Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit

Name: Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit
Brand: Pimoroni
SKU: PIM261
Price: 48.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

by Pimoroni

Build your very own internet-connected radio with the Pirate Radio Kit!

Updated version! The kit now includes a Raspberry Pi Zero WH and the audio board now includes a pre-soldered header. No soldering required!

This kit has everything* you'll need, including a Pi Zero WH, audio board with VU meter LEDs, I2S DAC, and stereo amp, a 5W speaker, and a beautifully retro acrylic enclosure to make it look the business. It'll take you around 30 minutes to put together (check out our assembly guide for details).

Kit contents

Raspberry Pi Zero WH
Audio board with I2S DAC, stereo amp. VU meter, and six buttons
Single 5W 4Ω speaker
Blue acrylic enclosure **
50cm USB A to micro-B cable
USB A (female) to micro B (male) adaptor
Mini to full-size HDMI adaptor
Sticker sheet (personalise your Pirate Radio!)
Comes in a reusable kit box

* Just add your own micro-SD card

** We've tweaked the design of the back layer and legs recently, and have updated the build guide with extra instructions for these new pieces.

This kit takes advantage of the built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth on the Pi Zero WH, meaning that there's no longer any need for a USB Wi-Fi dongle.

We've put together three different software projects for your Pirate Radio: an internet radio, a Spotify streaming box, or an AirPlay speaker.

Features

Dual I2S DAC/amplifiers (MAX98357A)
3W per channel
2x push fit speaker terminals
DIP switch to select blended mono or stereo modes
16 RGB LED pixels (APA102) in 2 rows of 8
6 edge-mounted push buttons
Software installer and ALSA VU meter plugin
5W 4Ω speaker with pre-soldered wires
3-layer blue acrylic enclosure
Pi Zero W with single core CPU and built-in wireless LAN and Bluetooth
Adaptor kit
50cm USB A to micro-B cable (power your Pi from an existing charger or computer)
Pre-soldered header
Python library

Software

Our nifty one-line installer will get your pHAT BEAT configured and install our VU meter plugin for ALSA that uses the RGB LEDs on pHAT BEAT to display sound levels.

We've also put together a Python library to allow you to control the LEDs independently, if you wish, and to program the buttons to do whatever you wish.

Notes

Assembled size of Pirate Radio is 135x85x70mm (WxHxD).

72 customer reviews

3 years ago

by Katie about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

3 years ago

Well pleased with the build. I played with some changes to the install directions: used non-lite version of Buster to get things running, then shut off the GUI; had to search for current BBC radio feeds, but once I found them, they installed well. Speaker wires required a mod to get them to stay in the clamp: fold the tinned bit back over the wire. Worked a charm.

by M about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

The instructions are straight forward and easy to follow so I got this going fairly fast for Spotify. The only thing I'd change with this is adding in some 8mm M2.5 spacers. The Pi is held on with just the GPIO headers and moves easily enough. Even two spacers would stop that anxiety when pluggin in the power or fumbling around the buttons :)

by Niall about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Got it up and running and works great.

by Anonymous about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Great little kit that turned out to be a power house of small internet radio. And being able to power it from a portable charger I can now get my stations anywhere there is web access. Full recommend it

by joe about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Thisbis my first venture into the raspberry pi world, and it was the perfect opportunity for me as it involved 2 things I really enjoy. Old time radio and computers. Not that I'm a know-it-all when it comes to computers, but I do love to tinker. I've been wanting to try a pi for some time and this kit made it possible. Between the included instrucrions and searching online, I was able to find everything that I needed to get up and running and set up the way I wanted. Now I've got an internet radio I can control from my phone or laptop and I've got all of my favourite old time radio channels to enjoy, as well! I'm anxious to try something new. Maybe start with a pi 4B and make a security system, or my own small scale computer setup. Thank you!

by John about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

When you eventually get this working its a realy nice project, however the instructions are just plain wrong! Please note; -This only works with Stretch (better with Lite) -Edit default.m3u directly to insert the correct URLs, then run Setup.sh and the URLs will install, the suggested method in the instructions do not work -Get to know the web interface, its realy useful and you can run mp3 files from it. -You will get no support from Pimoroni Its a great shame that the instructions are so poor as this could be a realy good introduction to Pimoroni products, as it is, I suspect a few of these get binned.

by robert about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

This is a neat little kit that definitely delivers on giving you a fun little thing to build, however once I got to the actual software portion, things started going wrong. First off, the micro-usb to USB-A adapter included with the kit did not seem to function as I could not use my keyboard with the PI Zero board included. I was able to get around this by setting up the image on another Raspberry PI 3 I had lying around with full sized USB-A ports, then turning on the SSH functionality, but it was frustrating to use until I figured all of that out. Second, I don't think the instructions had been updated recently. The version of Rasbian Lite I was instructed to download referenced broken links, and the one line installer did not seem to get the board to a working state any more. It maybe because the setup process can't be completed through SSH with the session getting interrupted with all the reboots needed to configure the board, but I could not seem to get anything actually playing sound through it outside of the test script. I think this thing is overall really neat, but I wish I hadn't sent several hours trying to get the board working at all. I'm still going to tinker with it, but this is going to be a slow burn of reading documentation to get it working.

by Justin about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Fun project. We got the no soldering kit, which was easy to assemble. The set up took a few trials and errors. It's working perfectly. We wish it had a "back cover", and we're yet to discover how to make the speaker wires stay fixed on.

by Peter about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Very easy to build and set up. Fun little project. Works like a charm. It took a bit of googling to find the instructions but was easy to set up after that.

by Anonymous about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Everything arrived on time. It hasn't been put together yet because it's a Christmas gift. But customer service was excellent.

by Patrick about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

4 years ago

Super produit, facile et fun à monter. Par contre l'application ne fonctionne que sous rasbian stretch, pas sur buster ou sur raspberry os.

by Antoine about Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit via REVIEWS.io

User photos

Build your very own internet-connected radio with the Pirate Radio Kit!

PIM261

This product is no longer available

It's sad to say goodbye but sometimes we have to retire products to make way for new things.

Check out these products that may be a suitable alternative:

Pirate Audio Speaker for Raspberry Pi – Pump out some mini beats with Pirate Audio Speaker! This diminutive sound system has an I2S DAC, amp, mini mono speaker, high-res display, and playback control buttons.

SKU

PIM261

EAN

0704256800789

Brand

Pimoroni

Stock available

0 units
Backorder not allowed on this product

Weight

290g

Guides & tutorials

Internet Radio on your Pirate Radio

Turn your Pirate Radio Kit into an internet radio

Getting Started with pHAT BEAT

Learn how to install and get started with your pHAT BEAT

Streaming Spotify to your Pi

Use Mopidy, Mopidy-Spotify, and Iris to stream Spotify to your Raspberry Pi

Streaming Airplay to your Pi

Stream music with Airplay from your iPhone to your Raspberry Pi

Assembling Pirate Radio

Learn how to assemble your Pirate Radio kit

Soldering Pi Zero pHATs

A quick tutorial on soldering Pi Zero pHATs

Pirate Radio - Pi Zero WH Project Kit

This product is no longer available