In the United States a disturbing number of licensed radio stations are going silent because of failed financial circumstances. Some stations go on sale so as to bring some cashback to the owners, but others go silent and their licenses get 'returned' to the FCC.
Of course part 15 stations are unlicensed but do cost something to operate, but very few of these micro stations are monetized by a source of income, although it is possible and can be a challenging part of the hobby to 'invent' a way of earning money with low power broadcasting.
Piddling and fiddling with part 15 radio can take many directions. At KDX we like to experiment with various antenna ideas to make observations about improving the range within the rules; we have plans for a new station on 1710 kHz where the rule is different, and we will be talking about it as we get into it using a Ramsey AM Transmitter; we want to get our carrier current station back on the air so that something actually happens on our clear frequency where nothing is otherwise heard.
Also in our thoughts is the forever problem of promoting the Part 15 radio hobby in order to attract new activity, and this forum site here at part15org is vital to furthering the cause. There's a powerful resource of information to be found by scrolling through years of information collected here. Sign up today. You will not be required to wear a uniform.
Earlier today we expressed some insecurity into a thread about copyright royalty issues when streaming by way of an online radio server. This unrest needs to be extinguished and we have a plan.
Upon deep review of our Icecast streaming service at KDG-OGG we have concluded that running a public stream brings too much perceived risk of potential assault by copyright trolls. In blunt fact there is really no need for KDX to stream to a general public audience; it's not part of our mission.
As we often state, KDX exists for me as a sole individual to hear choice programming unavailable from licensed radio stations in our area. This is really a private use of streaming and the solution is simple. Our online stream can be toggled into a non-public mode, allowing only those with a secret password to hear the stream. This will enable my hearing KDX-OGG via my cellphone anywhere on earth while keeping the stream hidden from the uninvited world population
It means that our directory listings will disappear and KDX-OGG will no longer be reachable from our website at kdxradio.com. The stream will become invisible.
I'm certainly no expert with IceCast, and I wasn't aware that you could authenticate listeners. It's certainly a much better scheme than to make the stream non public, and not announce the IP address.
I'm licensed with SOCAN in Canada, but each year it's been a chore to get the license renewed, as they really have no categories for a running on a shoestring budget, BETS broadcaster.
Great info.
Keeping the record straight.
You may have read more into my scheme than I intended.
Perhaps the misleading phrase was my use of "Secret Password". In fact the so-called password is merely knowing the IP address of the private stream.
Of course within the Icecast Administrative section one can view the IP addresses of anyone who connects, but this only provides 'authentication' if you happen to know the IP address of a known listener.
I am in a test phase now and if I learn any more about non-public streaming I will share.
Please don't send help, I am beyond the point where I can be helped.
For two hours I scrolled around on YouTube, thinking I could learn something new about Icecast streaming. I was hopeful when I saw how many videos are available on the subject, but it turned out to be the biggest lost cause in the world. Many of them are incomprehensible and I couldn't figure out what they were saying. So many of the presenters seriously need mumbling lessons. There are better ways to mumble that can be understood by careful listening. And the speed freaks who zoom through their videos so rapidly it is impossible to figure out the 50 things they just packed into 10-seconds.
My overall ignorance has been increased.
Well, I looked up IceCast authentication when you first posted, and found an article which apparently describes how you can use the 'mount' command in the config file to force listeners to enter in user id's and passwords. These values are set up in the IceCast configuration UI, under authentication.
I haven't tried it out, but it appears that you can do what you originally stated, even if you didn't mean it. Maybe I will test it and report back the results.
But having a 'secret' streaming link also works.
Edit: Here's the link to the documentation. I rarely go to Youtube to get information, as it's often wrong, and even when it's right, as you said, it's difficult to understand what they're trying to say.
It's been so long since I set up Icecast that I had to re-learn how to open it up for editing. What I noticed right away in the 'Authentication' section is that I was using the same password for both 'source' and 'administration', so I gave them each a distinct password.
Now I will figure out what to do next.
Now that KDX is effectively cut off from contact with the public by streaming non-publicly, I got it tuned in on the cell phone where it sounds crystal clear and thrills me to realize that I could be listening from Stuttgart, Germany, a cruise ship in the middle of any ocean, in a research tent on Antarctica, from Wall Street in New York City, a bus stop in rural Arizona, in bumper to bumper traffic in Los Angeles, or even a jail in Mexico City, yet no one else has a way of knowing that KDX exists unless they happen to follow this forum. It's a turn-on that could only be brought by radio.
Another thought is that a streaming station could be private some of the time and public at other times, depending on what programs are on at specific times. The only snag with the private/public approach is that to switch from private to public the stream must be stopped and re-started. However that may not be a real problem when we realize that we may not want public listeners to remain connected during private periods. But we would want private listeners to remain connected when switched to public.
Nothing in this life is perfect.