Hardware for a Low-Powered Talk Radio Stations? 31
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."
Ask Slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:1)
And the CRTC, which is our equivalent to the FCC, is far more stringent and draconian in comparison to the FCC.
And my sarcasm was an almost word-for word translation of the original poster's Ask Slashdot. DEA is the first thing that came to mind. So stop taking things so seriously. I was simply trying to show the editors of slashdot that have been posting really stupid "ask Slashdots" that the post was asking on how to do an illegal activity. Simply substituting pirate radiowaves for narcotics, both illegal in the US, showed that there was very little difference between the article they posted and my comment. (and before you go ranting again about it being US-centric again, the original article specifically mentioned the FCC, which is American).
So open your mouth, take out your foot, and put in the other one.
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:1)
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:1)
Dear sir, correct me if I've overlooked something, please, but I didn't see anything in that text that even suggested pirate radio waves. In fact, I also saw no mention of radio waves. My perception actually (yes, honestly) was that he wanted to make it an Internet radio station (over shoutcast or something). I do realize that Internet radio is not actually "radio" at all, but the word has been generalized.
And if the gentleman was, in fact, referring to actual radio, how do you know he didn't mean a low-power radio station, one low-power enough to be legal? Yes, in fact, I believe he used the phrase "low power" in his first sentence.
Was your assumption that he was asking for help in running a pirate radio station just that, an 'assumption', perhaps?
What about trolls (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What about trolls (Score:2)
Re:What about trolls (Score:2)
The problem I'm thinking about is people who think it is funny to try to get as much profanity as they can into any communications channel for no reason. If it was really uncontrolled, someone could fill the entire channel with this crap making in unusable. Even if it isn't profanity that the FCC would shut you down for, it could make it useless for anyone else.
How about (Score:4, Funny)
Ooh wells lets see ... (Score:1, Flamebait)
come on, join the dots, 2+2=...
Avoiding the whole point of useless Ask Slashdot questions, I'm sure there will be lots of posts that pick that apart. What you want isn't something that alot of other people would do so you'll have to roll your own (BTW the pot growing question above is quality). You need a SoftSwitch architecture that can accept the calls (which needs an SCTP stack running MU3A ontop, very fuzzy memory of this so that might be the wrong protocol). That will take care of call setup / cleardown, on top of which you need to write something similar to an IVR system. The audio comes across VoIP networks in a fairly clear format, the compression used is G729 which gives about an 8:1 compression ratio but is easy to decode. If you can't work out how to mix the raw audio streams together by yourself then give up now (and don't try anything that complex in real life eg walking and chewing gum).
Now, in the above paragraph are names, sometimes we call these keywords, if you put them into this piece of technology called a 'Search Engine' [google.com] then you will seek what you find grasshopper.
I'm not sure whats worse, the people posting questions along the line of 'I really want to pick my own arse but my finger seems to get really smelly, are there any tools out there that will do this for me?' or the people who ok the submissions...
Gee... (Score:2)
Re:Gee... (Score:4, Funny)
"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?"
Re:Gee... (Score:1)
Re:Gee... (Score:1)
Re:Gee... (Score:2)
Re:Gee... (Score:1)
It's the thought that counts, right?
Re:Gee... (Score:2)
That was probably my grandfather who threw the canister, he was said to be very fond of throwing them, something about the ft-ft-ft sound they made flying through the air. So, from grandson to grandson, sorry about that, no hard feelings.
Re:Ooh wells lets see ... (Score:1)
It is not the cleanest setup, but it gets the job done. I would post a link to SourceForge but I keep getting the following error:
"We apologize, our search server is temporarily overloaded. Please wait and try your search again"
While the stl might not be exactly what the original poster was hoping for, it could be a good starting point to see how to do it (or how not to!!)
Re:Ooh wells lets see ... (Score:1)
hmm (Score:2, Informative)
I can't wait for all the bathroom noises, slanderous statements, not to mention the "F*CK YOU" callers.
Transmitter equipment. (Score:3, Informative)
Note to self: Call these guys to figure out why the order we placed 2 months ago for some hardware to use for testing purposes hasn't arrived yet...
Probably you're best off dealing with something built from a kit such as the Ramsey kits (I can't remember how good the Ramsey kits are though - I believe some of em' are subpar but have plenty of modifications that improve them drastically.) or other kit manufacturers.
If you buy from one of the main players in the broadcast industry (BE, Harris, Nautel, etc.) you're going to be spending major $$$.
Huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
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? (Score:2, Interesting)
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
flow (Score:4, Informative)
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 [prometheusradio.org]. 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.
I have another question!! (Score:1)
I've got an automatic-recording device that plugs into my phone line and into my computer's sound card. Basically, I use it to convert telephone audio into a headset-type jack. I have a program called RecAll running, that starts logging MP3's to the hard drive when the line noise breaks squelch.
The problem is that the person on the other end of the line sounds hella quiet, my end of the line sounds hella loud.
Is this a common problem, and if so, how can it be solved? Are there any other (cheap) devices for bridging telephone and traditional audio equipment?
Thank you!