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

Mr Sandman wrote:

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

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

On 30/05/2010 10:33, Mr Sandman wrote:
Hi all

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

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.

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

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

--
Adrian C

Adrian C wrote:
On 30/05/2010 10:33, Mr Sandman wrote:
Hi all

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

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.

On Sun, 30 May 2010 10:41:34 +0100, Steve Firth wrote:

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

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

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 £10.

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.

--
Cheers
Dave.

NT wrote:

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.

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.

In article , Adrian C
scribeth thus
On 30/05/2010 10:33, Mr Sandman wrote:
Hi all

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

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..
--
Tony Sayer

On 30/05/2010 11:53, Steve Firth wrote:

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.

Second hand laptops are cheaper and IMO more capable.

--
Adrian C

Steve Firth wrote:
NT wrote:

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.

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.

Whats expensive about an old PC?


NT

NT wrote:


Whats expensive about an old PC?

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 ****e 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.

Adrian C wrote:

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

Second hand laptops are cheaper and IMO more capable.

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.

On 30/05/2010 15:16, Steve Firth wrote:
wrote:


Whats expensive about an old PC?

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?

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

On 30/05/2010 15:25, Steve Firth wrote:

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.

XBMC

--
Adrian C

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Sun, 30 May 2010 10:41:34 +0100, Steve Firth wrote:

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

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

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 £10.

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.

--
Cheers
Dave.


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

On Sun, 30 May 2010 19:32:37 +0100, Mr Sandman wrote:

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.

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...

--
Cheers
Dave.

Adrian C wrote:


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

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.

Steve Firth wrote:
Adrian C wrote:

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

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.


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.

Steve Firth wrote:
NT wrote:

Whats expensive about an old PC?

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 ****e 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.


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 £50 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

On Mon, 31 May 2010 13:59:10 -0700, NT wrote:

Steve Firth wrote:
NT wrote:

Whats expensive about an old PC?

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 ****e 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.


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 £50 cost nothing, again being given
away all over.

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.

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

Andy Champ wrote:

Steve Firth wrote:
Adrian C wrote:

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

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.


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.

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.

On 31/05/2010 23:46, Steve Firth wrote:

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.

Are you a drivel sock?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000XUQ2LI

--
Adrian C

Adrian C wrote:

Are you a drivel sock?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000XUQ2LI


In fairness sometimes he says something useful. That's why Drivel is on
my plonk list, but Steve isn't.

Andy

Mr Sandman wrote:
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!


A Nokia mobile phone and a wifi connection.

eg N85 has wifi, internet radio client and fm transmitter. Connect to
internet radio station using phone, activate fm transmitter and tune your
garage radio to said frequency.

Might be a good idea to plug the phone into its charger too or the battery
won't last long )

"chunkyoldcortina" wrote in message
...
Mr Sandman wrote:
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!


A Nokia mobile phone and a wifi connection.

eg N85 has wifi, internet radio client and fm transmitter. Connect to
internet radio station using phone, activate fm transmitter and tune your
garage radio to said frequency.

Might be a good idea to plug the phone into its charger too or the battery
won't last long )

Or he could just take the phone into the garage.

S

chunkyoldcortina wrote:

Mr Sandman wrote:
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!


A Nokia mobile phone and a wifi connection.

eg N85 has wifi, internet radio client and fm transmitter. Connect to
internet radio station using phone, activate fm transmitter and tune
your garage radio to said frequency.

Might be a good idea to plug the phone into its charger too or the
battery won't last long )

Wireless router and wifi Internet radio - lots of both about.

--
---
zaax
Frustration casues accidents: allow faster traffic to overtake.

chunkyoldcortina wrote:

Mr Sandman wrote:
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!


A Nokia mobile phone and a wifi connection.

eg N85 has wifi, internet radio client and fm transmitter. Connect to
internet radio station using phone, activate fm transmitter and tune
your garage radio to said frequency.

Might be a good idea to plug the phone into its charger too or the
battery won't last long )

No can do. You can switch to an N78, which has a built-in FM
transmitter.

--
---
zaax
Frustration casues accidents: allow faster traffic to overtake.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "zaax"
saying something like:

A Nokia mobile phone and a wifi connection.

eg N85 has wifi, internet radio client and fm transmitter. Connect to
internet radio station using phone, activate fm transmitter and tune
your garage radio to said frequency.

Might be a good idea to plug the phone into its charger too or the
battery won't last long )

No can do. You can switch to an N78, which has a built-in FM
transmitter.

Mobile data cost will kill that in short order.