, but that wasn't my point really. I get the arguers point though, a headboard implies accidental, I wasn't thinking of it that way. But anyway, as we've established, both improvised and accidental are possible and documented.

You are aware that there are even such things as natural nuclear reactors that happen "accidentally"?

So ruling out a simple PN junction is a weird hill to die on.

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