AM/FM Radio Kit | Soldering Project DIY Kit for Practicing Teaching Electronics | Stereo | Great STEM Project and Gift | Upgraded Version VT-16

The parts and instructions are pretty well laid out. Good English and photos. It is not for complete beginners. Some of the mechanical things will take a little thinking. I'd recommend it as a second or third kit if you have no soldering experience. Start with something simple, with fewer things to solder before you can see if it works. Note the little white rubber rings under the speaker-mount-clip screws, which are essential to protect the PCB from scratches. The nice, large, AM antenna rod was a bit difficult on mine, as the left end had heat shrink that made it a little difficult to get into the plastic clip. I'd do that (right) end first, then install both clips, then rotate rod down and work it into the left clip. Some connections may take a longer time than others to heat up and solder - those are the ground (battery negative) connections. Be patient soldering those. The long AM antenna is an important feature of this radio. It will be more sensitive than the average radio. If you listen to AM. FM is good on almost any DSP radio. I wish there was a place to put a paper sticker to write in frequencies. It's pretty cramped around the tuning dial. I used one of my own red LEDs for the tuning light, it comes with a small red one. I also used better quality wire for the speakers, though it should not make a difference. If you want much better sound, the speakers can be upgraded. I have seen speaker modules, sealed black plastic enclosures, that might fit and would give much better bass. A (protected) lithium-ion battery would be a nice upgrade, too, though rechargeable AAs work fine and are safer. I did have a problem with my kit not working. The company support email representative was very helpful, and quick to reply. I would ding a star; but, I trust, from reviews here and in review/instruction videos elsewhere, that this brand is high quality and can be expected to be trouble-free. Minus one's own assembly errors, as it is a kit.

Gave as a gift to a young woman… she soldered it together and sent me a recording of it playing a baseball game. Very cool to hear she was successful. Months later she bought herself another project building another radio she had so much fun and amazed she did it.

All these reviews say the directions for putting this together are detailed and easy to follow. I feel like I’m missing something. The directions I got are not detailed at all. They just start out saying solder all these things: am I supposed to solder them together or solder them to the board or both. It reads like I’m supposed to know all this already. I got this to learn from starting principles. However, it seems as if it’s more of an intermediate level thing.

Voguertime puts out a good product with comprehensive instructions

Fun DIY radio kit. Am and fm channels work but my AM signals in my area is weak but it can still pick up some AM stations at a low volume.

I love the idea, and I totally disappointed when it was not working at all first. I bend it over a little bit and took the chip on an off a couple of times, and started making some noise. Only if I bended a little bit the whole board away from the speakers.AM does not work at all in my area. One of the speakers is not working either. It could be my unit. I loved the idea, and spent almost an hour and follow a guy in youtube step by step, but still is flimsical, and not reliable unfortunately. I am not sure if this is what it is, or it should work a different way. Bad luck I guess.

It works for a project but sounds awful.

This kit will provide an enjoyable couple of afternoons to complete. Assembly mostly straight forward (yes, a couple of minor head scratchers) but the pcb is well laid out making for easy soldering. Most importantly, it works... unlike some other lower quality AM/FM kits. Study the pictures for component placement clues if you are unsure. Not a lot of volume, but with only 3 AA batteries for power, expectations were not high anyway. Still, the signals were clear and readable without strain from many stations.

It was absolute disappointment - there were used parts in the “new” kit, some parts were faulty (but you would not know until the moment you finalise assembly…) Absolute waste of money and time + spoiled Christmas for my son.