HFU HF Underground
General Category => Huh? => Topic started by: fpeconsultant on July 21, 2020, 1448 UTC
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What is with the large number (and seemingly growing number) of "UNID" pirates lately? It's one thing if they do ID but copy is poor so the ID can't be confirmed, but many seem to never ID at all.
Doesn't make sense - kind of like posting an anonymous comment on a news website (keyboard tough guy syndrome). What's the point of broadcasting and risking getting "the knock" if there's no notoriety associated with it.....?
Maybe I'm just old and recall the Pirates of yesteryear who were proud to be well known yet smart enough to not get busted. Maybe it's the new generation of pirates but it seems pointless to me.
FPE
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I wonder about that too, going by the books about stations, they had amazing stories and strong identities, like they were real brands, down to the QSL cards. Could it be a form of postmodernism?
And now there's SSTV to ID stations, so dj's might not feel like saying much. I would use a text to speech app, some are pretty clear right now, and there are Alexa voices!
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The other thing is that they are tests, where someone just TX's and uses various on-line SDR's to actually see if they are getting out to various regions. I guess that beats calling a friend, or relative, DX'er that's out of state, or out of country, to see if they are getting out.
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Without giving away any details, I indirectly know of at least one person who runs reoccurring broadcasts to test their setup and listens to it on my SDR. Since it isn't intended for listeners he doesn't ID as he is setting audio levels, etc. And testing has gone on for a long time without (to my knowledge) any "real" broadcast.
I also know that some people are mic shy and would rather ID by other means SSTV (which becomes a sort of QSL card) or no ID at all. I don't think there is a way to categorize pirates into conforming to a particular on-air format which is why most pirate do what they do.
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"Mic shy". I guess......
FPE
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I think they are rather less likely to get bused with no IDing. In such a case, the FCC would have to do a full DF just to identify the station each time it was on the air-- instead of knowing that "this is station X, which we have previously DFed to X area..."
With no ID and no "personality" to the station, there would seem little point for the FCC to try to chase after them. They have enough to do already.
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I figured I'd chime in here...
I have been doing a LOT of testing lately, mostly at low power <10w. All my gear is pretty ancient, takes a lot of tweaking. It's not uncommon for something to start smoking during a broadcast due to it's age. Then, it's down to the bench, repair the unit, and start over. And what sounds like good processing on AM can sound plain dreadful on SSB, and vice versa. If I'm not just doing a short test, such as after a repair job, I try to fire a liner off now and then.
As for live shows... I've done a few, but COVID has really messed up my voice. I'm really hoping it improves, because my voice sounds like it aged 25 years since getting sick in late Feb. The low registers are totally gone now, and it's just plain rough. I played back an SDR recording someone sent me, and I'm like, "do I *really* sound that awful now?" I think if my voice got any worse, I'd sound like Brother Stare.
So, if I'm on and just playing music, it's probably not that I don't *want* to do a live show, it's that I simply do not feel well enough. I can't believe this crap has been so rough for FIVE months, and I *still* have a good day for every 7 bad ones. Wifey has been through the same, although she is probably back to 90% now, I'm still around 60% because of liver and heart issues. Somehow, we both dodged the pneumonia bullet from this, maybe because we both had pneumonia boosters in November.
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Dang, sorry to hear about that Boogie. I've read about the lingering effects COVID19 has on some people. Let's hope yours don't linger for much longer.
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Thank you, MDK2.
Today, I'm feeling the best I have in months, not as well as I'd like, but this day has brought the least of the fatigue and pain. I'm hoping it is finally getting better. The fatigue has been the worst part, literally many days where just sitting in here tinkering with radio stuff is "too much", days when I wondered why I even forced myself out of bed. Generally, every single day for months, sometime in late afternoon, the fatigue would hit, like having a 75 pound weighted blanket dropped on me out of nowhere. Today is the second day I haven't had that happen, and I *really* hope this is permanent. But you never know, because symptoms come in waves for a few days. Really screwy, just plain weird virus, I'll tell you. I can only hope I'm over it for good, fingers crossed.
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YW, Boogie.
Back to the general topic at hand, sometimes UNID stations *are* ID'd, but after the original poster stopped listening and without correction from any of the pirate board's numerous moderators. I guess they don't ever go back and see what was logged afterward.
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Lot of folk, me included, just chuck a fave album on or a mix of tunes. To get an ID on there involves audio editing, mixing, microphones, compression etc etc and bet they don't know how or can't be bothered. I'm in the latter camp. Only ID I'd use is the 'Image in the waterfall' thing..
Sure if I was a bit more 'serious' I fire up the desk and do a proper job... One day...
Str.