[gleapsite]

A long time ago I used an rtlsdr hooked up via usb-otg in order to track aircraft [1].

I'd be really interested in a minified version that didnt need the otg dongle. Or even a stand alone battery operated sdr that could be controlled with bluetooth? I dunno how big that market is, especially absent a network like you propose.

[1] https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ads-b-decoder-rtl-sdr-now-available-...

[kragen]

If a broadcasting area can be 10 square kilometers with 100,000 people in them, and you need 40 base stations for $5000 to cover that, I feel like the infrastructure investment is insignificant compared to the engineering effort. Apparently the market exists.

In the US you could even transmit FM radio at the legal power levels from the base stations too, reaching like one apartment building from each base station.

A bigger legal problem is the copyright question. You could start with music from Jamendo and the Internet Archive but sooner or later your broadcaster DJs are going to want to broadcast Lindsey Stirling or One Direction, and then you'll have to prove in court that it's legal!

[nullc]

> A bigger legal problem is the copyright question.

_Unfortunately_, statutory licensing means that you can license most commercial music for your station for a couple hundred per year ( https://www.prometheusradio.org/music-licensing-noncommercia... ). Considering the investment of time that goes into scheduling, promoting, etc. a successful station the licensing costs aren't that big a deal.

I say unfortunately because the existence of blanket rates and in particular compulsory licensing has undermined the free market, and as a result new/independent performers have a much harder time getting aired because they essentially can't compete in terms of price (e.g. you can play our stuff free!) because almost every station/venue is already paying blanket rates and doesn't have much marginal cost in playing the commercial stuff.

[kragen]

Right, but those rates don't apply to internet streaming. This proposed new service isn't exactly internet-based, but it isn't an FCC-licensed commercial radio station either, and it's digital and packet switched; you can bet your left ovary that sooner or later it would face music industry mafiosi arguing in court that it should have to pay the internet streaming radio rates, not the ones KVIL pays.

[nullc]

Follow the link and look midway through it, statutory licensing also applies to non-interactive internet streaming too-- though the rules are somewhat different.

[OrgNet]

I did that for a bit too and quickly noticed that not all aircrafts broadcast that signal...