Setting Up Your Own Radio Station on Ubuntu with Icecast and Jetson Nano

Introduction

In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through the process of setting up your own radio station using Icecast on an Ubuntu machine, specifically on a Jetson Nano. Icecast is a popular streaming server that allows you to broadcast audio content over the internet.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu machine (Jetson Nano, in this case)
• Internet connection

Step 1: Install Icecast Server

Open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install icecast2

During the installation, you will be prompted to set a password for the admin user.

Step 2: Configure Icecast

Edit the Icecast configuration file with your preferred text editor:

sudo nano /etc/icecast2/icecast.xml

Update the file with your server details, including the server name, port, and passwords.

Step 3: Start Icecast

Start the Icecast server with the following command:

sudo service icecast2 start

Step 4: Set Up a Source Client (Darkice)

Install the Darkice source client:

sudo apt-get install darkice

Configure Darkice by editing its configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/darkice.cfg

Provide the necessary settings, such as server, port, and source password.

Step 5: Start Darkice

Start the Darkice source client:

darkice

Step 6: Broadcast Your Audio

Use ffmpeg to convert your audio source and send it to the Icecast server. Adjust the parameters accordingly:

ffmpeg -f pulse -i default -acodec libmp3lame -ab 128k -ar 44100 -content_type audio/mpeg -ice_name "Your Radio Station" -ice_description "Description of your station" -ice_genre "Your preferred genre" -ice_url "http://yourstreamurl" -ice_public 1 -ice_server "localhost:8000" -ice_mount "/yourmountpoint" -ice_user "source" -ice_pass "yoursourcepassword" http://localhost:8000/yourmountpoint

Step 7: Listen to Your Radio Station

Open a media player (e.g., VLC) and connect to your Icecast stream using the URL: http://localhost:8000/yourmountpoint.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up your own radio station using Icecast on your Ubuntu machine.

Feel free to customize the configuration based on your preferences and share your streaming URL with others.