MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Ten times as much, that's big, yes. And it was good media coverage, too. In the U.S. the most famous example of a Pirate Radio station was Mexico's XERF. 2022-03-13 23:21:58 Storage_size 430.7 GB (in 25,393 files) Title Pirate Radio Airchecks. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: It doesn't say FCC pirate agent? The U.S. And so he kind of gets shielded, right, you know the operators who are operating the station because they advertise their phone numbers in social media and so we can easily identify them, but you always have somebody that's the money guy that's safely hiding behind all these other staff and --. Let's say they are listening, they think something is suspicious they get a tip, they see something weird in their building, what can they do to help you and the FCC tackle this problem? (Disclaimer). I keep a copy handy as it helps me identify stations and better understand their format. 2. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Yes. Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google. VIEWS. Radio plays such an important role when you talk about hurricanes striking or other natural disasters, people turn to their local broadcast, including radio for information, and to have that be interfered with is a public safety concern let alone the FAA issues which are very serious. Most pirates transmit using SSB with modern ham radio equipment, others use AM utilizing vintage or homebrew equipment. It is illegal for companies to market equipment that hasn't gone through what we call a certification process, equipment authorization process, where they get a company to look at their transmitter to make sure it complies with our technical rules and doesn't have potential to cause interference to other radio services. "The government decided that radio was too influential as a means of mass communication to be in private hands," Peter Moore explains in an email. Is it when you are driving in, you know, to and from work? And what the pirate radio operators do is they don't obtain a license, they don't go through this process, and they try to find vacant spectrum between these stations. 1. MR. DOMBROWSKI: And let them know. And then he had, you know, he was on the internet. Note:Even though it is illegal to broadcast on the shortwave bands without a license, and those who do so are subject to hefty fines, it is not illegal to listen or to send and receive QSL cards from such operators. So just keep in mind next time you read some nice hipster article about how great pirate radio is in your community, that there are serious issues at play and what the FCC is doing is really important and that's why it's so great to have you on here to share your perspective and some of your history working on this and we really just want to thank you for your service. They are not considered an operator by investing in that. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. In the U.S., pirate stations have popped up in recent years all over the country, from West Virginia to Washington state, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which plays a continual game of whack-a-mole in an effort to keep them off the airwaves used by licensed broadcasters. . MR. DOMBROWSKI: And so they said well because we were here before it was colonized our federal laws don't apply to us. While debunking myths about pirates, I can say that in my years of pirate radio listening Ive never heard a pirate intentionally jam a legal broadcaster. And that's it, we will catch you next time. Finding Shortwave Stations and Broadcasts. Pirate radio broadcasting on shortwave radio in North America is mostly done in a frequency range just below the 40 meter amateur radio band, from about 6815 kHz to 6970 kHz. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Pirate radio. He was out of Berkeley, California, and his station was called Radio Free Berkeley. There were helicopters flying over and taking videos, so we got on a little TV, and that helps to go a long way when we get a little media coverage. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: -- and you always try to go with the least destructive one. Yoder actually addresses this apparent restriction, to some degree, in the 2013 Pirate Radio Annual, which has only just been released. Goren, who's been monitoring the airwaves since the law was passed, notes that on a typical day, he picks up about 26 pirate stations in Brooklyn alone. ACTIVITY. That's part of it, right, and you rely on some cooperation in some instances to get it done. The reason is, no matter what time of the year it is, no matter what the space weather (yes, I said space weather) or conditions of the ionosphere are--FM stations are relatively few, local, and always broadcast in the same spots on the FM dial. Wolves are looking to climb up the table (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) This will be the fourth time this year the two . Do we have a right under the first amendment to speak via a radio station even if it is unlicensed by the FCC and is there potentially a case that can kind of exemplify why pirate radio is not protected under the First Amendment? Though Channel Z was broadcasting in AM, as many do, its best to hunt pirates with an SSB-capable portable. Friday March 17, 1989 5:00 am. MR. DOMBROWSKI: It's kind of sad to see, but --. Right now it is $10,000 per day per occurrence. He then obtained another ship, a German trawler called the Ross Revenge, which continued to host the station until it ran aground along the British coast in 1991. Among the most popular queries made by readers is, How can I find and hear pirate radio stations? To help answer this question, Im writing this primer. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: All right. Meanwhile, the Ross Revenge was repaired and converted into a floating museum for tourists. We do that with every pirate station. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So there are no doubt some good samaritans listening to this show that want nothing more than to help with the scourge of pirate radio. Unlike major broadcasters, many pirates dont stick to AM as a preferred mode. David Goren, a veteran radio producer who's created programming for National Public Radio, has spent years studying pirate broadcasters. "To enforce the law and protect American radio listeners and lawful businesses, the Federal Communications Commission has made a concerted effort in recent years to step up our enforcement efforts against pirate radio stations.". In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are receivedespecially when the signals cross a national boundary. Moreover, summer conditions in the North American 43 meter band are often much noisier, thus pirates know theyll be fighting static crashes to be heard during the summer months. Use promo code ROGUE to get a shot at MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in total prizes! So what is pirate radio? So we eventually went to the courts and fought. Airchecks from unauthorized broadcast radio stations throughout the years. It's something we have been doing as long as the equipment has been available we've always had pirate radio operators. You know, is this a massive national problem, are there particular areas where it's a problem? ( Disclaimer) Transcript: MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Welcome to "More Than 7 Dirty Words," the official FCC podcast. The original converted ferry sank in 1980, but the five DJs on board and the ship's canary, Wilson, named after British Prime Minister Harold Wilson all were rescued, according to O'Rahilly's New York Times obituary. They have a bill circulating around called the PIRATE Act. You have somebody that puts a station on the air and then what that person does is he leases air time for his station for other DJs and they come in and so he is getting a kickback from the DJs and he is getting advertising revenue. Pirate radio operators usually have day jobslike most of usthus only transmit while home from work. Now this is not just a focus of the FCC, Congress is also interested in this. It's not. A lot of times the studio is not co-located with the transmitter. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Oh, that's probably why they are complaining, right? The BBC played catch-up launching Radio One and recruiting the same pirates for their roster. Its a simple technique, and although it takes some practice, will work on most any radio with a stable BFO (beat frequency oscillator). So we would rather take one single complaint from a broadcast licensee saying, hey, I've gotten 50 listener complaints in this area, here is where we are hearing it, do a little leg work yourself and verify that it's an unlicensed station, and then we can work with them in getting the station off the air. Now many listeners as you know have the experience of tuning their dial and there appear to be vacant channels you have said that one of the reasons for that is to guard against interference, but someone listening might say well why do we care, right. This is likely due to the early sunsets and cold winter nights of the northern hemisphere that tend to keep people indoors, which in turn encourages pirates to hit the air. With that said (and for reasons I dont fully understand) depending on where you live in the world, you will either find it very easy to locate piratesor extremely difficult. Has it gotten worse, has it gotten better? These include Amateur Radio Newsline, a weekly audio news [] MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Oh, yes. On Easter Sunday in 1964, the station went on the air, playing the Rolling Stones' single "It's All Over Now" as its first song. A few of them broadcast from ships, such as Rev. 2 talking about this. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, this is the fun part, the (inaudible). MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, there was a case back in the 1990s, late 1990s. We were able to prove that it wasn't a violation of the First Amendment rights and so that set the precedence for any future case for that argument. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Hometown. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. Indeed, since pirates are operating at lower power, they get much more bang-for-the-watt out of SSB. One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates. 1. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, we have a lot of stations in New York, in particular. Answer (1 of 14): Why I am qualified to answer this question. These pirate stations pose a host of problems for public safety, including interference with emergency alerts and air traffic control. You know, there was a glowing article in a certain New York publication that at least one FCC commissioner was irked by because it seemed to be kind of glorifying this underground practice and making it seem like some interesting thing, but you really got to keep in mind not just the radio stations that are interfered with, but emergency communications. And those parameters, you know, restrict your operation and the coverage of your station because we have a whole engineering study that needs to be done so you don't cause interference to other stations. To prove my point, here are some MP3 recordings of some of my favorite recent pirate radio stations/broadcasts: Though pirates can be located anywhere on the planet, and therefore can broadcast, hypothetically, anywhere on the radio dial, patterns are actually fairly predictable in order to draw a listening audience. Unauthorized stations are particularly prolific in the New York City area, where a 2016 study by the New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA) found that there actually were more pirates then on the FM band than legal licensed stations. And, of course, just finding the antenna is not the end of the story, because it's not like when you find the antenna the DJ is standing right next to the antenna being like, uh, you got me. . Well media bureau was on there, they are the ones that license FM stations, and I kind of chose that as kind of my eighth choice. In the quieter winter months, stations seem to pop out of the ether. Most are run by hobbyists purely for fun, although some have political or other agendas. Pirate radio guru Andrew Yoder started his own pirate blog last year, and has already began populating it with regular updates, QSLs, and recordings. Launched just five months ago, Internet Archive's Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications has expanded to more than 61,000 items related to amateur radio, shortwave listening, and related communications. Pirate stations want listeners to discover them, so they broadcast in various watering holes.. Here's a test shot without the line or antenna attached. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. Keep in mind that pirates are relatively low-power broadcasters. Some pirates simply key down their mike and begin talking, sharing their political or social views; others offer near-professional music productions, complete with listener feedback, and often acknowledge listener reports with QSLs (radio postcards). Thank you, too, for your support of these sites. MR. DOMBROWSKI: That's not going to be my cell phone is it? Are we talking about U.S. marshals with machine guns kicking in doors, are we talking about politely knocking on a door and saying, hey, guys, your time is up, we found you, you know, what's the image that essentially you see when this goes down in your experience or is there kind of a spectrum of different cases, some are a little bit more intense than others? Loggings are in real time and there are very fewif anyoff-topic posts. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Do the pilots only complain if it's a song that they don't like? And those rules dictate a lot of restrictions and cover your wireless transmitters that we use every day, remote controls for you car, your headset, bluetooth sets. I have four offices, it includes Chicago, it includes Boston, New York, and Columbia, Maryland. Listening to pirate radio is perfectly legaland frequently an ear-opening experience. Back in the 1980s, before the Internet and its online bulletin boards, I thought finding pirates was truly a huntrandom and altogether unpredictable. Addeddate 2022-03-13 23:21:58 . The result was a border-blaster that covered a wide geographical area. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Thank you. So a pirate radio by simple terms is a broadcast station operating in the FM band, 88 megahertz to 108 megahertz that you dial up on your car radio, that is operating without a license. Now when we talk about enforcement actions, you know, I'd like to kind of paint a picture for our listeners. Powerful, uncertified transmitters manufactured in foreign countries easily slip through customs at U.S. ports. And as a bonus, Radio Caroline still exists though, ironically, it's gone legal. But if we sign it into law we would have some additional resources, first increasing the fines. Well, I can't say exactly what it is, but, yes, they're --. Join. Of course, it's called the PIRATE Act, and that stands for Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act. PIRATE RADIO Once you remove the idea of pirate radio from its mythology, you. Sometimes we find stations that just access the rooftops without anybody knowing and put the transmitter kind of hidden in a wall somewhere or a crevice and the antenna on the roof and remain anonymous for months without anybody knowing that the station is there. But the interesting thing about this was that it was operated by a group of people who considered themselves Moors, which are indigenous people of the United States who were here before the United States was colonized. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Patrick J. Kiger "While Radio Caroline is no longer 'illegal' the philosophy is unchanged," Moore says, noting that the station's staff has the motto "New Technology, Same Ideology.". MR. DOMBROWSKI: Sure. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Yes. MR. DOMBROWSKI: So this equipment helps us track us down. Before we talk about where to hunt pirates, however, we need to talk about the necessary equipmenti.e., your radio and antenna. Well joining me to discuss this topic is David Dombrowski, Regional Director for Region One in the FCC Enforcement Bureau. But O'Rahilly was undeterred, even after his ship was seized briefly by Dutch authorities. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, well just in the FM band particularly, if we just let everybody operate where they want it just creates chaos, and that's always been our argument that it creates chaos it the spectrum. But sometimes it is very difficult with those stations that have put more investment into the equipment. "How Pirate Radio Rocked the 1960s Airwaves and Still Exists Today" When do you hear the station? Created on. There is a studio somewhere. To the contrary, though, more than a half-century later, pirate radio is still a thing. MR. DOMBROWSKI: And there is a lot of digital FM stations out there that are looking for programming so they could maybe work out at least an arrangement. And then they said to me well here is ten jobs that you potentially could have which one is your top choice? MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Because you don't know what you are running into. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So when it comes to local law enforcement are they generally uninterested in taking this on or, you know, because you mentioned federal agents are often involved, it's federal courts, U.S. Be specific. Across the country FCC officials are working to identify and take action against illegal unlicensed radio operators using frequencies allocated for legitimate radio operators that are causing interference and other issues. And so these transmitters that they are purchasing and pirate stations are using do not go through the equipment process, the equipment authorization process, and that is a problem. Dont believe me? "Pirate Radio" is a period piece, set in a time when the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the Who's "My Generation" were still scandalous and controversial rather than nostalgic anthems for today's aging baby boomers. Collection Info. And that's a pretty big deterrent when you show up with police officers threatening to arrest somebody because they are operating a pirate radio station. The important thing here is that you invest in a receiver with a respectable degree of sensitivity and selectivity. They can call their State Broadcast Association to get our contact information. The price of the equipment is $2,960.51. Hover over one of the three pirate radio neighborhood zones (the center zone has the most stations) and click for a list of stations that broadcast to those areas. The station is capable of running off of 13.8/28 volts DC battery, which can even be charged with solar power. It was a three bay antenna for any of the those tech-y's out there, so it was a high efficient antenna and a very high powered transmitter. PROMAX designs several monitoring and spectrum surveillance systems. This radio in a single case is also capable of re-broadcasting any audio source. More areas, more just the urban areas. It's eminently cheaper to purchase or build an unlicensed radio station than it is to set up a robust streaming channel online, especially if you're looking to cover a local area. And they could also --. In the U.S., pirate stations have popped up in recent years all over the country, from West Virginia to Washington state, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which plays a continual game of whack-a-mole in an effort to keep them off the airwaves used by licensed broadcasters. MR. 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