How to Build a Simple FM Radio Receiver With Just 5 Components

Building a simple FM radio receiver is an easy and fun electronics project that can be completed in an afternoon with just 5 common components. In this article, I will provide a step-by-step guide on how to build your own FM radio using the following components:

Components Needed

To build the FM radio receiver, you will need:

1 x FM tuner module - This contains the tuning circuitry to tune into FM stations.
1 x LM386 audio amplifier IC - This amplifies the audio signal from the radio stations.
1 x 10k potentiometer - This is used to adjust the volume.
1 x 0.1μF capacitor - This blocks DC from the audio amplifier input.
1 x 10μF capacitor - This filters the supply voltage.

That's it! Just 5 simple components that can be bought quite cheaply are needed. Let's look at how to assemble them.

Circuit Assembly

Follow these steps to assemble the circuit:

Step 1) Solder wires to the FM tuner module's antenna connection, ground pin, power pin, and audio output pin.
Step 2) Connect the FM tuner's power pin to 3-5V DC and ground pin to ground. I used a 5V USB phone charger.
Step 3) Connect the FM tuner's audio output pin to the LM386 amplifier input pin (pin 3).
Step 4) Insert the 0.1μF capacitor between the FM tuner audio out and LM386 input. This blocks any DC.
Step 5) Connect the 10μF capacitor between LM386 Vs (pin 6) and ground. This filters the power supply.
Step 6) Connect LM386 pins 1 and 8 together. This sets the gain to 200x.
Step 7) Connect the potentiometer between LM386 pin 5 and ground. The wiper goes to LM386 pin 2. This controls volume.
Step 8) Connect an audio speaker or headphones to LM386 pins 5 and 7.

That completes the circuit assembly. Double check your connections match the pinouts above before powering on.

Testing and Usage

Apply 3-5V DC power to power the circuit.
Slowly rotate the FM tuner's knob to scan for FM stations. You should hear stations as you tune across the band.
Adjust the volume potentiometer to increase/decrease volume as needed.

And that's it! You now have a working FM radio receiver. This basic circuit can be expanded by adding a display, buttons, rechargeable battery etc to make a nice electronics project. Have fun tuning in to your favorite stations!