May 24, 2019

DIY Portable FM Radio (Part 3) 3 Volt Amplifier

One things in mind when build a simple amplifier is by using an IC. It is very reliable and don't bother in too much complicated circuit like discrete transistor amplifier. It is not wrong, but not right either when you are planning for small 3 volt battery powered amplifier for this radio project. This IC amplifier could not working properly with this 3 volt battery.


I am using IC TBA820 amplifier. It shown in the datasheet that this minimum power requirement is 3 volt. In reality, it could not working properly and tends to distorted all the way. Sad I should remove all the circuit completely from my radio board.

I do browsing the internet and find this 3 volt circuit amplifier using only 3 transistor. It is quite simple and I can't wait to make this amplifier.

I never thought assembly this discrete amplifier is so much fun compares to the IC.

On hand I have this tiny capacitor for audio. I got this Nippon Chemicon Audio for cheap and it is looks amazing.

It is look good on this radio board.

Next step is using another board for top cover this radio. I put power switch, LED tuning indicator and the phones jack for speaker out.



I also put the 1 meter antenna at the corner side of the board.

I can tell this radio is looks stunning. This is become a bare-bone radio and I love it.



The radio reception quality is good and the sound loud enough also the clarity is acceptable. This is a very fun project.

Progress update
This battery powered radio is an evaluation project only. Although the result is considerably good, thus using battery to this kind radio circuit cannot run the radio frequency stable. It means every voltage drop in battery performance will cause the tuning reception to shift. It is become worse when the battery run bellow 80%. This is because the tuner and IC FM modulator drain so much wattage while operated, not yet counting the amp itself. So I will make an update for more simple DIY radio than this one. My planing is using small wall adapter and it should run the radio very stable yet sound good as well. Stay tune:)

Disclaimer: Any statement and photos in this article are not allowed to copy or publish without written permission from the writer. Any injury or loss from following tips in this article is not under writer responsibility.

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