FM RADIO RECIEVER

The critical part of the fm radio receiver is the first stage, TR1/VC1, where the wirings must be kept as short as possible. Coil L1 is formed by winding 8 turns of 1mm (20 swg) enamelled copper wire on a 6 mm diameter former, which is then removed. After that L1 should be stretched carefully and evenly to a length of about 13mm.

The tunning capacitor VC1 is one of the two fm sections of a miniature fm transistor radio with built-in trimmers (VC2). The “earthy” end (moving vanes and spindle) is connected to the 22pF capacitor C1. The value of the rf choke L2 is not critical, anything from 1µH to 10µH being suitable.

The output is suitable for ordinary earphones connected in series to provide an impedance of 64Ω.

Tuning-in the fm radio receiver

To operate the receiver, potentiometer VR1 must first be advanced slowly (towards the end of the track connected to battery positive) until, at about the half-way point, a sudden

slight increase in background noise will be heard, indicating the onset of oscillation. It then should be backed off, very slowly, until oscillation just stops; it then should be possible to tune in some stations.

The correct frequency range of 87 MHz to 108 MHz can be obtained by adjusting VC2 at the high frequency (108 MHz) and slightly stretching or squeezing together the turns of coil L1 at the end (87 MHz).

FM Radio Circuit Diagram

Transistors List
TR1 = BF199
TR2 = TR3 = TR4 = BC547