A couple of days ago, I pointed to LanLinkup, an interesting project to build a national network on the backs of Wi-FI access points.
Today's low-powered fun thing is fm.thing.net, which wants to use the Internet to build FM radio stations.
Now, normally, you need FCC approval to start broadcasting. That can be expensive even in places where the radio spectrum isn't already full. But there's a loophole: "Stations" whose signals don't go farther than about 200 feet (which translates to about 0.01 microwatt) don't need a government OK.
OK, so what if you put together a string of these micro-stations at, oh, 200-foot intervals, then connected them via the Internet and a time-synchronization system? You'd have fm.thing.net:
"Initially the network will consist of 2-5 transmitters based around New York. Each of these transmitters will be less than 1W output and will source their audio live from the internet using the Frequency Clock scheduling system. This partly adopts the ethic of microradio as founded by Tetsuo Kogawa where many low powered FM transmitters are coupled to create an effective broadcasting entity that 'falls beneath the radar' of the communication authorities."
Via Boing Boing.
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