[Predator88]

So I found an old vintage looking radio in my garage (replica type of thing made in the 80s). Basically it was trashed. So I stripped out everything and am now left with an empty box. I already have a new speaker and a small amp ready to go. That leads me to my question....

How can add radio functionality again?

What I need is the radio receiver/tuner stage before it gets amplified (typical cheap boomboxes generally have it all on one pcb). I also understand that there are some serious complications with truly doing a diy fm radio so I'd be open to some pre-assembled kits or easily salvageable products.

Thanks if anyone has any ideas.

 

[Uncle Erik]

This is a considerable project, one more complicated than building a headphone amp. FM tuners have several stages to deal with, and you would need an oscilloscope and several other pieces of test gear to build one. It's easy to get into a couple thousand in tools to build and align a FM set.

What was wrong with the tuner section in the original radio? Your best bet would be to fix it. Trying to put another one in would likely involve a lot of casework, too.

If you're interested in radio, pick up an "All American 5" type AM set off eBay for $20 and fix it. They're relatively easy to work on and you can do a rough alignment with a non-metallic screwdriver and a DMM.

 

[kipman725]

Am can be very simple (diode) or slightly more complex with something like a super het to insane levels of complexity (although a good super het is good enough and if you design it yourself will be very satisfying). FM recivers can be made quite simply actualy but most moden designs use Phase locked loops that have some mathamatics behind them and you rearly don't want to desgin yourself as a beginer project. You can however buy premade FM reciver moduals that are all in one IC package and require only a few external compoents. Sure the quality is not there but they will work fine:
Rapid Electronics - TDA7010T FM Radio circuit

*you shouldn't need a scope to build an AM super HET but a scope is well worth getting and if you look for firedamaged (still works may need calibration) or second hand ones they can be cheap. My 10MHz one was £35.