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Use an iPod Mini to Broadcast Pirate Radio
StJefferson writes "Ever want to silence the urban assault vehicle beside you at the stop light, pounding out gangster angst at orthodontia-rattling volumes? Now you can, and here's how, courtesy Engadget."
How-To Tuesday: Make your own Pirate Radio Station with an iPod
Posted Jun 15, 2004, 11:07 AM ET by Phillip Torrone
Related entries: Portable Audio, Wireless
This was going to be "How-To increase the range of your iTrip mini". But after playing around with the new iTrip mini, the FM broadcasting accessory for the iPod (our review here) our little minds got working on some ideas. We thought we might be able to make the range of Griffin's iTrip mini a little better if took it apart and exposed the antenna, turns out we could. And then we thought, hey- we could use a couple iPods to broadcast something we wanted to get out there, perhaps not "should" that is, but could. So that was our motivation, and here's the How-To.
Ingredients:
* 1 iPod mini
* 1 iTrip mini
* Optional: Addition iPods, iTalks and iTrips
Getting Started
First, to become your own pirate broadcast station you'll need to increase the range and signal of your iTrip mini. Turns out, there is an antennae built inside the iTrip mini. All you need to do is remove the top sticker-like protection which hides the antennae and then using tweezers or your fingernail, pull the antennae out. We've found a 20% to 30% increase of range on average. This likely voids the warranty, so there, we said it.
Next up, if you're using the iTrip mini, then you know that you can install all the stations on the dial to broadcast on. At first we we're really sure we'd ever use them, but now we have good reason. So make sure you've installed all the stations, on the go you might need them to switch to. Remember, the iTrip is a FM broadcasting device, intended to broadcast 10 to 30 feet to a FM radio.
Next, choose your broadcast, it can be any song or a spoken word MP3, don't worry we have a few suggestions. A lot depends on the situation you're in.
Pirate Broadcasts
We usually keep a couple tracks of silence ready to go, ever get stuck at a stop light for like 10 minutes and the dude in the next car is blasting the radio? With the super easy iPod interface you can quickly get to the station he's on and send over whatever you want, a couple gentle ocean waves or birds usually works out great.
If you've ever gone to the Gym, or starred in to one from the outside- you'll notice the TVs are muted and set to broadcast on specific FM frequencies, folks then tune in their radio headsets to whatever station to listen to the audio as they exercise. Now we're not suggesting you go around and broadcast over CNN or anything, but we think broadcasting "Aliens have landed today, the President and UN will be making an announcement immediately" could be quite fun. We'll be trying this out with our gym pals who are usually up for a good gag.
There are other times where you simply need to broadcast back. Let's say you're at the park, enjoying a nice quiet day with your family- then comes along someone blasting the radio. We've found broadcasting a silent track tends to work nicely, sure you need to be within 30 to 40 feet, but no one will even suspect that their FM broadcast is getting usurped by you.
Advanced Pirate Radio Broadcasting techniques
We've also discovered another fun example. If you use the iTalk, Griffin's voice recorder accessory with 2g/3g iPod you can record your pirate broadcast on the fly, pop in the iTrip and start broadcasting. Usually pretending to be an omnipotent being and asking folks to build a water proof car, drive across the English Channel with two of every gadget gets some interesting reactions.
Now, if you really get in to this- you could easily increase the range even more, google around for ways to do this- we're working on a few and will let you know too. You can additionally use multiple iPods, when you're broadcasting something like a silent track, you and a pal can cover more area and really surround the FM receiver. And finally, there are also a lot of other things which use FM that you can discover and broadcast to, happy hunting.
This concludes our broadcast. Send comments and ideas to torrone@gmail.com
Ceci n'est pas une sig.
:wq!
Use the cached Google version while the site is being /.ed.
What the poster really wants is anti-sound.
Silence Machine Article 1
Silence> Machine Article 2
To call this pirate radio is insulting to real radio hackers. Increase the iTrip's range 20 or 30 percent, ooooh wow. That's what a whole 100 feet? When you can get 20 mile range by putting a hand made antenna in a tree connected to a hand soldered rig causing no interference to any other spectrum users (like you can learn to do from these people) I'll be more interested. And I won't care whether or not it involves purchasing the current fad consumer device like the iPod.
It's called prioritizing. "Deal with shooting or deal with guy who's being followed by some teenager punk. Hmm." "I am not sh1tting you", 911 is heavily abused. Sample calls, according to dispatchers I've spoken with: "Hi, do you know the number for ____?" "I lost my dog..." "Can you give me directions to...", then the ever-popular hangups, which of course they have to investigate, tying up an officer's time. Then there are shut-in bitches who tell war+peace about the neighbor's [dog barking/yard mess/porch lights on/you name it]. The list goes on, and on, and on.
Most police departments are also pretty short-staffed these days. Bush is mostly responsible on two counts; 1, for cutting back on federal funding for local emergency staff- police, EMS and fire all have been hit hard in almost every town throughout the US. 2, a large percentage of Guard and Reservists are (surprise!) also town/city fire fighters, police, EMS, etc.
I later went back to look at the laws in my state governing self-defense.
How about looking up the noise ordinances, instead? Most cities and towns have 'em. NY, for example, is getting very tough on noise complaints (I believe you dial 311, ie the non-emergency number?) Borrow a neighbor's video camera (they'll be happy to oblige if it's annoying them as well) and videotape the clown going by- be sure to get a closeup of his face, and his plates. Call the NON EMERGENCY ie business number for the local station, ask to set up an appointment with an officer or detective. Problem solved and out of your hands.
Next thing I know the guy is chasing me around trying to run me off the road.
Um- duh. Get away from him, file a police report later with the plates and vehicle description. You've also hit upon why I carry a Bronx Calling Card, aka 3-D-cell Maglight, in my front door pocket. I have been doing so ever since someone told me they'd "fucking kill me" at a stoplight when I told him he his highbeams were stuck on. This was, incidentally, in downtown Larchmont, NY(very swanky neighborhood), the guy was not driving a riced out POS, and he was white.
One of many reasons I moved out of NY state- everyone's a prick out to kill you at the drop of a hat.
Please help metamoderate.
I'm sorry, but thanks for playing our game. Your description is completely incorrect my friend. FM has the "capture effect" wherein only ONE signal can be properly decoded.
Which ever signal is strongest at the receiver will "win" and be heard. If the signals are too close in strength, you won't get either properly.
With a commercial transmitter putting out several KW's but being 50 miles away and you putting out 100MW but being several yards away it is quite possible you will win out.
BTW, this is exactly what these products do. You don't need to be on an unused frequency (trying finding one of those in the Bay Area) Of course it helps quite a bit if the commercial signal is weak and easier to overcome.