Internet Radio Transmitter

[Mr Sandman]

Hi all

Does anyone know what gadget i need to transmit an internet radio station to the radio in my garage?

I know there must be a gadget out there, but to me its just a sea of gadgets!

Thanks!

Steve

[Steve Firth]

Yes, WiFi and an Internet radio. Or a wired connection and an Internet radio.

[Adrian C]

An alternative to the cheap FM transmitter gizmo's flooding eBay and the bargain buckets of Currys/John Lewis...

Various sources are now pulling in secondhand laptops of Pentium II vintage for less than £10. And beyond that I bagged a Celeron 600MHz at a car boot sale for £5 the other week.

Today's operating systems are a bit of a challenge for old stuff like this, but a miniumn spec of PII and 128MB memory will run Lubuntu (a new lightweight build of Ubuntu), add a cheap Wifi 11b wireless network card for a quid or so. And whatever audio apps you like. Internet streaming works fine, and so does Spotify under Wine (yes, even on that low spec as I've stated!!)

The 'problem' is enjoying the challenge of getting all that working. I do.

FM transmitter then :)

Though you'll probably end up having to adapt something meant for use with iPods and the like, repeatedly fiddling with cables, plugs, station frequencies, running back to the house to change station, etc

[NT]

simple fm transmitter. But if youre in the garage that long, why not a pc on a wireless network. Old hardware can often run Puppy linux or DSL.

[Dave Liquorice]

One way but lots of new kit required? Presumably the OP already has a radio in his garage and just wants to get an internet radio station coming out of it. Assuming that the garage radio has FM all you need is one of the little FM transmitters intended to link an MP3 device into a car radio. The larger supermarkets have 'em for around a =A310.

Pick a clear frequency on the garage radio, setup the Tx to that frequency, have the computer running and "tuned" to the internet station required plug the Tx into the computers headphone socket and Bob is your fathers brother. Hopefully... These transmitters are very low power and may not get through many walls.

[Steve Firth]

Why bother with a PC which is going to be the expensive option? Something like the Kitsound Surfer will cost around £90 and get all of the internet radio stations as well as playing MP3/WMA files shared from your PC. And it has an FM radio for when you want to listen to a local radio station not on the internet.

If it were me, I'd spend a little more and get a Squeezebox radio compatible with iTunes as well as Windows Media.

[tony sayer]

You could do what we have here use a Radio like a "Reciva" around 50 quid and that uses our wi-fi point to receive Internet radio over. Wifey uses one to receive her French radio around the place and that does work out into the garden...

Or else an FM transmitter is the only other option as other posters have said, use one deigned for a ipod and find a clear channel which might be a job if you live somewhere like London..

[Adrian C]

??

Second hand laptops are cheaper and IMO more capable.

[NT]

Whats expensive about an old PC?

NT

[Steve Firth]

Do they come with decent speakers? No. Do they have an amplifier as standard? No. What's the cost of a minimum spec PC for Windows 7? Seems to be about £50 s/h but no keyboard, mouse, monitor or speakers. Add about £50 for decent speakers, oh look it already costs more than the internet radio.

Then the power consumption - 250W+ For a radio? Are you mad?

And what do you get if you persist? Some clunky pile of old s**te with possibly the worst interface known to mankind. Not easy to change channel or to adjust the volume. An internet radio has a nice big volume control and and a simple channel selection set up.

[Steve Firth]

Cheaper than a new Squeezebox, possibly. Cheaper than the Kitsound? No. I can get a manufacturer reconditioned Squeezebox Boom which is a bi-amped system with really good sound for aroun £125. Secondhand ones can be had around £50 - 100, after all if you're comparing like with like, you have to compare both items secondhand.

As to more capable pfft. What's "capable" about a crap old laptop with speakers that can only be heard when you sit on top of it?

And if we get on to interface, don't make Oi larff. If anyone thinks any of the media players on Windows or Linux are "more capable" than a simple internet radio they need their head examining.

[Adrian C]

30W for an old PII laptop.

And 250W+ is not pulled by a PC replaying radio streams!! Don't you know anything?

A laptop that costs less than £20 And Decent amplified Logitech speakers cost very little.

Interesting to read your recent cheap (and worthy) suggestion for a NAS ...

Compare and contrast.

[Adrian C]

XBMC

[Mr Sandman]

Thanks peeps for all the advice. Ideally Id want a gadget that can plug into my office PC and transmit a radio signal to my radio in the garage about 10m away. I do have one of those mini transmitter jobs, but then id have to run an audio wire to it from the office and supply it with 12v.

Ta!

Steve

[Dave Liquorice]

Eh? you plug it into the PC audio out in the office and the one I have will live of a USB port for power...

[Steve Firth]

In that situation an old PC makes sense, it's better than the commercial alternative. For internet radio a PC makes as much sense as my 1930s Cossor receiver. More use for warming the room than listening to the content.

[Andy Champ]

Old laptops that are fine except (a) the processor is far too slow for todays software and (b) the battery life is about 90 seconds will work fine as a radio and not heat the room.

[NT]

A P2 PC costs nothing, theyre being given away up and down the country. A lightweight linux distro that installs itself effortlessly like puppy or DSL costs nothing. Amps and speakers: small ones cost very little, far nicer ones than you can get for =C2=A350 cost nothing, again being given away all over.

Unable to change volume? What are you on. Unable to access net and change channel? ditto. Windows 7? What ever for.

NT

[Bob Eager]

Power consumption (without hard disk) 50W-60W (the optimum P2 is a P2-300, as it uses less power than a 266 and is obviously faster). The

330 is faster still but a few more watts.

Or build a Mini-ITX machine - fanless board at about 15W including a CF card to boot it.

[Steve Firth]

Yeah, just fine as long as you don't want to listen to the sound, or want to sit on top of the laptop to hear it.