A heavy 2 m x 2 m floor-standing wooden showcase in the shack appeared to be suitable as a frame for a crystal radio loop antenna. As luck would have it, the lone 20 km distant 612 kHz, 200 kW AM broadcast station being in the end-on position by default, there would be no need to move the unit. The counter top would make it quite convenient to sit down and carry out the testing.
The 5 turn loop was easily wound using about 42 m of ordinary hook-up wire.
The shack is relatively quite small to get a photo of the actual unit.
Here's a representation of the same.
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| Makeshift 2 m x 2 m Square Loop Antenna |
The shunt-fed circuit was wired first, using a 500 pF variable capacitor and a MBR 1060 Schottky rectifier found in the the junk box.
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| Shunt-fed Loop Antenna Crystal Radio - Schematic |
The local station came in real loud through the balanced-armature phones. Headphone current, measured using a 1mA FSD 60 Ω meter, was
200 μA.
Next the series-fed circuit was tried out.
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| Series-fed Loop Antenna Crystal Radio - Schematic |
Reception was quite good, with the OA 79 diode delivering a headphone current of 100 μA.
A 14 turn 0.75 m x 0.75m loop antenna, wound with the same hook-up wire, yielded a headphone current of 100 μA when shunt-fed and 50 μA when series-fed. 
