The Tinderbox is a flexible, programmable transmission arts platform designed and constructed by the artist with monetary support from free103point9 fm transmission arts and NY Arts and Culture. It is a tool for the creative use of the electromagnetic spectrum and is essentially a programmable, digital FM transmitter that can cover the commercial broadcast band. Rather than being a closed device like so many consumer electronics with no possibility of hardware/software customization, the design is open and built upon the freeduino, an open-source, Arduino-compatible physical computing platform. No detailed programming or electronics knowledge is necessary to get on the air, but the possibilities of modifying its functioning or interfacing with software are there to explore. The tinderbox features a 1/8in. stereo jack for two channel, line-level input from any analog source. Sporting 2mW of broadcast power, the tinderbox can transmit up to 100 feet or more with a proper antenna. Project page can be found here.
