Gikfun FM Radio Kit Soldering Practice Kit DIY School Project FM 87-108MHz with 2 Power Supply Modes, Soldering Learning and Teaching for Beginners, Adults EK1989

Having bought and assembled a lot of Chinese kits I was pleasantly surprised with this one , not only were there no parts missing but there were actually spares for some parts which are easily lost. Unlike most Chinese kits this one comes with a pictorial instruction sheet which although having quite small pictures and text I found to be useful, should the size bother you there is an online version accessed by scanning a Q.R code. I would suggest that unless you have young eyes a magnifier is almost essential for soldering the surface mount parts and I do not think that this would be a good first project because of the surface mount parts. Having said this the p.c.b is of excellent quality and providing you exercise patience it all solders together very well. Once assembled and in it's case the radio performs very well, the sound is a little tinny with the supplied speaker which is very small, but this is to be expected, when listening on headphones however the sound is really very good. The radio does seem to be sensitive to headphones resistance in that it worked fine with full sized headphones with a 60 ohm resistance but attempting to use 32 ohm earbuds caused it to malfunction. There is a problem with powering from batteries because it will only work for a short time before the voltage drops to a point where the unit malfunctions, this can be solved by using 1.5 volt re-chargeable lithium ion batteries as these contain an internal voltage regulator which maintains the output at 1.5 volts . Whilst looking into the battery issue I found a power saving feature which appears to be undocumented, if the volume up and down buttons are pressed simultaneously the display will show an H or an L alternately. While in H mode the display is always on whereas while in L mode the display will turn off after a few seconds thus saving power. All in all this is a very good kit and I can recommend it.

Carefully packaged, extremely well marked out circuit board, and quality clear perspex case box supplied. Spare components, in case you have a mishap. Prompt delivery, and clear step-by-step diagram instructions. This is not a criticism, as it is just the way a small unit is, but some of the components are very tiny and magnification might be useful for older eyes. Definitely needing a very fine soldering tip. Very well-priced and quality item. Great fun!

Really nice kit, well made but lacking proper instructions. A beginner would probably find this hard at first, but if you take your time and just look at the circuit board markings you should be ok. You will need a decent soldering iron with a very small tip, and a flux pen. The main IC socket on mine had issues with the pins, basically they fell out, so I soldered the IC straight onto the PCB. Worked fine. Apart from the awful speaker the radio is great. headphones or an external speaker make it a really good sounding unit.

The Gikfun FM Radio Kit is a fun, hands-on soldering project for beginners and hobbyists. The instructions are clear, and it’s rewarding to build a working FM radio. However, patience is required for tiny components, and sound quality is basic. Great for learning and practicing soldering skills.

Really great soldering project. Did it with my 7 year old who loved it. Instructions provided are not great, can find better ones online. Let down by acrylic plates which have holes slightly in the wrong location if you want to use the usb power supply.

A bit of a shame really. I had high hopes for this one. I assembled the whole thing and when I went to test it, I was disappointed to find that the display was only half working. To make matters worse, the nuts meant to hold the nylon screws onto the main PCB didn’t fit the threads properly. I’ve been soldering with lead for nearly 20 years, but I bought this kit as a way to practice using lead-free solder. I also wanted something to pass the time, since I find soldering projects just as enjoyable as building Lego, only a bit more complex and a lot cheaper. You should expect to find everything you need to assemble the kit included in the package (you only need an iron, solder, and some side cutters.) It also comes with printed instructions, but they are extremely hard to read. Thankfully there is a QR code that links to a webpage with the same instructions in much better quality, along with a helpful video. The resistors are clearly labelled, which makes identifying them much easier. If you are unsure, you can always check with a multimeter or use a resistor decoder to confirm the values based on the colour bands. The PCB itself is great to work with, and I really appreciated the mix of through-hole and surface-mount components. It’s excellent practice for anyone learning or brushing up their skills. If you are lucky enough to get one without issues, this would be a very worthwhile little project.

Bought this kit for my son. The kit is well put together and, once assembled, it works great. Buyer beware, this kit had 3 SMD parts to solder, one of them (U3, I think the LCD driver) was a nightmare. I can do through-hole but SMD is very fiddly for me, for my son no chance. We competed this project in a few hours and thankfully it worked. All other parts fit together great. So: beginners beware. Experienced solders - enjoy yourself.

This is unbelievably bad. The instructions are in Chinese with a partial,l comically bad interpretation. The guidance photos are beyond a joke and tiny and out of focus. Why Amazon would allow such C**P to be sold through their platform is beyond me. Dont disappoint someone like I did with this as a gift, or save yourself the trouble and burn the cash