Issues with RF transmitter project

You want a very basic AM transmitter. The old Knight-Kit C100 walkie-talkie has a very simple design. It used a super-regenerative receiver, to minimize parts count. It had one crystal, to set the transmitting frequency, and three transistors. You could probably simplify that, to make just a transmitter. The schematic USED to be available on the Web, but it appears to have vanished.

OLD copies of the Radio Amateur's Handbook should have circuits that could be adapted to a simple transistor AM transmitter.

If I were going to try to throw something together, I'd probably go DSB rather than AM, and use an SA612AN (NE602 replacemement). Instead of a VFO, I'd hang the crystal on the SA612AN, and I'd probably try a plastic 2N2222A, either barefoot or driving a 2N3866. I'm not sure what I'd use for an audio preamp. Here's a more elaborate transceiver, that illustrates the basic principles.

Now for the bad news. There's no way you're going to power this from a CR2032 coin battery. Look at camera batteries, like a Kodak 2CR5 6V lithium battery.

The usual recommendation for the Pierce oscillator is to use un-buffered standard inverters, ie not schmitt trigger input inverters. The inverter needs to work in its linear region which is almost impossible with a schmitt trigger input. Try TI's LVC1GU04.