With morning coffee I love listening to NPR and/or podcasts. However I don’t like dealing with the phone and ear buds. I fiddled around and came up with a homemade speaker:
I tried a metal bowl, then a plastic one, a mason jar and finally settled on this gourd bowl from Jamaica. (The mason jar test was the most fun … sounded deep under water.) The tone and volume with the gourd bowl were much better when the bowl and phone were leaning against a wall of some kind. Steel would be the best, but the rocks worked, too.
Now I can walk around or cook while listening without the phone falling or the ear bud cord catching on a corner.
Phew. The truck camper problem solved.
Truck Camper Hints 
I tried this after reading your post, but found the sound just as loud as resting my phone on a table, as my phone case puts an air gap between the table and the speaker. The sound bounces off nicely. Good tip though, and fun experiment!
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Old/new technology taken to the extreme. I can’t believe it works ! Reminds me of soup cans and string when I was a child. You are figuring out all life”s little problems on the road for the rest of us to follow. Can’t wait.
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Lets go Jane!
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So elegant. And on the other side of the country, npr goes live: Ofeibea Quist-Arcton speaking tonight. Thrilled!
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I am addicted to her “Dakaaaaarrrr”
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Cool Pic! I also still have my Jamaica gourd bowl. Who knew about all the potential uses for these… And yes, -attractive too.
Got to have NPR wherever one is!
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Still have cereal and oatmeal out of the bowl!
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I love it cuz it works and cost nothing but time and fun.
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Love low tech solutions. Yours is a very attractive one!
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