Foxhole radio - Wikipedia
A foxhole radio is a makeshift radio that was built by soldiers in World War II for entertainment, to listen to local radio stations using amplitude modulation.[1][2] They were first reported at the Battle of Anzio, Italy, spreading later across the European and Pacific theaters. The foxhole radio was a crude crystal radio which used a safety razor blade as a radio wave detector with the blade acting as the crystal, and a wire, safety pin, or, later, a graphite pencil lead serving as the cat's whisker.[3]
The foxhole radio, like a mineral crystal radio receiver, had no power source and ran off the power received from the radio station. They were named, likely by the press, for the foxhole, a defensive fighting position used during the war. There are also accounts of prisoners of war in World War II and in the Vietnam War having constructed foxhole radios.
The maker of the first foxhole radio is unknown, but it was almost certainly invented by a soldier stationed at the Anzio beachhead during the stalemate of February – May 1944.[1] One of the first newspaper articles about a foxhole radio ran in the New York Times April 29, 1944.[4] That radio was built by Private Eldon Phelps of Enid, Oklahoma, who later claimed to have invented the design. It was fairly crude, a razor blade stuck into a piece of wood acted as the crystal, and the end of the antenna wire served as a cat whisker. He managed to pick up broadcasts from Rome and Naples.
