Shoutcast stream feed

IRLP and Echolink nodes will be down for a short time

The IRLP and Echolink nodes 5302 will be down for a short time either this afternoon (Saturday) or tomorrow afternoon. This is to add a fan to a PSU that is warming up on longer node connections, and to also make a slight modification to monitoring equipment.

It’s expected that the nodes will be down for about an hour, although Murphy’s Law may rear its head of course 🙂

The node equipment itself will not be touched so no change will be noticed when using them after the downtime.

RF to RF contacts will not be affected during the downtime and continue as normal. Also, The Stream to http://shoutcast.com will continue as normal.

IRLP and Echolink nodes will be down for a short time Read More »

The Stream now back up and running

After some time The Stream is now available throughout the World again. The Stream’s web page is unchanged at:

The Stream

If you have VLC MEDIA PLAYER (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.en-GB.html)  just go to menu item Open Network Stream and add:

http://184.154.90.186:8350

Alternatively, you can use Shoutcast.com in your web browser.

Owing to the close proximity of trees between The Stream’s receiver and GB3OA Southport repeater,  the received signal strength is about 5.7.

Again, apologies to all listeners for the downtime.

The Stream now back up and running Read More »

Problems with The Stream at GB3OA Southport

Those that use the GB3OA repeater’s stream will have noticed today that it has been unavailable (if you’re not sure what this is go to http://gb3oa.org.uk and go to The Stream page).

It’s a long story but two software patches didn’t go well. In the end it was decided that as The Stream was running on a version 1 Raspberry Pi, and there was a version 2 unused, to go ahead and upgrade by using the v.2 and the new Linux Debian Jessie kernel. This has now been installed and it’s now a matter of configuring Alsa, Darkice, Lame and wifi (google if you’re not sure what these are and are interested).

There is quite a lot of configuring to be done, as well as connecting the Pi to the server we use, which is down in the depths of g*d-knows-where on this planet, which then feeds our stream to Shoutcast.

Hopefully it will be finalised and streaming again within a day or two to the world, and our regular listeners in Canada, the US, India, South Africa, and Aussie.

Further News on IRLP and Echolink on OA: these will be down for some time owing to intensive work commitments. RF QSOs through OA are not affected.

Problems with The Stream at GB3OA Southport Read More »

The Stream problems

Apologies to the users of The Stream today. You will have noticed it down and up several times over the course of 12.30 til 13.30hrs.

There is a slight problem with the MP3 opening announcement file and a file called the fallback file. This is an MP3 file that gets played when the server loses the stream. It’s 12 minutes long before it repeats and basically has announcements saying The Stream is down, and includes background music.

A ticket has been lodged with the server company and the problems should be rectified shortly. However, there will be a further period of The Stream being down and up when the files are tested.

Otherwise listeners can listen to The Stream as normal.

The Stream problems Read More »

Lonely Planet? The Stream helps to decide

As many intelligent people know, aliens are all around us‘ – from the opening titles of NBC’s Third Rock from the Sun.

The Stream’s Raspberry Pi was only using 16% CPU and it seemed a waste to not use the rest. So running BOINC’s SETI@home to use the rest of the CPU has become the ideal answer.

SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and its purpose is to analyse radio signals, searching for signs of extra terrestrial intelligence. You run a program on your PC, laptop, tablet, phone or Pi which takes data from the University of Berkeley and analyses it looking for any signals i.e. variations which cannot be ascribed to noise, and hence contain information.

It’s very easy to set up SETI@home on a Pi, just a few steps, and for those interested look here:

http://burdeview.blogspot.co.uk/p/raspberry-pi-boinc-project-ive-created.html

On a Pi it’s fairly slow, but at least it’s running 24/7 on The Stream’s Pi. And perhaps it might just find another Dick, Sally, Harry and Tommy*

*The comedy Third Rock from the Sun was produced from 1996 – 2001 and is now available on Netflix.

Lonely Planet? The Stream helps to decide Read More »