Karl Ferdinand Braun's Cat’s Whisker Detector

Origin
Karl Ferdinand Braun was an inventor and physicist who contributed to the development of radio and television technology, sharing the 1909 Physics Nobel Prize with Guglielmo Marconi. During his time researching radio signals, he worked on solving transmission problems during wireless telegraphy. To help solve this, he invented a crystal diode rectifier, the cat’s whisker. Although now obsolete, the component converted pulses of radio waves commonly used in Morse code into audible taps and holds.

Effects
The user must attach the diode to a device capable of interacting with radio waves to activate it. They are able to control the direction the message is sent, the wavelength it is receivable on and even alter the contents of the signal. Each time will cause parts of the user’s mind to become absorbed by the radio waves until they cease brain activity. No heartbeat can be detected, only a constant buzz of static.