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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."
Dear Slashdot, I would like to make my own hydroponics bay to grow pot (on the cheap) that people would smoke up and get a cheap buzz. I want to make it hands off (so I dont have to be there to watch them grow). I was thinking of using some old 15" monitors for lighting and a handful of CPUs for heat. Is there software packages that can control the local environment, add soil nutrients (and mix the soil) and send out a loud alarm if the cops show up? Please keep in mind this is a technical question not a question about DEA laws.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
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.
a Mr. Microphone? $3.00 on eBay.
The dogcow says "Moof!"
"What kind of question is that, 'Would you please pass the salt?'! You obviously expect me to pass the salt and if I don't want to, too bad for me. Well, maybe I don't want to pass the salt, which is a compound of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). My grandfather was a victim of chemical warfare in World War I, they used chlorine gas on him and he still has problems breathing. And my cousin Jim took a big chunk of sodium one day and threw it in a bucket of water, well, he blew up the garage and set his house on fire. Now he's confined to a wheelchair although he's doing pretty good in the wheelchair marathons.
"So maybe you can go search Google and find out where you can buy both sodium and concentrated chlorine, and make your own salt. Just don't ask me to get involved. Questions like yours make me wonder about the future of this country, when it is filled with people so ignorant of what they want, no idea how to do it themselves, and expecting everyone to do it for them. All just because you think your mashed potatoes are a little too bland.
"Would you like the pepper, too?"
...
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.
Kid-proof tablet..
Check out the Flow Studio to Transmitter Link project. It is being developed by the Philadelphia Independent Media Center and Radio Volta who are using it to feed audio to WPEB 88.1FM, a low power station in West Philly.
They have used modems, 802.11b, and the Internet to do the actual link, I'm not sure what they are using right now.
I strongly suggest you get in touch with the Prometheus Radio Project. They work with the above groups on this project and they help out LPFM's with all aspects of their stations, from the FCC process, to transmitter tech, studio setup, community outreach. They travel around the country holding radio "barnraisings" with the new crop of LPFM licenses that have been granted, I've been to one and it was fabulous.