Radio

Radio technology is still fairly new to Hesper, and no single sensibility has dominated their construction and operation. Advancements and experiments continue across the planet to refine and make use of this technology.

Description

Spark-gap transmitters (which cannot transmit sound, and as such are primarily used for messages in code, such as Morse) and arc transmitters remain the most common. A few successful experiments have produced vacuum-tube transmitters, though these are as of yet rare and typically used only by specialists.
Talk of a truly vast arc transmitter that might be capable of broadcasting throughout most, if not all, of the planet, has been circulating among the technologically-inclined in Cherut Das. If the project ever gets off the ground, it will do so with the full cooperation and backing of the cartographer’s Guild, who has expressed an interest in this device.
Far and away the most common form of receiver is the crystal receiver, as vacuum tube receivers are just as rare and specialized as vacuum tube transmitters. The simplicity of its design, the ability to operate without a power source, and the ability to relay sound (with headphones) make them easy to transport and operate. The Cartographer’s Guild has been involved in producing great quantities of these for the use of their members on the field, and their design specifically makes use of fool’s gold as the “crystal” mineral receiver.
The sheer number produced has made them ubiquitous in the wider world outside the Guild, as well, and for this reason, crystal radios are often referred to as “Pyrite Radios,” regardless of the mineral used as the receiver.

An example of a simple cat's-whisker pyrite radio, with headphones.