FM Transmitter for Mp3 Player

[audioguru]

The Canadian RF cops caught me with a badly sparking fan I made when I was a teenager. It caused radio and TV interference to hundreds of people. The RF cops didn't punish me, instead we had a nice long chat about electronics. Then neighbours bought me a new fan.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I knew a guy years back, who was caught three times running his own pirate radio station (on medium wave) - first they confiscated ALL his equipment, including anything connected to it - so his HiFi, speakers, all his records etc.

In court he was fined the first time, a much bigger fine the second, the third time he was really polite to the judge, explained how he hoped to start a career in radio, and that he was very sorry for the trouble he had caused. So the third time he got a smaller fine than the first two!

On all three occasions, his equipment, including records, was never returned.

 

[audioguru]

Hi Nigel,
Are there still boats near the UK with pirate radio stations onboard?
I don't understand why ordinary radio stations were not allowed to broadcast whatever it was that the pirate broadcasters did. Ads?

Our FM stations broadcast a few hours per day without any ads.
Our government licenced radio stations for many different types of programs including weird ones. Many radio stations that played classical and country music have disappered.

 

[Hero999]

Classical music stations are quite popular here in the UK, we've got both Classic FM and Radio 3 which both broadcast nationwide. Radio 2 also has a programme dedicated to country music, although it isn't my thing.

Pirate radio stations don't only break the broadcasting rules, they also commit copyright infringement by not paying any royalties and often only play pirated music.

 

[audioguru]

You have only 3 legal FM stations?
I receive about 45 FM stations. Probably more. I never counted them all.
About 25 are local, 10 are fairly far and 10 or more are American.

The FM station WBLK is in Buffalo, New York. All of its announcers are black and all of its music (mostly rap) is black. It is amazing how skin colour changes as soon as you step into America.

The Canadian government has a local English and a local French FM station. I receive another few distant ones.
About 5 of the local stations are low power, foreign language and broadcast weird "music". You can't hear their funny costumes on the radio.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi Nigel,
Are there still boats near the UK with pirate radio stations onboard?

I don't think there have been any for decades now?, ever since Radio Caroline was raided.

I don't understand why ordinary radio stations were not allowed to broadcast whatever it was that the pirate broadcasters did. Ads?

He didn't broadcasts ads, just records - just a question of wanting to run his own broadcasts.

Another friend of mine (who went off to the States a good few years back now) used to do the same - but never got caught!. He even had phone-in's for requests, giving the number of a callbox a few streets away, with people answering the phone and running round with the requests!.

 

[Hero999]

You have only 3 legal FM stations?

No, we've got Radios 1 to 5 provided by the BBC, then there's Classic FM, Virgin Radio and Talk Sport which are all commercial stations. I'm also only talking about the analogue national stations, there are also many digital stations and numerous local stations all over the country. Unfortunately (aparr from the ones owned by the BBC) most of them are owned by the LBCG (Local Broadcasting Group) and sound the same apart from the odd local programme and local adverts.

 

[Overclocked]

Speaking of FM transmitters, Google gave me this one in gmail:
**broken link removed**

50W FM transmitter!

 

[audioguru]

Speaking of FM transmitters, Google gave me this one in gmail

The spec's don't say much.
The frequency response is odd.

If it is used in North America then the RF cops would probably shoot a missle or throw a grenade at it.