My second Covid lockdown has been gracious in allowing me the time to write-up one of my latest projects. How generous of it. It’s a revamp of a 1970s radio receiver into a contemporary internet web radio. I’ve documented as much as possible. Hopefully giving some ideas to anyone wanting to undertake a similar venture.
A couple of years ago whilst visiting the Maker Faire here in Paris, I stumbled upon a project of a household vintage receiver which had been revived into an internet wifi radio. Alexandre Svetec had found a faulty 70s Grundig RTV500Pi in his loft and had decided to give it a new lease of life by way of the internet. As we chatted, I was intrigued at how he had aimed to keep the main functions of the radio very close to the original. Paying particular attention to details such as a working S-meter and having the sound of white noise whilst tuning between internet radio stations, made it indistinguishable from a traditional RF radio. This was accomplished with a handful of electronic components coupled to a Raspberry Pi and some smart coding skills. The devil’s in the detail.
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