ZX 2051 IC kit radio build and test

Get it here at banggood.com. DIY ZX2051 Type IC Radio Kit -- goo.gl/o9S3aj building and testing direct conversion I see AM FM kit radio educational set soldering surface mount IC and assembling AM FM battery-operated portable Chinese radio

[@skuula]

I know Chinese (but nothing about tubes). The first "Year of the moon quality assurance" is really "Product Warranty", and at the bottom "year, month, day" (of purchase). The brand name is Zhongxia (midsummer). On the radio, it reads "jingqiguan chaowaicha jiaoxue shouyinji", or "solid state superheterodyne educational receiver". The first three characters are "crystal body tube" (semiconductor. Also called bandaoti - half conducting bodies) and the last 3 are receive-sound-machine :) Anyway I liked the discrete ones better. More educational.

[@rfburns5601]

I have one of those Everplay Radios made in 1966. The rechargeable battery was made by Gulton division of Electro-Voice. Its been a few years since I've pulled it out, but the the battery still works. I haven't done a full charge-recharge on it. I just plug it in for 30 mins and play for 5 mins to demo. But the battery still works. Amazing for a 50 year old NiCad.

[@audiodood]

talk about quality!

[@charliehustle5529]

shango you got me started working on the small Transistor Radios around 2 years ago. tuns of fun . i have around 45 Transistor Radios that i fixed. i am going to start listing them on ebay soon .so i can sell them and buy more .i keep some for my radio collection. with me the smaller the radio the more fun it is to work on . anyway thank you for the time you spend on all these vids . i know its lots of work to set the vids up to post. THANKS

[@shana_dmr]

For some reason I can't even get mad at these Chinese $5 kits, I know that everything in them leaves a bit to be desired but I love them for comedy value and sheer adventure of puzzle-solving:) They remind me of kits you could get at 90s in Poland.

[@wacoflyer]

Just built one of their AM-FM kits. No missing parts, but the quality couldn't get much worse. Hot glued in the speaker. Stiff tuning control and selectivity about the same as yours. But it was a Fun Build.......and it WORKS!

[@ricknelsonm]

Love your work, your videos and you, as a person. Thank you for teaching us, being with us, it is because of your hard work I have learned important things here.

[@PileOfEmptyTapes]

That's a pretty typical analog 1-chip AM/FM radio circuit actually, more or less straight off the datasheet. And with IF, of course. The CXA1691 is the last in a whole line of chips including CXA1191 and CX20091, going back all the way to the mid-'80s. The latter found use in the petite ICF-4900/4910 and bigger ICF-7601, for example. These ICs are real current misers (around 5 mA!) and as such not high dynamic range, they need good passives. I guess what's supplied here doesn't really qualify (surprise). Performance of the assembled radio is reminiscent of some really cheap and cheesy Chinese jobs, as in $10 for an AM/FM/SW analog multiband. Hint: Run this guy on 4.5 or 6 V for something resembling half-decent audio output, it's rated at 500 mW into 8 ohms on 6 V - no BTL here. On 3 V (100-125 mW) and with a 2.5" speaker, I wouldn't expect any miracles. In the ICF-4900 et.al., Sony would convert the selected shortwave band to a wideband 1st IF around 10.7 MHz (with a set of LO xtals) so they could use ordinary (cheap) FM IF filters there, and then used the CX20091 to tune that range and convert it to 455 kHz. Without any tracking, however, dynamic range was rather poor. In this respect, the ICF-7601 is noticeably inferior to the older ICF-7600A employing a discrete 2nd mixer, and that wasn't exactly a record-breaker to begin with (if certainly acceptable as a travel receiver back in the day).

[@stephenwilliams5201]

Finaly got mine. Put it together. Only problem I had was the case. It was warped , fit poorly. Got a big fat rubber band all's happy in who land. Ps got a upgrade I found my led acts like a " tune flash" indicator. Tks Fer good show. Om de kv4li 73.

[@arongooch]

Shango is awesome. Any video is a good video.

[@MsCori76]

Considering the language barrier & parts missing & broken, you did very well! You sure have more patience then me as I would’ve smashed it with a hammer by now! LOL 😂........I also enjoyed watching every minute of your video too. 😀💕

[@CheezyDee]

I built and tuned my HX108 about 6 months ago hoping to use it as a bathroom radio, but my old "Gran Prix Deluxe AM/FM/TV" still lives, now sporting a makeshift D-cell battery pack since the internal contacts rotted out several weeks ago.

[@stephenwilliams5201]

The battle at. Hidden valley. I build kits. In the cold winter. It came. And looked a little rough. On package wise. I got it and layed it out.( And for some reason I never had problems with ICs this one faught every me turn). I would solder. I took and tested with a meter to check contact. Removing the chip 3 times. I broke a pin off. "YIPE" still borne?? shelving it for a day or two. I got the dremmel. And the narrowest disc. And carefully cleaned the area where the pin broke off found some meat. Resoldering the chip third time. It took off. With a roar And now is setting on my my shelf. The battle of hidden valley won. it's been my favorite. For a week. The battle of hidden valley won . Combat engneer and signal corps radio operator. Retired sgt williams de kv4li. This critter was tough. The next chip radio went to gather with out a hitch. .??? Imagine that. . Hi hi.

[@Rfk1966]

That’s some precision equipment there.

[@Dr_Reason]

I use a "coffee warmer' hotplate with a chunk of circular aluminum plate to get the are for the chip warm. Them I use solder paste and an embosser hot air blower to slowly heat the area. After about 3 minutes warm up and 1 minute with the embosser the solder takes and you are done with all of the solder joints on the chip at the same time.

[@justsumguy2u]

Year Of The Moon Quality Assurance is really all that I require in my electronic purchases

Seems the inspector was working under moonlight.

[@rfburns5601]

Packaged by a Lunartic.

[@wrnchhead76]

Lmao.

[@josephsirois2353]

justsomeguytoyou 😆👍

[@MattExzy]

I was going to get this kit before the red radio video. Made that red one up a few months ago, I listen to it almost daily; it's solid, I get some light DX on it at night. Very listenable radio, and very selective when it's dialed in right. With these ICs doing everything, there's not much wiggle room I imagine to tweak them. I've done a few 'auto tuning' FM kits with those ICs, they can be a bit erratic. The red radio also taught me just how an IF-staged set works; I'd been trying to wrap my brain around it for ages.

[@pvc988]

You did a good job soldering that SMD IC. It looks really good. BTW. That Megakilohertz range must have some crazy stations.

[@Klutech]

It's like a crazy way of saying Gigahertz, except they obviously didn't mean that.

[@cardboardboxification]

pvc its in mega kilohertz so you can tune into Marvin and here if he found some PU-36

[@Klassenfeind]

Some colleges in China require students to build this radio and write an assignment about it. Probably this is the only reason this kit exists.

[@mohinderkaur6671]

The best performace I got was from this IC cxa1691 kit zx2051. Even better than that red radio + FM

[@Steven-re7xt]

Walking around Dickson Tennessee it gets full quieting on AM/FM. Friend's FREQ WHEN THEY see the spec sheet I tell them that the diagram is universal PS solder gun heat folds the ring round speaker. And grind out the original battpack r/r with radio shack 😊😊

[@Elfnetdesigns]

I built this same radio on my channel, I have the same issue with the broken bits but I was able to "align" it somewhat. The one I have is permanently in FM because I accidentally super glued the AM/FM switch while trying to glue the switch cover on but oh well. it does work.

[@TheMagicOtis]

The resistor character converter method is ingenious!!

[@dhpbear2]

This radio will give you happy feeling! :)

[@terrywilson4118]

Yeah i put one of these together a while back. It had a missing 30pf capacitor too and a faulty tuning capacitor stopping the radio from tuning across the FM band, replaced it and radio worked... the red can is the local osc as with any radio and the black can has to be peaked at 455khz to feed the IF signal into chip via the ceramic filter... the radio's plastic case however would not clip together properly...

[@isoguy.]

Awsome. More radio, module dab builds and older renovations please. Honestly think i could watch you paint the bands on a resistor, you would still make it interesting. Thanks

[@rdsledge]

Thank you for an other excellent video! I enjoy all your videos very much, keep them coming,

[@jackjowett902]

0:30 I see you speak fluent Chinese.

[@wyokaiju992]

I must tursh mon minish flop tarsh vorsgil corsh burgle furshlurshle barvel. BAHAHAH Autocarrot gave up!

[@CheezyDee]

Bork bork!

[@scharkalvin]

Those filters ARE your IF transformers. The red one is your AM local osc coil, and the other one is probably the FM discriminator coil.

[@Ka9radio_Mobile9]

You have a safe space too! I use mine on bad solar flux days. Lol

[@VegasCyclingFreak]

4:28 I was surprised the first time I had to solder an SMD component to a PCB - that was much easier than I thought it would be.

[@JerryEricsson]

I have assembled dozens of different kits from China, usually if there is a missing cap, I find it stuck up under the speaker material stuck to the magnet by a leg or two. Now that I am really into it, I have lots of extra caps so it would not be a real problem for me anyhow I guess. Cool video though, I tried one of those little radios it really sucked as far as receiving, perhaps I shall give the one you have a try...

[@rubusroo68]

2 in a week yay

[@alphabeets]

Hand soldering surface mount components such as the IC in this video really is not hard at all. The trick is to use a lot of good quality flux. Simply tack solder two diagonal corner pins to align the IC, then using a lot of flux, you can very easily solder the rest of the pins. The flux keeps the solder from gapping across the pins. It really is not hard at all. There are many instructional videos on KZbin showing this. If you get a solder bridge, a good solder braid takes it right away. When you get really good, you can drag solder all the pins in one movement using a cupped soldering tip. Kind of fun, actually. You can practice on any old circuit board.

[@1McMurdoSilver]

Love your workbench I have one just like it in the garage.

[@Steven-re7xt]

Fine once tuned did break case could be made heaver so it's set in my stable😊

[@raydowling4540]

always enjoy your videos

[@diversifieddame9682]

Took the radio out of my cars many years ago and now I only listen to my own FLAC files... So this is the first time I've heard radio in a few years and as for the AM... that's probably closer to decades lol.

[@stephenwilliams5201]

Dc radios are cool. I live away from any big transmitters. So I get some control over the radio. Looking to buy. One or two.

[@NJPurling]

I would say that these radios obviously aren't meant for use in an area where the local bands aren't so congested. I just ordered a HX201 kit. It has FM only & uses the 9088 IC also used in the Paensonic CF210SP. I have looked at the other radio kits you made. Very interesting to see the red HX108-2 did well picking up KNX out at the ghost town. It was never going to do as well as that Zenith.

[@Steven-re7xt]

My first try I found a leg broken off. the main chip. With a magnifying glass...I got some of the leg out where I could solder a bit of wire.....then set it on the board soldered...and tested all legs. The on the way...still carry it around to day. I'm just persistent. Nothing's better than roll your own.. don't you think? 73

[@computeruser9893]

ACTUALLY IT LOOKS LIKE A SONY CX RADIO CHIP. GOOD FOR WHAT IT IS.

[@stridermt2k]

I ordered few extra red DIY HS 108-2 radio kits... I should have ordered three, but it's my bad there.

[@dhpbear2]

"MKHz" - Wouldn't that be GHz? :)

[@antonslobodchuk9618]

Точно! :)

[@jameslucas6589]

McIntosh will be closing the doors soon. Great video. I am fascinated this POS gets KNX. Little alone others. You have great content!

[@billmyke746]

" sounds like I have it aligned right" lmao

[@jasonthejawman5442]

Another thing you said in your last video everyone needs to have a battery operated transistor radio In case of an emergency, I own a Sony battery operated radionit uses 4 AA batter's

[@northhankspin]

Great vid

[@janislv1000]

Im soldering smd fm radio kit tda7088t. Good kit.

[@circuitblog01]

Good work. This design is the production of Sony by the adoption of cxa 1xxx series and it is good as long as that the pieces were put well and quality of them is accurat As for the settings in the adjustment process You have to study the schematicand the way to receive and treatment signal that you are calibrating for the first time and then my friend become things as riding a bike is the type simplified and easy calibration🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🔈🔉🔊🔈🔉🔊🔈🔉🔊

[@williamsquires3070]

The dial says, “MKHz”, which would seem to indicate mega-kilohertz, which would be GHz (gigahertz). Fat chance. I think you’re going to have trouble finding a 30 pico-puff capacitor; maybe 2 electrons, and two protons might be close to 30 pico-picofarads, if you could find an eentsie-teeniy-tiny dielectric to separate them! Just replace the innards with a TRF, and a vacuum bulb, and it’ll probably work better. 😆

[@waltschannel7465]

17:03 Fit and finish of the AM/FM switch. Yeah, like for real! 😆 Fun video.

[@nor4277]

Have you done any of the tube radio kits all express has a few on them from one tube to mulitube kits of course no directions,which wouldn't be much of a problem with you skill it shouldn't be much of a problem,I hope someone will do some of these tube radio kits for some of that may wish to try them ,they seem to have a pretty good selection,I been trying to find another tube radio kit with good step by step directions ,I haven't had any luck with that,if anyone no of a company that sells a tube radio kits with good instuctions,please let me no .I don't think of an home does any more,I did build a tube tuner kit once I found in a old electronic store,it has magic Eye tunning which I loved,the kit was just sitting there I bought ,put together and it still works just ask my x wife .but that was the most fun I had and the instruction were very good ,now if I could find something like that I would be happy

[@rsattahip]

What's worse, missing parts or the Ikea method of throwing a few extra parts in the box?

[@klafong1]

To peak the AM IF gain on this radio, you could try to bring a wire connected to a 455 kHz source near C11 and then peaking the black transformer (T3). The signal would be coupled in via the stray capacitance between the piece of wire and C11. There are no adjustable components in the FM IF strip. Front end tuning is as would normally be done. My condolences go out to you on the lousy quality of the variable capacitor. I am thankful that at least, this design didn't cheapen out to the point of eliminating the AM IF transformer (this is needed to suppress spurious modes in the ceramic filter).

[@uxwbill]

Your soldering that SMD IC in by hand has bolstered my confidence with regard to my ability to build one of these. I've overlooked them in the past just because I didn't think I could do that. I still have yet to build the orange AM radio kit. I've been shorted on parts with a few of the cheap Chinese clock kits that I've built. I thought the included LED was red. Did something happen to it along the way?

[@migsvensurfing6310]

Sure you can. When soldering a chip like this you are worried to bridging pins. You can avoid that by using thin soldering wire, 0.5 mm will do and get some flux from China or around the corner for better quality. Flux is the most important thing next to your soldering iron, always. If you have bridges, adding flux and reheating removes it. Go ahead and enjoy soldering !

[@Mosfet510]

Like anything, in time it will become easier. They (SMD's) can be intimidating to someone who hasnt had hands on with them but try it and youll see you can do it. Remember, flux is your friend!

[@Elfnetdesigns]

I built this kit and recorded it on my channel, it was pretty easy.

[@keithwhisman]

It would be fun and interesting to see what you would do to upgrade your kit radios and what I mean is like adding selectivity and perhaps improving the sound from a better speaker since it has FM on on this ZX2051 radio. Just an idea

[@davidlegault9745]

Good soldering practice for 5 bucks - if it works - bonus.

[@MsCori76]

David Legault - I finally got myself a soldering kit, need to practice now for my long waiting projects. I might think about investing in some of these cheap radio kits as a learning starter.

[@davidlegault9745]

Hi Corinna, check out ICstation.com as well and of course ebay always has really inexpensive kits to practice on. Regards, Dave

[@MsCori76]

David Legault - Thankyou, I will indeed check them out & thanks for the information too. :)

[@wdavem]

I need to improve my soldering work but I don't really want a radio like that - but you may have inspired me to build some other kit so thanks. That sounds like some notloB raw hsats soahc hsawniarb ssennekorb etile.

[@teacfan1080]

That one will have to be branded BangCrap, with missing & broken parts and that high quality audiophile sound! Had it had Year of Jupiter Quality Assurance, then I'm all in.

[@stephtronix1811]

The other one looks better too!!

[@TurboTel68]

I got a few of CF210SP kits from China and found they weren't very good. I couldn't really get it to align to any stations so I built a couple to ensure it wasn't just me, and it wasn't. I found that they were sensitive but all the stations seem to be mashed together

[@user-bd6yv4do8o]

you do a good job thank you.

[@rangerpru]

Shango bangs another one out...

[@Jason1920]

_...puts on best Phil Hartman Frankenstein voice:_ *Bang GOOD!*

[@gerhardprins1412]

Didn’t you already do a video on that harman/kardon amp?

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

yeah missing parts is a curse on these kits. I recently tried my luck with a second HX-207 AM radio kit and it lacked one of the 203 ceramic resistors and one of the battery connection wires. xD It's sometimes hit or miss. Had to salvage these parts from my first kit that turned out to be crap and didn't work.

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

Hopefully they will address the shortcomings of the kit from your review.

[@buddylight2191]

So it works best listening to Chinese only?

[@josephsirois2353]

Do these neverplay radios make good doorstops or paperweights?

[@bradleyhatchen4786]

All to let you know the blue radio transformer has two dots you line up on the broad before soldering it in I'm going for the red radio the blue one died on me

[@Radiowild]

You had an easier time fixing the amp!

[@kokodin5895]

ui love megakilohertz scale

[@Madness832]

Think they gave you the moon!

[@VintageElectronicsGeek]

Wow, this receives the MegaKiloHertz band! Hope it has better programming then the old basic KHz / MHz band! Wonder if it works on the basic principles similar to DTMF? :) ~Jack, VEG

[@rfburns5601]

Back in the olden days before Gigahertz, we called it Kilomegacycles (thousandmillion). Look itsa pocket transistor radio! No itsa microwave handwarmer! No you're both right.........Introducing the new Bangood microwave radio/handwarmer! Great on those winter days!

[@umajunkcollector]

oooo that bass!

[@c.brionkidder9232]

中放 probably means IF. Or maybe medium wave. @12:27 lol picking up the right content.

[@Klassenfeind]

中波 is medium wave.

[@GeorgiaRidgerunner]

dang i hope these kits are still available.... if so im gonna get one....

[@user-ti5bh6bb7k]

学生人人必做的套件！

[@HDXFH]

Actually isn't too bad

[@martinda7446]

OMG! Absolute audio nirvana and a Banggood kit radio Ha ha ha - Only on Shango066

[@raymondleggs5508]

dollar tree grade radio

[@LZ2SM]

youtube just forced me to whatch a whole minute ad!

[@Steven-re7xt]

PS a friend asked if I had learned Chinese?? I took out the schematic and showed the true language .

[@Prnencetti]

I've always wondered how they made the little radios. Now I know there is thousands of little parts and thousands of hours of soldering time. Too bad the instructions are in full Chinese not poorly written Chinglish (what I call poorly translated English from Chinese). If it was in Chinglish I'm pretty sure people in America would be able to put these radios together no problem but because it's in Chinese a lot of translation is needed. I wonder if you can take this and scan it on your computer and translate it that way so you have an Chinglish version. I think Chinglish is a word that I may have made up but anyway I refer to Chinglish as poorly translated English from Chinese. That's where the Chinese manufacturers try to translate their Chinese only instructions in to poorly translated English and you can barely figure out how to put together what you're trying to put together. Ching is Chinese and Lish is English making up Chinglish half Chinese half English writing

[@yzrider3326]

Holy shit take a break !

[@MsCori76]

Lucas Nencetti - Gesh I think my migraine just returned after reading all that!

[@zxttgg]

the character is mean "mid freq oscillator "

[@johnsobery]

Looks more trouble than it’s worth.

[@josephsirois2353]

The dad joke guy waste of solder

[@redneckbryon]

Any TV videos in the works??

[@justincase3880]

MKHz?

[@mattgring]

Maied Inn Chia

[@rfburns5601]

Ch-ch-ch-chia! That radio ain't got no grass growing under it. Ha!

[@45AMT]

I've built a few of these IC controlled kits. Everyone of them has terrible selectivity. After building a few of these I've just come to the conclusion you're buying them for the project. Not the quality.

[@harbselectronicslab3551]

Well thats disappointing.....I expected to hear Radio China......lol

[@mopenstein]

A crummy commercial?

[@jrs0007]

No, that's reserved for Ralphie's Little Orphan Annie decoder ring scene in the "Christmas Story" movie.

[@martinda7446]

Are you calling me a puff?

[@mikedrz]

Look at the dial scale, wtf is a MKHz? lol

[@gwcoty0715]

+mikedrz mega kilohertz

[@mikedrz]

Bob Builder071 That would be a GHz then, FM radio isn't in the GHz range. I believe its more year of the moon quality assurance.

[@2006chame]

eol it!

[@bodacious2276]

Low grade Chineseium.

[@bones007able]

think that chip is hard.... try the little SW/AM kit they have...

[@shango066]

dont challenge me

[@bsekisser]

aww... why not! hahahahaha!!!

[@bombtwenty3867]

shango066 Why not design the mother of all kit radios with your knowledge, and get cheap Chinese labour to make them?

[@MsCori76]

shango066 - Come on, your a born genius so any challenge would be a walk in the park for you!

[@kaseymorgan9595]

I am getting notifications every time you post a video. Please stop spamming me

[@bradleyhatchen4786]

These radio kits are garbage I've done three and they don't work period I've done every thing right but no sound even the red radio is garbage no sound nothing cheap parts are garbage won't buy these anymore t would are sitting here dead nothing check points bridge but no sound

[@danilorainone406]

a mirrion chines pla sorders rove shango video