Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google. 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. Unlike trying to locate China Radio International, Radio Australia, or the BBC World Service, hunting pirates requires a decent-quality radio and antenna. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: And those, and I think we mentioned New York, we mentioned Philadelphia, are there other hot spots in particular where this seems to just be a bigger problem than elsewhere in the country? Radio GDay came on from Australia occasionally, but no one else. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So don't bother looking for it. 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. They are not advertising. That was right when the internet really started exploding so he was able to get his message out. KQLZ Pirate Radio stormed the Southern California airwaves in 1989, and. Has that happened? "Pirate radio continues to exist in the internet age for a variety of reasons," John Nathan Anderson, a broadcasting scholar and author who is working on a book about pirate radio, explains via email. 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. Shortwave DX Blog - A blog with loggings and information relating to shortwave pirate radio in Europe. 16 days ago. 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. 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. Compared to big-gun broadcasters, pirates are much more elusive game as very few announce their broadcasts in advance, and theres no telling where a pirates transmitter is located: it could be in their home, on a boat, or a portable one dropped in a remote location and later retrieved. Thank you, too, for your support of these sites. The antenna is not where the people are necessarily or where the rest of the equipment is. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. While you can hear some on weekdays, your best bet is Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, local time. Meanwhile, the Ross Revenge was repaired and converted into a floating museum for tourists. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Hometown. David Goren, a veteran radio producer who's created programming for National Public Radio, has spent years studying pirate broadcasters. The result was a border-blaster that covered a wide geographical area. You still have to go down on foot and go out onto maybe the rooftop where the antenna is to confirm that that is the source. These guys aren't blowing off their listeners like the other radio stations. 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. South America was strong for a while in the 90s, but that has also fallen silent. 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. But the easiest way to file a complaint is go online. . An excellent and active pirate radio forum hosted by Chris Smolinski. It lasted three years there and then I had an opportunity to get to the Philadelphia Office Enforcement Bureau with the field work and that's been -- I was there for 20 years. Some pirates have even shown in in the SWBC bands, including 49, 31 and 25 meters. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right. So we typed up this -- They showed me a license and it was something typed up on the computer that said we're licensed by their statutes of the Moors people and so they felt that they have a right to operate. It had a 20-mile range. Pirate radio stations are unlicensed broadcasters. A lot of stations conceal their antennas, they hide behind things, they take the antennas down during they day, so they try avoid detection. And an overall limit of $2 million. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Well they had their antenna up really high. If we are out there just gathering evidence for the first time our agents will go to the door, they will identify themselves with their badge. 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. MR. DOMBROWSKI: And so they said well because we were here before it was colonized our federal laws don't apply to us. Additionally, we always try to include links to other retail options if they are available, as we support and freely advertise independent ham radio retailers. It's covert surveillance equipment. "He created Radio Caroline operating in that way and the station was at once called a 'pirate,'" Moore says. Its a simple technique, and although it takes some practice, will work on most any radio with a stable BFO (beat frequency oscillator). 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. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: It doesn't say FCC pirate agent? (Disclaimer). Once you get a license it restricts you where you can operate, how much power you can use, what antenna you can use, and how high your antenna is. A few of them broadcast from ships, such as Rev. They just twist the dial. Some pirates have even shown in in the SWBC bands, including 49, 31 and 25 meters. "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. We take it all. To determine the wavelength of your signal in inches, divide 11811 by your transmitter's frequency in megahertz (MHz). 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. 14 July 2020. 1. They label the equipment as something else. Indeed, since pirates are operating at lower power, they get much more bang-for-the-watt out of SSB. For consistencys sake, I will use the term pirate radio in this article. MR. DOMBROWSKI: Well it depends what level we are at with the investigation. Pirate radio guru Andrew Yoder started his own pirate blog last year, and has already began populating it with regular updates, QSLs, and recordings. But please note that we will never create a post and product link explicitly to receive a commission. Bruce will host a new daily show for Bauer's station Greatest Hits Radio, taking his iconic PopMaster game with him. VIEWS. I mean they have a significant financial investment in their stations, they have gone through proper FCC process, and now they are competing for listeners with stations that did not go through that process, did not necessarily bear the same financial burden to get up and running, and they are not maybe just competing with listeners, as we have mentioned we've been competing with, they are competing with advertisers as well. We are not trying to teach you to do something illegal, we are trying to prevent you from doing something illegal, so you can stop your Google search. 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. Of course, the chaos of the radio spectrum was one of the reasons this agency was created in the first place, including our predecessor agency The Federal Radio Commission, but there are other issues that broadcasters in particular complain about. The warrant is issued to the U.S. Stations such as Weekend Rush, Kool FM, Pulse and Innocence wanted to represent the streets and promote local scenes.. Why? "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.". MR. SWARZTRAUBER: No. Now when we talk about enforcement actions, you know, I'd like to kind of paint a picture for our listeners. But most of the current American pirates are based on dry land, broadcasting from clandestine antennas on rooftops in places such as Brooklyn. Its much better, of course, if you have a table-top receiver, software-defined radio, or ham radio transceiver with a general coverage receiver hooked up to a resonant outdoor antennaespecially if you live outside Europe and North America. One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates, and, no, not the Pirates of the Caribbean or the Pirates of East Africa, we're talking about pirate radio. And when KIWI went silent, that was it. But they also encroach on those legitimate stations that made significant investments and secured the necessary regulatory approvals to obtain a license. And did I mention the cool QSL cards? ( Disclaimer) Transcript: MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Welcome to "More Than 7 Dirty Words," the official FCC podcast. We usually go with the police just for our protection and also for the protection of the occupants inside the residence. I have four offices, it includes Chicago, it includes Boston, New York, and Columbia, Maryland. 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. We try to interview them. It could be harmful if we let a pirate radio station operate because sometimes they cause interference to other services, like aeronautical communications. Unlike major broadcasters, many pirates dont stick to AM as a preferred mode. Many of you have suggested in the past that the SWLing Post join an affiliate links program. MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right, he's no the public face of it. 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. It would create chaos if we allowed them. We do contact the property owner before we execute the warrant to let them know we are at the door and we don't want to break the door down but we need them there to open it. 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. Be careful to. I mean if you are familiar with telecom you know it's an illegal radio station, but what do we mean by pirate radio. But please note that we will never create a post and how to find pirate radio stations link explicitly to receive commission. 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