Introduction: Raspberry Pirate Radio

By
About: High school student who started the first stem club in our county.

I've been looking around on Instructables but haven't been able to find a good Raspberry Pi Radio. So, with the inspration from Make: Raspberry PiRate Radio, i have decided to make one with their program. This is the first Instructable I've made, so please bear with me. All you need is an afternoon, a raspberry Pi, a radio receiver,a few extra tools and you will soon have your very own radio.

Step 1: Getting Things Together.

Before we get started, we need to get some things. Here are the parts:

  • A Raspberry Pi
  • A SD card With no less than 4 GB (mine was a Micro SD with an adapter)
  • Wire Strippers
  • About 1' 12 AWG wire (I used 14 AWG, but 12 is better)
  • A Female pin
  • Network cable
  • Soldering Iron and Solder
  • Heat Shrink Tubing (But you can use Electrical Tape)
  • Optional: Helping Hands

You will also need a computer, a radio, and a few programs. But I'll get back to those.

**WARNING** If you want to use any of the images from NOOB's or ever want to use the raspberry pi for anyting other than a radio station, USE A DIFFERENT SD CARD. Don't use the one you've put all your time into because it will replace all data on the sd card.


**DISCLAIMER**IT IS NOT MY FAULT IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE WITH THE FCC. I TRUST YOU WOULD USE THIS WITH DISCRETION. IT HAS THE POWER TO REACH OUTSIDE OF THE FM BAND.

Step 2: Preparing the SD Card.

First we need to download the image, here. This may take a while, so lets get the other programs. We need to download and install Win32DiskImager, and WinSCP. After the image has downloaded, unzip the file and move it to the desktop. Put the SD card into the computer. Open the diskimager and select the correct Device and file. When looking for the file, make sure to change it from *.img to *.*. Then press write, and wait. Once done, eject SD Card and put it in the Raspberry Pi.

Step 3: Put Songs on the Card.

Connect the network cable to the RPI and to your router or modem and power it on. Open WinSCP. For Host Name, put the IP Address; for both username and password use "root". Once logged-in, go to the root folder, and open a folder called "pirateradio". Drag all the songs you want into this file. After, open a file called "pirateradio.config" and change the settings to your liking. Save the changes, an close that program.

Step 4: Make the Antenna.

Solder the wire to the female pin. This is easier with a Helping Hand. You should insulate the joint with heat shrink, but I didn't have any. This needs to be plugged into GPIO4 or Pin 7.

Step 5: Listen

Reconnect the power, tune the radio to your channel, and wait. It will take about a minute for the Raspberry Pi to start broadcasting, you should hear the static go away, then, the music will start playing. It's that easy.

Please support by voting, and thanks for reading.