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An FM Broadcast Transmitter For Your Home
Bruce Perens writes "I wanted to be able to listen to net audio and my ham station around the house and yard. Those iPod FM transmitters don't have enough range. So, I bought a digital controlled, 100 miliwatt transmitter that covered my whole block the first time I plugged it into what was, until then, a recieving antenna."
All the images on the linked page are exactly the same as the site selling them.
... has similar stuff - like this. And that's not the only one. they do various versions for, say, in-car use.
interesting way of sharing music - your own mini radio station
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
if lots of people in the same block start using this?
.at least in europe it is almost completely filled up in the range that all commercial receivers use.
Is there some sort of auto free-carrier slot detection? because if there isn't, it will be nigh-on impossible to listen to the radio without interference.
The fm-band is pretty full already
I'd be pretty miffed if i could not receive my favorite radio stations anymore because some people near me like to listen to deutche schlager zangers or techno.
Be careful
Here in Israel there are a number of pirate radio stations. This is not itself a problem but they are using poor equipment and blasting harmonics onto aviation frequencies. That is bad. It has gotten to the point where the ATC folks have threatened to strike if something is not done about it because it can threaten aircraft communications.
Erlang Developer and podcaster
Think about it, grab a embedded linux system with onboard sound and network (wifi or ethernet), have a central server broadcast non-RIAA regulated tunes, then find people willing to stick one of these up where they live. Have enough people do this around the area, and boom, you have a radio station which the RIAA can't touch (because they don't regulate the music on it), the FCC can't exactly complain about (broadcast power on each node doesn't warrant a license right?), and annoying the hell out of the local commercial radio stations.
The only problem I could see is keeping each broadcast node in sync, especially if you're all broadcasting on the same frequency.
Thats people power for you.
I was currious too so I did a rough google search, but not interested enough to refine it.
I did however, run across an entertaining article by a pirate radio guy. As a bit of CYA, I whole-heartedly do not recommend breaking the law nor would I suggest taking the article as "truth". It's just fun to read - on to the excerpts:
... Having been visited twice before by the FCC, veteran broadcaster Monk briefed us on what the risks were and how we should handle a visit (see below). We were prepared.
Nonetheless, the FCC visit I experienced was bizarre. I woke up to find two strange men in suits and a uniformed cop in my front yard.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
One of my hobby projects is searching the shed and attic for the $5 FM sender (100mW) that I once bought and soldered together to experiment with digital transmission (wanted to hook it up to the serial port) through the radio (cheap...). It would kill any other radio station using the same frequency in my block, and it could be received throughout the street (we did not live in a very long one though). I used half a meter of copper wire as antenna.
I wonder why (1) they are no longer for sale at all in the Netherlands (Velleman kit), and (2) why the alternatives cost over ten times that much, and provide less than a fraction of the output.
Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
Since we are all talking about getting busted and such I thought I might mention Free Radio Santa Cruz which has been around for over 10 years. They were just recently busted and the FCC just shut them down. You are not gonna get busted by the FCC if you do this. If the FCC wants to bust you they must come to the place first and notify you to stop. If you do not stop they can come in and take your equipment . I have never heard of anyone going to court ever. We need more community radio stations with more diverse points of view. So I encourage you to break the law and be a Dj. If you want to learn more about pirate radio go here http://www.frolympia.org/website/index.php?module= pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=6&MMN_po sition=6:6
Listen to Free Radio Santa Cruz and Free Radio Olympia.
We've had a similar transmitter in our house for a few years now, and I do recommend it for parties. Basically, the setup is:
1. Switch on machine with mp3 store
2. Create vast randomised playlist
3. Switch on the transmitter
4. Switch on every radio in the house
5. Open case of beer / chosen drink
6. Party party party!
And voila, synchronised music in every room that wants it.
One issue though is that we have to drop the output power of the transmitter to avoid interfering with anyone else's radio - here in the UK they don't take too kindly to that.
While off topic, I have often thought that when applying this rule to the pronunciation of letters one bases the rule on the spelling of the letter.
That is, F is a consonant, but if one were to spell the letter it as it sounds it would be something like eff which begins with a vowel. Hence, the more natural sounding "An FM transm....."
Yes, no, maybe?
anyone?
I have a dedicated headless machine on my LAN running WWWinamp (http://www.nullsoft.com/free/wwwinamp/)playing from my MP3 server, and the output from the soundcard goes into my transmitter. I can queue up music from any web browser on my LAN, and hear it all over the house (unlike a tethered PC system).
Plus, everyone that comes to my LAN parties (~24 people) like the ability to have the "Electronic DJ" take requests!
Murphy was an optimist.
Than when the topic is P2P everyone either says it's "fair use" or even if it is illegal, you're chances of getting caught are so small it's never going to stop it anyway.
But when the topic is FM transmitter, suddenly everyone comes out of the wood work and posts about the illegality of the situation.
Let's set the record straight. The FCC will shut down your station, if and only if, a broadcaster complains. And because anyone smart enough to set up their own FM transmitter is smart enough to choose a frequency not already occupied by a local station, the FCC will never shut them down. Never.
I know a group of people who run a pirate station which transmits over 20 miles and have run it since the early 90s. At one time the FCC got a complaint from a local station, the FCC investigated, found it didn't really interfere, and so it did nothing.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
If you wish to assert that FCC sends the hostage recovery team to prosecute teenagers for out-of-spec transmitters that interfere with private microwave links and sends their moms to jail for 5 years, you will have to show:
Bruce
Bruce Perens.