Gikfun FM Radio Kit Soldering Practice Kit DIY School Project FM 87-108MHz with 2 Power Supply Modes, Soldering Learning and Teaching for Beginners, Adults EK1989

Having bought and assembled a lot of Chinese kits I was pleasantly surprised with this one , not only were there no parts missing but there were actually spares for some parts which are easily lost. Unlike most Chinese kits this one comes with a pictorial instruction sheet which although having quite small pictures and text I found to be useful, should the size bother you there is an online version accessed by scanning a Q.R code. I would suggest that unless you have young eyes a magnifier is almost essential for soldering the surface mount parts and I do not think that this would be a good first project because of the surface mount parts. Having said this the p.c.b is of excellent quality and providing you exercise patience it all solders together very well. Once assembled and in it's case the radio performs very well, the sound is a little tinny with the supplied speaker which is very small, but this is to be expected, when listening on headphones however the sound is really very good. The radio does seem to be sensitive to headphones resistance in that it worked fine with full sized headphones with a 60 ohm resistance but attempting to use 32 ohm earbuds caused it to malfunction. There is a problem with powering from batteries because it will only work for a short time before the voltage drops to a point where the unit malfunctions, this can be solved by using 1.5 volt re-chargeable lithium ion batteries as these contain an internal voltage regulator which maintains the output at 1.5 volts . Whilst looking into the battery issue I found a power saving feature which appears to be undocumented, if the volume up and down buttons are pressed simultaneously the display will show an H or an L alternately. While in H mode the display is always on whereas while in L mode the display will turn off after a few seconds thus saving power. All in all this is a very good kit and I can recommend it.

Really nice kit, well made but lacking proper instructions. A beginner would probably find this hard at first, but if you take your time and just look at the circuit board markings you should be ok. You will need a decent soldering iron with a very small tip, and a flux pen. The main IC socket on mine had issues with the pins, basically they fell out, so I soldered the IC straight onto the PCB. Worked fine. Apart from the awful speaker the radio is great. headphones or an external speaker make it a really good sounding unit.

Bought this kit for my son. The kit is well put together and, once assembled, it works great. Buyer beware, this kit had 3 SMD parts to solder, one of them (U3, I think the LCD driver) was a nightmare. I can do through-hole but SMD is very fiddly for me, for my son no chance. We competed this project in a few hours and thankfully it worked. All other parts fit together great. So: beginners beware. Experienced solders - enjoy yourself.

Carefully packaged, extremely well marked out circuit board, and quality clear perspex case box supplied. Spare components, in case you have a mishap. Prompt delivery, and clear step-by-step diagram instructions. This is not a criticism, as it is just the way a small unit is, but some of the components are very tiny and magnification might be useful for older eyes. Definitely needing a very fine soldering tip. Very well-priced and quality item. Great fun!

It's smaller than expected but looks like everything is there. The kid will love it his first time soldering

Good little kit. Shame the instructions are so small. But at least there are guides on YouTube which you can follow.

This will help with soldering practice

-edit- they made things right without me having to ask so I’ve updated my rating. It was pretty fun until I realised a singleS8550 transistor was missing. Unfortunately this leaves the whole thing useless since I have no spares and don’t fancy buying a box of 250.

Excellent kit, j'ai eu beaucoup de plaisir à souder et assembler les composantes avec ma fille de 8 ans. Le kit a des composantes de qualité ce qui laisse place à l'erreur si vous les chauffer les composantes un peu plus que nécessaire, le kit à été assemblé avec de l'étain sans plomb et un peu de flux pour les composantes de surface. Les composantes sont variés et permettent d'apprendre plusieurs techniques de soudure.

I'm giving this kit a 5 star review with reservations. I am a skilled adult solderer with a temperature controlled soldering station and a lighted magnifier. I downloaded the PDF and carefully followed the instructions. Don't attempt this if you don't have the skill or equipment because the SMD's are tiny, and quite difficult to mount with little tolerance for error. If you have never plugged long double inline ICs be very careful because they don't fit unless you have an installation tool or very carefully bend the contacts inward. I completed the kit and at first it didn't work even with my experience. After careful inspection with a strong magnifier, I discovered some of the SMD contacts were open. After desoldering, it worked perfectly. Also be very careful (the instructions did warn about this) to carefully mount the button switches vertically and spaced exactly right or the front cover will bind these switches. I would suggest trying the front cover right after mounting the switches. With all of the above said it was a fun and satisfying little kit.

Went to assemble this today, December 27, 2025 as I bought this back in September went disorder in the first ship Parts is so small. I believe it can’t be done unless I’m using the wrong solder iron so I messed up the main board and the very first ship so disappointed what a waste of money.

Great kit. Easy to build

Good idea for this product, but if you don't speak Chinese this is almost impossible to complete. Also, the directions and photos are super small. If you scan the QR code, they will bring you to a website with a Chinese spoken video and unclear directions. Not for kids to complete.