COHERER

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EXOTIC ANTIQUE

	(Alas, this title could be applied to the majority of the members
	of the Wireless Institute)

	A few months ago, the Institute was given some old books and
	magazines which were the property of the late "Watty" Watkins,
	VK7DX, who died in 1931.   Included in the bequest was a couple
	of small wooden boxes, one containing what appeared to be a
	buzzer.

	At the Domain a couple of weeks ago, Richard, VK7RO, decided to
	give these boxes a wash and when they were more pleasant to handle,
	the sharp-eyed Stew, VK7NXX, noticed a glass tube containing two
	metal rods.

	All was revealed, for between the two rods were some metal filings.
	It was a coherer! (Dear newsreader, I think you pronounce this
	co-hear-er.)

	A coherer was the type of detector used by Marconi in his early
	experiments and was superseded by the discovery of crystal detectors
	about 1910.

	So our coherer is a rare device indeed.

	Richard will give a lecture at the next Southern Branch Meeting on
	the first of June on how the coherer was used for the reception of
	spark transmissions.