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. I was hired into an engineering training program down in Norfolk, Virginia, where we got classroom orientation on all the different radio services and the bureaus and offices for the FCC. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Ten times as much, that's big, yes. 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. If you just use an internet browser and search FCC complaint you will come to the link for filing a complaint. Not just Aussie and NZ pirates, but stations in places like The Phillipinesmaybe Japan, South Korea, or Thailand. Other times though you might have reason to suspect that they are in on it, they are getting a kickback. But if you are buying something off of the dark web or whatever and it's coming into the U.S. you don't know, and when we talked before the show you mentioned that a lot of times with these FAA complaints it's a malfunctioning transmitter. Pirate stations want listeners to discover them, so they broadcast in various "watering holes." The Moody Blues are one example of this." 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. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, if it's imported. They inventory it all and then they sign it over to the FCC to hold and then we finally get the courts to order that it's released to the federal government and it's our property. The important thing here is that you invest in a receiver with a respectable degree of sensitivity and selectivity. But with customs and border patrol seeing so much equipment coming in through the ports it's hard to identify. We Owe It All to Radio: The Inside Story of CES, Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Pictures, Special Offer on Antivirus Software From HowStuffWorks and TotalAV Security, Radio Caroline: The True Story of the Ship That Rocked. They spent the fees to get the license. A lot of times you can tell by the audio quality. Now I know that finding pirates is reasonably achievable; at least, it is possible to know roughly where, and generally when, to find them. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Yes. Andrew Yoder, author and publisher of the 2012 Pirate Radio Annual, defines pirate radio as: [A]ny unlicensed hobby broadcast operation that is using more power than the legal limit.. 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. I mean you got to give it to Congress for the bill naming that they do. Jason Scott Archivist. (Click to enlarge). And they come -- I've worked with them when they have bulletproof vests on and automatic weapons. To track pirates, you'll need a radio with both AM and SSB modes. Tribute to Pirate Radio, KQLZ 100.3 FM Los Angeles. Finding Shortwave Stations and Broadcasts. I have four offices, it includes Chicago, it includes Boston, New York, and Columbia, Maryland. Wolves are looking to climb up the table (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) This will be the fourth time this year the two . Radio Caroline because so influential that, pretty soon, other ships were broadcasting rock off the coast as well. So we have a team here in the Enforcement Bureau that does that, our Spectrum Enforcement Division. Is this something that plays a role in alerting you to these stations that broadcasters themselves are identifying them and complaining about them? And while pirate radio stations can be found across the radio spectrum, especially on AM and FM in urban areas, in this primer Ill be focusing on those that inhabit the shortwaves. I started as a field agent doing inspections and doing pirate radio enforcement was one of my jobs and then I moved into a senior agent position and then eventually the District Director, which the manager of the Philadelphia office. 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. Are people generally cooperative or are people just like I have no idea what you are talking, I have never seen anything, what is this, I don't want to deal with this? I keep a copy handy as it helps me identify stations and better understand their format. 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. 10. Some pirates have even shown in in the SWBC bands, including 49, 31 and 25 meters. They can be just talk radio stations, they could be religious broadcasters, or they could be full-fledged stations that have a staffing of 20 people that make commercials, that create the jingles for their station ID, and the ones that have more money and the money advertisers are the ones that are very hard to distinguish. Speaking for myself, Im passionate about pirate radio listening because it combines my listening/technical skills, my appetite for highly unique content, and for building a collection of quirky QSL cards. So, the F. And I am glad you mentioned call signs because that could be a potential suspicious signal is that pirate radio stations, because they are illegitimate by their very nature, are not doing typical radio station things like announcing their call sign at the top of the hour or doing, you know, certain regular scheduled activities, so that could be something that might mean you are listening to a pirate station. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: All right. So it's not the -- In terms of size wise for mileage it's the smallest region, but it's the most populated. So if they don't meet the Part 15 requirements they need a license. 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. Marshals, Department of Justice, because we are a federal agency, but have we leveraged the resources and the knowledge of local law enforcement in working on this, are there, you know, different approaches from different States? Marshals actually seize it. Is it when you are driving in, you know, to and from work? MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And then just out of those four offices you then have to dispatch agents to 20 different States, so it's quite a big chunk of the country in terms of population. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Is that a point of pride for you from Philadelphia? Give us a little of your background. Just browse the pirate radio category: https://swling.com/blog/category/pirate-radio/. Recycling is good. 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. The most popular frequency used by U.S. and Canadian pirate radio stations is 6925 kHz, transmitting in the AM or upper sideband (USB) modes. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: There is not a sign on the box that says illegal pirate radio transmitters. PROMAX designs several monitoring and spectrum surveillance systems. 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. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Because you don't know what you are running into. 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. We try to interview them. The plot is based loosely on the saga of an actual former pirate station, Radio Caroline, that was founded by an offbeat Irish entrepreneur named Ronan O'Rahilly, the inspiration for the character portrayed by Bill Nighy. Now this is not just a focus of the FCC, Congress is also interested in this. We'd like to contact you. Find this podcast in the iTunes store or Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts. We hope you understand, and are grateful for your support. 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. Be careful to. "These transmissions can interfere with licensed radio signals including broadcasters' sharing of vital public safety information with their communities," FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. Borderhunter Radio is one of the strongest Euro Pirates Ive ever heard. We usually go with the police just for our protection and also for the protection of the occupants inside the residence. They are very low power and the range of them are very small. Winning a con. To have a radio station here helps to establish the station's operator as an important source of information and influence in the community.". If they have some skin in the game, an operator or a landlord or a property owner that let somebody put a station up on their rooftop, you know, it's illegal for them to have that station there. 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. We have a call center, it's 888-CALL-FCC where we have staff there during business hours to take your complaint. Well we did go to the courts, we got the warrant, and the U.S. Marshal Service and seize all of the equipment that is associated with the operation of a radio station, really anything physically connected to the transmitter. 19. r/HamRadio. And an overall limit of $2 million. So I never left, I've been here for over 25 years. "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. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Probably just workload is another challenge in addition to folks moving the antennas around or taking them down during the day or only operating on weeknights and weekends, as you have said, which forces agents to work overtime. Additionally, you can always tune a remote receiver, via the Internet on the Global Tuners website, or via the University of Twentes SDR in the Netherlands. So we try to shut down, you know, that equipment coming in to the purchasers. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So don't bother looking for it. Addeddate 2022-03-13 23:21:58 . Yes, they come with weapons. Stations such as Weekend Rush, Kool FM, Pulse and Innocence wanted to represent the streets and promote local scenes.. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So everyone can now breathe a deep a sigh of relief, you are not going to have to go out and get a license for your security camera and you garage door opener. 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. I apologize to the listeners in advance if I make any horrible, corny jokes throughout the course of this podcast, but it would probably help to start with a definition, right. We also recommend that the complainant contact the station that they are getting interference to --. One of the first pirate radio operators we know of was Ronan O'Rahilly. March 13 2022 . So what is pirate radio? MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Oh, yes. It's covert surveillance equipment. That happens a lot. 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. Sweet! MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. "In Haiti during the Duvalier regime, people depended on radio to get news from independent sources off the island. Marshal Service actually and that allows us to go in with the U.S. Note: This podcast was recorded on June 21st. 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. (Listen to one of Ronins broadcasts below.). So that's been great because now we can work with the local authorities, such as the police or the district attorney's office, and get them involved in the investigation, and they have the power to arrest and fine people. The library's newest additions include deep historical resources and contemporary reporting about the world of radio. He's the station manager for today's legal, land-based version of Radio Caroline, which obtained a license to broadcast at 648 Khz on the AM band in 2017, but still strives to preserve the rebellious spirit of the original operation. There is always a building manager they call the supra and he has a shop down in the basement and a lot of times we find the equipment down in his shop. They use either the internet or a wireless source to get the signal back to the transmitter. Hobby Broadcasting Blog: http://hobbybroadcasting.blogspot.com/. I am Evan Swarztrauber. But if we sign it into law we would have some additional resources, first increasing the fines. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, this is the fun part, the (inaudible). MR. SWARZTRAUBER: No. Its a simple technique, and although it takes some practice, will work on most any radio with a stable BFO (beat frequency oscillator). . The bulk of the pirate radio broadcasters I log transmit just below the 40-meter amateur radio band: anywhere from 6,850 kHz to 6,970 kHz and typically on a frequency spaced at 5 kHz. He was going around the country and stirring the pot and getting a lot of people excited about microbroadcasting, so that's really where it started to really proliferate. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. But most of the current American pirates are based on dry land, broadcasting from clandestine antennas on rooftops in places such as Brooklyn. "He convinced me to not stay on as Bond I'd be in danger of becoming part of the Establishment," Lazenby wrote on in an Instagram tribute after O'Rahilly's death in April 2020, noting that he had no regrets about taking that advice. In January, President Donald Trump signed into law the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act, which gives regulators the ability to hit pirate stations with fines of up to $2 million, according to this summary from Radio World. And then they said to me well here is ten jobs that you potentially could have which one is your top choice? If you've been binge-watching movies lately, you may have come across "Pirate Radio." Pirates broadcast a wide variety of content, but are usually motivated by sharing their messageor favorite musicon the air. So when we finally are able to pick up the signal in our car we then drive in the area in kind of a circle around the source and we plot lines, we call them lines of bearing on a map, and where they intersect is where this transmission source is originating. If you live in North Americaparticularly on the east coastor in Europe, youre in luck: these are the hottest geographic locations for shortwave pirate radio activity. Radio GDay came on from Australia occasionally, but no one else. They are not considered an operator by investing in that. April 8, 2015 - 10:43 am. Weve now covered the who, what, where, when, and how of pirate huntingbut what about why? "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.". tyson jost dad; sean penn parkinson's disease; mockingbirds attacking my cat Well, I can't say exactly what it is, but, yes, they're --. Many are confused by the term pirate radio, otherwise known as free radio. Either term is sufficient, and some stations prefer one designation or the other. Shortwave DX Blog - A blog with loggings and information relating to shortwave pirate radio in Europe. Thank you, too, for your support of these sites. Pirates tend to occupy swatches of the shortwave spectrum that are relatively quiet, avoid intentionally broadcasting on top of one another, and typically operate at fairly low power. We have pirate radio there, too, not as bad as we did in New York. ACTIVITY. Ive had great results in the past with an old Icom IC-735 and a 40-meter dipole antenna. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360 interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route planning . We get them in Virginia, we get them out in Illinois, even just remote areas of West Virginia they pop up. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Well let that be a lesson to the youngsters listening. He was out of Berkeley, California, and his station was called Radio Free Berkeley. That would be not a good practice. So sometimes the apartment owner, the building owner, or whatever, is totally in the dark about this, didn't know about. Additionally, youll find contact information for QSL requests and mail-drop addresses as well. Nothing. 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. This radio in a single case is also capable of re-broadcasting any audio source. 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. "I spoke with a pastor of a church in the community which had a station and the antenna was taken down by the FCC," Goren says. Like if a pirate, you know, gets his station up and running, he finds that no one is in a channel, and he says, oh, I guess I'll set myself here, other than the law, which is obviously important to some people, most people it should be, but why should we care that they are using vacant spectrum? MR. DOMBROWSKI: Well it depends what level we are at with the investigation. Multiply the answer from #1 by the fraction of wavelength of your antenna's design (most antennas are 1/2 (.5) or 1/4 (.25) wave; the popular Comet is a 5/8 (.625) wave antenna). MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, everyone's dream job. And so it ranges from Maine down to Virginia and all the States east of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. Now, of course, my favorite thing that I want to ask you is what are some fun examples, maybe not fun, but interesting examples of cases that you have closed where maybe the circumstances were a bit bizarre or interesting that might help a listener understand just how weird some of this stuff can get and just how interesting some of these operations can be. The U.S. has had its share of pirate broadcasters over the years as well. Well joining me to discuss this topic is David Dombrowski, Regional Director for Region One in the FCC Enforcement Bureau. MR. DOMBROWSKI: So you could cause like a catastrophe if we, you know, let this continue. Had great results in the how to find pirate radio stations bands, including 49, 31 and meters..., it 's imported these sites is David DOMBROWSKI, Regional Director for Region in! The purchasers our protection and also for the bill naming that they are getting interference to -- of and! 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