“Overall an excellent project for my 14 year old who had minimal soldering experience. Good instruction manual. Would have like to have seen a little radio theory and more on concept behind the components.”
“Arrived on time and with all pieces included and not damaged. It was a fun build, with a slight challenge since it was my 4th building kit. I truly believe anyone else that likes to learn how things work, would want this.”
“After making several Radio Shack kits (when they still made them!), I felt very confident that I would be able to assemble this kit. The instructions were very clear and concise with a step-by-step check off list that was very helpful. It had progress checks throughout the kit which had voltage measurements that verified you were on the right track throughout the assembly. Previous kits had immediate results upon completion that produced a working project. This kit, however, was very disappointing. Once I turned on the radio I was elated to hear the sound of static which told me I was successful in putting the kit together and on the right track. I pressed the RESET button and then the SCAN button only to hear drifting stations that were barely audible. I pressed the SCAN button again and again only to barely lock on to a station that was mostly static with background audio barely discernible as a radio station. I further read the troubleshooting section and realized that in Figure N. there was a procedure that installed a 10uF capacitor across a pre-soldered IC to minimize station drift (which I did). It was of no help at all. I double checked all of my solder connections and verified that I had not accidently bridged any solder connections. There are two coils (inductors) L1 - 6 turns and L2 - 4 turns which proved to be very instrumental in station reception. Bottom-line, this kit is NOT for beginners or intermediate kit builders who do not understand inductive tuning and cannot performed near SMD soldering technique on the IC socket which holds the LM-386 IC. Just as a side note... the kit pictures showed a black bracket (stand) which appeared to hold the circuit card upright so the kit builder could display the final assembly. I found no such bracket in the parts that were supplied. I have read a lot of reviews that complained about the circuit board traces that broke upon moving components that were already soldered into place. I did not encounter any problems with the traces. Perhaps because I have pretty solid soldering skills and did not need to jockey any parts around. Honestly, there is a lot of good with this kit, but a little more attention to detail on the front end it would be beneficial in the success of this kit. I am so disappointed with the final assembly of this kit because of the very poor fidelity of the receiver. It took a GREAT deal of inductor tuning just to find an audible signal. Buy this kit only if you are highly experienced. It is not something I would suggest doing with a 8-14 year old as a grandson/granddaughter project. You would be better off going fishing!”
“Never dreamed that it would work. If you pay attention and follow the instructions, works great. Make sure you have the proper soldering iron and don't put too mush heat on the main board.”
“product arrived on time missing a few what I'm finding out key pieces .works well after a lot of tinketing and borrowing some key parts from another project that children didn't build.i have a home built radio with 5 stations. I did learn to soldier circuts better. another great couple hour project for a snow day”
