How do I create a FM radio station?
First off, because I do not want to hear morons saying this and that – it IS LEGAL to create a low powered radio station, which is what I want to do.
So how do I go about creating a low powered FM radio, what equipment will I need? Cheapest please, because its just for fun.
I just need it to go a short distance, nothing too far.
I have a friend here at work that has one that transmits a good 10 miles. Certainly not legal but he’s never received any complaints. You can build your own radio from components and the neat thing is that you can vary the power on that when you build it. So if you want to transmit a small range like 100 feet you can or if you want to transmit several miles you can. Building an FM transmitter is easy. Here is a link with a collection of several FM transmitter designs:
http://www.madcircuits.com/circuits/communications/fm-circuits
Here is one of the circuits from there:
http://www.madcircuits.com/communications/fm-circuits/high-quality-fm-transmitter-circuit-useful-transmitting-music-around-your
which is a better quality one. Most of these don’t take many components and I would buy them from Digikey. What I would do is get together a list of components and buy some extras and maybe make a couple of transmitters. You can start with an easy one and then build a harder one. If you do a search for a 4 watt pirate radio out there, you will find one transmitter plan that should transmit a good 50 miles. I’m not advocating breaking the law, etc, but you can get a good idea of how to build the transmitters and building is cheaper. My friend who has his transmitter bought it and paid like $300 or more for it.
If you mean a micro power station that is FCC legal, just get an off the shelf MP3 FM transmitter, and use your computer as a mixer.
If you want to actually broadcast, you need a real FM transmitter, license, permits, and deals with music companies to play music.
References :
I have a friend here at work that has one that transmits a good 10 miles. Certainly not legal but he’s never received any complaints. You can build your own radio from components and the neat thing is that you can vary the power on that when you build it. So if you want to transmit a small range like 100 feet you can or if you want to transmit several miles you can. Building an FM transmitter is easy. Here is a link with a collection of several FM transmitter designs:
http://www.madcircuits.com/circuits/communications/fm-circuits
Here is one of the circuits from there:
http://www.madcircuits.com/communications/fm-circuits/high-quality-fm-transmitter-circuit-useful-transmitting-music-around-your
which is a better quality one. Most of these don’t take many components and I would buy them from Digikey. What I would do is get together a list of components and buy some extras and maybe make a couple of transmitters. You can start with an easy one and then build a harder one. If you do a search for a 4 watt pirate radio out there, you will find one transmitter plan that should transmit a good 50 miles. I’m not advocating breaking the law, etc, but you can get a good idea of how to build the transmitters and building is cheaper. My friend who has his transmitter bought it and paid like $300 or more for it.
References :
I love electronics and have done a lot of research on FM transmitter circuits – http://www.madcircuits.com/circuits/communications/fm-circuits
Legal? What is legal is a 100 mw. transmitter..That’s 1 tenth of a watt.
That may get you a few blocks….With a good, well tuned antenna, maybe 1/2 mile……
References :
i am not a moron, i am licensed by the FCC in these matters, and low power FM, LPFM, is no more license free than full-power FM broadcasting. Obtaining a license is a difficult and exacting process with no guarantee of success, you need to consult a communications lawyer. Mere possesion of the equipment without a granted license can result in forfeiture.
some people call streaming audio on the internet an "FM Station", and while that does not require an FCC license, it does require registration and payment of fees to Sound Exchange if you intend to include music with the program.
There are adaptors designed for an MP3 or similar audio device that works in the FM radio band. They are intended to be directly connected to the radio and are not broadcasting per se. The "broadcast" range on these is about 20 to 30 feet, they will not reach a neighbors house. If you want to talk jive and play records, get DJ gear, that would be more fun.
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