CricketSat LC Receiver
Assembly Manual
Mike Fortney
04/02/2006
Index
•
•
•
•
Parts List
Circuit Board Assembly
Testing
Troubleshooting
Parts List







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

Speaker
6” black antenna wire
1” black jumper wire
Green printed circuit board
9-Volt battery snap connector
Power switch
RF receiver module
LM386 IC chip
8-pin DIP socket
5-Volt regulator (black 3-pin
device)
 Red LED
 Protection diode (1N4001)
 Audio jack connector
 Three small yellow 0.1uF
capacitors
 Blue cylindrical 47uF
capacitor
 Volume control potentiometer
 10 ohm resistor, brown-blackblack-gold
 680 ohm resistor, blue-graybrown-gold
 180K ohm resistor, browngray-yellow-gold
Circuit Board Assembly (1 of 7)
White band
 D1, 1N4001 diode (polarized)
 C3, 0.1 uF capacitor
 R2, 680 Ohm (blue-gray-brown)
 C4, 0.1 uF capacitor
 R3, 180 kOhm (brown-gray-yellow)
 C5, 0.1 uF capacitor
 R5, 10 Ohm (brown-black-black)
Circuit Board Assembly (2 of 7)
Notch end up
Longer lead is positive (+)
 Masking tape may help
 D2, red LED (polarized)
 SW1, switch
 J1 audio jack
 8-pin socket for U3
 J2 speaker 2-pin header
 R4, volume potentiometer
Circuit Board Assembly (3 of 7)
White
bands
up
Flat
edge of
U1
down
Notch end of U3 up
White band on C6 to the right
 U1, 5-V regulator
 C1, 47 uF capacitor (polarized)
 U2, RF receiver module
 C2, 47 uF capacitor (polarized)
 U3, LM386 amplifier
 C6, 47 uF capacitor (polarized)
Circuit Board Assembly (4 of 7)
Route through strain relief holes
Solder wires
on top of
board
Snip off
excess wire
Red lead to B+
Black lead to B-
 9-Volt battery snap connector (POLARIZED)
Circuit Board Assembly (5 of 7)
Solder antenna wire on top of
board. Trim excess wire.
 Black 6-inch antenna wire
Circuit Board Assembly (6 of 7)
Solder wire on top side of circuit
board. Trim excess wire.
 Black 1-inch jumper wire
Solder wire to this lead of R3 on
this side of circuit board.
Circuit Board Assembly (7 of 7)
 Attach battery
 Attach speaker to J2 (non-polarized)
 Assembly is complete!
Testing
• Slide power switch to “ON” position.
• The red LED should light and change brightness with
according to signal strength.
• If the LED does not light, TURN OFF IMMEDIATELY
and proceed to the next slide “Troubleshooting”
• Turn the volume control to a mid position and you should
hear a hiss from the speaker.
• Test the unit with a CricketSat. You should hear a tone or
clicking sound up to 1000 feet away.
Troubleshooting
• No sound or lights, no smoke
–
–
–
–
–
Try a new battery
Insure that slide switch is working properly
Check if battery leads correctly attached to board, red +, black Check if D1 diode is properly installed, white band Check if amplifier IC and RF receiver modules installed properly
• No sound, but lights
– Turn volume control to a median setting. Should hear hissing
sound
• Does not receive CricketSat tone or pulses
– Receiver module may be faulty or need re-tuning