Radio Radius:
Mini FM and DIY Networks
Welcome to the home page for Radio’s Radius: Mini FM and DIY Networks! This class and conversation series is hosted by SFPC and taught by Bryant Wells and Miguel Gajdos, and is dedicated to exploring the potential of low-power FM radio as a tool for connection and artistic expression.
Week 1
| In Class |
|---|
| Icebreaker |
| Class Introduction |
| Break |
| Syllabus Review and Materials Exchange |
| Introduce Sit Spot .MP3 Assignment |
| Introduce Sound Walk Workshop |
| At Home |
|---|
| Sit Spot .MP3 |
Week 2
| In Class |
|---|
| Housekeeping |
| City as Instrument w/ Geng PTP |
| Break |
| Revew Sit Spot .MP3 |
| At Home |
|---|
| Week 3 Workshop Prep |
| Listen and Comment on 3 Sit Spot .MP3s |
Week 3
| In Class |
|---|
| Housekeeping (Class Are.na, Office Hours, BC557), … |
| Mini TX Workshop |
| At Home |
|---|
| Week 4 Readings and Listenings |
| Narrowcast Part 1: Concept |
Week 4
| In Class |
|---|
| Housekeeping |
| Radio and Community w/ Babette Thomas |
| Discuss Narrowcast Project |
| Concept Review (Breakout Groups) |
| At Home |
|---|
| Narrowcast Part 2: Draft |
Week 5
| In Class |
|---|
| Work Session and 1:1s |
| Optional: Build a Dipole Antenna |
| Optional: Build another TX |
| Optional: Build a TX + Buffer |
| Optional: Build a TX + Mic |
| Optional: Build a Contact Mic + Preamp |
| At Home |
|---|
| Narrowcast Part 3: Production |
| Week 5 Listenings |
Week 6
| In Class |
|---|
| Housekeeping (Extra Transmitters, Mic TX, Office Hours, Final Class) |
| Site Specificity w/ Lina Chang |
| Progress Review (Breakout Groups) |
| At Home |
|---|
| Signup for Office Hours |
| Narrowcast Part 4: Final |
T. Lowe and T. Gilkes-Bower, “Meditations, Part 2: Bloodlines with Addis Pablo, Jesse Royal + Tesfa Zion,” LargeUp TV, 2013.
Tutorials (on this site)
Tutorials (elsewhere)
- PCB Fabrication Files
- How to Build a Micro Transmitter
- Art Swan’s Electronic Circuits
- Harry’s Homebrew Homepage
- Manhattan Building Techniques
Transmitters
- Transmitter Kits by Canakit (DIY)
- CZE 25W Transmitter (Low Power)
- PCS Electronics Transmitters (Low and High Power)
Mini FM
- Toward Polymorphous Radio, Tetsuo Kogawa, c. 1981
- RadioText(e) (Radical Radio chapter, pp 291-298), Autonomedia
Listening
- Ear Piece and Sonic Meditations, Pauline Oliveros
- KMRU: Spaces
- Sh!t, Simone White
- Shook World, King Vision Ultra
- Sonic Experience: A Guide to Everyday Sound (Ubiquity section of Guide to Sonic Effects chapter, pp 130-145), Jean-François Augoyard and Henry Torgue
Technical Reference
- Coil Inductance Calculator
- Quarter Wave Antenna Calculator
- Electronics: Lesson 1 - The Fundamentals
- Soldering Tutorial for Beginners
- Electronics Club (Block Diagrams, Circuit Diagrams)
- Modulation Explained
- Practical Electronics, Paul Scherz and Simon Monk
- radio.xtreamlab.net
- transmitters.tripod.com
- ARRL Handbook
Hidden Sound, Hidden Meaning
- Black Poplar: 89.6MHz, Dan Disciglio
- Pull Up, Simone White
- Hellschreiber
- Pond Station, Zach Poff
Transmission, Reception as Sculpture
- Mimicking Waves, Paloma Izquierdo
- Drive In Music, Max Neuhaus
- Relic, Oli XL
- You are far from us, Anna Friz
Communal Sound
- Apparatus for the circulation of Indigenous voices and ideas into the air, Duane Linklater
- KISS Sound
Transmission Performance
- Looking for the Silent Interference, Tetsuo Kogawa
- Breathing Rotations, Stephen Adams, The Music Box Project
Devices
- Electromagnetic Antenna, Priezor, LOM
- Contact Microphone
- Hydrophones
Black Radio
- Baptized in Butter, WDIA
- False Teeth Lost, WDIA
- WVSP Radio–Warrenton, Joshua Davis
- Tickle Me Think, WVSP
- Africa on the Airwaves, Joshua Davis
- Childrens Radio Workshop, WAFR
- If This were an Ordinary Radio Station, WAFR