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How to make a $1 FM Radio ?

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dufferdev

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Hello,

I am a student and we have to make a FM Radio circuit that will cost less than or equal to $1. Any help will be very useful....

Thanks a lot...
dufferdev
 
I don't know where in the world you are, but here in Canada I can buy a cheap Chinese FM radio at The Dollar Store for $1.00. It comes with earphones, a battery and has a light that is a flashlight.
It uses a Chinese copy of a Philips radio IC.
You don't tune it, it scans the dial and you can stop the scan at a station.

Its reception is for strong local stations only, it picks up a lot of interference and its sound is very distorted.

You might be able to make one for $25.00 in parts if you can buy all the parts somewhere.

My Sony Walkman FM radio cost $19.95. It is stereo, sounds very good and picks up strong and medium local stations. It gets overloaded by strong local stations so it has an attenuator on its antenna input.

There are some super-regen FM radio projects on the internet. They work poorly but are cheap. Look in Google for Radio Shack Special and click on the RSS link.
**broken link removed**
 
I reside in India and we too find such chinese radios in India. However we require to build similar one for our college project... So wanted some help on Circuit for the same...

Thanks for your updates....
 
Here are some ideas.
**broken link removed**

The cost of parts is directly related to how many you buy. In this assignment, how many will you buy?
 
we are offcourse to buy only single.... But we need to show on paper presentations with quotes from supplies that it can be brought to $1 if we order x quantity of parts...

Thanks RadioRon
 
I saw some crystal FM radio circuits on the internet. They are so simple that I laughed.
 
- is this 1 US dollar, or dollar from another country?
- you mentioned that it must be a circuit. So I assume then that we must include a speaker for the sound to come out, but is this correct? Or is it ok to simply offer a connection for IPOD headphones or similar?
- must we include the pcb in this budget?
- must we include the connectors in this budget?
- must we include the power supply in this budget?

My starting assumption is that we will not find a complete FM receiver IC to fit into our budget, so the design may have to be a simple discrete design using low cost transistors like 2N2222 or the like. This is why it is best to find the simplest designs.
 
Hello RadioRon,

Thanks for your support....

The budget is USD....

- The output will be in the HEAD-PHONES no speaker required.... Our cost $ 0

- We have to include PCB, however currently we shall use a general breadboard.... A 6cm by 6cm breadboard costs $ 0.2 in India

- Which connectors ?

- Power supply = Battery ? If yes.. battery cost is additional to $1 budget...

I am newbie... so can you share a circuit which will fullfill the above given scenario...

Thanks
dufferdev
 
If there is a chance of finding an FM receiver IC for less than $.75, it might be one of the NXP/Philips line, for example the TEA5767. Even in low quantity from a North American distributor, this IC is less than $2 so it might be available from an Asian supplier for less than $1 in medium volumes. When I do a search for this part, I see there are many Asian manufacturers with overstock or old stock of this part, so there are many brokers with quantities for sale.
 
Thanks for your help RadioRon,

Can we have a circuit for the Scan and Reset function as it is available with those cheap FM radio ? If you have any such circuit please help. I shall try to source the components from Asia which shall be cheaper....

Thanks
dufferdev
 
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