An ESP32 that keeps vintage tube radios talking
As AM broadcasts slowly disappear, plenty of old tube radios are turning into shelf decorations. A project covered on Hackaday this week tries to change that: Gareth Davies built a small AM transmitter around an ESP32-S3 that pulls an internet radio stream and sends it out so a vintage set can pick it up again. The code is on his GitHub repository called esp32-am-transmitter.
What I find neat is how little hardware is involved. There is no dedicated RF chip. The RF is generated as a pulse chain straight from a GPIO pin, and a 3D-printed box holds a widely spaced wire coil that radiates just enough for a nearby radio to receive it. The output sits at 200 kHz, in the European long wave band, though the article guesses that a higher medium-wave frequency could probably be generated too.
The comments are as interesting as the build. Readers point out that a bare GPIO pulse train has no filtering, so harmonics can reach well beyond the intended frequency, and the creator himself admits it may not be legal in many countries. Others suggest gentler routes, such as a small FM transmitter feeding a radio's FM input.
So this is a lovely idea to read about, but if you want to try something similar, check your local radio rules first and keep power very low. It is a good reminder that restoring old audio gear is not only about the hardware, but also about keeping a way to feed it something worth hearing.
Source: Hackaday
What I find neat is how little hardware is involved. There is no dedicated RF chip. The RF is generated as a pulse chain straight from a GPIO pin, and a 3D-printed box holds a widely spaced wire coil that radiates just enough for a nearby radio to receive it. The output sits at 200 kHz, in the European long wave band, though the article guesses that a higher medium-wave frequency could probably be generated too.
The comments are as interesting as the build. Readers point out that a bare GPIO pulse train has no filtering, so harmonics can reach well beyond the intended frequency, and the creator himself admits it may not be legal in many countries. Others suggest gentler routes, such as a small FM transmitter feeding a radio's FM input.
So this is a lovely idea to read about, but if you want to try something similar, check your local radio rules first and keep power very low. It is a good reminder that restoring old audio gear is not only about the hardware, but also about keeping a way to feed it something worth hearing.
Source: Hackaday
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