Railfan Technology > How to set up Broadcastify radio feed?

Hi All:

Our beloved Norfolk Southern Harrisburg East radio feed appears to be dead and buried. I'm thinking of setting up a replacement plus one to cover the Norfolk Southern Reading/Lehigh Line here in PA.

Could use some advice here on all the "how-to's" - how to set up, what to purchase, costs etc?

Any help would be appreciated as I have a few local railfans willing to chip in,

Thanks, 

Frank

I've never done it before but if I was looking into doing it I think I'd look for radio in the following order:

1. A commercial quality base station type radio.  One that runs on 120 VAC.  They are next to impossible to find in the consummer market.  So I'd go to the next option.
2. A 12VDC mobile rig.  There are lots of ham radios available for reasonable cost, both used and new.  I just saw one on e-bay, in the box, direct from China for under $150.
3. A handheld radio.  These can easily be had for under $50, again from China.

Some of the things to make sure of is that you can put it on frequency without any special hardware and software.  Some of the Amateur radios have some software for programming but it you are only going to program one channel, you just need to stumble through manually programming it.  Also make sure it is capable of receiving the frequencies used by railroads.  If the radio has an audio output other than the speaker, that also could be a plus but not required.  A small hardware hack can do that for you... a hack that keeps the audio to the internet feed constant regardless of your volume control settings.

I'd go for a decent gain antenna.  It doesn't have to be the most expensive but a decent quality.  Most of the ham radio dealers can help you with that.  Use a medium or high quality 
feedline, depending on the length of the run and how much you want to spend.  A good high location is an advantage.  I would also put a good lightning arrester on it.  It won't protect you from a direct hit but it can save the radio from some nearby hits.  The arrester needs to go to an earth ground.

As far as the computer to connect it to the internet, you might consider one of the Rapsbury Pi devices.  I haven't played around with them but from what I understand, they are quite vesitile and not very expensive, well under $50.  They are not "plug and play" so you'll need to know someone that knows something about them.  They are about the size of a pack of cigarettes and some come with USB, ports for keyboard, video, and Eithernet or WIFI.  Great for controllers for dedicated projects.

That's just a few thoughts I had off the top of my head.  Others can probably add a lot more suggestions.  Tim, K3HX can probably add a lot more details.  He is a real resource for radio matters.  Jim, X4449 is another resource.  Hope this gives you some ideas, and good luck.

John

Here's some info and hardware from Railroadradio.net which has an extensive and easy to use website with feeds from a whole bunch of places:

http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/87/103/
http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/136/182/
http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/239/287/

Let us know how it works out.

I'm feed provider for both Railroad.net and Broadcastify and have 6 feeds running 3 rail and 3 FD/PD. http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/153

First you need account with radio reference if your going to use the broadcastify platform once you do that you can apply to broadcast a feed..  Radio Reference and Broadcastify are the same company. http://www.radioreference.com/

Here the steps. http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Become_a_Feed_Provider

On radio equipment you can start with simple cheap hand held scanner or get good radio. I use the Kenwood TM281A it made for hams but works great for railroad radio and it can do narrow band as well if your area has it.
It's pain to program by hand but can be done or they software for around 50 $$. With the amount of radio traffic here had to use three of them one for each of three RR subs in my town. For the Kenwood radio I use MTC radio out of Paris,TX great guys first class and they have the cheapest price that i've have found. http://www.mtcradio.com/kenwood-tm-281a-144-mhz-mobile-with-free-shipping/

I use old dell laptop computer that's hard wired into router. If your handy with Linux and code stuff you use the Raspberry Pie or a Thin Client i'm not a tech in anyway so, I stick with laptop.

For computer program to stream the feed you use Radio Feed by pro scan or scanner cast. both of these are covered in link above how to set up feed. I like radio feed as it gives you more control but scanner cast is just hit play.

On sound card get a USB Griffin I Mic they work and sound great. Check eBay first as they be found new at half the cost 25-30 They make other sound card that are cheaper but I've had nothing but problems with them. Use the Line-in not the mic. Mic tends to over drive the input and audio sounds bad.

On the antenna I use the slim Jim made with copper pipe they be homemade if you able or brought for around 50-55  bucks. I got mine here and had it tuned for rail band. http://www.jpole-antenna.com/shop/2-meter-slim-jim-antenna/

On feed line use can lmr-400, RG-8 etc. I went with RG6 quad shield as any local big box store have it. My run is about 100 foot and I still pick up detectors 30 plus miles out. Also have my antenna outside and mounted on two 21 foot 1-5/8 top rail pipes used for chain link fence. Check with local fence builder as they have the 21 foot length vs box store will have only 10 footers and 1-3/8 size.

Only thing I don't have at this time but in the process of doing is all of all the radios are not on battery backup. I got larger battery for laptop so it will still run for hours so don't have to reboot all my feeds. Also my DSL modem and router are on backup UPS and will also run for hours. Good USP will run couple hundred.

Here the link to my step up http://www.radioreference.com/apps/user/Eng3ineer/shack

On edit.

Top rail pipe runs about 32.00 a stick.

Also if mount antenna outside with mast make sure to ground the system. My mast is grounded with ground rod then also ground to my house ground as well. Also have lightening coax arrester installed before feed line enters the attic and it grounded as well.  http://www.l-com.com/surge-protector-f-female-to-f-female-0-3-ghz-90v-lightning-protector

Check with NEC codes for proper grounding.

Hope this helps...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/15 11:57 by CPR-489.

Thank you very much guys - great information here and I really appreciate you taking the time to fill me in.

Thanks again and I'm sure that I'll have more questions if you don't mind.

Frank

Thanks for taking the time to resurrect the Harrisburg East feed.  That broadcast was a valuable heads up for trains heading toward Allentown and New Jersey