Radio Mundial manual

Tap the world map, pick a country and a station, and it plays. This guide covers installation and everything the radio can do.

Radio Mundial in a small yellow 3D-printed case, showing the world map

1. What you need

Freenove FNK0104 board: ESP32-S3 with a 2.8" capacitive touch screen and a small built-in speaker. Choose the «2.8 Inch IPS Touch» version: the radio does not work on the version without touch. Buy it on Amazon US or Amazon Spain*.
USB-C data cable. Some cables only charge, and those will not work for installing.
A computer with Chrome or Edge, only for the installation. Phones do not work for this step.
2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. The board cannot use 5 GHz networks.
A 3D-printed case is optional. Get it on MakerWorld, with a ready-to-print Bambu Studio profile, on Printables, on Instructables, or the case files on GitHub.

The radio in the palm of a hand — The finished radio fits in your hand.

The radio stays plugged in over USB-C: it has no battery. No account and nothing to pay for. The only soldering is to lengthen the speaker cable, explained below.

* Affiliate links: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

2. Build the case

You can skip this if you only want to try the radio: it works without a case. The board's own small speaker is enough for the small case.

You need
Screws for the board	4 × M3 × 5 mm (M3 × 4 also works). Not longer than 5 mm: a 6 mm screw hits the bottom of the post.
Screws for the back cover	4 × M3 × 8 mm.
Speaker	The one that comes with the board, with its cable lengthened.
Optional	Hot glue, soldering iron, a piece of two-wire cable and heat-shrink tubing.

Print	Time and filament
Front	About 1 h, 31 g
Back cover	About 45 min, 18 g
PETG, 0.2 mm layers, 0.4 mm nozzle, 6 walls, 15 % infill, no supports. Times measured on a Bambu Lab P2S: other printers will differ.

Print it from MakerWorld Get it on Printables Download the case files

Print the front and the back cover.
Lengthen the speaker cable. The speaker that comes with the board has a short cable that does not reach the grille. Cut it, solder a piece of wire in between and cover each joint with heat-shrink tubing. If you would rather not solder, buy the same kind of speaker with a longer cable.
Place the board in the front so that the USB-C opening of the case lines up with the board's USB-C port, and screw it in with the 4 short screws. Check: with the radio standing on its feet, the screen must be the right way up. If you only see the image the right way up with the feet pointing upwards, the board is the wrong way round.
Plug the speaker into the connector marked SPEAKER: the small white two-pin connector on the edge of the board, just below the I2C one. Do not use the one marked BAT, which is for a battery.
Place the speaker behind the grille. A few dots of hot glue keep it in place: recommended, not essential.
Close the back cover with the 4 long screws and plug in the USB-C cable.

The printed front coming off the printer bed — 1. The printed front.

Soldering an extension to the speaker cable — 2. Soldering the extension…

Shrinking the tubing over the joints with a heat gun — …and insulating it with heat-shrink tubing.

The board screwed into the front — 3. The board in the front.

Speaker cable plugged into the connector marked SPEAKER — 4. The speaker goes into SPEAKER, not BAT.

Fixing the speaker with a hot glue gun — 5. Fixing the speaker with hot glue.

The back cover closed, with the LED glowing — 6. Closed, with the LED on.

3. Install

Installing erases whatever was on the board and takes 1 or 2 minutes.

Connect the board to your computer with the USB cable.
Open the install page in Chrome or Edge:
Open the install page
Click Install Radio Mundial, choose the board's port in the browser window and confirm.
Wait until it finishes. Do not unplug the board while it installs.

Install page with the Install Radio Mundial button — The install page. No software to download: the browser does everything.

Board not in the list? Try another cable or USB port. If it still does not appear, hold the board's BOOT button while you plug in the cable.

4. First start and Wi-Fi

The first time it starts, the radio asks for your language.

Language screen with English and Español buttons — Tap your language.

Then connect it to your Wi-Fi in one of these two ways:

From the computer: when the installation finishes, the same window offers to connect the radio. Choose your network and type the password.
From your phone: if the radio has no Wi-Fi, its screen shows the steps and a QR code. Scan it or join the RadioMundial-XXXX network, and a page opens where you choose your Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi screen with a QR code and instructions — If the page does not open by itself, go to 192.168.4.1 in your phone's browser.

The radio remembers the network. From then on, it connects by itself.

5. Find and play stations

Tap a region of the world map.
Tap a country on the regional map, or use the list button at the top right to see all its countries.
Tap a station and it starts playing.

A finger tapping a region of the world map — Tap a region…

A finger tapping a country on the map of North America — …then a country.

List of countries with their number of stations — Country list, with the number of stations. Gray countries have none yet.

List of stations in France — Stations of a country, most popular first.

The buttons at the top of the map are search, favorites and random station, which plays something from anywhere in the world.

Stations that fail twice in a row move to the end of the list and turn gray. They are never deleted, and go back to their place as soon as they play again.

World map showing the station playing at the bottom — While music plays you can keep exploring. Tap the bottom line to return to the station.

6. While a station plays

The radio playing CNN, with the local time of the United States

Player screen with a 15-minute sleep timer — Sleep timer on.

Control	What it does
Country name, at the top	Goes to that country's station list.
Star	Adds or removes the station from your favorites.
Big button	Stops or plays the station.
Zz	Sleep timer. Each tap changes it: 15, 30, 60 or 90 minutes, then off. In the last minute the volume fades, then the radio powers off.
Slider	Volume.

You also see the local time of the station's country and, if the station sends it, the song title. In countries with several time zones, the time is that of the capital or main city. Song titles in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Korean are not shown, because the screen font does not include those alphabets.

When you turn the radio on, the last station starts playing again.

7. Favorites, recent and search

Favorites list — **Favorites:** up to 20. The button at the top right opens Recent.

Recent stations list — **Recent:** the last 10 stations you played.

Search screen with keyboard and genres — **Search:** type a name or choose one of 13 genres.

8. Settings

Press and hold the “Radio Mundial” title on the map for 2 seconds.

Button	What it does
Download icon, top right	Updates the stations.
Español / English	Changes the language.
Alarms	Opens your alarms.
Wi-Fi	Connects the radio to another network.
Light	Board LED: beat (rainbow that pulses with the music), on (the color of the station's region) or off.
Glow	LED brightness: low, medium or high.
Slide to power off	Drag the red button to the right. Touch the screen to turn it back on. If an alarm is set, the radio wakes up by itself.

The LED glowing through the back grille — The LED shines through the back of the case.

9. Alarms

You can have up to 5. Open them from Settings, then tap one to edit it or tap New alarm.

Alarm list — Your alarms. Those turned off appear in gray.

Alarm editor — Set the time and days. With no day marked, it rings once.

Alarm sound screen — **Sound:** volume, sunrise and station.

Alarm ringing with Snooze and Turn off buttons — When it rings: snooze for 10 minutes or turn it off.

The sound starts low and rises gradually. If you do not turn it off, it stops by itself after 30 minutes.
Station: the last one you played or one of your favorites. If it does not respond or there is no internet, the radio plays a built-in tone.
Sunrise: during the 10 minutes before the alarm, the LED slowly rises from red to warm yellow, at full brightness even if yours is set lower.
If you are already listening to a station, it simply keeps playing.
The radio can be powered off with the slider and it wakes up for the alarm, but it must stay plugged in. If you power it off during a snooze, that repeat is canceled.

Alarms are a new feature. For something important, keep a backup alarm until you trust it in your home.

10. Update the stations

Stations change address over time, so the list can be renewed without installing anything again.

Open Settings and tap the download icon at the top right.
If there is a new list, tap Update. The music stops while it installs.
Wait: the radio restarts by itself when it finishes.

Try not to unplug it during the update. If the power goes out, nothing breaks: the radio goes back to its original list and you can update again. Your favorites, alarms and Wi-Fi are not affected.

11. Sleep screen

After 2 minutes without touching the radio, the screen dims and rotates through the clock, the weather and the air quality. Touch it to go back. The music keeps playing.

Weather forecast — Weather and forecast.

The radio works out your approximate location and time zone from your internet connection, so you do not need to set anything. The location can be wrong if you use a VPN.

12. Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
The Install button does not appear	Use Chrome or Edge on a computer, not on a phone.
The port is not listed	Use a data cable and another USB port, or hold BOOT while plugging in.
It does not connect to the Wi-Fi	Make sure the network is 2.4 GHz. Check the password in Settings → Wi-Fi.
“This station could not be played”	The station may be down. Try another one. If many fail, check your internet connection.
A station is gray	It failed twice. You can still tap it: if it plays, it goes back to its place.
No sound	Check the volume. If the station appears as playing but you hear nothing, unplug the radio for a few seconds and plug it in again.
The time or weather is wrong	They are based on your internet connection. A VPN can change them.
Nothing helps	Run the install page again, or report the problem on GitHub.