My project to use 24/7 outdoor music broadcast to repel urban hoodlums - don't let your memes stay dreams

[Rain Team Pepe]

There were only 2-3 blacks watching at the tail end of the cage install. I feel that it's pretty vandal resistant now due to the amount of material and the strength of the steel wire anchoring and knotwork, even if they saw how it was put together.

Point of curiosity on my part, forgive me if this has been covered earlier but are the speakers water proof?

 

[millais]

How about coring out an old A/C wall unit and using that for a broadcast system housing? Should work pretty well for both protection and stealth factor.

Speaking of protection, how does a set of desktop speakers handle the elements? Wouldn't rain and such be an issue, or does the building itself keep them sheltered?

I realized these hoodrats have hours and hours every day and night to inspect and identify exactly where the sound source is located, so I'm thinking to skip stealth and invest in better strength of protection.

For the original version of this project, I used a mix of new and old desktop speakers without any weather proofing characteristics or modifications. The homemade housings I made were not weather proofed either.

Depending on manufacturer build quality, I found desktop speakers can run for 1-4 years continuously before dying and are not affected at all by heavy rain, high wind, freezing cold, or extreme heat. What I found wore them out fastest in terms of environmental conditions was west-facing sun exposure in the summer. The intense western sunlight will make the plastic elements of the speaker driver and housing brittle over time, which can weaken the sound output. Maybe more water gets into the speaker and corroded the internals when the housing starts to crack.

In fact, the 2nd pair of used speakers I got for the original project is still running today in an active broadcast unit, although it was probably only continuously run for about 2 years, since there was a few years gap between the original version of the project and the current iteration when I deactivated most of the old units.

What destroys desktop speakers fastest is playing a lot bass-boosted "ear rape" versions of songs.

I also tried bluetooth speakers in the original version of the project. They also turned out to be quite weather resistant, but their internal battery doesn't last for years of continuous plugged in use, so not as ideal for this purpose. Also, if the Bluetooth connection is ever broken (mostly due to power outage or the media player rebooting or resetting), it is a pain in the ass to have to climb all the way back up to push the reset button on the speaker.

I suggest finding a copy of the Hanna Barberra sound effects CD that came out a decade or so back.
50 minutes of SPLAT BANG Room A Zoom Zoom! with no rhyme or reason should have the desired effect.

Actual outdoor grade PA speakers have gotten much cheaper than they used to be.
This is one of the cheapest I have found

Cheap PA Horn


If you buy more they get cheaper
A Bunch of Cheap PA Horns

These are bout the same price each but they are a larger and higher wattage speaker.

What you are doing now seems to work but you might try the PA horns in the future.
You would need to come up with an amp for them.
I would recommend hiding the amp inside and running wires to the horns.

Congrats on returning civilization to your own corner!
Way to "be the change".
Yes You Can!
This probably isn't what 0bama had in mind when he said that but oh well.

I didnt know purpose built PA speakers could be inexpensive. I will check this out.

I have to ask how the fuck, did you get that up the wall? my partner said the wall looked in the back area looked looked library. Overall very impressed, i just wanna see the reaction for Converter being played

I have been mounting these broadcast units about 13 or 14 ft above the ground. It only requires an 8 ft ladder to reach, but the hoodrats don't have ladders and the protective cage is vandal and tamper resistant now.

I used an impact drill to put some concrete anchors into the wall as attachment points for the cage.

Point of curiosity on my part, forgive me if this has been covered earlier but are the speakers water proof?

The desktop speakers are not waterproof, but they don't have trouble surviving years in the rain.

 

[Poonocchio]

The desktop speakers are not waterproof, but they don't have trouble surviving years in the rain.

You could put a little external draft hood over it if you wanted to make it a little more proofed.

 

[Aunt Carol]

What I found wore them out fastest in terms of environmental conditions was west-facing sun exposure in the summer [...]
What destroys desktop speakers fastest is playing a lot bass-boosted "ear rape" versions of songs.

This is such useful information, and it's terrible that there's no way to get it to the desktop speaker manufacturers. What you're documenting is the equivalent of Unit 731 freezing studies, except with desktop speakers. Previously-unstudied objective data, a little bit of a PR problem if someone goes deep into the citations.

I had an interesting experience with outdoor speakers and you might find it useful.

Spoiler: ultrasonic dog annoyer sperging

I've bought a lot of those cheap solar-powered ultrasonic animal-repellers, the ones that are maybe $20 and in a hunter green casing. It is not the local dogs' fault but their owners are irresponsible people, so I would selfishly like the dogs to just not want to poop in a certain part of my L-shaped yard. The same ultrasonic squeaking that is supposed to drive off rats/raccoons works fine to make dogs want to find a less-unsettling bathroom. They're motion-activated; some of them let you adjust more settings than others.

Usually these get stolen eventually; the ones with a flashing LED more quickly. Like you, I found a couple of good mounting spots that take a ladder, so that's beyond tweaker/teenager initiative for now. (My neighborhood is not terrible, but it's the shortest walkable route between some places; walkability is a double-edged sword.) There's been almost no dog poop and I have observed dogs just walk briskly past, not wanting to settle in for a poop in this place with annoying noises.

I have also seen teens and tweens walking home from school covering their ears when they cut across my yard and trigger the motion-activated ultrasonic noises. Inadvertently, I rediscovered the "mosquito" anti-teenager sonic warfare that was in the news in the 1990s!

I don't know if your local fauna are the right age to hear ultra-high frequency, but it's interesting to consider. I can hear the pitches when I get closer, but I don't think that's youthful hearing on my part, I think it's just the device covering a broad range/being cheap to begin with.

 

[millais]

Going into Day 2 of Dorothée's "La Valise" on loop. The encampment is down to 3 men. One has a blanket over his head to block out the music broadcast, and the other 2 were wearing headphones to listen to their own music. The one with the afro and hair pick was practicing some kind of hip hop dance routine and the one in the white shirt was pretending to play an electric keyboard they stole or fished out of the trash.

Spoiler: the rogues' gallery

After I left for the day, they may have been joined by 1 or 2 others. And I didn't get a photo of them, but there was also a group of 3-5 middle aged illegals sitting on the concrete across from the black encampment, in one of the broadcast deadzones. So I definitely need another broadcast unit or 2.

In the evening I spent a few minutes running different songs through the new speakers to see how the acoustics are now. I think "La Valise" is a winner on the acoustics, maybe better than "Thoroughly Modern Millie" theme song.

Tomorrow I'm going to upgrade the "old" broadcast unit with a new media player, a cellphone loaded with "La Valise" as well. The current media player on that one is a very old and fragile MP3 player that has an audio skip and distortion issue, maybe due to corrupted micro SD storage.

This is the version of "La Valise" that I'm using, it's the original one from the early 1980s, though the copy I am using is worse fidelity.

I think it will be pretty effective if I can get a total of 3 broadcast units playing the same song, but not synced. I might see if I can get that 3rd unit rigged up next week, but I need to do some hunting around for more protective cages.

 

[The Last Stand]

After I left for the day, they may have been joined by 1 or 2 others. And I didn't get a photo of them, but there was also a group of 3-5 middle aged illegals sitting on the concrete across from the black encampment, in one of the broadcast deadzones. So I definitely need another broadcast unit or 2.

I love the photos of the homeless cesspool gathering. The pink filter makes it look like 1980, but it's Current Year.

I have some song suggestions:

I feel Marlene's thick German accent would be a turnout to modern ears.

 

[a hapless toad]

@millais do you have a PO Box or somewhere we could send you our old gear? I've got three SanDisk Sansa mp3 players sitting in a box in my closet that would love to assist you in your noble cause.

 

[millais]

@millais do you have a PO Box or somewhere we could send you our old gear? I've got three SanDisk Sansa mp3 players sitting in a box in my closet that would love to assist you in your noble cause.

Damn, I just closed a PO Box. If anyone wants to send me materials for this project, PM me.

I tried a newish SanDisk last year for this purpose, and it couldn't play continuously 24/7, even when plugged into power. Somewhere before 24 hours, it would always pause the current track and have to be manually unpaused.

Not too much of an update to share. Both working broadcast units are still playing "La valise". The hoodrats are still hanging out in their usual spot, but they may have run out of batteries for their headphones, as they are back to covering their heads with towels and blankets.

Spoiler: The rogues' gallery

Due to bad weather, I may not be able to install that 3rd broadcast unit this week. Will have to wait and see.

 

[The Tall Man]

The hoodrats are still hanging out in their usual spo

Have you considered getting horn speakers, you could point them directly at their spot?

 

[Jarl Varg]

This thread is a jewel! Play the soundtrack from "Shaka Zulu". The feral apes might think there's going to be a turf war, and start flinging poo.

 

[Sneedenhagen Chew]

I suggest finding a copy of the Hanna Barberra sound effects CD that came out a decade or so back.
50 minutes of SPLAT BANG Room A Zoom Zoom! with no rhyme or reason should have the desired effect.

This would be best used as a secondary track played (ideally on shuffle to truly maximize the rhyme-and-reasonlessness) alongside literally everything else OP chooses to play -- the more jarring and unfitting, the better.

 

[millais]

A power outage and the following power surge may have killed the speaker pairs that comprise the oldest active broadcast unit.

Not a big loss as the speakers in that unit are years old and the unit itself is not located in a very useful place to deal with the currently favored haunts of the hoodrats.

I was able to get the newest broadcast unit back online. It looks like the hoodrats took advantage of the power outage shutting off the nighttime flood lights to attack the newest broadcast unit with more bricks or lumber, as there are some new dents in the wall where the unit is mounted. The protective metal basket cage I rigged up did its job though, and despite being slightly deformed, it prevented the speakers from taking much damage.

There were just some scratches to one of the speakers' plastic housing, and the 3.5mm aux cable and the power cable for that speaker were dislodged and had to be reconnected.

 

[Mike Matei's Penis]

This is the most satisfying thread on the site.

 

[Buttigieg2020]

A power outage and the following power surge may have killed the speaker pairs that comprise the oldest active broadcast unit.

Not a big loss as the speakers in that unit are years old and the unit itself is not located in a very useful place to deal with the currently favored haunts of the hoodrats.

I was able to get the newest broadcast unit back online. It looks like the hoodrats took advantage of the power outage shutting off the nighttime flood lights to attack the newest broadcast unit with more bricks or lumber, as there are some new dents in the wall where the unit is mounted. The protective metal basket cage I rigged up did its job though, and despite being slightly deformed, it prevented the speakers from taking much damage.

I’m shocked that the homeless don’t seem to get violent with you outside your building if they’re willing to lay a crackhead siege to it.

 

[LiveFromNS]

I’m shocked that the homeless don’t seem to get violent with you outside your building if they’re willing to lay a crackhead siege to it.

Pretty sure our man carries so if they did try and flip out on him, they wouldn't get very far. They may also know he is armed so don't try any shit.

But he can advise/confirm on these counts.

 

[millais]

I’m shocked that the homeless don’t seem to get violent with you outside your building if they’re willing to lay a crackhead siege to it.

In the past, I noticed that many of the professional homeless are career criminals, so they know exactly what kind of criminal behavior the laws currently punish and what kind of behavior goes unpunished by the law. So they have no qualms about committing crimes, but they will not do anything that carries the risk of going to jail and being separated from their drugs.

This new group of junkies and crackheads might not have the same level of restraint, but it's too early to tell. They have only been around for a few weeks, and who knows, they might be worse behaved than the old group.

The original version of this project happened before and during the George Floyd riots, so at the time I was open carrying on a regular basis, and some of the older hoodrats probably still remember that. Those were crazy times. Back then, some of them would try their hardest to provoke me with their angry hollering and arm waving and primate posturing, hoping that they could be the next big news story and ghetto lottery payout if only I would stoop to their level and lose my temper and do a negligent discharge like Boogie2988.

There was some major cultural disconnect in those interaction. Their apish hooting and hollering only works to provoke confrontations with other hoodrats. Regular people are immune to it.

These days, I don't carry so often, but they don't know that.

 

[Jarl Varg]

Hopefully they don't start throwing something else at your speakers:

 

[millais]

Last night the hoodrats climbed up to the only working broadcast unit, reached a finger through the bars of the protective cage, and turned the volume control on the speakers to the lowest setting and unplugged the power cables. I didn't see how they did it, but I'm quite sure they borrowed or rented a ladder from one of the many Mexican landscaping contractors who like to work on their trucks in the parking lot area where the hoodrats like to loiter.

So they had another overnight reprieve.

However, they did this exact same thing during the previous version of this project several years ago, so I already know how to counteract this.

Just like I did several years ago, I simply used outdoor-grade duct tape to securely tape over the volume controls and cable connections, so they can't be tampered with. The protective cage has enough gaps to allow me to apply the tape, but not enough gaps to get enough leverage and grip to remove the tape.

It's kind of a good sign that they are trying to non-destructively tamper with the broadcast. It means that they don't like the music and are actually bothered by it.

One concern I had is that this new group of homeless and junkies might be so strung out or wasted that they are completely insensible to the music or cannot even hear it. Or that they figured out how to get earplugs and are immune to any noise.

During the original version of this project, another poster was inspired by this thread to try this same 24/7 music broadcast tactic against junkies trespassing and loitering at his warehouse workplace, but in his case it was ineffective because his neighbors were working with heavy industrial machinery and they would negligently throw away their used up disposable earplugs on the ground, which the junkies would scavenge and use to block out the music broadcast.

That would be really bad if it happened to me too. But so far I just notice the hoodrats covering their heads with blankets or wearing cheap airline-quality headphones, which definitely will not do much to block my music.

 

[TurboNAS]

I didn’t realize the soundtrack of sonic warfare would be so catchy.

 

[xX_rAcE_wAr_420_Xx]

It's an interesting constraint on this problem, that the music has to be at least somewhat tolerable to whitey since it's on constant broadcast in shared/public spaces. Yes, it would be funny to loop some spiritual like "whip the nigger" to irritate the hoodrats, but I doubt his neighbors and the authorities would think it's as funny.

However, as a fun thought experiment, what would be the theoretical most obnoxious and psychologically harmful to blast them with? Everyone is going for the most offensive and crass songs they can find, but I have an alternate theory: if you wanted to punish the loiterers as much as possible, you'd just loop sissy hypno tracks constantly.

Especially with the machismo and gay-bashing that goes on in those groups, imagine being some tough thug gangbanger trying to bunker down through an unrelenting stream of consciousness of "mmmm yeah you're just a little slut, a useless piece of fuckmeat that's only good for taking big fat manly cocks in your tight little boypussy" fucking oVER AND OVER AND OVER.

It would almost certainly make all your neighbors hate you, and might actually be illegal, but it would be funny.