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1 of 1 file 7415

1992 January 30

The Internet Pirate SWL Newsletter.
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  • Brewer, writer credits
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  • 7415.TXT
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========================================================================= | ////// /// /// ////// | The Internet Pirate SWL Newsletter | | // / // // // | Keeper: [email protected] | | // ////// // ////// | For info, subscriptions or | | // // // // | to post, send to: | | // // // ////// | [email protected] | ========================================================================= | Date: 1-30-92 | Circulation 345 | ================================================== [ Happy New Year! Looks like some folks were warming up the [ ozone layer with some activity. [ [ I found the LATEX/TEX file that some folks were looking to try to [ decode/expand. If you still want a copy, drop me a note and I'll ship [ it right out to you. This was the list of European stns w/qsl [ addresses. If anyone has a routine that can convert it to ASCII [ I'll include it in a further issue. [ [ Some logs.... [ From: DECPA::"[email protected]" 26-DEC-1991 20:25:43.05 To: SWL mailing list <anarky::pirate> Subj: **7415** Internet Pirate Listeners Digest John, Here's some loggings for the next issue of 7415. Things seemed pretty active, although somehow I was hoping for more. Maybe this weekend and on the 1st.... Ralph Brandi ----- CSIC, 7413, 2338-2402*, 12/24: Horrible "Stars on 45" medley of Xmas music, ID, Merry Xmas to powerless FCC, 34444 until QRM at 2356. BRS Address. (Brandi, NJ) KXVKI, Interplanetary Radio, *0032-0036*, 12/25, Nothing but repeated IDs, 44444. PSE QSL (Brandi, NJ) WSKY, 7415, *0136-0142, 12/25, calling CQ, R. Barley, not Mike Richards, Doors covering Kurt Weill, 55555 until engineer tuned tx, then 23222 (Brandi, NJ) R. Strange, 7370, 0225-0226*, 12/25, Fear song, "F**k Christmas", ID 4 times, then off. 33333. PSE QSL (Brandi, NJ) UNID, 7414.8, 0237-0240, 12/25, whistled version of "White Christmas", no ID; 23332. PSE QSL (Brandi, NJ) UNID, 7415, 2226-2231, 12/25, probably WSKY, whistling and 2 Doors songs, 44444. (Brandi, NJ) CSIC, 7413, 2236-2303, 12/25, schlocky Xmas music medley, talk about wanting to relay stations making fun of Kristin Kaye and Signals, into CKLW relay. 33333. (Brandi, NJ) CKLW, 7413, 2304-2330, 12/25, incredible re-creation of CKLW format of 1960s and 70s, Motown music, QRM from 7415; 31332 (Brandi, NJ) R. Lymph Node Int'l, 7412.5, 2345-2418 12/25, mock religious pgm and commercials, talk about reptiles; 31322. (Brandi, NJ) R. Audibon, 7415.6, *0038-0042*, 12/26, test tx, lotsa IDs; 33333 (Brandi, NJ) QSL Address: Ralph Brandi, 128 Greenoak Blvd., Middletown, NJ 07748 [--------------------------- From: DECWRL::"[email protected]" "david m archer" To: anarky::pirate Subj: xmitters for sale! I heard an announcement, really a commercial, on Radio Moscow, from a company which makes transmitters. Advertised powers up to 1 megawatt. Considering the state of affairs over there, they probably don't care who they sell it to. While it would be difficult to bring one into the US, I'm sure it will give a few people some ideas.. Gee, 1 megawatt? That's, uh, *alot*. Guess it could take care of the QRM from the VOA on 7405 though. :) --- Note: I do not represent my employer or school, & sometimes not even myself. Dave Archer | Internet: [email protected] | Bitnet: V116KZND@UBVMS | GEnie: D.ARCHER | Prodigy: Surely you jest! [-------------------------------------- [ Hmmhhh.... 1 Mwatt, eh? That would cut thru the QRM. At 50% efficiency, [ one might load down the power grid a tad tho! [-------------------------------------- From: DECWRL::"[email protected]" "Michael Carr" To: anarky::pirate Subj: Radio USA and others Saturday 1/25/92 was a busy day on the free radio band area. 74252010-2030 UTC An un-id station. The station repeatedly played the famous song "Let it Snow" again and again. 7415 2053-2100 Radio USA SIO 4-3-4 AM This was a test transmission.There were strange noises coming from their signal during most of the test. They knew about the problem. They asked for signal reports but as far as I know, no body came on. 7415 2200-2355 Radio USA SIO 4-3-4 AM Radio USA had a strong signal but had problems with interference until 2230. The interference was from All India Radio on 7412. Radio USA was on with their own programming as well as with WRPD, Warped Radio. 7420 0100-0115 ?? Radio USA SIO 3-2-3 USB althoug they had said LSB. Radio USA announced their frequencies for this broadcast as 7415 and 7500 LSB. They were not on those frequencies. Why would they want to go on 7500 anyway? It is not useable frequency. There is a constant noise that resembles a geiger counter. At 0115, they began relaying Radio Flattus. Soon after, their signal faded away. 7422 0600-0623 UTC Sunday 1/26/92 SIO 3-5-4 AM No ID This station played rock and had a number of funny commercials. I understand from a friend, that I may have heard Radio New England International. RNEI transmitted sometime around 1800 UTC Sunday 1/26 and had said that they had operated the day before. 7415 13:45-1613 Radio USA 1/26/92 SIO 4-4-4 AM but at end of broadcast in USB but again they said LSB. Radio USA was on with their own programming and they were also relaying other stations. They relayed WAZU, 1425-1446. This was their second WAZU relay. The station's slogan is "Up the wazu". The next relay was Tube Radio, 1451- 1538. After 1539, Radio USA changed to USB. The last relay was of the Great Atlantic Radio Conspiracy, 1543-1611. Their show focused on the nuclear news of 1990. As usual, Radio USA claimed to be operating from a leaky bathtub somewhere off the coast of North America in the Atlantic. Mike Carr [------------------------- From: DECWRL::"[email protected]" "Phil Riba" 27-JAN-1992 12:52:23.01 To: anarky::brewer CC: Subj: Free Radio Please put me on the Pirate Radio distribution list. After almost one year of trying to hear a pirate station, I finally succeeded a couple of weeks ago. I figured that New Year's Eve would be a prime opportunity since I've heard that Holidays are a good time to listen. Sure enough, I managed to hear "Whiskey Radio" from about Midnight to 1am Eastern time. The frequency was 7420 and I'd give it a SINPO of 33423. The propagation effects were fairly strong--sometimes the station came in well and other times it faded out completely for a few minutes. Phil Riba, KA5PVH [------------- From: DECPA::"[email protected]" "Scott Dorsey" To: anarky::pirate Subj: Christmas Eve Christmas eve on 7.420 or so, I heard a broadcast from Whiskey Radio, about S3 with severe fading, starting around 9 PM EST. That's surprisingly the only catch for this year, and I didn't even catch their QSL address as they read letters over the air. --scott [------------------------- [ Scott, WSKY QSLs thru the Wellsville drop: PO BOX 452 [ Wellsville NY [ 14895 [ I received a letter and qsl from the operator last week, [ which describes the station. In the letter, WSKY mentions using [ a 26Mhz FM studio-transmitter link, with the output of that [ going into a Viking Valiant throttled back to 50 watts, then [ into a Heath Warrior amp using 4 811 tubes. An interesting [ configuration! [------------------------- [ Look for R. USA testing in the 21.488 region, mornings. [ All stations will be jockeying around for space, as 41m continues [ to be quite crowded. Check the 15.050 region, as well as the [ area below 14.00 Mhz, as well as 7.3-7.5. WSKY mentioned testing [ at 7.550 Mhz in the future to get away from the noise on 7.415. [ [ West-coasters take heart... WMCR (Magic Carpet Ride) continues [ to operate with a good-sounding DX60. I logged them with excellent [ sigs here in NM on 1-5. Good QSL-er too! [ [ Heard over the holidays here: XERK w/New Years messages (41m) [ [ Rastafarian R. w (you guessed it... [ all reggae). You haven't lived [ till you've heard the Marleys in [ LSB!! [ [ Here's a final article sent in by Mike Carr... with a different [ perspective of the pirate scene by the FCC. [------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jan 92 12:02:46 EST From: Michael Carr <MCARR@AUVM> Subject: The FCC Duel The Radio Pirates To: [email protected] ============================================================= The following was taken from an article titled, "Policing the Ether: The Swashbucklers of the FCC Duel the Radio Pirates," from the Washington City Paper January 17, 1992. Because the article was very long, it has been condensed. Quick. Name the low-profile federal agency that maintains a sophisticated listening post in Laurel, MD.-a facility capable of monitoring the full range of domestic electronic communications, from CB radio to satellite traffic, not to mention much of what's transmitted on the other side of the world. The National Security Agency (NSA), right? Well, yes, them too. But we were thinking of the Federal Communication Commission's Field Operations Bureau (FOB). For the past 50 years, the of FOB's Laurel monitoring station and its 13 sister facilities across the country have been keeping round-the-clock tabs on the airwaves. But if the eavesdropping, NSA is an electronic intelligence agent, FOB is primarily a beat cop charged with the largely mundane yet vital task of maintaining technical order on the airwaves. Using its network of monitoring stations and a handful of field agents, the bureau resolves interference complaints, keeps drunk power boaters off the Coast Goard's emergency channels, and otherwise upholds the electromagnetic traffic laws. "We are the enforcement-I like to use the word 'compliance'-arm of the FCC," says FOB Chief Richard Smith. The Laurel station sits in what was once a farm. The white frame house sits a quarter-mile off the road amidst some 200 acres of open land. On this land, sits a wide variety of radio antennae, including a low-frequency array that consists of several acres of wire strung between telephone poles. Behind the house stands a trio of satellite dishes ranging in various sizes. The house inside is crammed with radio and computer gear that is capable of pulling the smallest of needles from the ethereal haystack. Although the technology has grown infinitely more sophisiticated over the years, the FCC uses the same basic "triangulation" techniques that were employed 50 years ago to track the source of broadcast transmissions. For example, the agency is looking for an illegal shortwave station that is broadcasting from somewhere in the mid-Atlantic region. When the station signs on, the highly sensitive antennae of monitoring stations across the country determine the compass bearing form whichthe signal is emanating. The point at which the bearings provided by the various stations intersect provides the approximate location of the transmitter-generally within a 10-mile radius. To ferret out the exact location of a targeted transmitter- as in 325 Elm St., Apartment 3B, second bedroom on the right-or to track mobile targets, the agency uses a fleet of vans that are essentially monitoring stations on wheels. Until the late '80's, those bearing lines were plotted by stretching pieces of string across a giant Plexiglas map of the U.S. Today, however, the network is linked via a central computer located in the secure "Communications Room" on the seventh floor of the FCC's M Street NW headquarters. The computer gathers bearing data from the participating stations, calculates the longitude and latitude of the crossing point, and then generates a map of that locale. The Laurel facility was established in 1941, at the dawn of a golden age of FCC monitoring activity. During WWII, the FOB's Radio Intelligence Division (RID) was responsible for tracking all manner of enemy radio traffic in and around the U.S., including signals from German U-boats prowling off the East Coast and and messages sent by espionage agents using clandestine transmitters. By 1945, the division was operating some 200 listening posts across the country, most of which were little more than wooden shacks equipped with a directional antenna. RID's activities were transferred to the NSA in 1952, but Smith says the FCC still handles a variety of "absolutely classified" national security chores. Smith refuses to elaborate on what he meant but he swears that his people are not involved in domestic eavesdropping. To bolster his point, Smith offers anexample of his bureau's handiwork. In the late 1980's, the FOB was asked by the Reagan Administration to pinpoint the exact locations and operating schedules of the Soviet transmitters. They did and it helped put pressure on the Soviets to end the jamming. While most of FOB's work is lacking such cachet the bureau does grab the occasional headline, usually for hunting down an unauthorized "pirate" broadcaster, especially one whose transmissions have endangered the public. These include such things as finding the Houston teen-ager who was issuing fake air traffic control instructions via walkie-talkie and the Ohio man who was broadcasting bogus "officer need assistance" calls on Prince William County police frequencies. Romantic notions and the film _Pump Up the Volume_ aside, says Smith, even the most benign pirate-the guy who just wants to play a few tunes and share some personal thoughts with the world-can inadevertently pose a threat to public safety. "Most of these (pirates) like to broadcast on high frequency (shortwave) because it lets you reach a lot of people with a minimum amount of power," says Smith. "Unfortunately, those frequencies can interfere with the aircraft navigation channels." Luckily, he adds, broadcast piracy seems to be on the wane. The bureau currently handles between 12 and 24 cases per year, well below the volume of recent decades. Smith attributes much of that decline to the CB fad of the mid-70's, which he believes "demystified the idea of hearing yourself on the radio."The Laurel station sees another factor. Noting a steady decline in the number of adolescent offenders, the FOB veteran theorizes that radio piracy has lost to computer hacking as the national pastime of techno-savvy teen-age thrill seekers. (Further evidence that the heyday of electronic freebootery has passed is supplied by the apparent retirement of Allan Weiner, the Blackbeard of the airwaves. Weiner's lengthy career culminated with his brief July 1989 attempt to operate a high-powered, unlicensed free-form rock station from a rusty freighter anchored off Long Island. In 1990, Weiner tried to go legit by applying for a lisence to build a shortwave radio station in Maine. Not surprisingly, the FCC told him to get bent. In justifying that decision, the agency cited Weiner's remarkable rap sheet, which dates to when he was 17 and includes the brass balls violation of using a licensed AM station to broadcast a pirate shortwave signal.) While Smith publicly downplays anti-piracy work as a minimal part of their mission, the bureau clearly revels in the renegade broadcasters' challenge to their technical prowess. How else to explain its flying-ace-style "victories banner," which details every pirate station FOB has shut down in recent years? Or the "pirate's eye patch" certificates the bureau awards to monitoring stations when they bust an unauthorized operation? Such enthusiasm is understandable. Mike Carr-----The above is not my opinion but the author who wrote it. [------------------------ [ And I'll let YOU comment on this for next issue! - [ 73 and remember to shoot any loggings to me at the address in the header. [ /john [---------------------------end of digest-------------------------------
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