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Home » Audio Projects » Single Transistor Radio Receiver Circuit

Single Transistor Radio Receiver Circuit

Last Updated on October 7, 2020 by Swagatam 49 Comments

This is probably the simplest radio receiver circuit that one could ever imagine of making. The circuit is so simple that it could be finished assembling within a few minutes and you are already listening your favorite programs over it.

Introduction

What are the fundamental criteria associated with radio reception? An antenna stage, a band selector stage, a demodulator stage and a receiving element.When all of these come together radio reception becomes as simple as a piece of cake.

The circuit of a single transistor radio shown here though looks pretty ordinary, yet incorporates all the above stages and becomes just suitable for receiving the nearby radio stations.

However simplicity will always involve some drawbacks also, here the present design will be capable of receiving only strong stations and also selectivity might not be very pleasing, typically if there are a couple of strong stations mingling around the band.

Circuit Operation

The figure below shows how the single transistor radio can be made, we can clearly see that it just involves a single transistor as the main active component.A regular type of MW antenna coil has been used for collecting or sensing the MW receptions.

The coil is tuned using a GANG condenser or a variable capacitor which is connected in parallel to the antenna coil.The coil and the GANG together form a resonant tank circuit, which lock on to the received or the resonant frequency at a particular setting.

The concentrated but very low in power signal from the above LC tuned stage is fed to the base of the transistor which as performs the function of a demodulator as well as a amplifier stage.

The coupling capacitor at the base of the transistor makes sure only the radio information passes to the transistor while the DC component from the supply is appropriately blocked.

Headphone Becomes the Load and the Switch

A 64 Ohm headphone becomes the collector load of the transistor, where the demodulated and amplified signal is applied.

When connected, the received signals can be distinctly heard over the headphones with this little “audio marvel”Plugging in the headphone initiates the circuit and the circuit starts operating with its functions and the switches OFF itself when the headphone is removed from the circuit.

This eliminates the need of an external switch to be associated with the circuit, making the unit very compact.

Single Transistor Radio Receiver Circuit

The circuit requires just 1.5 V for operating which can be implemented using a single button type of cell.

You would also want to build this ONE TRANSISTOR FM RADIO CIRCUIT

Feedback from one of the avid readers of this blog, Mr. SA Genoff

Could you take a look at my 1st design of a single transistor radio ?  Attached is a photo of my work.I have not studied Electronics extensively, just some undergraduate Physics and math. I know Ohm's law and am familiar with Maxwell's equations, but not conversationally.

Thanks so much for your work and webpages,      Stephen A Genoff

My Reply:

Why there are two positives? Perhaps the battery should be replaced by the coil. Did you try it practically, how did it respond? The volume control part also may be incorrect according to me!

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  • 6.  Remote Control Circuit Using FM Radio

About Swagatam

I am an electronic engineer (dipIETE ), hobbyist, inventor, schematic/PCB designer, manufacturer. I am also the founder of the website: https://www.homemade-circuits.com/, where I love sharing my innovative circuit ideas and tutorials.
If you have any circuit related query, you may interact through comments, I'll be most happy to help!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

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  1. billy biddles says

    you said you can be hired, if we pay you. will you thumb my bum while watching german piss porn for $50? i dont have hair on my balls.

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      I'll do it free of cost for you, however may be you won't appreciate my service as I would come armed with a red hot iron and nutcracker equipment…..be ready

      Reply
  2. Michael Mueller says

    Can you say anything about the power consumption of this circuit?
    Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      not sure, but the 1.5V cell would last for years.

      Reply
    • Michael Mueller says

      Okay, thank you for your informations!
      – but I still have one another question about your circuit:
      What do you think – how is the quality of the received sound, if I build a FM receiver just some meters next to the receiver? – do you think, the sound will be good or have you any other idea, how I could realise this?
      I'm asking, because I want to make a pair of headphones wireless – but with power consumption as low as possible.

      Thank you in advance, Mr. Majumdar!

      Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Sorry, I did not understand your question, what an FM receiver has to do with the above circuit?

      The above circuit is a receiver not a transmitter

      Reply
    • Michael Mueller says

      Please excuse me, I actually wanted to ask you, how good the quality of your published receiver is?
      I wanted to ask you that question, because I intend to build your fm receiver and a fm transmitter.
      From last one (transmitter), I want to transmit an audio signal to a pair of headphones, which I want to make wireless due to your receiver circuit?
      You know what I mean? – Basicly I just wanted to know, what you think about this idea and if the quality is good enough.

      Reply
    • Swagatam says

      sorry but you should put the question under the relevant article, because i have so many transmitter related articles, can't really figure out which circuit you are referring to.

      anyway all my circuits are correct and will surely work if done correctly.

      Reply
  3. Gus Smith says

    I made this and it is working. Fed the signal into a LM386 and can hear it on a 8ohm speaker. Too bad I can only 2 clear stations.

    Reply
  4. PSK™ says

    Good day sir

    Will this capture FM signals?

    I used BF199-based replacement Transistor istead of BC547. and used Standard FM Tunning Gang CAP paralleled to Standard MW AM antenna coil.

    Will this work?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Good day PSK, I don't think it's designed for reeving FM, it's specifically intended for MW reception

      Reply
  5. daniel inoo says

    what is the height of the antenna

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      the longer the better….2 meters can be tried initially.

      Reply
  6. rokic95 says

    can you please tell me why we wire capacitor between colcector amd ameitter?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      to keep the voltage stabilized and maintain the selected frequency….

      Reply
  7. Swagatam says

    in this circuit it could be for 3 reasons:

    to stabilize the 1.5V when a strong reception is detected,

    to ground unwanted high frequency response and to make the audio clearer.

    to safeguard te transistor from earphone coil back emfs…

    Reply
  8. Syed Rafay says

    Hi, I have made this circuit but it is unable to catch any FM signals (I just need to catch 1 channel).
    can you tell me coil's specifications (thickness, diameter and turns) ?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Hi, This is not a FM receiver, it's an AM radio.

      Reply
  9. Peter Pollak says

    The schematic is wrong,the capacitor in the base of tranzistor isn't eltrolythic,is a 100 nF ceramic capacitor

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      sorry, your assumption is not correct.

      Reply
  10. praveen kumar kulhari says

    ser please tell me about every component like trangister, ressisters,capictor etc.
    ser please show me a pic of very component
    ser also tell me full name of every component and its values
    like 500 PF GANG what is this tell me all please please

    Reply
  11. praveen kumar kulhari says

    ser please tell me about every component of this FM circuit
    please show me pic of every component and tell me its full name like pf etc.
    and tell me its values please please

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      praveen, this is not FM, it is an AM circuit, if possible I'll update it with the required details.

      Reply
  12. praveen kumar kulhari says

    please make video for explan it

    Reply
  13. praveen kumar kulhari says

    ser what is 500 pf gang

    Reply
  14. Addis says

    I can use s9018 instead of BC 547

    Reply
    • Swag says

      yes you can

      Reply
  15. BARET says

    Could you describe the coil used for your receiver
    How many turn for each frequency?
    Could you give us a formula ?
    I will try to build this receiver for my little son
    Thank you in advance

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      It is an antenna coil which is normally used in MW radios

      https://www.homemade-circuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/antenna.jpg

      Wish you all the best!

      Reply
  16. Hako says

    Can I use Bc237 and 8 ohm 0.25w speaker ???

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      yes you can try

      Reply
      • Hako says

        You sure 8 ohm speaker works ????

        Reply
        • Swagatam says

          In the last circuit you can replace the speaker coil with a small output transformer and then use a small speaker. or you can try the designs from this article;

          https://www.homemade-circuits.com/simplest-am-radio-receiver-with-speaker/

          Reply
          • Hako says

            If I use 47 ohm resistor collector to speaker, can I Use 8 ohm speaker ????

            Reply
  17. Acer says

    What is that, “onsie”?

    Reply
  18. marahall says

    what is the maximum range of the reciever, is it AM or FM?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      It is AM, range is 20 km to 30 km maximum

      Reply
  19. Nelio Abreu says

    Hi Swag,
    The antenna coil, what are the specifications? Turns, wire diamanter, ferrite core size?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Hi Nelio, you can find the details in the following article:

      https://www.homemade-circuits.com/mini-transceiver-circuit/

      Reply
      • Nelio Abreu says

        Hi,
        Thanks.
        Best Regards.
        Nélio.

        Reply
        • Swagatam says

          You are welcome Nelio

          Reply
  20. Sten Odenwald says

    Could I get permission to use the schematic of the one-transistor radio you published at
    https://www.homemade-circuits.com/make-this-one-transistor-radio-receiver/

    I am working on a book on magnetism for NASA and it will be used free of charge by teachers and students!

    Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Please feel free to use it, I have no objection to it!

      Reply
  21. Jordan Dobrikin says

    hi
    Looking for schematic/design for RF Amplifiers:
    A) Hollow State low safe Plate Voltages (B+) for retrofitting Antique 1920; 2 and 3 DIALER TRF RADIOS
    B) Solid State Transistor/Semiconductors
    STEAMPUNK/Retromodern/Hybrid Radios
    ————————————————————————-
    STEAMPUNK/Retromodern/Hybrid Radios Grammarly
    Hi
    Looking for comment; advice; assistance; for my Senior Citizens SWL/Scanner/DXing Club’ STEAMPUNK/Retromodern/Hybrid Rado Receiver/Objet d’art/Plural Objets d’art Project(s)
    A) To Retrofit/Restore, Antique/Vintage TRF & Regenerative Receivers to use a low, safe, Plate voltages.
    B) To Build, Breadboard style, Crystal, TRF and Regenerative Radios using Antique/Vintage Tuning Components with modern electronics to come up with Objets d’art Sculptures; as well as Functional Radios.
    Steampunk combining Antique Components with Modern Electronics The basic idea is to give the user the “feel ” of 1920’s multiple Tuning Controls with modern stable electronics.
    The need for assistance is coming up with simple basic RF Amplifier schematics.
    Tubes and/or Transistors especially circuit designs using 12 volt Space Charge Tubes.
    Plan A: All solid State
    Plan B: All Hollow State
    Plan C: Hybrid is Hollow State RF with Solid State Detectors and Audio Amplifiers.
    For Antique/Vintage Radios the plan is to remove all high voltage Tubes and use the Hardware Chassis Tuning Components and wiring and use RF & Audio Modules/PC Boards; Hollow State and/or Solid State; mounted on dead tube bases. Minimal disruption to original circuitry so as to be able to reverse changes to allow a conventional restoration. Hybrid comes in with Hollow State for the RF Stages and Solid State Transistor/semiconductor pcboard/modules for Detector and Audio; readily available on eBay.
    The need for assistance is coming up with simple basic RF Amplifier schematics to build PC Board/Modules Tubes and/or Transistors as well as circuit designs using low plate voltage Tubes.
    thanx 73 de jordan ve7jjd
    jjdobrikin@gmail.com

    Reply
    • Swag says

      Hi, I will try to help wit the mentioned TRF and radio circuits, I have plenty of such designs available with me…..I’ll try to post them through a dedicated article soon.

      Reply
  22. Erick says

    Hello, I’m familiar with all the circuit elements in this schematic, but I was wondering what the line going from the middle of the inductor from the antenna directly to the 4.7 micro-Farad capacitor meant. In my mind I would have a physical wire attached from the middle of the inductor then going into said capacitor, but I don’t think that’s right. How should I wire this component?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Hi, you can use the antenna coil center tap wire itself, and solder its stripped end with the capacitor negative terminal, any extra wire is not required.

      Reply
  23. James Moran says

    Do you supply or can you refer me to a kit supplier for this single transistor radio?

    I would buy 16 kits.

    Thank you
    JM

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      Sorry, I do not supply kits. I have no idea regarding who can do this for you!

      Reply

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