Fmtools

fmtools is a commandline radio listening application. The package contains two binaries, fm and fmscan. To pick up all stations even with very weak reception, use:

$ fmscan -d /dev/radio2 fmscan -d /dev/radio3 -t 18 -i 0.1
Scanning range: 87.9 - 107.9 MHz (0.2 MHz increments)...

Nice and clean. I added an antenna, but still got weak reception. This is very useful for testing the radio and finding the stations; does it support directing the sound to a file? I try various combinations and end up with this to get 100% volume:

$ fm -d /dev/radio3 89.9 65535 
Radio tuned to 89.88 MHz at 100.00% volume

Weird. I don't see a way to record; do I need to use sox? I don't know if I'm getting any sound, as I don't have speakers on this box.

Sox is what gnomeradio uses to record and it thankfully sends commands it uses to standard out.

for wav file:

sox -c2 -w -r32000 -tossdsp /dev/audio -r 44100 -c 2 -w -twav /tmp/foo.wav

for mp3 or ogg:

sox -c2 -w -r32000 -tossdsp /dev/audio -r 44100 -c 2 -w -twav /tmp/fm_fifo &

and

lame -S -h -b 128 /tmp/fm_fifo /tmp/foo.mp3

or

oggenc -Q -b 128 -o /tmp/foo.ogg /tmp/fm_fifo

External Links

• fmtools homepage
  • cajun for making your own car or home audio system
  • DashPC for car radio and more from Linux Automotive