A modder named Øyvind Nydal Dahl has converted an antique 1937 Phillips radio into a smartphone docking station.
“I had this old Philips radio laying around that I couldn’t use because it only had an AM receiver. So, I thought it would be cool to make it into an iPhone dock,” Dahl explained in a blog post published on Build-Electronic-Circuits.com.
“The first thing I did was to remove old the old parts from it. Then I cut out the front of an old speaker and replaced the original speaker element. The reason for this was that the original element didn’t have any bass at all.”
According to Dahl, a Fiio L11 was used to dock the iPhone and enable sound – amplified via a TEA2025 amplifier circuit which provides 2.5 watts of power.
“I made the display by drawing it on my computer, then printing it out on a sheet of paper placed behind a plastic window. I used LED’s on the back to indicate volume and source selection. The LED’s [are] controlled by an Arduino Duemilanove,” said Øyvind.
“[Specifically], J1, J2, J3 and J4 are connected to outputs of the Arduino. The volume knob is a dual potentiometer (two potentiometers in one), so I have used one to control the volume and connected the other one to an input of the Arduino. The Arduino then controls the LEDs according to the potentiometer.”
Additional information about the modded antique radio can be found here, while the relevant Arduino sketch is available here.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 
Although I like modding different devices this special old radio receiver rather lost its natural charm. If I were you I’d rather made a wireless connection with ipod on AM waves. Of course the sound wouldn’t be so clear but that’s the point in vintage radios. The time travel 🙂 Cheers.
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