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MAKE: PROJECTS
Super Simple FM Transmitter
By Sean Michael Ragan Category: Electronics Difficulty: Difficult View Comments
FM transmitters can be complicated to build, but not this one its about the easiest
you can possibly make. And though the science of radio is well understood, theres
a magical, emotional quality about it that we dont often stop to appreciate. You will
not forget the first time you pick up a transmission broadcast from a device you
soldered together, yourself, from a few bits of copper, carbon, plastic, and wire.
I am indebted to Jim and Kat of Sonodrome for first introducing me to that
experience, through this very circuit, which I first built on a pre-etched PCB from a
kit they offered for sale as recently as 2011.
0:00/5:02
WeekendProjectsSuperSimpleFMTransmitter
This design was originally popularized by Japanese multimedia artist Tetsuo
Kogawa. The circuit itself is a slight variation on Kogawas simplest FM transmitter
design, and the method of building it is sometimes referred to as Manhattan style.
It uses a piece of copper-clad circuit board but, rather than etching the circuit traces
through the copper layer, a large piece of continuously-plated board is used to
make all the circuits ground connections, and small sections of plated board are
glued to the surface to form nodes or pads that are insulated from ground.
Besides being a convenient way to assemble circuits using minimal tools, this
building method encourages you to think about circuits in an interesting way as
groups of connections that are either grounded or floating above ground.
This transmitter uses ten on-board components and will transmit a monaural audio
signal about 30 feet. It is possible to extend that range by adding an antenna, and
Mr. Kogawas website has more information about how to do that.
NOTE: Depending on where you live, operating an FM transmitter even a very
short-range one like this may be illegal without a license. Unless you attach an
antenna, its very unlikely that anyone will notice or complain about any
transmissions you may make with this device. On the other hand, its very difficult to
predict, before construction is complete, just where on the FM band this transmitter
will broadcast. Use due caution during testing, and make sure you understand the
law in your area before attaching the battery.
PARTS
FM Radio Receiver RadioShack #12-586
Transistor, NPN, 2N3904 RadioShack #276-2016
Battery clip, 9V RadioShack #270-324
Phone plug, mono, 1/8" RadioShack #274-286
Stranded copper wire, 22 gauge, red and black RadioShack #278-1218
Capacitor, ceramic disk, 0.01F (2) RadioShack #272-131
Capacitor, ceramic disk, 10pF (2) from RadioShack #272-801
Battery, 9V, rechargeable Ni-MH, or alkaline RadioShack #23-748 or #23-853
Print Project
Next
Solid copper wire, 18 gauge, 4" length RadioShack #278-1223
Hook-and-loop strips RadioShack #64-2363
Resistors, 1/4W (3) 1 each: 470, 10K, and 27K, from RadioShack #271-0312
Copper-clad board, about 5cm 5cm RadioShack #276-1499
Capacitor, electrolytic, 1F33F such as RadioShack #272-1026. Mine came
from RadioShack assortment #272-802.
TOOLS
1/4-20 bolt for forming the coil
Wire stripper/cutter RadioShack #64-224
Pliers, mini long-nose RadioShack #64-062
Soldering iron and solder RadioShack #64-2071
Small file
Scissors
Utility knife
Straightedge
FM radio
Audio source with 1/8" phone jack
Glue, cyanoacrylate, medium viscosity aka super glue or crazy glue
STEPS
PROJECT STEPS
1. Form the coil.
2. Cut the board.
3. Mount the coil.
4. Add capacitor C3 and resistor R2.
5. Add the electrolytic cap, resistor R1, and capacitor C2.
6. Add the transistor.
7. Add the 10pF caps, resistor R3, and the battery clip.
8. Attach the phone plug.
9. Tune it up!
10. Mount the battery.
Step #1: Form the coil.
Prev
Strip about 4" of 18AWG solid copper wire and wind 4 turns around the threads of a 1/4-20
bolt.
Turn the coiled wire off the bolt as if you're unthreading a nut, and clip each lead to about
1cm.
Bend little "feet" on the ends of the leads and adjust them so the coil will stand upright.
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Holding a pair of pliers in each hand, grab the coil's leads and stretch it evenly along its
length until the feet are 12mm apart on center. You may need to even out the coil spacing
with a screwdriver or other tool.
Step #2: Cut the board.
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Use a straightedge, a utility knife, and the edge of a table to score and snap a 5cm 4cm
rectangle from the copper-clad board. This will be your ground plane.
Score and snap a 5mm 5cm strip of copper-clad board, then score it crosswise at 5mm
increments. Snap along these lines, with pliers, to create several 5mm 5mm "pads." You
only need 5, but you may want to make a couple extra.
Smooth the corners and edges of the ground plane and the pads with a small file. Be
especially careful to remove any sharp copper burrs that might cause cuts on handling.
Step #3: Mount the coil.
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Apply a small drop of cyanoacrylate glue to the underside of one of the pads. It doesn't
take much. Use tweezers or small pliers to carefully position it in the center of the ground
plane. Wait a few seconds for the glue to set.
Glue a second pad to the board, above and to the left of the first, along a line running at
about 135 with respect to the long centerline of the board, as shown. Position the second
pad along this line so that there's about 12mm between the centers of the first and second
pads. Wait a few seconds for the glue to set.
Solder the coil across the 2 pads as shown. This will be easiest if you pre-tin the surface of
each pad, and both coil feet, before applying heat to reflow the solder and join the tinned
areas.
Step #4: Add capacitor C3 and resistor R2.
Solder a 0.01F ceramic disk capacitor (C3) between pad 2 and the ground plane, and trim
away any excess leads. It doesn't especially matter where you connect to the ground
plane, for this or any other connection in the project.
Glue pad 3 to the board somewhere below and to the left of pad 2, as shown. You want
enough space between pads 2 and 3 to fit the body of a 1/4W resistor.
Prev Next
Solder a 1/4W 27K resistor (R2) between pads 2 and 3, as shown. Trim any excess leads.
Step #5: Add the electrolytic cap, resistor R1, and
capacitor C2.
Prev Next
Glue pad 4 to the ground plane just to the left of pad 3. Space the pads to match the lead
spacing on your electrolytic capacitor. Solder the electrolytic cap (C1) between pads 3 and
4, making sure the negative () lead is connected to pad 4.
Solder a 10K resistor (R1) between pad 3 and ground.
Solder a 0.01F ceramic disk capacitor (C2) in parallel to the 10K resistor between pad 3
and ground.
Step #6: Add the transistor.
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Bend the transistor's 3 leads, as shown.
Glue pad 5 to the board directly to the right of pad 1. Make sure it's close enough to pad 1
that one of your transistor's leads can reach between them.
Solder your transistor across pads 1, 3, and 5, as shown. The collector connects to pad 1, the
base to pad 3, and the emitter to pad 5. Trim any excess leads.
Step #7: Add the 10pF caps, resistor R3, and the
battery clip.
Solder one 10pF ceramic disk cap (C5) across the transistor's collector and emitter, (i.e.
between pads 1 and 5), and a second 10pF ceramic disk cap (C4) between pad 1 and the
ground plane. Trim any excess leads.
NOTE: For more convenient adjustment of the transmitting frequency, replace the 10pF
capacitor (C4) between pad 1 and ground with a 20pF variable or "trim" cap. If you use a
Prev Next
variable cap, the frequency can be adjusted simply by turning the trimmer shaft with a
small screwdriver.
Solder a 470 resistor between pad 5 and the ground plane. Trim any excess leads.
Connect a 9V battery clip to the board, as shown, by soldering the red lead to pad 2 and
the black lead to the ground plane.
Step #8: Attach the phone plug.
Prev Next
Unscrew the threaded housing from the tip-shield (TS) mono phone plug and set it aside.
Solder a 4" length of red stranded wire to the center "tip" contact, and a 4" length of black
stranded wire to the outer "shield" contact.
The shield contact has built-in prongs that can be crimped over onto the wires to provide
strain relief for the solder connections. Use small pliers to fold these prongs over and crimp
the wires beneath them, being careful not to crimp so hard you damage the wire insulation,
bend the tip contact onto the shield contact, or otherwise short the 2 connections.
Slip the threaded housing over the wires and tighten it onto the plug threads again. Solder
the free end of the red wire to pad 4, and the free end of the black wire to the ground
plane.
Step #9: Tune it up!
Prev
Attach your 9V battery to the battery clip and insert the phone plug into an audio source
like an MP3 player or smartphone. Start a song or other easily-recognizable audio track
playing, then turn on your radio and scan through the FM band to locate the transmission.
TIPS:
Start with your receiver right next to the transmitter.
A digital tuner with precision down to 0.01MHz may be helpful.
Be patient and careful. Scanning is a bit tedious, but if you get impatient you may miss
the signal altogether and mistakenly believe the transmitter isn't working.
If you scan the entire band and can't locate your signal, try changing the orientation of
your receiver's antenna with respect to the board and scanning again.
It's best to run your audio source on battery power when you are first isolating the
transmitting frequency. If you have to run it from mains power, make sure electrically
noisy devices like fluorescent lights, TVs, and computer monitors are not active on the
same circuit at the time.
You can tune the transmitting frequency by changing the spacing between turns in the
coil. Closing the spacing will lower the transmitting frequency, while opening it up will
raise the transmitting frequency. You can also use a variable capacitor for tuning (see Step
7).
Step #10: Mount the battery.
Next
NOTE: This transmitter design needs very clean, smooth power, which is one of the
reasons we choose to run it from a battery. Power from a "wall wart" or other AC adapter is
smooth enough for most DC applications, but not for this radio transmitter. Using an AC
adapter to power this transmitter is likely to cause the signal to be too noisy to use.
Use scissors to cut a strip of hook-and-loop fastener (velcro) tape to fit the length of your

9V battery.
Separate the hook and loop sides of the tape, remove the backing from each, and apply the
hook (scratchy) side to the bottom of the transmitter board. Apply the loop (fuzzy) side to
one of the battery's 2 largest faces.
Attach the transmitter to the battery using the velcro during use. When depleted, the
battery can be removed and separated from the transmitter for recharging.
SEAN MICHAEL RAGAN
I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to
college and stuff. I write for MAKE, serve as Technical Editor for MAKE magazine,
and develop original DIY content for Make: Projects.
smragan.com // Etsy // shapeways // Thingiverse
1 Comment MAKE Login
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Toad of Toad Hall 37 minutes ago
Very interesting. Quite illegal, of course.
But, oh dear, didn't they teach you to look after your tools?


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sean@makezine.com