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duracell80 / ArgonOne-Radio

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Argon One Automated Internet Radio

This project makes a great hands off radio for the car when paired with a phones WiFi hotspot.

Have you ever noticed how simple a traditional radio actually is? Essentially it's preprogrammed easy to navigate and mostly automated. You turn it on and it works. With FM or AM radio you actually did learn the order of the stations and if you weren't sure what the station was without RDS you would wait for the station ID bump or jingle.

These are a set of scripts to turn the ArgonOne Raspberry Pi Case into an automated internet radio. The power button is reconfigured to provide "skip to next station" upon double press. MPD is used to auto play stations from one default playlist. The aim is to be as barebones as possible without the need for Mopidy, Volumio or Moode.

The project may hold value for blind or visually impaired users with sighted help and could be adapted for use by users of limited dexterity also via GPIO. Ideally there should be no screens involved.

Argon One Case

Features

Ready the SD Card

Set Wi-Fi Country, Network and SSH

Set the Pi up, change the locale, activate SSH and anything else you would normally do in raspi-config, if you know you won't need audio over HDMI go ahead in advanced options > audio and force 3.5mm (Headphones).

Username: pi Password: raspberry
$ sudo raspi-config

Set - Networking options, force audio through 3.5mm, set to auto login to CLI
Reboot

Tip: If using in car set the WiFi as the SSID of your phone's hotspot feature, then use the Ethernet connection in the house to access the Pi. For now continue on the Ethernet connection, use ifconfig to find the IP address to connect via SSH from this point forward.

Install

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install git -y
$ git clone https://github.com/duracell80/ArgonOne-Radio.git
$ cd ArgonOne-Radio
$ chmod +x *.sh

$ ./install.sh

The script will run, if prompted by Samba's install say No to WINS and enter a password for the pi user such as "raspberry". You can then use this samba share to access and edit the radio playlist which contains the stations located in /var/lib/mpd/playlists. Wait for the Pi to reboot and listen for the first station in the sample playlist to start playing.

To advance to the next station double press the power button. To shutdown the pi, hold the power button for about 4 or 5 seconds.

Adjusting the Volume

Via SSH or directly with a keyboard use the commands:

Cursor Left and Right

Volume 85%
$ mpc volume 85

Volume 25%
$ mpc volume 25

Tune in Stations

With an airmouse or USB Remote Control:

Up = Next station
Down = Previous Station
Press "OK" or center of DPad to add now playing to a tagged list of likes.

With a keyboard:

Arrow Up = Next station
Arrow Down = Previous Station
Press Enter to add now playing to a tagged list of likes.

Stop Playing When On and WiFi Down

$ sudo pkill -f "check_network.sh"
$ mpc stop

Using an MPD Client

I use the M.A.L.P MPD client to interact with the radio. If using a phone's hotspot feature in car using MALP is highly recommended. I also use Android phones and Termux is an excellent app for SSH into the Pi from the phone. Using nmap can find the address of the Pi.

Add and Remove Stations

Obtain the Pi's IP address and use this to connect to the fileshare. For example on Windows 10, hit start and type \\192.168.2.58\ enter pi as the username and raspberry as the password. You now have access to the MPD playlists folder via the "radio" folder. Edit the file in there to add or remove stations.

Example format:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,Cafe Del Mar Radio
https://streams.radio.co/se1a320b47/listen

Usage in a car

The M.A.L.P MPD client really is excellent on a phone, this will let you hide the Pi in a glove box or center console.

As long as you have a USB power supply and an AUX in port for your car's audio system, you'll be able to hook up the Argon One to the car.

Upon pressing the power button wait for a station to start playing. If there's no audio, make sure you have your phone's hotspot turned on and that you've managed previously to connect to the WiFi hotspot using this Pi. I found the 5GhZ band to be smoother and free from network congestion. Of course if your Pi3 isn't the plus version, choose 2Ghz instead. Avoid setting any of your home's WiFi networks in raspi-config as this may stop your phone's hotspot from being picked when leaving home. Use the Ethernet connection in the house.

Note: Always keep your attention on the road, this one button operation is meant to be as distraction free as possible. I stayed away from Bluetooth because of wanting a set and forget system in the car.

ToDo (suggestions welcome)