Can non-broadcasters add entrees to RadioDNS

[Gary Mort]

Looking over RadioDNS it is a really nice set of functonality/protocols.

My question is if it is restricted to registered broadcasters?  

For example, using

http://www.adafruit.com/products/1958?gclid=Cj0KEQjwtb6hBRC_57Pvyfn66LsBEiQAtlFVu5VmNZyN6-z4oQouebfVtSXJDfbMI-3bxacPTf29frcaAuU48P8HAQ

and making sure to broadcast at very low power

https://www.hobbybroadcaster.net/

A town wide FM system can be setup for an event.

What would be a suitable method to generate a suitably random/unique PI code[with the caveat that if that code is officially assigned at some later date, if the official owner registers their registration takes precedence].

Obviously it would be best if there is a specific range that generally is not assigned, to consolidate into that range[such as making sure all micro broadcasters PI code starts with 0xB or 0xE or whatever is available]

[Andy Buckingham]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your e-mail.

Your question wavers in to the area of spectrum regulation, which RadioDNS is not involved in.

In many territories the setup your describe may be illegal without being licensed, be it a short term event service or a fully fledged commercial radio station. As such, you would be required to speak to the appropriate regulator. It is typically then part of that process for the regulator to assign a PI code for your usage. As an example in the UK the regulator Ofcom award short-term 28 day (or less) licenses for covering local events. If requested they will supply a PI code for your event and RadioDNS would happily accept a registration for that service.

Some territories do allow the use of extremely low power transmitters, for example in-car adaptors that relay the output of a personal music player to an FM frequency to play through a car radio. RadioDNS does not currently cover these setups.

I must point out at lot of the above guidance can vary dramatically from country to country and, should you be interested in operating a low power service, it's always best to find out what your local regulator allows.

Andy.

[Gary Mort]

On Sunday, October 5, 2014 3:58:00 AM UTC-4, Andy Buckingham wrote:

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your e-mail.

Some territories do allow the use of extremely low power transmitters, for example in-car adaptors that relay the output of a personal music player to an FM frequency to play through a car radio. RadioDNS does not currently cover these setups.

I must point out at lot of the above guidance can vary dramatically from country to country and, should you be interested in operating a low power service, it's always best to find out what your local regulator allows.

I know my local regulations allow for it - but they do not assign a Pi identification for such usage.

More importantly though, for me, is that I recently started work with iBeacons - low powered 2.4GHz bluetooth signals which carry extremely small amounts of information, a 128bit UUID along with 2 16bit subcode identifiers.

This end result is a process very similar to radiodns, where additional logic must be performed to trigger additional actions.   Currently this means that each company must provide their own custom smartphone application to provide that extra logic - when frequently that extra logic is extremely small - displaying a slideshow, or some small amount of html content.

Rather then re-inventing a whole new wheel - it seems to me that RadioDNS already provides the basic level of functionality.  If instead of performing a lookup for <frequency>.<pi>.(<gcc>|<country>).fm.radiodns.org a single application to handle multiple manufacturers could perform a lookup for <minor>.<major>.<uuid>.ble.radiodns.org  and leverage the existing specifications and extend as needed.

But if there is a fixed requirement on having a program identifier in order to do anything, this then would be limited to licensed broadcasters only.

For my OWN application, I am simply running my own dns lookup servers and leveraging the existing radioDNS specification[including some of the upcoming new html content standards] - I can simply use my own domain name instead of relying on radioDNS.     I also am adding the FM transmitter from adafruit for some of the beacons to provide specialized functionality for local events[loops of local musicians, as well as providing the ability to notify attendees of keynote events without installing a town wide loudspeaker system]