Last year I was designing an Arduino powered doorbell for my new home, and I reached for the trusty LM386 to build the audio amplification stage. But, at my new QTH (a high elevation in a major city with line of site radio towers in the distance) the LM386 was not only amplifying the doorbell tones, it was also pulling in a nearby AM radio station! Although this was a major annoyance while designing the doorbell, I wanted to revisit the LM386 in the future as a basic radio receiver.If you live in a location like me, then the following basic circuit may pick up the strongest local radio station, or you may hear a 60Hz buzz from your power lines, or you may hear nothing at all. Try it at night for the best results.
