Streaming FROM an Android phone?

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chudgoo

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So I currently provide one of my feeds with a Raspberry Pi, but was thinking...

A typical $20 gas-station-bought Android Tracfone has:
1) Wifi
2) an audio input (for wired headsets)
3) runs Linux (kind of)...

Those are pretty much the ingredients for a super cheap stream providing 'computer'.

Is anyone aware of any software on the Android side that would allow you to stream to Broadcastify?
 

IAmSixNine

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Nope.. but damn good thought though.
Dont forget battery operated. Ive had a few times where my feed went down due to short power outage. My internet is UPS protected but my feed computer is not.
Plus a few of my feeds are portables so they too are battery operated.

I like the idea.
 

chudgoo

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Yay! Got it going!
So apparently the two setbacks I had were:
1) I forgot to disconnect on the raspberry pi from the network, leading to Broadcastify authentication errors.
2) Mono (scanner) to TRRS on the android (tip, ring, ring, sleeve or left, right, microphone, ground) is a pain without the right cable. After playing around with like 20 different adapters, I finally got it.

So the app I ended up using is called "BroadcastMyself".
Broadcastify uses the Icecast2 standard, so choose that... Then enter server hostname (audio9.broadcastify.com in my case), mount point, password, and leave 'source' as the user name.

The only real issue is the LOWEST bitrate available (in Pro, paid mode... which is only $2.24) is 24KHz.

Here are some pics of the wonky setup...

ALSO, I was at the grocery store again today and impulse bought a $20 android phone with slightly better specs. Not sure why... I'm impulsive I guess.

Anyway, it's working!
 

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chudgoo

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chudgoo

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After you have had it up and streaming for a while does the phone run warm?


Maybe a little, but I could always turn the screen off I suppose.
That said, it's not nearly as hot as the raspberry pi used to run.
 

IAmSixNine

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Thanks.
I have about 8 older verizon droid units that run computing for wold community grid and they run slightly warm. Right now i have an older computer running 1 feed at my office and using something like this would in my opinion be more energy efficient then having a whole computer run.

At another location i have 5 feeds so not sure it would benefit me. But i have thought of going with a raspberry pie. Didnt know they ran warm. Good info to have.
 

chudgoo

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Thanks.
I have about 8 older verizon droid units that run computing for wold community grid and they run slightly warm. Right now i have an older computer running 1 feed at my office and using something like this would in my opinion be more energy efficient then having a whole computer run.

At another location i have 5 feeds so not sure it would benefit me. But i have thought of going with a raspberry pie. Didnt know they ran warm. Good info to have.

I could try taking the battery out, and putting my little USB multimeter inline and see what the actual draw is.
 

IAmSixNine

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No need to do that.
The results would vary based on the model of the android unit.
I may try to experiment with this my self.

thank you for finding an app that works.
 

chudgoo

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No need to do that.
The results would vary based on the model of the android unit.
I may try to experiment with this my self.

thank you for finding an app that works.



Honestly the biggest challenge, as stupid as it sounds is finding the right audio cable.
Apparently there are two 'standards' for pinouts on TRRS type connectors...which seems pretty ridiculous to me...

Can I Use My Mic With an iOS or Android Device? | Audio Solutions

"The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from" ;)
 

IAmSixNine

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HA HAHA.. yeah i know what you mean.
This is low priority for me but something i would like to play with.

Few years ago i tried a pie at work and had issues with audio quality. So i stuck with my old programming desktop.
 

chudgoo

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An update:
I kept noticing a strange clicking sound when the scanner broke squelch...
I thought some phone noise was being picked up by the scanner and separated the phone from the scanner by about 2 feet. It's damn near perfect now.

Best $20 I've ever spent. Plus I got my Raspberry Pi back for more Raspberry Pi type activities. ;)
 

IAmSixNine

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I was concerned with them being so close as some phones might have RF interference close to the phone. Good follow up.
Thank you
 

chudgoo

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I ended up moving the feed back to the $10 CrapFone to free up the $20 one.
Everything is working beautifully.

So for posterity, this was the shopping list.

Android TracFone phone (Alcatel One Touch Pixi Glitz. What a name!) - $10
https://www.amazon.com/Tracfone-Alc...&qid=1472344639&sr=8-1&keywords=tracfone+pixi

BroadcastMyself - (software) - free or $2.24 for pro version.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sa.broadcastmyself&hl=en

2.5mm to 3,5mm cable. $6
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FHBWQ2W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

TRRS breakout adapter $4
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N1CPZFY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Add the scanner of your choice!
 

tglendye

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Thank you for your detailed information. I am looking to make some changes to my feed (I am not happy with the audio quality), and I would also like to downsize to an android device. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Are you still happy with your feed?

Thanks!
 

chudgoo

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Thank you for your detailed information. I am looking to make some changes to my feed (I am not happy with the audio quality), and I would also like to downsize to an android device. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Are you still happy with your feed?

Thanks!


Hey there~

So I ended up moving about 2 months after posting this and managed to lose some of the adapters/cables I used. I forgot what a royal PITA (pain in the...) this TRRS to mono business is. I finally managed to get the phone to use its mic input instead of the built in mic, but it took some delicate positioning of the cable in the scanner. The original cable/adapter set worked when plugged in fully. This new arrangement is kinda half inserted...

Far from ideal...

That said, the feed works (if not a little noisy) and freed up the raspberry pi i had on the task before.

Here's what my (less than optimal) setup sounds like now.
Santa Fe County Public Safety
 

ChrisABQ

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I supplying the feed to Sandoval County next door and was wondering about the background hiss that's always present. Is that because of the half inserted plug and was that present on the correct setup with the TRRS setup. Right now, I'm using and old windows machine and once the squelch cuts out, the channel is completely silent.

Thanks
 

chudgoo

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I supplying the feed to Sandoval County next door and was wondering about the background hiss that's always present. Is that because of the half inserted plug and was that present on the correct setup with the TRRS setup. Right now, I'm using and old windows machine and once the squelch cuts out, the channel is completely silent.

Thanks

It's very likely that's the case. It's also a pretty noisy headphone output going into a microphone input. I'm pretty sure all these factors combined are leading to the 'sub-optimal' sound.

I'm looking into using Trunk Recorder in the future. It (supposedly) supports Moto Type II smartnet. If I could get this all running CLEANLY on a raspberry pi again, that would be awesome.
 

BartowCountyScanner

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I stumbled on this thread by accident, but since I had a cheap Android device and a TRRS adapter laying around, I decided to give it a try. So far, so good! I also downloaded TeamViewer to remote into the device. I usually host 2 feeds and if this continues to do well, I may move my second feed to a separate device. I have 2 ISPs so I am working on finding a good app for wifi failover. I am thinking of some power saving and freeing up UPS usage from turning off the hosting computer. Thanks for posting this!
 
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