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I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

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Re: I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

#51

Post by Projectiboga »

kanbankaren wrote: post #33
Projectiboga wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't an item to cheap out on. Find one with aptX HD support and decent reviews if you have any room in your budget. I use the bluetooth to FM all the time. I have a pair, one in my car and another in my travel kit for rental cars. The key is to find one with aptX HD and other newer hi-fi codecs as there are older chips still being sold with lower specs as BT has been a thing for awhile now. I just did a search…

You drank the aptX kool aid and forgot the fidelity loss along the signal path. FM broadcasts do a high pass at 50 Hz and stop at 15 kHz. The best SNR is only ~50 dB which is already achieved by plain old SBC. There is no need for higher fidelity audio codecs like AAC/aptX/aptX HD/LDAC besides the fact that most smartphones don't support aptX or aptX HD.

OK, I will hope it is a marker for better tech in the entire product.

Re: I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

#52

Post by kanbankaren »

dredmorbius wrote: post #28
gosub100 wrote: post #18

They make low power AM transmitters as well. I bought one for my dad so he could "stream" old music from the Internet to his old tube radios.

What's the audio quality of AM transmission? I've used an FM dongle to play a tablet through car speakers, which works pretty well.

Terrible in one word.

The bandwidth for AM transmissions in North America is only 20 kHz and radio emissions has to STRICTLY fall within that bandwidth. Technically, it allows an audio BW of 10 kHz, but in practice it is close to 4 kHz which is telephone quality.

Not suitable for Music.

Re: I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

#53

Post by lawlesst »

elzbardico wrote: post #10

I miss the experience of having career professionals 100% dedicated to the music world curating a list of what I would hear. Of course, it was not perfect, there were ads, most stations played pop slop, but most of the time there was a few stations for your taste, your knew your preferred DJs times and there was a certain sense of community in being a regular fan of a show.

I harvest the playlists from a variety of music shows hosted on public radio stations around the country and create Spotify playlists from them. Code is on GitHub: https://github.com/lawlesst/spotify-bot. This allows me to listen on demand and still get the curated content.

I also added a script to put the hourly NPR news update into my queue while I'm listening, which makes it seem like a radio station in a way.

Re: I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

#54

Post by ProllyInfamous »

dredmorbius wrote: post #43
EvanAnderson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little pricey for the hobbyist but for "normies" it looks really good. Neat product idea.

What would you consider more appropriate hobbyist kit? $140 for a solution that works with existing receivers compares pretty nicely with, say, Bluetooth speakers (starting at about $50 and running well north, per set). I've a number of FM-capable tuners lying around, and could pick up more quite cheaply. The transmitter's the key kit.

I purchased a $40 FM broadcast device from Amazon [0] (two TRS-inputs), five years ago, which has been wonderful (advertised for churches and drive-in theaters); it is simple and powerful (at least 150ft). I have five radios tuned to it (no syncing lo-tech); connected to my SiriusXM it's endless tunes – my neighborhood can also join in (and does).

----

Wouldn't surprise me if it was $140, now // [looked-up: it's $80]

[0] https://www.amazon.com/BaseWish-Range-Transmitter-3-5mm-Driv...>

Re: I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

#55

Post by EvanAnderson »

dredmorbius wrote: post #43
EvanAnderson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little pricey for the hobbyist but for "normies" it looks really good. Neat product idea.

What would you consider more appropriate hobbyist kit? $140 for a solution that works with existing receivers compares pretty nicely with, say, Bluetooth speakers (starting at about $50 and running well north, per set). I've a number of FM-capable tuners lying around, and could pick up more quite cheaply. The transmitter's the key kit.

Firstly, I think that unit, for what it is and who it's for is priced exactly right. It's for a non-technical end user who wants an easy to use off the shelf product. I think it's pretty cool.

I'd be more in the market for a bare PCB rather than the nice case. I don't need the LCD, either. I'm looking for a fundamentally different product and more in the $50 to $75 range.

Re: I replaced Spotify with a homemade FM radio station

#56

Post by dredmorbius »

sockaddr wrote: post #13
elzbardico wrote: post #10

I miss the experience of having career professionals 100% dedicated to the music world curating a list of what I would hear. Of course, it was not perfect, there were ads, most stations played pop slop, but most of the time there was a few stations for your taste, your knew your preferred DJs times and there was a certain sense of community in being a regular fan of a show.

I miss that as well but more than likely (at least in the US) that "curated" channel you use to listen to was probably owned by Clear Channel and probably the same exact content played in every other city where everyone else felt like it was for them as well.

Timing and audience age matter here.

Clear Channel didn't really expand in a major way until about the mid-1990s, owning 43 radio stations in 1995, following legislation relaxing station ownership limits (for both radio and television) in 1992.

For those recalling 1980s or earlier radio in the US, the situation was rather more diverse, particularly in ownership, though fairly narrow segment programming was becoming the norm as professional "programmers" entered the field.

More largely, the history of popular music has run through multiple phases of diversification and consolidation as new performance, recording, and distribution technologies emerged. I covered this referencing the work of Charles Perrow some years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24930562>.

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