Electronic kit

The kit consists of the parts necessary to build a working miniature FM transmitter along with detailed construction plans.

- 10 page magazine style construction plans
- High quality multilayer printed circuit board
- All the surface mount resistors and capacitors
- The phase locked loop chip and 3 transistors
- 2 varactor or varicap diodes (oscillator control)
- A high sensitivity miniature electret microphone
- A quartz crystal (frequency reference for PLL)
- SMD inductor and enamelled wire inductor

The plans for this kit are written in the style used in electronics magazines. There is an introduction to the transmitter and potential uses followed by a detailed description of how the transmitter works. The usual PCB overlay and component placement is embellished with a descriptionof an easy technique for soldering the surface mount components on the board.

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Surface Mount Technology

SMD can be difficult to assemble without the proper tools and solder pastes. With the method we describe in the plans it becomes easy to solder components as long as you have a fine tipped soldering iron and thin solder.
As far as we are aware its a new way of doing it. Its great education that gives access to this interesting and compact construction method.

The kit does not include batteries or battery holders. As there are several options, the constructor will choose the most suitable for them.

USB Power

As an example, one option is to power the transmitter from a USB port which will need a USB connector instead of a battery. The audio source could be the computer's output. The plans show how to modify the transmitter so that any stereo audio source can betransmitted.
It is also possible to hide a transmitter such as this one inside a computer mouse as there is 5 volts inside one. With some cleverness the mouse lead could be the antenna.
At this stage we havent included the details on how to do this in the plans but we have done it and it works well.

This kit is an excellent educational tool for learning about radio transmitters and Surface mount construction methods and once built you will have a freakishly cool device with many uses.