If you are planning to create and open a radio, then you are on the right track. In addition, finding a sponsor for your radio project is not difficult: today radio and radio frequencies are a profitable business, comparable to the acquisition of apartments. Therefore, many businessmen are happy to invest their money in the radio business and make a profit from advertising on existing radio stations or leased frequencies.
How to open FM radio - step by step instructions
Consider an example of step-by-step instructions for those who do not know how to open the radio.
Concept
First of all, we transfer our brilliant idea from our heads to paper - we draw up a radio business plan. Our goal is to get people interested in our project who can become sponsors. Therefore, this point must be approached with all responsibility. First of all, we carefully prescribe the originality of the idea and the format of the future radio station. Next, we show the potential investor all the costs (equipment, wages), ways to make money on the radio, expected profits and, most importantly, the time frame in which the company will reach self-sufficiency.
Registration of a legal entity
We get the status of a legal entity. This is the requirement of the legislation of the Russian Federation for obtaining a license for radio broadcasting.
Find out the exact coordinates
We determine the exact coordinates of the transmitter location up to latitude and longitude. You will need to report this data, as well as the broadcasting radius and power of the radio device, to the Main Radio Frequency Center.
Documents for opening the radio
We proceed to the most important point of the program - we collect documents for opening the radio. It is best at this stage to contact the specialists of the subsidiary of the Main Radio Frequency Center. I must say that these services are expensive, but worth it: it is unlikely that you yourself will be able to coordinate all your documents with military units and research institutes of the Ministry of Defense.
Broadcast frequency development
If there are free frequencies within the FM band (87.5 - 108.0 MHz), then you may receive a conclusion from the GRFC with the frequency you want to broadcast. By the way, do not think that the higher it is, the better the radio broadcast. Most often it happens like this: with identical transmitters, for example, 4 W, and an equal antenna suspension, the range of the device at a frequency of 87.5 will be greater than 107.9.
If you are unlucky, there is no free frequency, frequency development begins. However, it often happens that besides you, someone else (another radio) claims the frequency. In this case, a competition is announced.
Broadcast competition
The competition is held only in regions with a population of more than 200 thousand people twice a year. All information about it can be found on the website of the Independent Broadcasting Foundation radioportal.ru. In addition, be aware that the competition can be won by a person who is not going to open a radio and broadcast in the near future. He rents the frequency, and this is a very profitable business.
Registering your radio as a media
Next, you issue a certificate of registration of the radio channel, depending on the radius of broadcasting: in the territorial or, when broadcasting to several regions of the Russian Federation, the central branch of Roskomnadzor. Within 30 days, pass a check for the uniqueness of the name of your radio station and after that you receive a certificate. Don't forget that you must start broadcasting within a year so that your certificate is not destroyed.
Obtaining a license for radio broadcasting
The next step is to obtain a radio broadcasting license. You prepare a program concept for broadcasting your radio, a package of documents and, together with a cover letter, submit it to the same Roskomnadzor body that will issue this license.
Obtaining a license for communication services for the purpose of on-air broadcasting
In addition, in Roskomnadzor you get another license - an operator's license, by submitting an appropriate application and a package of necessary documents there.
Obtaining permission to use the selected radio frequencies
And one more document that Roskomnadzor will issue to you at your request is permission to use the radio frequency for 10 years, which is indicated in the conclusion of the Main Radio Frequency Center.
Registering a radio transmitter
All documents are in the territorial office of Roskomnadzor, you have the last document - a certificate of registration of your radio transmitter.
We buy equipment
Search for premises, install a radio transmitter and broadcast equipment, pass testing during the temporary broadcast period, get the right to engage in commercial activities and, finally, you are finally launched! Almost everything! You can breathe! Or, on the contrary, everything is just beginning?!
It turns out that creating your own radio station is not an easy task. You have to go through a difficult path of passing authorities and collecting documents in order to open the radio. But trust me, it's worth it!
Prepared on the basis of the material www.getonair.ru by Yuliana Romanova.
To answer this question, you first need to ask yourself why you need to make this radio station and what it will be like. But if you have long drawn this little “business plan” in your head, then “welcome under the cut” to study the mat-part.
Facing the people
The face of any Internet project is its web page. Armed with the WHOIS service, we are looking for a beautiful and simple address for the site. It will not be superfluous to recall that the closer the address is related to the name, the simpler its spelling and the fewer possible incorrect variants of such spelling, the better.Have you chosen an address? Fine! We order hosting.
For the successful operation of the site, we need 3 simple things:
- SQL database
- engine
Here everyone has the right to choose what suits him best, but I’ll immediately note that Joomla will be the best for implementing the site (how many options I have tried on Wordpress and Drupal - it’s very difficult to come up with an implementation on these engines). I will tell you more about the ways of filling with content and tricks in implementation in the following articles.
Battle server
Yes, it was not by chance that I wrote earlier that hosting is needed for the site, because on the combat broadcast server we will have every kilobit of speed on our account, and “eating off” this most important resource for us by displaying content is an unaffordable luxury.And now a simple formula that will make our eyes hurt in the future:
Channel capacity/broadcast quality=number of simultaneous listeners.
In other words, if our Internet channel is 100Mb / s, and we plan to broadcast at a quality of 128Kb / s, then 800 people will fit in total (believe me, this is a very large audience for a start-up project).
Which server to choose?
Over this question, I spent hours rummaging through the Internet in search of a solution and the solution was not long in coming. A virtual server is the best choice in this situation.First: By default, it has a static IP address.
Secondly: It has a fairly high-speed connection, though with one small correction - the speed is divided by all the inhabitants of this physical machine, which means that our 800 people can be safely divided by 5 (although it is possible that this figure will be very different, because the load to other servers can also be quite high).
Our research does not require a powerful processor and a lot of RAM. The configuration of the radioserver allows you to successfully use negligible resources, our main selection criterion is the connection speed.
Windows or Linux
As such, when choosing a server, what operating system will be installed does not matter. There are solutions for deploying a radio server under both Win 32/64 and *nix. I'll just note that when implemented on Windows, you will have more features, and under Linux, it will be cheaper in content.IceCast2 or ShoutCast
The heart of our server is the broadcaster. It is to it that all audio streams, both incoming and outgoing, are attached. And here you need to make a conscious choice, because the whole future broadcasting system and its support will be built on this. Both products have all the charms that are needed to organize the broadcast. Both of these products are cross-platform and require certain skills in dealing with configuration files, fortunately, they are accompanied by impressive documentation (in English).Setting up the "broadcaster"
Each radio station requires very specialized settings. The configurations specify names, stream parameters, switching rules, security, and so on. After setting, do not forget to set an exception in the firewall for the port on which the broadcast is performed.Sound on air
There are 3 ways to send sound to a channel:- Rayleigh
- Autobroadcaster
- live broadcast
But with Rayleigh, everything is more interesting. Let's look at all the ways:
Rayleigh is a forwarding point. She takes a ready-made radio station link and distributes it to everyone who connects to it. Thus, having such a relay, you can relay radio stations to local networks, fill in the empty time of your broadcasts and expand the bandwidth of your own radio station. (I will tell you more about how to gracefully increase the capacity of one channel by 2 or more times in the following articles). Also, this point is extremely important if you do not have very powerful server resources, and the change of hosts occurs very often.
Autobroadcaster and Live Broadcast - quite a few programs fit this role, but I will highlight the most common:
Windows
- radioboss
- SamBroadcaster
- Winamp + plugin for ShoutCast
- phpCast
- PulseAudio*
Results:
In this article, I described the key points in creating Internet radioThe installation and configuration of the radio server itself takes no more than 15 minutes. Much more time is spent debugging certain functions, because it is impossible to manually control the state of the project 24 hours a day.
It's about how to make the simplest and cheapest radio transmitter that anyone who doesn't even understand anything in electronics can assemble.
Reception of such a radio transmitter occurs on a conventional radio receiver (on a stationary or mobile phone), at a frequency of 90-100 MHz. In our case, it will work like a radio headphone extension cord from a TV. The radio transmitter is connected to the TV via the headphone jack via an audio plug.
It can be used for various purposes, for example:
1) wireless headphone extension
2) Radio babysitter
3) A bug for eavesdropping and so on.
To make it, we need:
1) Soldering iron
2) Wires
3) Audio plug 3.5mm
4) Batteries
5) Copper varnished wire
6) Glue (Moment or epoxy) but it may not be needed
7) Old boards from the radio or TV (if any)
8) A piece of plain textolite or thick cardboard
Here is his circuit, it is powered by 3-9 volts
The list of radio parts for the circuit in the photo, they are very common and it will not be difficult to find them. Part AMS1117 not needed (just ignore it)
The coil should be wound according to the following parameters (7-8 turns with a wire with a diameter of 0.6-1 mm, on a 5mm mandrel, I wound it on a 5mm drill)
Be sure to clean the ends of the coil from varnish.
As a case for the transmitter, a battery case was taken
Everything inside was cleaned up. For ease of installation
Next, we take the textolite, cut it off and drill a lot of holes (it is better to drill more holes, so it will be easier to assemble)
Now we solder all the components according to the diagram
Get an audio plug
And solder wires to it, which are shown in the diagram as (input)
Next, we place the board in the case (it will be most reliable to glue it) and connect the battery
Now we connect our transmitter to the TV. On the FM receiver we find a free frequency (the one on which there is no radio station) and tune our transmitter to this wave. This is done by a tuned capacitor. We turn it slowly until we hear the sound from the TV on the FM receiver.
All our transmitter is ready to go. To make it convenient to set up the transmitter, I made a hole in the case
Also, instead of an audio plug, you can put a microphone and then our transmitter will turn into a bug or a radio nanny. We place the transmitter in the room with the child, and in the kitchen we set up the radio and listen to what the child is doing there.
The simplest radio receivers are unsuitable for catching the FM band, frequency modulation. The townsfolk claim that this is where the name comes from. From the English letter FM we interpret: frequency modulation. It is important for readers to understand a clearly expressed meaning: the simplest radio receiver, assembled from rubbish with your own hands, will not accept FM. The question of necessity arises: the cell phone picks up the broadcast. This capability is built into the electronics. Far from civilization, people still want to catch broadcasts in the good old way - they almost said with dental crowns - to construct efficient devices for listening to their favorite programs. For free…
Detector elementary radio receiver: the basics
The story touched on dental fillings for a reason. Steel (metal) is capable of converting ethereal waves into current, copying the simplest radio receiver, the jaw begins to vibrate, the bones of the ear detect the signal encrypted on the carrier. With amplitude modulation, a high frequency repeats the speaker's voice, music, sound in a big way. The useful signal contains a certain spectrum, which is difficult for a layman to understand, it is important that when the components are added, a certain law of time is obtained, following which the speaker of a simple radio receiver reproduces the broadcast. On dips, the jawbone freezes, silence reigns, the ear hears peaks. The simplest radio receiver, God forbid, of course, get hold of it.
The reverse piezoelectric effect changes, according to the law of the electromagnetic wave, the geometric dimensions of the bones. Promising direction: human-radio receiver.
The Soviet Union was famous for launching a space rocket, ahead of the rest, for scientific research. Union times encouraged degrees. The luminaries have brought a lot of benefits here - the design of radios - they earn decent money over the hill. Movies promoted the smart, not wealthy, it is not surprising that magazines are full of various developments. A series of modern lessons on creating the simplest radios, available on YouTube, is based on magazines published in 1970. Let's be careful not to deviate from traditions, we will describe our own vision of the situation in the field of amateur radio.
The concept of a personal electronic computer was developed by Soviet engineers. The party leadership recognized the idea as unpromising. Forces are given to the construction of gigantic computing centers. It is unnecessary for a worker to master a personal computer at home. Funny? Today you will meet more amusing situations. Then they complain - America is shrouded in glory, printing dollars. AMD, Intel - heard? Made in USA.
Everyone will make the simplest radio receiver with their own hands. Antenna is not needed, there is a good stable broadcast signal. The diode is soldered to the outputs of high-impedance headphones (discard computer ones), it remains to ground one end. In fairness, let's say the trick will work with the good old Soviet-issue D2, the taps are so massive that they will serve as an antenna. We get the earth in the simplest radio receiver by leaning one leg of the radio element against the heating battery, stripped of paint. Otherwise, the decorative layer, being a dielectric of the capacitor formed by the leg and the metal of the battery, will change the nature of the work. Try.
The authors of the video noticed: there seems to be a signal, it is represented by an unimaginable mishmash of rustles, meaningful sounds. The simplest radio receiver lacks selectivity. Anyone can understand, understand the term. When we set up the receiver, we catch the desired wave. Remember, we discussed the spectrum. Aether contains a bunch of waves at the same time, catch the right one by narrowing the search range. There is selectivity in the simplest radio receiver. In practice, it is implemented by an oscillatory circuit. Known from physics lessons, formed by two elements:
- Capacitor (capacity).
- Inductor.
Let's take a moment to study the details, the elements are equipped with reactance. Due to this, waves of different frequencies have unequal attenuation when passing by. However, there is some resonance. For a capacitor, the reactance on the diagram is directed in one direction, for an inductance - in the other, and the frequency dependence is derived. Both impedances are subtracted. At a certain frequency, the components equalize, the reactance of the circuit drops to zero. There is a resonance. Pass the selected frequency, adjoining harmonics.
The course of physics shows the process of choosing the bandwidth of the resonant circuit. Determined by the attenuation level (3 dB below maximum). Here are the calculations of the theory, guided by which a person can assemble the simplest radio receiver with his own hands. Parallel to the first diode, a second one is added, connected towards. Soldered in series to the headphones. The antenna is separated from the structure by a 100 pF capacitor. Here we note: the diodes are endowed with a capacitance of the p-n junction, the minds, apparently, have calculated the reception conditions, which capacitor is included in the simplest radio receiver, endowed with selectivity.
We believe that we will slightly deviate from the truth, saying: the range will affect the HF or MW regions. Multiple channels will be received. The simplest radio receiver is a purely passive design, devoid of an energy source; great achievements should not be expected.
A few words why we discussed remote nooks and crannies where radio amateurs are eager for experiments. In nature, physicists have noticed the phenomena of refraction, diffraction, both allow radio waves to deviate from a direct course. Let's call the first one the avoidance of obstacles, the horizon moves away, yielding to broadcasting, the second one - refraction by the atmosphere.
LW, MW and HF are caught at a considerable distance, the signal will be weak. Therefore, the simplest radio receiver discussed above is the touchstone.
The simplest radio receiver with amplification
In the considered design of the simplest radio receiver, low-impedance headphones cannot be used, the load resistance directly determines the level of transmitted power. Let's first improve the performance using a resonant circuit, then supplement the simplest radio with a battery by creating a low frequency amplifier:
- The electoral circuit consists of a capacitor, inductance. The magazine recommends that a variable capacitor of the tuning range of 25 - 150 pF be included in the simplest radio receiver, the inductance must be made according to the instructions. A ferromagnetic rod with a diameter of 8 mm is wrapped evenly with 120 turns, capturing 5 cm of the core. A copper wire covered with varnish insulation with a diameter of 0.25 - 0.3 mm is suitable. They gave readers the address of the resource, where you can calculate the inductance by entering numbers. The audience can independently find, using Yandex, calculate the number of mH of inductance. The formulas for calculating the resonant frequency are also well known, therefore, it is possible, remaining at the screen, to imagine the tuning channel of a simple radio receiver. The tutorial video suggests making a variable coil. It is necessary to push the core inside the frame with wound coils of wire. The position of the ferrite determines the inductance. Calculate the range, using the help of the program, YouTube craftsmen offer, winding the coil, draw conclusions every 50 turns. Since there are about 8 taps, we conclude: the total number of revolutions exceeds 400. Change the inductance stepwise, fine-tune with the core. Add to this: the antenna for the radio is decoupled from the rest of the circuit with a 51 pF capacitor.
- The second point you need to know is that the bipolar transistor also has p-n junctions, and even two. Here the collector is just appropriate to use instead of a diode. As for the emitter junction, it is grounded. Then DC power is applied to the collector directly through the headphones. The operating point is not selectable, so the result is somewhat unexpected, it will take patience until the radio device is perfected. The battery also plays a big part in your choice. We consider the headphone resistance to be collector, which sets the slope of the output characteristic of the transistor. But these are subtleties, for example, the resonant circuit will also have to be rebuilt. Even with a simple replacement of the diode, not like the introduction of a transistor. That is why it is recommended to conduct experiments gradually. And the simplest radio receiver without amplification will not work at all for many.
And how to make a radio receiver that would allow the use of simple headphones. Connect through a transformer, like the one at the subscriber point. A tube radio differs from a semiconductor in that it requires power to operate anyway (filament).
Vacuum devices go into mode for a long time. Semiconductors are ready to receive immediately. Don't forget: germanium does not tolerate temperatures above 80 degrees Celsius. If necessary, provide cooling of the structure. At first, this is necessary until you select the size of the radiators. Use fans from a personal computer, processor coolers.
The advantages of the web as a content delivery channel are obvious - electronic libraries, social networks, information portals, video hosting and other Internet services are replacing the "classic" media for an ever wider audience before our eyes. And radio is no exception.
The distribution of audio and video content in the form of digital streams, that is, streaming, is becoming increasingly important. It is with him that many experts associate the main prospects for the development of radio broadcasting. There is also a noticeable interest in this area on the part of hardware and software manufacturers: in recent years, professional exhibitions and conferences have demonstrated solutions aimed specifically at organizing virtual broadcasting.
The main advantage of Internet broadcasting over FM is the ability to create a radio station in the shortest possible time and without major investments. There are also a number of beneficial technical differences:
- Globality. Internet radio can be listened to wherever there is an Internet connection. FM broadcasting is severely limited by coverage area and radio transmitter power.
- Interactivity. Communication with the audience at the FM radio station is limited to phone calls, surveys, communication in social networks and instant messengers. In the case of an online radio station, the feedback is more detailed: the listener connects and immediately has the opportunity to “like” a program or track, write a comment, that is, he can really influence the broadcast and choose the content that he likes.
- Personalization. Whatever research is conducted by sociologists - focus groups, polls or voting, in the case of FM, the creators of radio stations can only roughly understand who listens to them. The audience is somewhat blurred. With Internet broadcasting, the situation is exactly the opposite. To connect to a stream, you need to send a request to the server. Thus, by IP address, you can determine the geographic location, and by entering from social networks during registration - all information from the profile. This is where the fun begins, because you can not only “customize” the content to the listeners, but also attract the appropriate advertisers – this opens up additional opportunities for targeted advertising. The advertiser is offered not an abstract audience, but a specific personalized listener.
Your own Internet radio station - step by step
1. Create a beautiful site with a simple domain close to the name of the radio station.
2. Arrange services with an Internet provider.
3. Develop an online player or program for broadcasting.
4. Install a server in the office / at home or purchase / rent a server in the data center.
5. Install and configure the software.
6. Organize remote access to the server.
7. Solve the sound processing problem.
8. Connect and configure statistics collection tools.
9. Then think about the content.
Players and streams
Maintenance costs
An FM radio station spends a lot of money on the operation, purchase and maintenance of equipment, transmitters, staffing, office rent, and pays this amount regardless of the number of listeners and the size of the audience. At the initial stage of the existence of an online radio station, the number of expenses usually increases with the number of listeners - this can be predicted and calculated in advance when drawing up a business plan. The Internet radio station gives streams of different quality for each listener and collects information about what players the audience uses and from what device. Technical capabilities allow you to determine the requirements for outgoing traffic, calculate its percentage, and determine costs. On the part of the listeners, everything is much simpler - the costs are equal to the monthly payment for the Internet.
transmitters
In the case of online broadcasting, this is a server on which special programs are installed, most often free. In Russia, the free Icecast program is very common, as well as Shoutcast and the paid multifunctional cross-platform Wowza. Theoretically, the distribution server can be physical - stand in the office or at home, but now they are increasingly turning to the services of data centers. You can also rent a virtual server from the data center. This method has certain advantages: you do not need to purchase a server, install software on it, configure equipment and change it for a certain period of time.
Audio Processing: Do I Need a Processor When Creating an Online Radio Station?
Needed. Without processing, the sound will “sag”, there will be no sound depth. The hardware processor is the most expensive link in this chain. But given that Internet radio stations usually have modest budgets, the solution can be considered the use of software analogues of processors. There are a number of audio processing software solutions such as Digispot II, Z/IP Prostream, Omnia A/XE, Z/IP Stream 9X/2.
It is also worth deciding on the sound feed to the channel:
- Live broadcast - broadcast from the studio, live conversation of people
- Autobroadcaster - broadcasting according to a prepared list or a robot broadcaster
- Relay is a forwarding node through which a ready-made link is distributed to everyone who connects to it. That is, using a relay, you can relay radio stations to local networks and increase the bandwidth of an online radio station.
Internet radio organization schemes
The easiest option: the broadcast server is installed on a virtual server - streams are distributed directly from the cloud to listeners. An employee of the radio station has the ability to connect to the interface via the web to edit the schedule, content, playlists and other elements.
There are a couple more schemes for the operation of an online radio station.
Classic variant: from the studio, the stream goes through the distribution server, and then to the listeners.
The classic version of organizing Internet radio / Slide from the report of Oksana Beketova, technical support engineer at Trakt
Combined variant: the radio station is broadcasting from the "cloud", that is, from the on-air station, which is installed on a virtual server. In this case, switching to live broadcasts from the studio occurs according to the schedule or on command. The editor also has the ability to connect via the web interface.
Combined version of the organization of Internet radio / Slide from the report of Oksana Beketova, technical support engineer at Trakt
Ready-made service packages
Radio service (Radio as a service) - a ready-made package of services for an Internet radio broadcaster, which already includes operating costs, technical support, updates, and so on. For example, Radiobox is a broadcasting platform, the Russian Digispot II can also be used as software, and there are also many foreign analogues.
These services can be managed through a web interface. Its use in technical and functional terms is much simpler than connecting via remote access. A journalist/DJ can edit the schedule himself, make patches, follow the air, add new materials, voicetracks to the database and administer.
