ENGADGET -- My favourite iTrip supplier pulled the shop's stock of the iTrip after being cautioned by its distributors. This means it's more difficult to sort out the parts needed to carry your own pirate radio station in your Irish backpack. And it makes it even more important to explain what to do about this impediment to creativity. Some Irish geeks knew straight-away that the iTrip is a FM broadcasting device, intended to broadcast 10 to 30 feet to a FM radio. Before starting on the process that will extend the range of Griffin’s iTrip mini, you need an iPod Mini and an iTrip mini. The more the merrier.
Step 1: Extend the antenna. There's an antennae inside the iTrip mini. Peel back the top sticker. Use tweezers to coax the antenna out of its housing. This adds nearly 30% more range to the iTrip but it also violates the warranty. You have been warned.
Step 2: Set up your stations. If you’re using the iTrip mini you can install all the stations you intend for your broadcasts. When you're on the go, you may need more than a single station.
Step 3: Choose your broadcast. It can be any song or a spoken word MP3.
Step 4: Preload Sky News and RTE. If you’ve ever gone to a gym, or stared into one from the outside, you might have noticed muted TVs. The same thing in the pub--the heads are bobbing on the television but there's nothing happening in the presentaiton. You probably shouldn't walk around and hijack the television audio but sometimes you have to deal with the urge to blurt out your take on the latest political scandal and it might be fun to watch the reactions of people around you. Or you might be out on the beach enjoying the sun and some ejit cranks up a boombox upwind. If you have a preloaded silent track, you can recapture silence--or force the yob to move more than 40 feet away from your iTrip bubble.
Step 5: Spawn. If you get a walking cluster of multiple iPods, you can mash up track options. So you might have a silent track, a friend would walk 20 feet away and another would trail 30 feet behind. You could shut down an entire venue's unwelcome music selection that way.
Step 6: Observe Health Warnings. Remember: pirate radio is an unlicensed activity.
Posted by Bernie Goldbach. x_ref125ws
Phillip Torone -- "How-To Tuesday: Make your own Pirate Radio Station with an iPod"
