FM Transmitter to broadcast to my bus' recreational radio
38 replies, posted
Hey Facepunch I'm looking into getting an FM transmitter, nothing huge but I really need it to be able to broadcast atleast 40 feet effectively, and it needs to run on its own power since the back of the bus doesn't have power outlets... If you guys have ideas for some cheap transmitters that can hit all the modern day frequencies, that would be great. Now this isn't to be confused with the communication radio cause I wouldn't dare disable that, just the one that the bus driver decides to play crappy music to everyone over. Thanks!
And sorry if this is the wrong forum, I couldn't think of any other one to post this in. Also this is all for fun obviously, what else right? I'm sure some of you are going to object this idea.
I don't have a suggestion, as I am not knowledgable about FM Transmitting.
But I can say I'm pretty jealous of you for being a bus driver. May I ask for what orginization?
AFAIK most FM transmitters are purposely weak so they can't overpower existing radio stations or annoy other drivers in their cars.
Thus their range is severely limited, and the transmission power is piss weak.
Unless you import a powerful one from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.
But I gotta warn you, those ones have questionable build quality.
Had one imported from China, it had decent range and could overpower most radio station, but it suddenly stopped transmitting any sound on the left channel one day.
So... If I'm reading this right, you want to overpower the FM frequency that your school bus uses to play music on the radio? Why would you want to do this? You could also get into some huge trouble from the school.
You would have to have a pretty powerful transmitter to overpower an actual radio station. Especially since the antenna is most likely outside and the structure of the bus (ie. the roof) would interfere with the strength of your transmitter.
Besides, once he figures out that its not the music he's wants, what's stopping him from just shutting it off (or changing stations)?
There are some laws against this I think.
He's not the bus driver, he's a student trying to overpower the bus driver's FM radio. And with that said, I think toaster's post above is completely correct, and there's no use in buying a transmitter because you don't like the music on the bus. Just deal with it like the rest of us did.
... Then your transmitter blocks a very important traffic announcement and the bus ends up in a ditch, the engine then overheats and somehow bursts into flames and the cabin fills with poisonous fumes and everyone dies.
All because you couldn't bear to listen to Rihanna for the Millionth time.
On a more serious note, There's laws governing the power output of such transmitters and finding one powerful enough will be hard, and if you do it will be illegal. The answer is noise cancelling headphones.
Also if this is a modern bus it may have a DAB radio anyway.
not to mention a battery-powered FM transmitter that meets his requirements is expensive as fuck and probably would take up most of the space in his backpack
Why don't you just buy an ipod or some cheap Mp3 player and some headphones and use that on the bus...?
[QUOTE=Van-man;33525803]AFAIK most FM transmitters are purposely weak so they can't overpower existing radio stations or annoy other drivers in their cars.
Thus their range is severely limited, and the transmission power is piss weak.[/QUOTE]
My old Nokia N97 had a FM transmitter.
Pretty useful but you had to find a free frequency and it was limited to about 2m.
So yes, they are way to underpowered.
[QUOTE=Mitsuma;33528385]My old Nokia N97 had a FM transmitter.
Pretty useful but you had to find a free frequency and it was limited to about 2m.
So yes, they are way to underpowered.[/QUOTE]I found that wrapping my N85 in copper wire would amplify the signal by a lot and made the sound pretty clear.
Why are you helping him do something illegal?
Instead of discussing on what he should he do in his own free spare time and how he goes about it, try actually discussing something actually more relevant to his own question.
OP: [url]http://www.dealextreme.com/[/url] You might find something here, your best bet would be getting stuff outside EU and US.
[QUOTE=Thugaim;33535197]Instead of discussing on what he should he do in his own free spare time and how he goes about it, try actually discussing something actually more relevant to his own question.
OP: [url]http://www.dealextreme.com/[/url] You might find something here, your best bet would be getting stuff outside EU and US.[/QUOTE]
Did you ever think that what he's doing is simply a waste of money? It will have consequences when he's inevitably caught, it will be hard to use, it will annoy the bus driver, and the money he spends on an FM transmitter meeting his requirements would be better spent on an MP3 player, or he can can just save his money and, y'know, ask the bus driver to change the station. There are a myriad of different things that the OP could do and overpowering the radio frequency would be just stupid.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;33536632]Did you ever think that what he's doing is simply a waste of money? It will have consequences when he's inevitably caught, it will be hard to use, it will annoy the bus driver, and the money he spends on an FM transmitter meeting his requirements would be better spent on an MP3 player, or he can can just save his money and, y'know, ask the bus driver to change the station. There are a myriad of different things that the OP could do and overpowering the radio frequency would be just stupid.[/QUOTE]
It is not up to you to say what he does with his money. Also if we're talking on a more personal note, I disagree entirely, he's actually doing something educational and trying think outside the box.
Try to show a bit of initiative instead of being a government bitch.
Also OP, try not to play on ambulance/police/army channels, they'll track you down in minutes. And play this on the busradio [video=youtube;_5wEicRYGbI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5wEicRYGbI&feature=g-vrec[/video] :v:
[QUOTE=Thugaim;33536724]It is not up to you to say what he does with his money. Also if we're talking on a more personal note, I disagree entirely, he's actually doing something educational and trying think outside the box.
Try to show a bit of initiative instead of being a government bitch.[/QUOTE]
Call it whatever you want, but if he's disrupting equipment that he doesn't have permission to, it's still illegal and he could run into some serious ramifications from his school or whatever agency uses the buses. Also, how am I a government bitch just by wanting to adhere to the law? What the fuck is wrong with kids these days?
[QUOTE=Protocol7;33536760]Call it whatever you want, but if he's disrupting equipment that he doesn't have permission to, it's still illegal and he could run into some serious ramifications from his school or whatever agency uses the buses. Also, how am I a government bitch just by wanting to adhere to the law? What the fuck is wrong with kids these days?[/QUOTE]
You are acting random ad hominem in the back of your head without knowing anything about his current situation. You are trying to lecture people for the sake of lecturing. Also I'm not a kid, I'm a adult with a strong belief in personal liberties. However your behavior is reminiscent of pubescent teenagers.
[QUOTE=Thugaim;33536911]You are acting random ad hominem in the back of your head without knowing anything about his current situation. You are trying to lecture people for the sake of lecturing. Also I'm not a kid, I'm a adult with a strong belief in personal liberties. However your behavior is reminiscent of pubescent teenagers.[/QUOTE]
Do you know what ad hominem is? Ad hominem is calling someone a government bitch without confirming or denying the legitimacy of their recommendations against wasting someone's money. Also, having personal liberties doesn't give you the right to infringe on the personal liberties of someone else. And as far as I know a pubescent teenager doesn't recommend against someone wasting their money on something useless.
But if you're just gonna sit and disagree with me for trying to save the OP some money and a headache later, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. (P.S. going through my post history and rating all of my posts dumb accomplishes nothing.)
[QUOTE=Thugaim;33536724]
Also OP, [b]try not to play on ambulance/police/army channels[/b], they'll track you down in minutes. And play this on the busradio[/QUOTE]
How is that even a problem? He's talking about the FM radio, not the com radio. You know, like your car radio.
Besides, I don't think they use frequencies that civilian equipment can even legally broadcast at.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;33536972]Do you know what ad hominem is? Ad hominem is calling someone a government bitch without confirming or denying the legitimacy of their recommendations against wasting someone's money. Also, having personal liberties doesn't give you the right to infringe on the personal liberties of someone else. And as far as I know a pubescent teenager doesn't recommend against someone wasting their money on something useless.
But if you're just gonna sit and disagree with me for trying to save the OP some money and a headache later, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. (P.S. going through my post history and rating all of my posts dumb accomplishes nothing.)[/QUOTE]
1. I stated you forming random ad hominem replies in your head. You are already assuming he is trying to do something illegal because you think he's a random kid in the back of a schoolbus.
2. I can call someone a government bitch when the majority of his posts are "OH NOES THATS ILLEGALZ"
3. Frequencies are being bought/sold like hotbuns by lobbiest coorporations, it is the ultimate proof how corrupt the system is when it comes to personal liberties. I'm not going to discuss this further in this thread.
4. pubescent teenagers are known argue about the most useless crap irrelevant to their current topic.
5. Educating yourself is always worth the headache.
6. Rating you dumb on all posts is hilarious, and even more when you reply to it.
[QUOTE=Demache;33537005]How is that even a problem? He's talking about the FM radio, not the com radio. You know, like your car radio.
Besides, I don't think they use frequencies that civilian equipment can even legally broadcast at.[/QUOTE]
I thought we were long past that stadium, no civilian equipment is even gonna get close what he wants to do. So I advised him to get some stuff from china, and with those things you can get in trouble.
Like I said, the equipment he needs to accomplish what he wants is not cheap, especially on battery power. Then when the bus driver just changes channels or turns the radio off, it's a waste of money. And when he inevitably gets caught lugging around all of that equipment it will not fare well for him.
It's really just not viable and he's better off using an MP3 player and headphones to attain a similar result.
Oh, and did I mention if he imports illegal equipment from China it will probably get binned by customs? It's really just a lose/lose here.
[QUOTE=Thugaim;33537131]no civilian equipment is even gonna get close what he wants to do.[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-FM-Transmitter-Universal-Clearscan/dp/B002S8AFE8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322843927&sr=8-1]I have one in my car for listening to my MP3 player. Surely you have seen them?[/url] - Mine happens to run on 2AA Batteries. I'd count that as "Close"
They Just aren't very powerful (It CAN overpower a radio station at the expensive of clarity and you can still sort of hear the station you tried to overpower) and probably only within 1M of the device, They aren't very powerful because there's restrictions on such devices (i.e You need a license). If you are good with the old soldering iron you could quite easily follow a schematic for a fairly powerful transmitter, but as has been stated they are illegal.
thanks for all the replys guys, but im not doing it to just piss off the bus driver, the music is played over speakers in the bus to all the kids, thats my oint too. i live in a hick school and no one gives a shit, if i do get cought then thats too bad for me, i was going to do it as a joke, and why do most of you not understand high school fun?
[QUOTE=Meepbob;33540076]thanks for all the replys guys, but im not doing it to just piss off the bus driver, the music is played over speakers in the bus to all the kids, thats my oint too. i live in a hick school and no one gives a shit, if i do get cought then thats too bad for me, i was going to do it as a joke, and why do most of you not understand high school fun?[/QUOTE]
High school fun isn't "fm transmitter on a bus" it's "do stupid shit during lunch breaks and in the halls."
[QUOTE=Protocol7;33540152]High school fun isn't "fm transmitter on a bus" it's "do stupid shit during lunch breaks and in the halls."[/QUOTE]
for you, yeah.
but the point is, i was just trying to figure out a clever prank to do on the bus. no need to pulverize it with negativity.
[QUOTE=Meepbob;33540315]for you, yeah.[/QUOTE]
Well if your idea of fun is "waste loadsa money on shit that's probably not going to work and can be easily circumvented" then more power to you.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;33540333]Well if your idea of fun is "waste loadsa money on shit that's probably not going to work and can be easily circumvented" then more power to you.[/QUOTE]
why are you such a dick, just go away your not speaking relevant to the topic I'm trying to discuss
My point exactly.
Several times I've said that the equipment you want will be:
1. Expensive
2. Bulky
3. Illegal
It's also EXTREMELY easy to circumvent your "prank", and even if your expensive, illegal FM equipment wouldn't get seized by customs, you would easily get in trouble with the police.
I'm not trying to be an asshole. I'm trying to steer you away from a stupid idea so you don't have to learn the hard way.
When the bus driver realizes the music playing isn't what he wants, he'll change the channel. And again. Until he turns it off or gets angry. It's not worth it.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.