I'm looking to get more into Pirate Radio by upgrading my current setup ST-7C with default Telescoping antenna it gets around 4 miles of distance los albeit with static along the way. I would like to upgrade to a better setup with a real antenna I would like to get 11 miles distance. I will be transmitting from a hill with 1000 ft elevation the city below me around a few miles away is at 100-600 ft elevation. Can anyone recommend me a good antenna and transmitter for under $300 Thanks!

I would like to ask if anyone else has experience of experimenting with any of the various Chinese created FM transmitters that are widely available both online and in-stores? I found and bought a no-name Chinese FM transmitter in a Big Lots department store the other day just to be able to bring home and test out. This store generally sells items that bigger retail chains like Walmart were unable to get rid of. So I didn't expect too much out of this purchase, especially considering that it only cost me less than ten bucks including tax.

I knew that it would certainly be of no use for pirate radio purposes, even on a very tiny scale, and I was quickly proven right after a few quick tests. The small printed manual that came with it claims that the transmitter is Part-15 FCC compliant, but the given compliance number leads to an entirely different product, a Bluetooth transmitter, which this obviously isn't. Also, the transmitter puts out a usable audio signal for around 1,000-feet or so. Way too much distance for Part-15 legality, and not nearly enough range for pirate radio purposes either. Therefore, it's certainly not FCC compliant as the included paperwork falsely claims it to be.

Just like with all of the other cheap FM transmitters that I've purchased on the internet in the past to try out, this one puts out very noticeable spurs all over the TV and FM broadcast band. I tested three vacant FM broadcast band frequencies that are available in my local area, 92.5MHz, 94.5MHz and 100.5MHz. All three test frequencies put out spurious harmonics on various other frequencies between 53.1MHz and 104.5MHz. For example: when I was transmitting on 92.5MHz the signal also could be heard very audibly on 63.3MHz, and when I was broadcasting on 94.5MHz the signal was heard all the way down on 53.1MHz, as well as on one the other open FM broadcast band frequency of 100.5MHz, whereas when I tested using 100.5MHz instead, the signal could not be heard on 92.5MHz.

The spurs aren't as loud as the main signal, nor do they travel quite as far. However, I imagine that if someone in a large metropolitan city, especially a person who lives in a crowded apartment complex, could get themselves in some quick trouble if they were to buy this transmitter and leave it turned on 24/7 transmitting music. Thinking that it's FCC approved and legally compliant, when the signal goes 5x past the legal limit, and the spurs it produces could quite easily interfere with someone's TV or radio reception. Even if the person using the transmitter didn't notice that these unwanted spurious harmonics are occurring, it still could get them in trouble. I'm honestly quite surprised that these nameless Chinese made transmitters don't get far more people some serious unwanted attention.

https://preview.redd.it/kjlu83iz967e1.png?width=676&format=png&auto=webp&s=57ea57c7407b0b82eb092eeecf10f6b5368ea714

https://www.pcs-electronics.com/product-category/fm-transmitters/fm-radio-packages/

They can order whatever you need, give you an advice.

I've recently set up a shoutcast server on my linux VPS and have had no problems connecting to it from my Windows PC with WinAmp but I wanted to run Ices v0.4 on the same VPS so I could broadcast the music 24/7. I did manage to do so but for some reason the CPU usage of Ices0.4 is always at 100%. From what i've read online it should be barely anything at all, almost unoticeable.

I've tried searching around the internet and all I can find is "The most common cause for high CPU usage in ices0 is enabling stream re- encoding." but I'm certain I have this disabled in my config: https://pastebin.com/BX3WFDNn

So, if anyone is familiar with Ices v0.4 and might know why my cpu usage is stuck at 100%, please advise. It's not a weak VPS, I run multiple game servers on it and shutting them down doesn't help. I'm viewing the CPU usage under the command "htop".

Me and my friends have those old CRT TVs and i want to tell them to tune into a TV channel so i can play something for them to see (like a harmless rickroll or something, but more on an inside joke level)

Obviously this comes with the problem of actually transmitting the video and audio, but how do i do such a thing, and to that distance, strictly without buying expensive gear that i wont have any other use for?

I have an RF Modulator already, just no way to boost or amplify the signal, especially far enough to reach them.

Im aware of the legal aspect of this too and obviously i dont care much, i wouldnt be broadcasting so much as to get in trouble, but kinda for the short lived novelty of reviving analog temporarily and at my own will.

Im also probably, obviously, not very knowledgeable about what im even asking, but itd be interesting to learn

Hey guys. I currently run a 0.5 watt part 15 station. I was thinking about getting the CZE-7C 7 watt transmitter to make my radio pirate. If I run this from my attic in a populated neighborhood, what are the chances of getting caught? If so, what are the chances of fine/jail?

edit: i already play 24/7 and plan to continue to, and i broadcast on 92.3, closest freq is 91.9

Hey folks, great to find this sub didn't know it existed.

As a youth I ran a pirate radio station. We purchased a transmitter from a paper called "Bargin Pages". When I got it home and opened it up it looked hand made on a copper board with solder traces in places.

It was 100W. I remember if we were in the same room as the transmitter we got a nasty headache. We eventually used a link transmitter and had the main transmitter on a flat. Gosh those days were fun!

I've always been fascinated with the design because it worked flawlessly. Didn't even drift.

Now I'm middle aged, and have my own electronics lab. I build things with microcontrollers and repair electronics.

So I've decided I want to delve into the world of building transmitters.

I understand the basics, and some of the theory. I've got a lot of books that go deep into the math. But I'm not ready for that. I need to build/play with something for the knowledge to sink in.

Can anybody recommend a good schematic? Ideally PLL but I don't mind either. Something I can build that will give me a good foundation.

Cheers folks

In a world dominated by streaming platforms, podcasts, and social media, what do you think is the role of pirate radio in modern society? Is it a relic of rebellion, a voice for the voiceless, or a platform for cultural innovation?

Hi i was wandering if you could make a radio emitter also receive signal like a classic radio. Can anyone help me on that ?

I use this tutorial to make the emitter : https://youtu.be/SXfELCM1sCI?si=3JoOA1w6chIdLtR9

Hi, im searching for a shortwave AM exciter ( around 5watts) to connect to my old 500w amplifier and broadcast my radio station in shortwave ( i already do FM and DAB+ ) im Also requesting to be low priced (around 30-60 bucks).

Hey there, i am new to this stuff but i want to use my 7-watt FM transmitter to play Christmas music from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I got a new antenna and mounted it about 30ft. in the air and it goes about 4 miles. I just don't want to get into trouble with the FCC and get a bunch of fines cause I am only 14. lol. I also dont live around a big city and i am using 87.7 and 90mhz.

Here are the things i am using...

Amazon.com: BaseWish 7W 1W Long Range FM Transmitter with LCD & 3.5mm Audio Cable - Ideal for Drive-in Church, School & Supermarket Events, Light Shows & Fireworks Display - Black : Electronics

Amazon.com: MythGeek 1/4 Wave Outdoor GP Antenna for FM Transmitter, Professional Waterproof Antenna with 8M/26Ft TNC BNC Cable for 0.5W-100W 7W 7C 15W 15A 15B 25W T251 50W T501 : Electronics

Hello I am looking for Lingo for Pirate Radio stations mostly UK ones please help me

I am really shocked lol. But yeah I did some extensive research and experimentation to bust this myth.

In short:

Most distortion in Amplitude Modulation occurs at the transmitter itself. If you listen carefully to an AM radio station and pay close attention to the audio frequencies in the 600-2000 hz range you can hear a kind of "ring" which smudges the sound. There is also a lot of low frequency components. Wider bandwidth does improve fidelity but it does not fix the issue.

Most distortion in Frequency Modulation occurs due to aggressive audio processing which keeps the audio in a certain bandwidth and it is clipped aggressively. FM transmitters have PLL VCOs which do not require an audio signal of significant amplitude. This introduces some minor noise. Also note that FM is wider than AM and the width of that signal is also affected by the amplitude. This is not the same for FM. AM can be made loud in a 15khz bandwidth while FM cannot because it will exceed that bandwidth. Hence AM is less prone to noise than FM while technically being able to carry the same amount of information.

"AM modulation is like a giant light bulb which you vary the brightness of" - AM sound HEAVILY depends on how you do this. There are rumors of people who build AM transmitters that sound better than FM transmitters. This rumor is in fact true because I was able to recreate such a transmitter.

Alot of the modern AM transmitters used on Medium Wave use a system where they switch on and off amplifier modules. This is horrible for music broadcasting, this means that you need at least 512 of these modules to get somewhat respectable audio and even that sucks. You are looking at over 1000 of those.

The best way to make an AM transmitter is still using an emitter follower circuit to supply the RF section. This will give you the best fidelity if designed properly with all the transistor gain curves in mind. Now using mosfets is a bad idea in this situation because you now loose your threshold voltage of head room.

The best modern way to make an AM transmitter is to use a class D modulator. charging and discharging of a capacitor using an NE555 circuit (yes this actually works) and then using a high speed op-amp(BA4560) to compare the voltage on the capacitor with the voltage set by a potentiometer. You need to use relatively high voltages, I used 12 volts meaning i have 4 volts of tuning range. At first I put my computer's sound card directly to it using a DC blocking capacitor of course. And the audio was ok, not really like that of other AM stations but it had distortion. It did sound poor but it was not "smudged". I then suspected the sound card. I was right. The sound card is an ASUS Xonar and I had it at the very max setting it could handle. I fixed the situation with a class A audio amplifier on the BD139. After this it sounds like a concert hall that is not stereo and a stupid annoying low pass filter cutting out the highs inside the radio. No joke, with the compressor and the processing I had going the sound was better in terms of overall clarity than that of all local FM stations! (maybe except for KJZZ) I can send a schematic or get some SDR recordings. This is a shortwave transmitter on 11530 KHz or Hikari FM. you can Google it for more information. There are old recordings on the internet but they were taken before I did this. I wrote this up right after I did this. The schematic.... is quite large and moderately complicated.

I really think we need to rethink our approach on radio broadcasting and music broadcasting and give CQUAM another shot. But these transmitters are a lot harder to build than FM transmitters. You have to be very careful with your calculations and design in some sections.

Hi all,

Does anyone have an FM transmitter for sale in the Glasgow area? Looking for something >100W

Thanks

Hi everyone! I need your help
I'm looking for:
- RFSpace Vivaldi directional antenna
- BladeRF xA4 'Micro’

Can you suggest some websites where I can buy radio equipment secondhand? It's too much expensive for me to buy it brand-new

Thank you very much

I just got into pirate radio and I just wanna know what y’all do like to play on your stations (ps: does anyone know what I tag this post as)

I was u/octoboy4040 and u/stainsofcolor, but i got banned for accidental ban evasion from r/teenagers. To see more about my pirate station, look into those accounts.