Don't gut an Antique Radio to add a Bluetooth Speaker. Do this instead!
Too many great radios are being gutted and converted to Bluetooth speakers. I would prefer using an in house transmitter to making a modification, but there seems to be a lot of interest in having the Bluetooth receiver in the radio itself. If you must do so, then why not have the best of both worlds? You can have Bluetooth AND full functionality of the Radio itself. This Video is a step by step process to add a Bluetooth receiver to the existing circuitry of an Antique Tube Radio from the 1930's on. It will work with just about any working radio, provided there is space and as long as you have some radio knowledge and can figure out where the audio is getting to the volume control switch. For this demo, we are using a 1948 Westinghouse Model H-204A which is AM and FM. It could be tied to either side, I chose to put it on the AM side with a switch on the back of the radio to select between AM and Bluetooth. The total cost of the project was $11 if you have wire and hardware on hand. The list of items needed are as follows:
1 Bluetooth Module like the MakerHawk BT 5.0
1 USB 5V charger like the AILKIN Charger (We will extract the board)
1 Electrical Project box about 3 x 2 x 1.5 to house Module and Power Supply
1 SPDT ON-ON switch
2 Resistors 1/4 watt, 1K ohms or approximate
1 Capacitor .002 uf or comparable
2 feet or so of Shielded 22 AWG 2 pair cable or similar
2 feet of so of Shielded 22 AWG 1 pair cable or similar
Heatshrink
Misc Hardware to mount project box
Link for Schematics and specs on items listed:
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