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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."
This isn't even a clever hack. 'Take your iPod antenna and put an even bigger antenna on it! Then--get this--find somebody listening to a radio and use your iPod to broadcast on the same station that radio is tuned to! Pwn3d! OMGWTFBBQ!'
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
As a side note, living in Oakland I've developed the viewpoint that it's far better to just ignore the boom cars and go about your business. It might be cool with the wannabes in Nebraska, but around here you're just begging to need an appointment with your local auto body shop to get a bunch of 9mm holes Bondo-ed.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Haha, I've already got my "*beep* *beep* *beep* This radio station's music playing rights have been revoked because of repeat violations of the musical taste law. We are sorry for any inconvienience you may suffer *beep* *beep* *beep* silence....." track made up. With a 50 foot radius on my iTrip, theres no end to the possibilities >:)
Alright! A whole new way to piss people off behind the wheel! My fog horn idea is nothing compared to this! ;)
Red Bull gave me wings and I flew into the ceiling fan.
the people playing gangsta rap at insane volumes are NOT using the radio to do it. CDs and/or mp3s.
After all, this can be done with just about any source. An iPod is not required. In fact you can get parts to make a much stronger FM transmiter at radio shack for far less that can be used with any MP3/tape/record/8track player.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
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!
here's how.
I was not touched there by an angel.
urban assault vehicle beside you at the stop light, pounding out gangster angst
This is why I come to slashdot: news without bias or snide remarks
It's a shame that this doesn't work to silence CD players and tape decks. Or sattelite radio, for that matter.
The Cheese Stands Alone.
These kids gotta spend iPod levels of bling to best good old Mr. Microphone.
Use the cached Google version while the site is being /.ed.
use my portable directional EMP generator that fries their rig. Then I can enjoy the silence while pointing and laughing as I drive away.
it will kill all electronics in its path - regardless of radio, CD, tape, 8-track ;-)
[EMF=elecro-magnetic frequency]
Not to mention the fact that it's probably illegal. DMCA, FCC, RIAA - need I go on?
Ever want to silence the urban assault vehicle beside you at the stop light, pounding out gangster angst at orthodontia-rattling volumes?
What if I am that guy?
Must be running their server off an iPod mini.
There are definite legal issues with that. I advise not getting caught.
However, I generally find that most people who drive in my area use CDs or MP3s, as the radio simply sucks in this area. While they may play Viagra and penis-enlargment ads in D/FW, in Houston, they just babble incoherently...or play nothing but Britney Spears or Crap-Country. Even more, they're killing our sole classical station to make way for a Christian contemporary station (something else we don't need). Given this situation, it's highly unlikely that this plan would affect that many people around me.
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
I'm surprised that /. isn't using this as a means to pick up girls. You'd want to pick out the one or 2 stations that you like, then during the breaks between songs, insert your "dating ad."
Remember to do this to only the stations that you like!
That's GREAT! And I know just the tune I'm going to broadcast into those ghetto blasters: The Asshole Song, by Dennis Leary.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
"Use an iPod Mini to Broadcast Pirate Radio"
Heh. I love stories like this. Makes me feel like Evil MacGuyver.
"Derp de derp."
Here's a cool idea: take your laptop, hook it up to an fm transmitter, program the transmitter to cycle through radio stations (start on 85.1 and add .2 until you hit 105.9 or something) and then play a sound byte in sync with each station, once. (example: gov'ner arnold saying "who is your daddy, and what does he do?") If you were sitting in traffic, watch other drivers start laughing or get weirded out.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
Ever want to fill the Volkswagen Bug beside you at the stop light with pounding out gangster angst at orthodontia-rattling volumes?
... how many people with those huge stereos didn't have the money left over for the CD player and so are actually using the radio? (Not many.)
I do security
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
How the fvck did that get posted?
Let's forget about the fm capture effect for a minute (the most powerful station on a signal will be the only one de-modulated) and think. Don't most people with loud amps just have a CD player with "Ultrabass volume IX" or something rather than actually listening to the radio?
Is this slashdot or some shitty zine put together by highschool age "hackers"?
+++ ATH0 +++
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.
Watch out, you could get in trouble if you broadcast into the car of someone working for the RIAA. Since you probably aren't paying royalties on pirate radio, insted of suing you by IP address, they'll try to sue you by your license plate number.
Sorry, folks, but if you put your little iPod transmitter up against the giant commercial transmitters, the giant commercial one is going to win.
Bear with me, I'm not going to go into details when I can't draw pictures.
If you have two signals at the same frequency arriving at the radio at the same time, they'll overlap, not cancel. Let's say you're broadcasting the "blank" signal at, say, 100 MHz. The radio will receive a constant 100MHz signal.
The way FM works is by changing the phase of the broadcasting signal in relation to the unmodulated signal. So, you'll get the silent signal (which will be unmodulated) and the real signal (modulated). The radio will process BOTH signals - they use processors to decode the signals. I don't know if you know this, but they're kind of fast now. They can handle multiple singals.
If you broadcast another audio signal, you'll get the two audio signals overlapping. Keep in mind that you're putting your tiny little iPod wire up against a great big dirty commerical broadcasting antenna. If you win, I'd wager that the Feds are going to want to ask you a few questions.
They haven't done this in real life. If you say you have, then you're lying. Of course, I'm just an Electronics Engineer - what do I know?
What's next, accepting articles from weekly world news? This isn't fark.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
This already happened to me!
I was driving along Tuesday listening to NPR and all of a sudden rap started coming out my radio.
I thought this was odd, because it cut in suddenly and clear as a bell.
I then noticed that the closer I came to the Cadillac in front of me the clearer the signal became, and at certain distance from the car NPR would cut back in.
I just thought it was some new annoying technology that I hoped wouldn't catch on too soon.
It's a great way for kids to annoy other people with their music without the cops catching on and citing them for noise ordinances.
Small world.
cat sig >
How hard would it be to add one of those mini fm transmitters to each node of an 802.11b mesh. Instant community radio.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The idea that you are going to foil someone blasting their music in most cases is absurd. Who spends the money on an aftermarket sound system, only to listen to FM radio? Nobody wants to hear the latest furniture store jingle blasted at them, and who are they going to impress with that anyhow?
A better use would be to take this in a store that plays a radio station acorss their PA sytem (non sat-based radio of course).
All we need now is an attachment for the iPod to block those tossers who leave their cellphones on in theatres, restaurants etc and think that everyone else wants to hear their conversations.
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.
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
If my goal was to shut those loud-assed rude-some-bitches down, then why not do it right? Shut your car off and set off a huge EMP to kill his equipment?
Sounds like fun doesn't it? Sure does... now how can I create an EMP big enough to do it? Anyone got plans and a parts list for Radio Shack?
- MASH-style Public Address horn speaker on your eaves (or possibly pole-mounted in your yard)
- Large, power-hungry amplifier
- Barry Manilow CD
Writing the procedure is left as an exercise to the reader."A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
...a directed EM pulse. Advantages:
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
This type of transmitter generates at or below the 100 mw permitted for completely unlicensed radio transmissions by FCC regulations. It is not "pirate" as this form of unlicensed radio transmitter is completely legal.
The lessons of history teach us - if they teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.
Here's a link to another little low power FM broadcasting setup, using higher quality hardware.
They are too busy chasing me down because I don't have a front license plate.
I've been pulled over twice in the past seven days so I think it's time to finally give in and install a bracket and the plate.
The second officer was very authoritative but seemed respectful enough so I asked him what the purpose of a front plate was and if it was suppossed to make it safer for officers. His response was something like, I have no idea, I think they're silly but the law states you have to have it so you do.
Seemed like a fair enough answer to me.
The problem is though when I call the police because someone has broken into my car or vandalized, etc. The two of three times I've had to do this I am completely blown off. Not that there is a huge success rate at catching the people that do these things but there's going to be a ZERO success rate if no effort is attempted at all.
I would have much rather had the officers there filling out police reports and taking fingerprints when I needed them instead of pulling me over and reminding me that our state requires a front license plate.
That's what I get for living in an area with too low of a crime rate. They make up unecessary legislation so that the police will have something to do during their down time.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
You have GOT to be shitting me.
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.
"cutting back on FEDERAL funding for LOCAL emergency staff"
While you were smugly typing in your oh-so-wise critique of Bush, did it ever even occur to you how inane this is? It's the central frickin' principal of federalist government, you idiot!
Also, as far as the Guard and Reserve go, did it ever occur to you that this would happen, and has, WHENEVER Guardsmen and/or reservist are activated? Including World War II? Would you have said "It's all Roosevelt's fault?" I mean, really, what would you suggest, telling policemen and emergency responders that they can't serve in the Ready Reserve? Vice versa? Disbanding the reserves?
Sorry to go ballistic, but it's not too far off to say that people like you are what's wrong with this country. You have no clue (or just don't care) about the principles of limited and local government on which this country was founded. You just want more, more, more from an increasingly centralized, monolithic government.
Want a *real* FM Transmitter that can pull this off? The iTrip is fine but it doesn't compare, even closely, to the power of the Crane.. especially when tweaked. Crane FM Transmitter http://www.ccrane.com/fm-transmitter.aspx Tips on Tweaking (shh, don't tell the FCC): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000 0E6I1N/104-6157464-0778362?v=glance&vi=faq&me=ATVP DKIKX0DER
4-D cell maglight in "holster" seatside.
18" crecent wrench and CDF issue Fire Axe behind the seat. Used the axe once, the maglight twice.
(changed an old ladies tire w/ the wrench when it turned out her lug wrench was not for her car and no way my trucks wrench was gonna work)
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
Your're not gonna silence the other guy's loud car stereo, instead you're gonna launch him about 40 feet into the air! The FCC might tend to frown on you if they see you doing it; If you want to rule the airways for several blocks around your vehicle on all frequencies AM and FM simultaneously, and even screw up the guys CD audio, just build a spark gap transmitter and transmit either CW or voice (if you could call it that). The more RF output power the better! You could even connect a dynamotor to your auto fan belt (run it in tandem with your generator) and pump out 1000 watts+ RF! Then you'll bring the whole bay area to its knees! I think you might want to place your iPod in a well shielded box or just leave it at home while using the spark gap. This is technology from the 1920's !! Here's a sample schematic: http://w1.859.telia.com/~u85920178/tx/sparky.htm Oh yeah, be real careful - RF burns are no fun.
I'd like to create a corollary to Godwin's Law, called Skater's Corollary:
/. discussion grows longer, the odds someone will somehow blame George W. Bush for the current topic approach one."
"As a
--RJ
Federalist government? Like: 1. Spending millions of tax dollars to hire federal employees to strip search granny at the airport. 2. Opposing Oregon's right to die law with federal dollars. 3. Opposing local medical marijuana laws with federal dollars. 4. Having the US Supreme Court overrule the State of Florida's right to choose its own electors in the 2000 election. Federalism, bullshit. About the only time the conseervatives have favored states' rights is when it was an excuse to support slavery.
You've also hit upon why I carry a Bronx Calling Card, aka 3-D-cell Maglight, in my front door pocket.
WTF is a three dimensional flashlight?
oohhhhh....
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Most of these guys are probably listening to CDs. Who the hell would spend thousands on a sound system and use it to listen to the radio. I've never heard any loud bass that matched anything on the radio.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Crumb's Theorem:
The chances that George W. Bush actually is to blame is directly proportional to the number of months he has been in office.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Naa, more like: As Bush stays in office, the odds Bush will be responsible for something bad approach one.
Not a sentence!
I keep a hand crossbow and one of the(discontinued) 8 D cell maglites. HERE for the appropriate CA penal code section. Crossbows aren't illegal. Nor are swords. It is perfectly legal to walk around with a sword, naginata, spear, pike, halberd, etc, but a dirk is a no-no. Also, death threats are illegal in the US. If you recieve one, report it as such. The sender can be put in jail.
Not a sentence!
in addition to the many other problems with this that have been posted like, most people playing really loud music in a car are using a CD player and the iTrip cant overpower a radio station that is tuned in well, there is another problem.
unless you can see into the other person's car and see the radio station they are tuned into, its gonna be a real pain to go through a bunch of stations on your iTrip to try to figure out which one they are listening to. Chances are the person bothering you will be long gone before you can figure this out. Plus because this so called "hack" doesn't increase the iTrip's broadcasting power, just its range (and only slightly) you might never be able to find out what station tehy are on because as stated elsewhere, the main radio station will probably overpower the iTrip.
I think someone was just really excited that they found an antenna under the 'special tape' and this was a way to let everyone know about it.
carry the maglite and a 2,500,000 candle power lead/acid flashlight, blinde them with the 2.5M then club the fuck out of them with the maglite
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
I think there's a limit on how loud an FM broadcast can be. And what's the point of changing the frequency of a square wave? A square wave is the sum of all frequencies already, IIRC.
YDRC,DA.
A square wave is the sum of the fundamental and all odd harmonics.
It's a pulse that contains all frequencies.
Sorry, but I am failing to see where this is either cool, tech, neat, different, or even anywhere remotely newsworthy.
Sorry, but I was a little disappointed. I went to the site expecting to find perhaps some hardware hacking info on the iTrip for boosting its output, or something like that... but come on now... has slashdot really gotten to the point where "if you pull the antenna out of the case, your signal will improve!"
I mean, really. That whole thing did not take any bit of genious, or even the slightest bit of creativity. Geez... thats what the iTrip is for. Broadcasting... and it isnt the best around for that either... there are better version, and in fact, you can even get fm broadcaster kits with a good deal more transmit power than the iTrip has...
But still, I dont see whats so special here. They are using an iPod and an FM broadcaster to do exactly what they were meant for... nothing new or special here.
Maybe just a slow news day or something...
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
And obviously you did NOT read his post. How can you call someone wrong if you don't know what he said.
Now if you did read it, then try to say something related to what he said.
Funding for local should be local. This cuts out the middleman (fed gov) and thier 'share' of the pie. Frankly I don't wan't the feds taking any of the money I pay towards local police and paying for porkbarrel projects with it. They can not take the money in the first and let my local gvt collect taxes to support the local police, FireFighters, and so on. This way we can get a few more of each for the same amount of $$.
Bush didn't re-do somthing stupid, so it's his fault? Bush has issues don't get me wrong, but this idiocy of adding an extra step and overhead to police funding isn't one of them.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
This car is equipped with a directional EMP device. Please turn down your stereo. Thank you.
That's the last time I run code posted in somebody's sig...
Since they probably sink all their dough into their cars, they might lose their cars in the settlement. :)
I have a lot of the loud bass guys driving through my neighborhood on a regular basis. Since I started recording my band with microphones, I did not appreciate the extra $300 in dynamics control equipment, I had to buy, to keep their noise out of the record (as much as possible). And, forbid that they blast those things through the neighborhood at night (often).
(a) Overloading their system with RF. Me and my dad--at the time--had a 600 watt RF amp for ham radio. I could hear him on my telephone when he was transmitting (and my stereo). I would bet that a signal well below the F3 parameter of their speaker boxes--usually ported--would ruin the drivers, if they got enough of it. Just add it to the signal...most radio receivers--and the speaker--will filter that, anyway.
(b) For the "extreme edition"...make sure you get all your computers 20 miles a way, along with everything else you care out (even pictures on the wall). I heard a story of someone shorting out a cyclotron magnet...or the power supply that went to it.
Rules are: You have to ramp them up slowly, and down slowly, in regards to the magnet input current. A fast change will create an expanding or collapsing field, which can store quite a bit more than a capacitor can; and is not limited to an electrical connection. The magnetic field can effect a lot of devices, just as a nearby lightning strike can.
In the case of the cyclotron magnet. The power supply shorted...All wiring, in the immediate area, was vaporized. This included the thick stuff thay used to hang the pictures on the walls.
In a bang everything melted, or fell to the floor.
Interesting to see how one of those would do, if configured for that very purpose.
On the original post...this works great if they are "listening" to the radio (bothering the neighborhood with the radio). But, if they use a CD player, jamming the frequencies just won't help, unless you pick option (b)...and please make sure you get your TV, computers, video games, wife's jewery, etc. out of the house, beforehand.
And, I can provide (c):
If you have a car of your own...get a few high SQL to input power treble drivers (and MONSTROUS ear protection). Put those in your car, with an oscillator you can tune from 3 to 18 kHZ. Find one of them? Pop on the protection, and give them 800 watts of something that will make you sick or give a headache at 1 watt or less.