Simple Radio Circuit <- Yeah Right!!! That's what it's supposed to be!

Hi Guys,
Would anyone share a schematic for a AM or FM radio they have actually made from
easily obtainable parts?

I have tried Jaycar Short Circuits FM radio kit,
Dick Smith Funway 2 Pocket transistor radio x 3
Dick Smith Electronics 30 in 1 Electronics Kit (has a radio).

None of these really worked, except the Jaycar FM radio made some squealing noise.
I don't want to have to run a ground wire to a tap, and I have a 1 Watt amplifier ready
to use with it.
Cheers, Art.

Also a question... Here is the Jaycar FM radio kit:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=kj8238

I built it on a prototype board because I didn't want the amplifier chip in the circuit, and a radio is to be only part of a bigger project.
Would it be an issue that one of the 2 coils are mounted about 5cm from the chip (instead of about 1cm on the supplied PCB)?

Jaycar FM Radio kit:

DSE 30in1 Kit AM Radio:

The coil L1 on the FM radio is formed on the PCB. It's not actually a coil,
but a snake like pattern. The dimensions match very closely what was printed
on the supplied PCB.

I think the AM radio kit works, but is just unsuitable, and I can't hear any stations in a city area.
It clicks if I short a 1.5 volt cell near it.
I would be pissed if I'd paid $29.95 this for my kids (don't actually have any though).
And don't get me wrong, I had a working crystal radio when I was about ten, and loved my 200-in-1 kit.

 

What is it with people soldering the components onto the solder side of a board?? Pins are supposed to go through the other side and soldered onto the copper pads on the other, this will give the components some "strength" so they won't easily get torn off..... plus it would make a much neater looking circuit....... But I doubt that has anything to do with your circuit not working... but it could be from all that extra stray capacitance you have in all those wires.... which would vary the frequency quite a bit especially for a radio receiver..... see how they have all the components close to the IC on their kit?? Short traces would help quite a bit....

My .02

 

Don't look at this then:

So you think that is the problem? Lucky I socketed the IC,
I'll probably try again.

 

I got the DSE AM radio kit working.
I'd still like to make an FM radio PCB.

 

Hello,

On this page there are several links for schematics of recievers:
http://www.educypedia.be/electronics/radiotuning.htm

Greetings,
Bertus

 

lol Art why the hell are you soldering like that? those are all through-hole components

 

Funny I get asked this every time.
Mainly I like to see everything on one side,
secondly, I like to place the device on a desk with a flat side.
Also makes mounting in enclosures easy... no PCB spacers required.

 

Yay! I got it!!

Made a few errors late at night and had to find them the next day, but works great in the end.

 

Congratulations.

Is this AM/FM?

If so what chip did you use?

 

This is an FM radio based on the TDA7000 (Philips).
The first picture in this thread is my first attempt at it (non working).
I made an AM radio as well based on the MK484.

Someone else has got the TDA7000 going on a veroboard before:
http://www.amerc.ac.uk/documents.php?action=get&id=38
It's not trivial. I think mine is at least as nice as that.
I didn't have to wire any components over the IC.

 

Yay! I got it!!

Made a few errors late at night and had to find them the next day, but works great in the end.

looks much "better" than the first..... good to hear you got it going...

B. Morse

 

This is an FM radio based on the TDA7000 (Philips).
The first picture in this thread is my first attempt at it (non working).
I made an AM radio as well based on the MK484.

Someone else has got the TDA7000 going on a veroboard before:
http://www.amerc.ac.uk/documents.php?action=get&id=38
It's not trivial. I think mine is at least as nice as that.
I didn't have to wire any components over the IC.

Thanks. I was looking for AM /FM with digital tuning. I wonder if one exists??

 

Hi Art,

I think your soldering with all those components is very good, Ive done through hole like you, but I must admit I dont like soldering at the best of times..

But very well done on that effort.. & you got your Radio going.

keep it up..
Im impressed.
regards
redlight.

 

Thanks

It's become part of a talking clock radio which is microcontroller driven.

Finally a project I will actually use

 

Just finished the hardware today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kHWpWBXEU8

Still got some polishing to do in software,
but it's fully functional right now

 

Beautiful work. and well done. Are you going to implement the led matrix to the clock output? It would work well if you had to solve four lines of tetris before the alarm could be shut off. Or you would just end up with a broken clock on a bad morning.

 

Lol... this one is a bit of a Frankenstein.
At least I kept the Tetris hardware simple

 

You do good work. Except for your odd-side soldering

kidding.. Good work.

 

Shoot, you might as well go for surface mount, since you're doing it already.

When I first started my radios when I was a teen lumber was my favorite substrate.