CD2003+-+yet+another+simple+FM+radio+receiver

In last few days we are looking for some simple FM radio receiver to integrate into one of our ongoing project. For that we try several FM radio receiver ICs including TDA7000, CD2003/TA2003/TA8164, CXA1019 and KA22429. Out of all those chips we select CD2003 (or TA2003/TA8164) based receiver for our project because of its simplicity and outstanding performance. Except to CD2003, Sony CXA1019 also perform well but we drop it because of its higher component count.



We design our receiver based on Toshiba TA2003 datasheet and later we try TA8164 and CD2003 with same circuit. Either CD2003 or TA8164 can directly replace TA2003 IC, and as per our observations TA8164 gives excellent results out of those 3 chips.

The PCB design and schematic which we used in our prototype project are available to download at the end of this article.

Except CD2003 IC, this receiver consist with 12 components. Three inductors used in this receiver are home-produced and all the winding details are available with the schematic diagram. This component count can also reduce by introducing FM band pass filter module to FM RF input stage of TA2003 chip (This section is marked as //B1// in schematic). We try BPW85 FM band pass filter with this circuit and it also give same results as original circuit.



In our testing we operate this receiver using 3.3V power supply and by average it draws 8mA - 12mA current from PSU.

To drive speaker(s), this receiver needs to connect with suitable AF power amplifier and in our testing we use TDA2050 base AF power amplifier with this receiver.

For the antenna we use 45cm "telescopic antenna".



In this given PCB design we didn’t include variable capacitor due to different package styles. When testing this receiver use "short piece of wires" to connect variable capacitor with this circuit. Longer wires may induce wire capacitance and decrease performance of the receiver. To receive 88MHz to 108MHz FM radio band we use 20pF - 30pF double gang variable capacitor (with trimmers).

Project Related Downloads
PCB and schematic diagram of CD2003/TA2003/TA8164 base FM radio receiver