Radio Soldering DIY Electronic Kits - Xruison FM Radio Kit Soldering Project for Learning Practicing Teaching Electronics for Kids Adult

A well packaged product with good clear presentation of the contents once opened. The components are of excellent quality and had no missing parts. The surface mount controller IC comes pre-soldered to ease construction of the kit. The instructions are well laid out with the Bill Of Materials, circuit diagram, component placement diagram and PCB trace layout. It even includes tips on how to assemble it with information on how to read and interpret resistor and capacitor ratings. However, some improvements could be made to the instructions. The text could do with a minor going over to make it clearer for native/younger English readers, in fact, a more in-depth description of the workings bit by bit would make this even more attractive for STEM education, a well bound booklet perhaps?... Plus the capacitor and resistor rating diagrams cold be a bit bigger to ease readability. Assembly is relatively straightforward for more experienced hobbyists but supervision for a beginner will be needed as the instructions assume some level of knowledge of how to understand the assembly of the kit. All in all, a good starter soldering kit with some useful information alongside it, with some improvements to the documentation, it would make it a great starter kit.

Bought for myself so my partner could share their love of soldering. Simple enough this novice could grasp and had it done in an afternoon working. Antena could be a lot better but otherwise great little project.

Simple build. No coil winding or surface mount work. Radio works so much better than other kits I’ve tried and it picks up loads of local and national stations. A trimmer to alter the tuning range would be a bonus and options to fit a case would be another. Highly recommended !

Reviews, I note, are mixed with some people having no luck at getting reception. My experience with the kit might help. The FM band at first produced only a hissing noise - no stations. While I was fiddling with the two controls, I stuck the aerial in my mouth to keep it in a fixed position - gross, I know. But weirdly the FM band came to life with numerous stations all at good volume. The moisture in my mouth made an electrical connection to the aerial, and then I myself became a large VHF antenna. It’s not practical to go around with an aerial stuck in your mouth, so clipped on a cheap indoor TV aerial and that worked perfectly. Try my tip if you are getting no sound. Be careful not to swallow either the aerial or the radio!

After rechecking everything on the board several times all I got was a faint hissing from speaker, even bought very expensive meter to test resister values. Tried external FM aerial but still no joy. Hey ho soldering practice.

I got this as a gift for my brother since he loves making things like this. He loved the process of making it, I'll give it that. But when he finished, the radio itself just didn't work. I was heartbroken, it's a shame really. Maybe it did work for others but it didn't for us, so as much as I like the concept, I wouldn't recommend it.

Fun to make, and it worked first time. Now the radio is a permanent fixture at work!

The instructions, whilst lacking a bit of detail (which way round does the microchip go?) and having some interesting grammar choices, are easy enough to follow, however I came across two issues with the build quality. Firstly, one of the solder pads broke off, so I had to carefully scratch away some of the solder resist on the adjacent track and solder a short wire link in. This is probably beyond the expected skill level of a child making this kit, and I only did it because I wanted to complete the kit. Secondly, the hole in the FM antenna was too small for the screw! I solved this by soldering the antenna to the board instead of screwing it in. Once I solved those two issues, the kit works. Sound quality is alright. Signal strength for AM is pretty good. FM is a bit poor, but like all radios touching the antenna to a radiator works wonders (since this makes all the pipework in your house act as the aerial) - attaching a loop of wire to extend the aerial would do the same. All in all, not bad for the money, and would be five stars if the designers solved those two issues.