BILLO Wireless Audio Hub — PLAN

BILLO Universal Wireless Audio Hub — Master Plan

Goal: any mic, any version, any phone, any DJ gear → one stream → BILLO, anywhere in the world.

1. The honest truth about “any wireless mic” (read this first)

Wireless mics split into two families, and open source can only receive one of them over the air:

Family	Examples	Can open source receive the RF?
Analog UHF/VHF	Shure ULX/SLX (old), Sennheiser EW100 G1–G3, Audio-Technica analog	✅ YES — plain FM → RTL-SDR + gqrx/GNU Radio
Digital / encrypted / paired	Shure Axient/ULX-D/QLX-D, Sennheiser EW-D/Digital 6000/9000, RØDE Wireless GO/GO II, DJI Mic, Sony DWX	❌ NO — proprietary + scrambled + paired. No decoder exists.

So “receive any mic on its frequency” is only true for analog. For everything else, the universal trick that always works is simpler: use the device’s own receiver and plug its line-out into a mixer/interface. Every audio device eventually outputs analog line level — that is the true catch-all.

2. The 4 layers

Layer 1 — The catch-all (any wired device / any mic’s own receiver)

You already own: audio mixer + Universal Audio Apollo Twin X (needs a 22µF cap repair).
Every mic receiver, DJ deck, camera, or mixer feeds line-level into the interface → computer.
Recording headless: ~/roadmics/roadmic-record.sh (already built) or Audacity / Logic.
Multi-track merge: macOS Aggregate Device (see ~/roadmics/SETUP.md).

Layer 2 — Old phones as wireless mics (the “place phones around the room” wish)

VDO.Ninja (open source, WebRTC): each old phone opens a browser page and becomes a mic feed.
Streams over WiFi or the internet → into OBS (or any browser). Ultra-low latency.
Zero hardware cost. Works with old iPhones and Androids that still have a browser.
Alternative: WO Mic (Android → PC virtual mic over WiFi/USB/BT).

Layer 3 — Old analog UHF mics, over the air

RTL-SDR dongle (~$30) + gqrx (open-source SDR receiver, FM demod) or GNU Radio.
Covers the old Shure/Sennheiser analog mics. Legal for your own gear.

Layer 4 — Route to BILLO

Aggregate everything in OBS (open source).
Publish as a network stream (Icecast or WebRTC/RTMP) on a Tailscale address.
Any BILLO machine or Billy’s phone taps the stream from anywhere (Tailscale = the “works anywhere” layer).
BILLO Gateway = MOTHERSHIP:3000 (Mac Mini, Houston). Tailscale makes it reachable worldwide.

3. Open-source repos / tools (“go get their shit” list)

Tool	What it does	Link
VDO.Ninja	Phones/cameras → OBS via WebRTC (self-hostable)	https://github.com/teatrolab/vdo
gqrx	SDR receiver GUI, FM demod	https://gqrx.dk
rtl-sdr	RTL-SDR driver	https://github.com/osmocom/rtl-sdr
GNU Radio	Custom demod flowgraphs	https://github.com/gnuradio/gnuradio
uhf_recv	Cheap hardware analog UHF receiver	https://github.com/vill-jiang/uhf_recv
WO Mic	Android phone → PC virtual mic	https://wolicheng.com/womic
OBS Studio	Open-source mixer / aggregator / streamer	https://obsproject.com
Icecast	Open-source streaming audio server	https://icecast.org

4. BILLO fleet (from live `tailscale status`)

This Mac (mobile field machine): 100.77.111.113 — online now.
Other nodes (mostly offline at check): billys-macbook-pro, desktop-rs892l2, galaxy-tab-a11-5g, grokbot-box (linux), iphone184 (iOS), laptop-m48f32fq (windows), lordvader (windows).
Fleet LAN IPs (10.0.0.x / 192.168.12.x) were unreachable — Mac is on an iPhone hotspot and --accept-routes is off.

5. Build order

Phase 0 (now, no hardware): phones as mics via VDO.Ninja → OBS. ⚠️ OBS is a ~200 MB download — do it on WiFi, not the metered hotspot you’re on right now.
Phase 1: repair Apollo Twin X (or use mixer + a USB interface) → any wired mic/DJ.
Phase 2: buy RTL-SDR dongle → analog UHF mics over the air (gqrx).
Phase 3: Icecast/Tailscale stream → BILLO Gateway (MOTHERSHIP:3000).

6. Blockers I need cleared (3 things)

Buy an RTL-SDR dongle (~$30) for Layer 3.
Repair the Apollo Twin X (22µF cap) or grab a USB interface for Layer 1.
Get MOTHERSHIP online (which tailscale node is it?) so BILLO:3000 can receive the stream.

7. House rules honored

✅ Nothing on the Desktop (standing skill never-save-to-desktop).
✅ Everything lives in ~/billo-wireless-audio/ and ~/roadmics/.

8. Progress log (built + verified this session)

✅ hub.py — list / record / stream / multi-listener broadcast all tested (test tone AND real MacBook Pro microphone).
✅ phone-mic/server.py — HTTPS self-signed, page + /push + /status verified.
✅ hub.py — multi-device MIXING into one stream (ffmpeg amix) verified: record test test and stream test test both produce a single valid output.
✅ billo-audio-hub.plist + install-service.sh — always-on launchd agent; plutil -lint OK.
✅ sdr-mic.sh — analog-UHF receive script (rtl_fm → ffmpeg), ready when dongle arrives.
✅ billo-audio.sh — one-command orchestrator (start/status/stop) for the whole rig; verified start → both UP → stop → both DOWN, no stray processes.
✅ hub.py — now also ingests RECORDED FILES as sources: stream foo.wav (loops) and record a.wav b.wav (mixes) both verified with no hardware.
✅ smoke-test.sh — end-to-end: live tone + phone (Opus/webm) + SDR (PCM/wav) → ONE valid MP3 stream (3 inputs → amix). PASS.
✅ Universal bus (BlackHole) — PROVEN realtime: sox -> BlackHole 2ch -> hub -> stream (tone at mean -6.5 dB, not silence). Helper: route-to-blackhole.sh. Any audio routed to BlackHole converges into the single hub stream.
✅ WebRTC leg — vdo-ninja-setup.sh (self-host VDO.Ninja, node/npm/git verified present; install needs WiFi). Bluetooth honestly documented as the weak/unsupported option.
✅ Supabase: project URL found + reachable (DNS resolves, /rest/v1/ → 401 = live, not paused). Real anon/service-role keys MISSING (.env files contain stubs). Additive SQL at supabase/additive.sql (bucket media_assets, table captures) — shown, not applied.
🅿️ PARKED (hardware/network — do NOT block software):
- RTL-SDR dongle → analog UHF mics (sdr-mic.sh ready).
- Apollo Twin X repair / USB interface → wired mic + DJ gear.
- MOTHERSHIP online → live stream handoff to BILLO:3000.
- Real-phone capture test + OBS install (wait for WiFi).

9. Fix + finish pass (Oct 17, 2026, late)

✅ Always-on service INSTALLED: hub (:8123) + phone-mic (:8200) as launchd agents, auto-start at login, auto-restart. Verified real MacBook-mic audio on the service stream (~-21 dB).
✅ hub.py: finds Homebrew ffmpeg under launchd’s bare PATH; exits (→ launchd restart) if ffmpeg dies instead of serving silence; exact device-name match first.
✅ phone-mic: new file per Start press; iPhone (mp4/.m4a) vs Android (.webm) saved correctly.
✅ vdo-ninja-setup.sh: was broken (expected npm/node in a static repo). Now clones official steveseguin/vdo.ninja and serves it over HTTPS :8443; hosted https://vdo.ninja documented.
✅ sdr-mic.sh / route-to-blackhole.sh: clear PARKED / missing-dependency messages.
✅ ./billo-audio.sh doctor: status + URLs + parked-hardware check (RTL-SDR, Apollo, MOTHERSHIP).
✅ Supabase project reachable (auth health 200, not paused). captures table not created yet. additive.sql now also enables RLS on the new table (else the public key could read/write it). NOT applied — waiting on Billy’s approval.