[Geysers] FRS Radio Broadcasting Project

[Mike O'Brien]

In response to Mr. Scheirer, the simple answer is, why keep an eye on the webcam?  I'd listen to an Internet FRS rebroadcast for the same reason: a "sense of presence".  Times I can't be there, it feels good to see and hear the same things as I would if I were there.  Practical value: close to none.  Emotional value: could be immense, if I'm having a bad day!

I'm sorry people are down on the notion.  I certainly wouldn't mind having my own calls rebroadcast on the 'net when I'm there, any more than I would object to showing up on the Webcam when I'm wandering the OF area.  No skin off my nose.  Frankly, the only problem I see is one of Internet bandwidth.  There ain't much to be had around OF, which is where the radio would have to be.  If the Park Service or Xanterra, which own all the wired connections, weren't in on the gig, I don't see how it could be done.  Sure doesn't seem like that cell tower has enough bandwidth to do streaming audio.

Mike O'Brien

On Jul 12, 2012, at 5:58 PM, <jimscheir at aol.com> <jimscheir at aol.com> wrote:

> I cannot imagine why anyone wants the FRS radio calls from the Geyser Basin broadcast over the internet. The vast majority are of no interest to those of us in the Park, let alone those not here. The incessant calls to repeat the last transmission, the requests for help in finding lost children, the calls from the Visitor Center of "has anyone seen Daisy or Riverside", the requests to go to channel 5, the constant calls this year from the crane operators at the Inn to one another, the visitors calling to one another not knowing it is the Geyser Channel (this year for a whole day in Spanish), the often garbled calls, the people who have put their radio on Voice Activation, etc. make it a real pain much of the time to listen to channel 4.5 in the Basin when we have to listen to hear the Geyser Eruption times. A high proportion of the calls never reach the Visitor Center because the reception inside is terrible and the noise level is high.
>  
> There are also issues of legality that would have to be settled. Some statements I have seen indicate that no FRS signals may be sent over phone lines at any time. Whether that would apply to the internet sent over lines that include phone lines in some places is unclear. There are also other legal issues to be investigated and permissions that would be needed.
>  
> Another issue is whether permission is needed to rebroadcast transmissions made by those speaking. This also includes the issue of privacy. A number of gazers have already stated that they will stop all broadcasting on their radios if the transmissions are put on the internet.
>  
> I talked to all the Gazers who are here now and spend a lot of time in the Park and none of us thinks that the FRS radio calls should be broadcast.
>  
> Jim Scheirer
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Will Boekel <wolveslax65 at comcast.net>
> To: Listserve <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
> Sent: Tue, Jul 10, 2012 8:11 pm
> Subject: [Geysers] FRS Radio Broadcasting Project
> 
> Yesterday I was playing around with my new FRS radios and was able to get my laptop to record the transmissions by plugging in a ipod headphone cord from the radio’s headset jack to my laptop’s microphone jack. I then mentioned that I was able to do this on the chat page and KC listed off a few services that can broadcast the FRS radio calls . I am currently busy right now with my own projects but if some one would like to take on the project of making the FRS radio calls available on the internet feel free to do so. I bet many people including myself will be thrilled at having the FRS calls broadcasted over the internet.
>  
> Will Boekel
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