Hardware for a Low-Powered Talk Radio Stations?

stevenso asks: "I would like to set up a low power radio station (on the cheap) that people could call up and discuss topics. To make it mostly hands-off (ie. I don't have to be there to pick up the phone) I was thinking of using a few voice modems and send the discussion via a sound card to a transmitter. Does anyone know if there is a software package that can handle multiple voice modems, setup a teleconference (mix the signals), and send it out as audio? Can you think of any other solution like using some sort of auto-answering/auto-conferencing system or VOIP or a way to conference cell phone signals? Please keep in mind this is a technical question not a question about FCC regulations."

Comments

What about trolls

[Gerry Gleason]

If it's 'hands off', how are you going to keep trolls from calling and using every banned word to try to get your license yanked? You know they will be there, so you have to have some kind of moderation to delete some messages.

Huh?

[adolf]

At what point did it become an obvious solution to use hideously complex computer hacks just to mix a couple of analog signals together?

All you need is a few telephone interfaces that answer automatically, and a cheap DJ mixer or small PA console to plug them into.

If you feel that you -must- use computer gear, the telephone interfaces can consist of external modems of any speed and ilk which have had the following command issued: ATS0=1&W. Things will be easier if the modem in question already has a headphone or speaker output, otherwise just wire its internal speaker to an (optional, and recommended) 1:1 transformer, and send the resultant signal to the mixer.

If you also want the callers to be able to hear eachother over the phone instead of needing to listen over the radio, you'll also want to wire the mixer's output to the telephone device's input, with a potentiometer or suitable resister and possibly (if the device is meant to power a condenser microphone, as is often the case) a capacitor to block DC.

Since you specifially mentioned that it wasn't a question about FCC regulations, I'll leave out the part about the stiff signal limiting and transmitter system performance. You'll find cheap transmitters at Ramsey Electronics. Be nice to your neighbors, though, and don't stomp on anyone else's frequencies.

That all said: wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper, and perhaps better to just open a voice-enabled forum on Yahoo! Messenger, and advertise the fact in the local newspaper? This would appear to be a superior technical solution to the problem you're appearently trying to solve.

Re:Huh?

[stevenso]

Great suggestions adolf. I started with the modems because I have them in hand. I thought I could hook them up with some conferencing software like asterisk or Bayonne(It looks like they support mostly high-end hardware). Using a telephone interface to a mixer would be much easier. The computer is important because eventually I want to hook this thing up to our local wireless network so we can put transmitters at various points around the city (like a repeater system). Also, it would allow callers to upload sound bites (via a web interface) to the system. I could play MP3s or other audio when no one else was on. Now that you mention Yahoo, I guess I could hook up to that too.

It sounds like a silly idea but there doesn't seem to be a forum for discussing local topics in my town. Besides, a local gossip channel on the radio seems at least as much fun as watching crossfire :)