Alexa Skill on Broadcastify

[ke6pcv]

Greetings,

I provide a stream to Broadcastify for my amateur radio club.

Calnet Repeater System Live Audio Feed

Calnet Repeater System Live Audio Feed on Broadcastify.com

www.broadcastify.com

I thought that it would be cool to be able to use my Alexa echo to listen to my amateur radio stream. So started playing around with writing a skill to do this. I seem to have run into a roadblock as there seems to be no way to use a public URL to access the stream via the echo and Alexa.

I see a mention back in 2018 from @blsantonl on a different thread that is now closed that they were working on an Alexa skill.

Feed URL's Changing, Admin input please

Any update to the status of that Alexa skill? Or does anyone know how I can accomplish getting my broadcastify stream to play on my amazon echo?

Thanks

Marshall

 

[pbeezy]

I recently did this for the Sussex County Public Safety Stream. I don't think Broadcastify allows you to rebroadcast, I don't know that for sure but using the stream link from my feed here didn't work. So i set up a separate Icecast feed and used that URL. Which has been working well. At some point, I am going to consolidate and use the separate Icecast server to relay the stream to Broadcastify.

Here is my skill

Sussex County Scanner

 

[nick0909]

@pbeezy is your private stream over https? My understanding was echo devices will only stream over https and broadcastify its just http. That is as far as I got when I looked in to making my own skill, but that was over a year ago and things might have changed.

 

[ke6pcv]

I recently did this for the Sussex County Public Safety Stream. I don't think Broadcastify allows you to rebroadcast, I don't know that for sure but using the stream link from my feed here didn't work. So i set up a separate Icecast feed and used that URL. Which has been working well. At some point, I am going to consolidate and use the separate Icecast server to relay the stream to Broadcastify.

Here is my skill

Sussex County Scanner

Yes, it appears that Broadcastify does NOT want you to be able to use Alexa to monitor from their platform.
I am not sure of the reason why other than the old issue of $$$$.
I appreciate your response. I would like to know more about how to setup an Icecast server and then I can build an Alexa skill to directly access the Icecast server streaming and bypass Broadcastify all together. This is the only way I think it will work if you want to listen to a stream on using Alexa.

 

[ke6pcv]

@pbeezy is your private stream over https? My understanding was echo devices will only stream over https and broadcastify its just http. That is as far as I got when I looked in to making my own skill, but that was over a year ago and things might have changed.

I believe that all Broadcastify streams are only served over https. I think that Alexa is only able to use an http stream. I think you have it backwards. Just my limited experience.

 

[pbeezy]

@pbeezy is your private stream over https? My understanding was echo devices will only stream over https and broadcastify its just http. That is as far as I got when I looked in to making my own skill, but that was over a year ago and things might have changed.

@nick0909 They are over https but I cheated by just using a reverse proxy on my icecast server. Made it pretty simple. I think broadcastify has a great service for the general user. It’s unfortunate that their latest innovations are charging feed providers 15 dollars a month for features that amount to a personal icecast server and removal of silence. Proscan has had that feature since I’ve owned it. I really wish they would try and make innovations around other areas. It’s a little absurd to me that I can’t crowd source alerts for my feed via the api. I have a group of steady listeners and it’d be nice to give them a tool to help without giving them a farm. There is so much I’d like to see broadcastify do you change the game as well as Proscan, but I feel like they both share a good enough to monetize without too much effort ideology. As an end user I’d love more community involvement from both.

alas we are just here to serve the overlords

 

[pbeezy]

Yes, it appears that Broadcastify does NOT want you to be able to use Alexa to monitor from their platform.
I am not sure of the reason why other than the old issue of $$$$.
I appreciate your response. I would like to know more about how to setup an Icecast server and then I can build an Alexa skill to directly access the Icecast server streaming and bypass Broadcastify all together. This is the only way I think it will work if you want to listen to a stream on using Alexa.

happy to help. I have helped others build there’s as well. Shoot me a pm and I can give you an overview of what I used/did

 

[blantonl]

It’s unfortunate that their latest innovations are charging feed providers 15 dollars a month

Feed providers get a free premium subscription - we don't charge feed providers for anything.

Where did you get that we are charging feed providers $15/month for our latest innovations? That's not true.

 

[pbeezy]

Feed providers get a free premium subscription - we don't charge feed providers for anything.

Where did you get that we are charging feed providers $15/month for our latest innovations? That's not true.

I should been more specific, the Premium Feed which I still think is in beta, that provided things like 90 day recording logs and higher bitrates was 14.99 a month. I think the subscription model for those who want more is not necessarily bad, I just think the features provided don’t match the dollar value attached to them.

 

[ke6pcv]

Feed providers get a free premium subscription - we don't charge feed providers for anything.

Where did you get that we are charging feed providers $15/month for our latest innovations? That's not true.

@blantonl Since I have your attention and you commented on a comment in this thread, can you help with my original question that started this thread?

I thought that it would be cool to be able to use my Alexa echo to listen to my amateur radio stream. So started playing around with writing a skill to do this. I seem to have run into a roadblock as there seems to be no way to use a public URL to access the stream via the echo and Alexa.

I see a mention back in 2018 from @blsantonl on a different thread that is now closed that they were working on an Alexa skill.

Feed URL's Changing, Admin input please

Any update to the status of that Alexa skill? Or does anyone know how I can accomplish getting my broadcastify stream to play on my amazon echo?

 

[blantonl]

I should have some updates on this in the next few weeks for Alexa handling. Stay tuned.

I should been more specific, the Premium Feed which I still think is in beta, that provided things like 90 day recording logs and higher bitrates was 14.99 a month. I think the subscription model for those who want more is not necessarily bad, I just think the features provided don’t match the dollar value attached to them.

This was something that we had announced, about 422 years ago, that we were considering doing. Those plans were shelved, we never rolled out any "premium feed provider" offering, and it doesn't exist.

 

[fdnyfish]

any update on alexa streaming

 

[air-scan]

I wonder if Cortana can do it

 

[blantonl]

Sorry, I don't have any updates on this. It's just not a priority at this time, that's all I can say.