From FB group Building Transistor Radios 2018-09-01
There are too many ‘gotchas.’ You have to put up a large sized antenna to gather enough power to run the circuit. That means you cannot use this in a city where the properties are too small, due to lack of space. You go to the country where there is enough land for the antenna, and the radio signals are weak.
You have to have a strong signal for enough power. This will overwhelm the other stations on the band. You will hear the strong signal in the background of the other stations.
It’s a better idea to put a small solar cell in the daylight and use its current to recharge a Ni-MH rechargeable cell, or else charge a supercapacitor. The charge should be enough to run the radio for several hours after sunset.
I put a solar cell on the front of a small piece of plywood and a 4 AA cell holder on the back, and put it in the window. It powers a royal blue LED for most of the night.