Simple FM Transmitter

Simple FM transmitter with a single transistor Mini FM transmitters take place as one of the standard circuit types in an amateur electronics fan's beginning steps. When done right, they provide very clear wireless sound transmission through an ordinary FM radio over a remarkable distance. I've seen lots of designs through the years, some of them were so simple, some of them were powerful, some of them were hard to build etc. Here is the last step of this evolution, the most stable, smallest, problemless, and energy saving champion of this race. Circuit given below will serve as a durable and versatile FM transmitter till you break or crush it's PCB. Frequency is determined by a parallel L-C resonance circuit and shifts very slow as battery drains out. Schematic Simple FM Transmitter involves on a single transistor oscillator Technical datas: Supply voltage : 1.1 - 3 Volts Power consumption : 1.8 mA at 1.5 Volts Range : 30 meters max. at 1.5 Volts Main advantage of this circuit is that power supply is a 1.5Volts cell (any size) which makes it possible to fix PCB and the battery into very tight places. Transmitter even runs with standard NiCd rechargeable cells, for example a 750mAh AA size battery runs it about 500 hours (while it drags 1.4mA at 1.24V) which equals to 20 days. This way circuit especially valuable in amateur spy operations :) Transistor is not a critical part of the circuit, but selecting a high frequency / low noise one contributes the sound quality and range of the transmitter. PN2222A, 2N2222A, BFxxx series, BC109B, C, and even well known BC238 runs perfect. Key to a well functioning, low consumption circuit is to use a high hFE / low Ceb (internal junction capacity) transistor.

Not all of the condenser microphones are the same in electrical characteristics, so after operating the circuit, use a 10K variable resistance instead of the 5.6K, which supplies current to the internal amplifier of microphone, and adjust it to an optimum point where sound is best in amplitude and quality. Then note the value of the variable resistor and replace it with a fixed one. The critical part is the inductance L which should be handmade. Get an enameled copper wire of 0.5mm (AWG24) and round two loose loops having a diameter of 4-5mm. Wire size may vary as well. Rest of the work is much dependent on your level of knowledge and experience on inductances: Have an FM radio near the circuit and set frequency where is no reception. Apply power to the circuit and put a iron rod into the inductance loops to chance it's value. When you find the right point, adjust inductance's looseness and, if required, number of turns. Once it's OK, you may use trimmer capacitor to make further frequency adjustments. You may get help of a experienced person on this point. Do not forget to fix inductance by pouring some glue onto it against external forces. If the reception on the radio lost in a few meters range, than it's probably caused by a wrong coil adjustment and you are in fact listening to a harmonic of the transmitter instead of the center frequency. Place radio far away from the circuit and re-adjust. An oscilloscope would make it easier, if you know how to use it in this case. Unfortunately I don't have any :( Every part should fit on the following PCB easily. Pay attention to the transistor's leads which should be connected right. Also try to connect trimmer capacitor's moving part to the + side, which may help unwanted frequency shift while adjusting. PCB drawing should be printed at 300DPI, here is a TIFF file already set. The one below is a past PCB work of mine, which was prepared to fit into a pocket flashlight. Since it was so crowded, use the new computerized PCB artwork instead, yet very small. Take a look at my PCB design page to get information on my work style. Here is a completed and perfectly running circuit, mounted in a pocket light, taking the advantage of the 1.5V AA cell slot near it. Microphone is fixed into the bulb's place and antenna is made out of a 30cm soft cable. When cover is placed, it becomes very handy! Do not forget, restrictions on radio frequency transmitting devices may differ in your local area. This circuit has a power output that should be less than 1mW so have to be safe under many kinds of legal conditions but particular attempts such as listening to other people's private life will always be disapproved everywhere.

Single Chip FM Transmitter

simple FM transmitter links your home-entertainment system to a portable radio that can be carried around the house and into the back yard. For example, you can play music on the CD changer in your living room, and listen to it on a portable radio by the back-yard barbeque. IC1 is a voltage-controlled oscillator with integrated varactor. Its nominal frequency of oscillation is set by inductor L1, and a 390nH value places that frequency at 100MHz. Potentiometer R1 then lets you select a channel by tuning over the FM band of 88MHz to 108MHz. Output power is about -21dBm into 50 (most countries accept emissions below 10dBm in the FM band). The home system's left and right audio signals are summed by R3 and R4, and attenuated by the (optional) potentiometer R2. R2's wiper signal serves as a volume control by modulating the RF frequency. Signals above 60mV introduce distortion, so the pot attenuates down from that level. In the absence of a standard FM radio antenna, 75cm (30 inches) of wire will suffice as a transmitting antenna. For best reception, it should be mounted parallel with the receiving antenna. The IC operates on a single supply voltage in the range 3V to 5V, but you should regulate the applied voltage to minimize frequency drift and noise.

MEDIUM-POWER FM TRANSMITTER
The range of this FM transmitter is around 100 metres at 9V DC supply. The circuit comprises three stages. The first stage is a microphone preamplifier built around BC548 transistor. The next stage is a VHF oscillator wired around another BC548. (BC series transistors are generally used in low-frequency stages. But these also work fine in RF stages as oscillator.) The third stage is a class-A tuned amplifier that boosts signals from the oscillator. Use of the additional RF amplifier increases the range of the transmitter. Coil L1 comprises four turns of 20SWG enamelled copper wire wound to 1.5cm length of a 4mm dia. air core. Coil L2 comprises six turns of 20SWG enamelled copper wire wound on a 4mm dia. air core. Use a 75cm long wire as the antenna. For the maximum range, use a sensitive receiver. VC1 is a frequency-adjusting trimpot. VC2 should be adjusted for the maximum range. The transmitter unit is powered by a 9V PP3 battery. It can be combined with a readily available FM receiver kit to make a walkie-talkie set

as shown in Fig. 3.

Low Power FM Transmitter

Description The circuit of the transmitter is shown in Figure 1, and as you can see it is quite simple. The first stage is the oscillator, and is tuned with the variable capacitor. Select an unused frequency, and carefully adjust C3 until the background noise stops (you have to disable the FM receiver's mute circuit to hear this). Because the trimmer cap is very sensitive, make the final frequency adjustment on the receiver. When assembling the circuit, make sure the rotor of C3 is connected to the +9V supply. This ensures that there will be minimal frequency disturbance when the screwdriver touches the adjustment shaft. You can use a small piece of non copper-clad circuit board to make a screwdriver - this will not alter the frequency. The frequency stability is improved considerably by adding a capacitor from the base of Q1 to ground. This ensures that the transistor operates in true common base at RF. A value of 1nF (ceramic) as shown is suitable, and will also limit the HF response to 15 kHz - this is a benefit for a simple circuit like this, and even commercial FM is usually limited to a 15kHz bandwidth. Capacitors All capacitors must be ceramic (with the exception of C1, see below), with C2 and C6 preferably being N750 (Negative temperature coefficient, 750 parts per million per degree Celsius). The others should be NPO types, since temperature correction is not needed (nor is it desirable). If you cannot get N750 caps, don't worry too much, the frequency stability of the circuit is not that good anyway (as with all simple transmitters). How It Works Q1 is the oscillator, and is a conventional Colpitts design. L1 and C3 (in parallel with C2) tunes the circuit to the desired frequency, and the output (from the emitter of Q1) is fed to the buffer and amplifier Q2. This isolates the antenna from the oscillator giving much better frequency stability, as well as providing considerable extra gain. L2 and C6 form a tuned collector load, and

C7 helps to further isolate the circuit from the antenna, as well as preventing any possibility of short circuits should the antenna contact the grounded metal case that would normally be used for the complete transmitter. The audio signal applied to the base of Q1 causes the frequency to change, as the transistor's collector current is modulated by the audio. This provides the frequency modulation (FM) that can be received on any standard FM band receiver. The audio input must be kept to a maximum of about 100mV, although this will vary somewhat from one unit to the next. Higher levels will cause the deviation (the maximum frequency shift) to exceed the limits in the receiver - usually 75kHz. With the value shown for C1, this limits the lower frequency response to about 50Hz (based only on R1, which is somewhat pessimistic) - if you need to go lower than this, then use a 1uF cap instead, which will allow a response down to at least 15Hz. C1 may be polyester or mylar, or a 1uF electrolytic may be used, either bipolar or polarised. If polarised, the positive terminal must connect to the 10k resistor. Inductors The inductors are nominally 10 turns (actually 9.5) of 1mm diameter enamelled copper wire. They are close wound on a 3mm diameter former, which is removed after the coils are wound. Carefully scrape away the enamel where the coil ends will go through the board - all the enamel must be removed to ensure good contact. Figure 2 shows a detail drawing of a coil. The coils should be mounted about 2mm above the board. For those still stuck in the dark ages with imperial measurements (grin), 1mm is about 0.04" (0.0394") or 5/127 inch (chuckle) - you will have to work out what gauge that is, depending on which wire gauge system you use (there are several). You can see the benefits of metric already, can't you? To work out the other measurements, 1" = 25.4mm The nominal (and very approximate) inductance for the coils is about 130nH.This is calculated according to the formula ... L = N * r / (228r + 254l) ... where L = inductance in microhenries (uH), N = number of turns, r = average coil radius (2.0mm for the coil as shown), and l = coil length. All dimensions are in millimetres