“All sorts of funny things in the radio game,” observed Joe. “Something new turns up every day. Things in your set that you think you can’t do without you find you can do without and get results just about as usual.”
“Just what I was going to tell you,” returned Bob. “You must be something of a prophet.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say that,” replied Joe, with mock modesty.
“Isn’t he the shrinking violet?” chaffed Jimmy.
“Stop your kidding, you boobs, and let a regular fellow talk,” chided Bob. “What I was going to say was that while I was tinkering with the set I disconnected the ground wire. Of course I thought that would put the receiver out of business for the time, and I was almost knocked silly when I found that I could hear the concert that was going on just about as well as though the wire had been connected. How do you account for that?”
“Don’t account for it at all,” replied Herb. “Probably just a freak, and might not happen again in a thousand times. Likely it was one of the unexplainable things that happen once in a while. Maybe there was a ground connection of some kind, if not by the wire. I wouldn’t bank on it.”
“It’s queer, too, how many kinds of things can be used as aerials,” put in Joe. “I heard the other day of a man in an apartment house where the owner objected to aerials, who used the clothesline for that purpose. The wire ran through the rope, which covered it so that it couldn’t be seen. It didn’t prevent its use as a clothesline either, for he could hear perfectly when the wash was hanging on it.”
“Oh, almost anything will do as an aerial,” chimed in Jimmy. “The rib of an umbrella, the rainspout at the side of the house, the springs of a bed give good results. And that’s one of the mighty good things about radio. People that have to count the pennies don’t have to buy a lot of expensive materials. They can put a set together with almost any old thing that happens to be knocking around the house.”
Bob had been working steadily, and, as the room was warm, his hands were moist with perspiration. He had unhooked an insulated copper wire that led to his outside aerial. His head phones were on, as he had been listening to the radio concert while he worked.
“I’ll have to miss the rest of that selection, I guess,” he remarked regretfully, as he unhooked the wire. “It’s a pity, too, for that’s one of the finest violin solos I ever heard. Great Scott! What does that mean?”