That would be not a good practice. Has that happened? MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, there was a case back in the 1990s, late 1990s. Now this is not just a focus of the FCC, Congress is also interested in this. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes, very creative on that, wasn't it? In the late 1980s, unlicensed operators tried broadcasting from a Honduran-flag freighter in the waters off Long Island, according to The New York Times. A new, raw, grassroots kind of pirate radio exploded from 1992 onwards. Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. I have four offices, it includes Chicago, it includes Boston, New York, and Columbia, Maryland. We want them to be as descriptive as possible. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Okay. 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? MR. DOMBROWSKI: You know, that's hard to say. 16 days ago. MR. DOMBROWSKI: No, and some of these are in high crime areas where there is a lot of drugs. comment. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And obviously as a good citizen I have never to my knowledge listened to a pirate radio station. 19. r/HamRadio. Want to buy me a cup of coffee? So when the FCC licenses FM stations those stations are generally not going to interfere with aeronautical operations because we make sure that they are not. 10. Wolves are looking to climb up the table (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) This will be the fourth time this year the two . 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 --. There is a studio somewhere. Shortwave DX Blog - A blog with loggings and information relating to shortwave pirate radio in Europe. He was out of Berkeley, California, and his station was called Radio Free Berkeley. The U.S. This article originally appeared in the February 2014 issue of The Spectrum Monitor Magazine. The station is capable of running off of 13.8/28 volts DC battery, which can even be charged with solar power. If you just use an internet browser and search FCC complaint you will come to the link for filing a complaint. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Oh, yes. So a transmitter that complies with the Part 15 requirements has a very small operating range, about 100 feet. All you need is a location to host the antenna and access to electricity unless you've got batteries, then just the location.". North American Pirate Radio Frequencies By far the most active ranges in North America are 43 meters (6800-7000 kHz), 46 meters (6200-6400 kHz) and 73 meters (4000-4200 kHz), with some activity in the 60 meter band (4700-5300 kHz) as well. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Is that a point of pride for you from Philadelphia? Marshal Service actually and that allows us to go in with the U.S. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: -- and you always try to go with the least destructive one. Total Views 29,203 (Older Stats) ITEMS. But sometimes it is very difficult with those stations that have put more investment into the equipment. So we have a lot of those stations operating, so it's big revenue for them. Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google. So the avenues of working with the district attorneys is a great way to get the injunctions, the court orders, for the pirate station to cease operating permanently. 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? 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. Give us a sense of the universe of this problem given that it is such a priority for this FCC to crack down on it. 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. To determine the wavelength of your signal in inches, divide 11811 by your transmitter's frequency in megahertz (MHz). There is a lot of misconception about what a low power transmitter is. 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. 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. Now some folks might be asking themselves this is all great, I totally agree that pirate radio is bad, and I think that you should absolutely go after it, but what about the First Amendment? As this 2009 article from the Independent, a British newspaper, details, O'Rahilly obtained a 63-ton (57-metric ton), Danish passenger ferry, the MV Frederica, and renamed it Caroline, after the daughter of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Some pirates have even shown in in the SWBC bands, including 49, 31 and 25 meters. If you have information about a pirate radio station, you can notify the FCC by calling 888-CALLFCC or filing a complaint online at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. There was a case that I worked back in Philly back in the day --. The Moody Blues are one example of this." They also cover your wireless routers in your house. Other times though you might have reason to suspect that they are in on it, they are getting a kickback. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And it's important to clarify that FCC enforcement agents are not law enforcement agents, but I was struck by how some of the work that goes into identifying and shutting down a station is like good old-fashioned police work, like knocking on doors saying, hey, have you seen anything weird, have you seen people carrying around transmitters or antennas. Airchecks from unauthorized broadcast radio stations throughout the years. bclc lotto app not working; signs your internship will turn into a job; mary suehr schmitz. Use promo code ROGUE to get a shot at MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in total prizes! MR. SWARZTRAUBER: It's not working properly and that's why it's going into air traffic control. Whether youre a QSL collector, a content DXer, or the casual SWLer, I find theres something in pirate radio listening for everyone. 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. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And we're talking about air traffic control? If you live in other parts of the world, pirate hunting can pose serious DX challenges. Additionally, youll find contact information for QSL requests and mail-drop addresses as well. 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. So I have -- In terms of population I manage 20 States in the Northeast area of the United States. 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. (Disclaimer). Yes, so it's kind of like a cascade of options --. And another thing, also, we would have to direct our attention annually to five markets that are most affected by pirates and we would do some step-up enforcement. It's about $200,000 worth of equipment. One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates. It's a very calm, peaceful, that's what our agents are trained to do, because it works a lot more in getting the truth of what's going on rather than being threatening and forceful. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And we talked a little bit about why this is a problem. We have talked about other challenges in densely populated areas just like traffic jams, you're driving around in this van and you can't go anywhere because it's rush hour in New York City. They were also changing frequency. And audiences can get the station on inexpensive radio receivers there's no need to have a computer or a smartphone with 5G, or to pay a monthly subscription fee or worry about blowing through their data limits. My most recent logging of a Euro pirate from North America was Radio Borderhunter on 15,500 kHz; his signal was quite amazing. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Well let that be a lesson to the youngsters listening. It could be computers, antennas, coaxial cables. It's covert surveillance equipment. MR. DOMBROWSKI: That's not going to be my cell phone is it? The price of the equipment is $2,960.51. When do you hear the station? (Listen to one of Ronins broadcasts below.). MR. DOMBROWSKI: We do make them aware that they are contributing to this illegal activity. Click here to donate via PayPal. And so it ranges from Maine down to Virginia and all the States east of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content! MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. They are not considered an operator by investing in that. Answer (1 of 14): Why I am qualified to answer this question. A lot of stations conceal their antennas, they hide behind things, they take the antennas down during they day, so they try avoid detection. Unlike the rock 'n' roll hipsters of 1960s British pirate radio, who aimed at a mass audience, most of Brooklyn's unlicensed broadcasters seem to be immigrants and members of ethnic and religious minorities trying to reach their own groups and neighborhoods. You know, is this a massive national problem, are there particular areas where it's a problem? MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Pirate radio. Yoder actually addresses this apparent restriction, to some degree, in the 2013 Pirate Radio Annual, which has only just been released. It helps to show that -- That's a deterrent in itself right there when you get media coverage. Now that maybe gets us down to the building, you know, where it might be operating. I was glad to be here, it was a great opportunity. Even as many legacy international broadcasters are abandoning the shortwave bands, shortwave remains active and vibrant in another quadrant: namely, on shortwave pirate radio. MR. DOMBROWSKI: So we have fines that we could issue. Yes, they come with weapons. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Yes. This includes the FM, AM and shortwave radio bands. 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. Again, I turned to Andrew Yoder for insight about pirate radio activity in the rest of the world; his reply: Im always amazed at how few areas in the world have pirates that are connected to any scene. 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