We've enjoyed some very complex DIY projects in the past, but with truly extraordinary results. Today we want to present another one, and the keyword is... radio. That's right, tuning into radio stations from around the world is easy with an internet connection and a browser, but engineer and Instructables user 'Hey Jude' decided to take radio to another dimension with RadioGlobe, which allows us to locate more than 2,000 radios just by moving a globe.
Tuning into radio stations from around the world has never been this easy
While there is some extra 'warmth' when using traditional devices to search for a station, the Web has reduced the whole process to a couple of clicks. Not to mention that the Radio Garden platform is one of the best we've seen, and we never tire of recommending it. A very positive aspect of Radio Garden is its interface, based on a giant map with thousands of points (stations) to explore and get lost in.
Now imagine the best of both worlds: all the potential of web radio, combined with a device capable of representing the entire planet. Well... don't imagine it anymore. It's called RadioGlobe, and you can build it yourself.
RadioGlobe: Thousands of radios in a globe
RadioGlobe is a creation of engineer and Instructables user 'Hey Jude' for the DesignSpark community, but its open-source profile allows any interested party to reproduce and/or modify its parameters as they please. Needless to say, it's not something intended for beginners: the list of materials is quite long, including two rotary encoders of 1,024 pulses that average £40. The original 'brain' is a Raspberry Pi 4B, but a Raspberry Pi 3B+ also works perfectly.
The central part of the tutorial focuses on 3D printing of the parts, and just by seeing the required quantity we can confirm that the 3D printer in question will have its quota full for several hours. The globe measures 20 centimeters in diameter, and later modifications (in the housing 'and' the rest of the system) are inevitable. The grand total for the tutorial is 76 steps, and it includes the initial Raspberry Pi setup, the programming of the radio stations, and the final assembly.
In summary
Yes, the RadioGlobe is difficult to reproduce, and the price of some components can be intimidating, but that's not the point. DIY isn't obligated to be efficient or economical. The goal (or at least one of many) is that an idea materializes, and in the specific case of 'Hey Jude', his success is absolute. If you decide to take on the challenge, we wish you the best of luck, and we definitely want to see photos of the finished project...
Access the tutorial: Click here
