ZX2051 AM/FM Radio Receiver Kit Documentation

shabaz — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 12:22:23 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by shabaz on 6/22/2021 12:22:23 PM

Introduction

The ZX2051 is a low-cost kit to build an AM/FM radio receiver. I thought it could be fun for kids to assemble. The instructions are in Chinese, so the purpose of this blog post was to document any information needed in English (or other languages) to successfully build it.

Any translations, or advice, is welcome, since I cannot do this entirely on my own : )

Original Documentation

Since I don't have the copyright to it, I've saved high-res scans of the ZX2051 documentation on a third party server during the time that collaboration is needed, but will remove the link after it is no longer required to act as the only documentation.

There are low-res copies of it here (might not be readable), which I believe is fair use.

Translation Attempt #1

Google Lens was attempted, with some success and some amusement. It didn't get the translation entirely right I think : )

Another attempt was only slightly better:

One more time..

PCB Layout and Notes

The scan here shows the copper side PCB layout, with some of the important bits highlighted in red.

From what I can tell using Google Lens to do the translation, the quadruple tuning/variable capacitor needs the end with the two wires to be inserted in the red highlighted hole, because one side of it contains the FM capacitors (lower capacitance) but the side with the two wires that insert in one hole, is the AM side (higher capacitance).

Also, T2 is highlighted with a red square. T2 is the metal can with the core that is painted red.

For the electrolytic capacitors, the hatched/shaded side of the circles in the diagram above is the negative end.

To be continued..

More info to follow after this kit has been soldered!

Tags: fm radio, zx2051, electronics kit, radio, am radio, electronic kit