Nine Poems
Invention Wanted
I am a basic circuit. I have a good earth connection.
Standby crystal. Standby punched chassis, punched manual.
Bring your finger closer to the oscillator. Slip your tool under the inner conductor.
This is much faster than the usual procedure.
Iron Core or Choke
Fluid may be inserted and allowed to slide down the shaft. Center tapped. Double backed. Off axis. Ribbed or split.
Touch the bare tips to the test. I feel inventive.
Axial Lead
I prevent your relay from staying, from unravelling across contacts.
Build Your Own Enclosure
There is nothing critical in this circuit. The coil is scramble-wound with enamel wire. I can’t think entirely by myself.
If the thought of trying to align an operation to an alarm bell couples the signal, throw the switch. Couple the signal. Signal is not alignment is not magic from your hand or body.
A Very Small Air Variable
We can learn something about ourselves by following the curving paths of certain sounds.
Here is an instrument that has no antenna: heart sounds picked up and fed into a large mirror. The purpose of the mirror is to enable you to see what’s marked off. For example, persistence. Halfwave field strength.
A very small air variable and you keep your hand from tuning. You cut the curved current.
A Note on Drift
I want you to slow down the cutting off.
I drilled a hole carefully by eye. Kept it hot enough to prevent the drill from walking.
We’re in such a position that connection causes a very decided chirp. Like chasing a key over a slippery tabletop. Like keying in the lengths.
A Kink for the Workbench
How many times have you wished for a third hand?
The wedge slid toward one end.
Click Elimination
Hot enough, deep enough, I find the right length to fit. Hum in the receiver, a shift in the main spring.
Getting Results
I ground the ground side of the power line. You touch me without stopping. My unused turns shorten: tuned-plate, tuned-grid, the low-drift self-excited plate-current.
Go easy. I’ve just finished clearing up a source of noise.
∩
Kelly Krumrie reads radio repair manuals. She is the author of the books No Measure and Math Class, both published by Calamari Archive.