Pirating in the Netherlands

[Wooden_shoe_pirate]

Hi guys.

I've noticed that FM pirating in the Netherlands ( and UK ) is totally different than anywhere else in the world.
Therefore i thought it might be interresting to give you guys a inside view of how things work over here.

So here we go:

We have 3 sorts of pirates:

- Persons that transmit from their homes. Typically with 1 ~2 dipoles, 10 - 30 meters high antennamast, 10W - 2Kw transmitter
- Groups of people that all put money in the piggybank. They buy an old towercrane 60 - 120 meters high, 4 ~8 Dipoles , 5 - 10 -15 -20Kw transmitter and an PC with 3G dongle and prepaid card as STL
- Person / group of people that put their transmitter on a high Building, Cell site or High Voltage pylon. Typically with 1 ~2 dipoles, 150W - 2Kw transmitter and a PC with 3G dongle

[R4002]

The one with the pirate FM antenna on top of a high-tension power transmission pylon is my favorite.  How are the owners of the cellular towers not noticing folks installing additional equipment and antennas on their sites? 

Using 3G connections for a STL?  Interesting. 

[Wooden_shoe_pirate]

They usually pick cell sites outside of the city, therefore the risk of beeing caught on-site is minimal.

Regarding the STL:

Don't know how things work outside europe, but in NL you can buy an prepaid card with cash, without providing any personal information.
For another 10 euros you get 1 or 2 GB traffic. Get cheap core 2 duo PC, plugin the dongle, run breakaway or stereotool, use an icecast or shoutcast server outside of your country ( 32-64K AAC+)
Voillá you're virtually untracable

[ChrisSmolinski]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

[Wooden_shoe_pirate]

Some years ago, when the "professionals" were using 10Ghz links ( cheap Gunnplexers - AM modulated and a so-called SATCAN tuner module, still in use by many UK pirates  ) a national television station was invited by "Danceradio992" - pioneers in unmanned transmitter sites -

You can find this nice interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frH6-VXY9KY ( Don't forget to enable the subtitles, unless you're speaking Dutch ofcourse

[Brian]

I think many of the FM pirates here use 3/4g to link. You can even use it to turn the TX on and off remotely (I think).
I have one of those 10 GHz links here. Never used it though since I got it over 10 years ago.

[ulx2]

Thanks for sharing!

You can find this nice interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frH6-VXY9KY ( Don't forget to enable the subtitles, unless you're speaking Dutch ofcourse

Dance Radio was heard in Ukraine once during Es propagation. I have a good audio recording with clear ID.

[Wooden_shoe_pirate]

Correct Brian,

On the receiving side, an ( forgot the type ) IC is used with 19kHz detector. When MPX is sent over the link- carrying the 19kHz pilot tone - the detector can switch a relay

[Wooden_shoe_pirate]

Dance Radio was heard in Ukraine once during Es propagation. I have a good audio recording with clear ID.

Nice catch!

[CoolAM Radio]

Leuk item om te lezen!

Weer eens wat anders!

Groet

André
CoolAM Radio - Shortwave
the Netherlands