{"id":9052,"date":"2014-03-25T18:31:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T22:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=9052"},"modified":"2014-03-26T07:14:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T11:14:19","slug":"my-raspberry-pirate-is-now-radio-active","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/my-raspberry-pirate-is-now-radio-active\/","title":{"rendered":"My Raspberry Pirate is now radio-active"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RaspberryPirateRadio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two weeks ago,\u00a0Make Magazine<\/em> published<\/a>\u00a0a simple hack that turns your\u00a0Raspberry Pi<\/a>\"\"
\ninto a low-powered and portable FM transmitter\/radio station.<\/p>\n

For those of you not familiar, the Raspberry Pi\u00a0is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation<\/a>. The RasPi is a cleverly-designed, useful device\u2013especially if you like tinkering with mobile computing. Best yet, the Raspberry Pi is very inexpensive; the basic computer costs a mere $40 US<\/a>, though there are starter kits that include common accessories for $70-80<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

One of the first things I did upon returning home, following nearly two weeks of US east-coast travel (which included the Winter SWL Fest<\/a>), was to build my own Rasberry Pirate Radio.<\/a>\u00a0I had hoped to make the radio before my trip, but thought I wouldn’t have enough time. Had I known what I know now\u2013that the Raspberry Pirate Radio is a super simple and easy hack<\/em>\u2013I would have made it anyhow and taken it along for the ride.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My antenna wire connected to pin 4. (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

To be fair, what makes this project so simple is the fact that Make Magazine<\/em> so beautifully documents the procedure on their website<\/a>. \u00a0It also helped that I have a little familiarity with creating disk images–still, I’m certain that if I were a total newbie, I could have done all of this within 30 minutes…Which is just what I did. \u00a0And I’ll bet you can, too.<\/p>\n

There are really only three steps required to make your own Raspberry Pirate Radio:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make a simple FM antenna<\/a>\u00a0and attach it to pin 4 on the Pi’s board. In my case, I had a small dual conductor connector attached to about eight inches of twisted pair wire. I simply connected one side of this connector to pin 4. Since my FM antenna is not cut to a resonant length, I know I’m compromising the FM transmitter’s range a bit…Still, it’s what I had on hand, and it works!<\/li>\n
  2. Download Make Labs<\/em>‘ disk image<\/a> and flash it to your SD Card.<\/li>\n
  3. Add music to the\u00a0\u201cPirate Radio\u201d partition of the SD card and edit the config file to your preferences. If you have the option to do this step on Mac\u00a0OSX or Linux, the process is much easier than on Windows. But Windows users, fear not:\u00a0Make Magazine<\/em> describes,\u00a0in detail<\/a>,\u00a0how to add files.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    After I finished these steps, I simply plugged in my Raspberry Pi and tuned one of my radios to 89.9 MHz (the frequency I chose and saved to the config file). The Pi booted and started the Raspberry Pirate Radio script automatically. \u00a0Brilliant!<\/p>\n

    \"RaspberryPirate-FMRadio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    It’s alive!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Being a shortwave radio nut, of course I loaded my Raspberry Pirate Radio with a few gigabytes of my off-air recordings that are a heavy on music (all of which you, too, can pull from our\u00a0Shortwave Radio Audio Archive<\/a>). It’s kind of fun tuning my bedside Tivoli Audio Model One<\/a>\"\"\u00a0to 89.9 MHz and hearing the Voice of Greece<\/a>, with all of its shortwave audio characteristics. If I close my eyes, I can pretend the Model One has a shortwave band. Love it! \u00a0Just the thing to drift off to…<\/p>\n

    I’ve kept the Raspberry Pirate Radio running nearly 24\/7 here at home. I’ve also had excellent luck running the radio mobile by using my Eton Rechargeable Battery Pack<\/a>\"\"\u00a0as the power source (Universal Radio also sells a higher capacity version<\/a>, if you like). I’ve yet to test how long the power block will run the Raspberry Pi, but I imagine it will last for a couple of hours, at least.<\/p>\n

    \"RaspberryPirate-EtonBlock\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    If you want to take your Raspberry Pirate Radio in the car, it’s a simple matter to power it with a 5VDC USB power plug. You probably already have what you need, especially if you charge your mobile phone in the car.<\/p>\n

    If you’ve never experimented with the Raspberry Pi, this is a perfect first project for you. Just think about it:\u00a0for under $50, you can make a simple-yet-effective FM radio station<\/a> which shuffles your favorite music or recordings from any source\u2013from obscure radio pirates to far more distant stations. Besides, once you have a Raspberry Pi, you’ll find there are thousands of other radio projects to occupy your rainy weekends. \u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n

    Many thanks to Make Magazine for posting this simple project!<\/em><\/p>\n

    Update:<\/strong> Several people have written concerned that the Raspberry Pirate Radio has no output filtering of its RF signal. \u00a0This is true. Though I have not tested it, I would have to assume that it could radiate on harmonic frequencies and potentially interfere with other radios. Though the broadcast footprint is very small, if you live in a high-density neighborhood, you will need to keep this in mind. I live in a very rural area and my nearest neighbor couldn’t possibly hear my Raspberry Pirate Radio.<\/p>\n

    I’m very curious if there’s a simple mod to filter the output RF. If you can think of one, please comment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Two weeks ago,\u00a0Make Magazine published\u00a0a simple hack that turns your\u00a0Raspberry Pi into a low-powered and portable FM transmitter\/radio station. For those of you not familiar, the Raspberry Pi\u00a0is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The RasPi is a cleverly-designed, useful device\u2013especially if you like tinkering with mobile computing. Best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[627,3,297,139],"tags":[1584,2628,4105,2631,2629,2627,2630],"class_list":["post-9052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-news","category-pirate-radio","category-radio-modifications","tag-fm","tag-fm-transmitter","tag-how-to","tag-how-to-make-an-fm-transmitter","tag-make-a-raspberry-pirate-radio","tag-raspberry-pi","tag-raspberry-pirate-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2m0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8912,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/make-a-raspberry-pirate-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":9052,"position":0},"title":"Make a Raspberry Pirate Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"March 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul, for this article on Make Magazine that teaches you how to turn your Raspberry Pi\u00a0into an FM transmitter. Make Magazine states that this FM transmitter\u00a0\"has enough range to cover your home, DIY drive-in movie, a high school ball game, or\u00a0even a bike parade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How To"","block_context":{"text":"How To","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/how-to\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sorry, I just couldn't resist the urge to make a pirate graphic.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Raspberry-Pirate.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Raspberry-Pirate.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Raspberry-Pirate.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38302,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/new-raspberry-pi-4-faster-cpu-dual-monitors-gigabit-ethernet-and-up-to-4-gb-of-ram\/","url_meta":{"origin":9052,"position":1},"title":"New Raspberry Pi 4: Faster CPU, Dual Monitors, Gigabit Ethernet and up to 4 GB of RAM","author":"Thomas","date":"June 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Srebnick, who notes that the Raspberry Pi 4 mini computer was unveiled this morning by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This model has a number of upgrades we've all been waiting for: I love the Raspberry Pi and own a number of models that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Raspberry-Pi-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Raspberry-Pi-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Raspberry-Pi-4.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17561,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/bbc-raspberry-pi-powered-transmitters-broadcast-syrian-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":9052,"position":2},"title":"BBC: Raspberry Pi-powered transmitters broadcast Syrian radio","author":"Thomas","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following: Latest item, which provides more information, on this previously mentioned news story: http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-35690688 Here's an excerpt: Raspberry Pi computers are being used to power \"micro\" radio transmitters in Syria. The Pocket FMs, as they are called, were designed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FM"","block_context":{"text":"FM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/fm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BBC-FM-Transmitter-Syria","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/BBC-FM-Transmitter-Syria.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/BBC-FM-Transmitter-Syria.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/BBC-FM-Transmitter-Syria.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31528,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/the-raspberry-pi-3-b-and-a-number-of-rpi-projects\/","url_meta":{"origin":9052,"position":3},"title":"The new Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and a number of RPi projects","author":"Thomas","date":"April 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month, on \"Pi Day\" (March 14, 2018) an upgraded Raspberry Pi 3 B was announced on the Raspberry Pi website. The new $35 B+ sports a few performance enhancements over the original--most notably: A 1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU Dual-band 802.11ac wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.2 Faster Ethernet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessories"","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Raspberry-PI-3-B-Plus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36726,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/magpi-issue-80-features-ham-radio-projects-for-the-raspberry-pi-mini-computer\/","url_meta":{"origin":9052,"position":4},"title":"MagPi Issue 80 features Ham Radio Projects for the Raspberry Pi mini computer","author":"Thomas","date":"March 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to a hat tip from the Southgate ARC, I discovered that the excellent MagPi magazine has featured a number of ham radio projects in this month. I've outlined below a list of the projects with page numbers--note that many are simply summaries that link to full project notes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessories"","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/PiMag-Ham-Radio-e1554033963434.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24305,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/raspberry-pi-wifi-radio-with-touch-screen\/","url_meta":{"origin":9052,"position":5},"title":"Raspberry Pi WiFi Radio with touch screen","author":"Thomas","date":"March 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of us who like to tinker with the Raspberry Pi, this looks like a fun weekend project. 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