Poundland Radio

This is an FM radio with "Auto Scan" manufactured by Signalex, and sold through pound stores in the UK. Shops such as "PoundLand" and many thrift stores will sell these or their variants. This is a mono radio without speakers, and you have to use the supplied earphones when listening. This radio uses the SC1088 integrated circuit (IC), which is a single chip FM radio solution by a Chinese firm called Silan Semiconductors. The IC and the radio seem to work well, and I managed to receive several strong radio stations.

This is almost a single use disposable radio because it requires a 3 V CR2016 button cell lithium battery that will last a few hours. Since the replacement battery costs more than the radio, chances are people will throw it away. However, it is ideal for experimentation because there are many things you can do with it. You can supply power to it using a small solar cell, or make some modifications to the circuit to receive wideband signals. My friend Rufus took his apart and used the SC1088 IC to build another FM radio with a proper variable tuning capacitor.

I just love pound stores and thrift stores.

Headphone Connection

Here is a standard 3.5 mm stereo jacket socket for the headphones. This radio is monaural though.

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