Messages

481

General Radio Discussion / Re: Why does it seem that all the pirates broadcast to/from the east coast of USA?

« on: March 12, 2014, 1510 UTC »

As has been mentioned, there definitely are west coast pirate radio operations on shortwave, just fewer in number versus the east coast.

It's funny, I think my first exposure to pirate radio was through Pump Up the Volume (very California-centric, and of course, FM) and later, Andrew Yoder's first book (early 90's). I had this pretty firm impression that California, being the free-wheeling counter-culture center of the universe (or so I thought) was probably where most pirate radio transmissions on shortwave also came from. When I was finally able to start hearing pirates on shortwave myself, it was evident that it was largely an east coast and mid-west phenomena.

I wouldn't despair. Pirate listening on shortwave is a challenge for everyone, just more-so for some. That's what makes it fun.

482

General Radio Discussion / That Doorbell Looks Innocent, But It May Be a Federal Offender

« on: March 12, 2014, 1411 UTC »

From the Wall Street Journal today:

"FCC Agents Track Rogue Radio Waves To Aquariums, Bulbs, Blankets; $16,000 Fines"

http://tinyurl.com/k95vlpd

483

General Radio Discussion / Raspberry Pirate Radio (Raspberry Pi)

« on: March 11, 2014, 1308 UTC »

"This simple hack turns your Raspberry Pi into a powerful FM transmitter! It has enough range to cover your home, DIY drive-in movie, a high school ball game, or even a bike parade (depending on the stragglers)."

http://makezine.com/projects/make-38-cameras-and-av/raspberry-pirate-radio/

Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of this is: "The Raspberry Pi’s broadcast frequency can range between 1Mhz and 250Mhz, which may interfere with government bands."

484

General Radio Discussion / Re: Undercover Radio heard in Scotland on 1720!

« on: March 11, 2014, 1256 UTC »

That is... awesome.

485

General Radio Discussion / Re: Play Our Show on your Station!

« on: March 11, 2014, 1255 UTC »

Just throwing the idea out there... ever thought about buying an hour or half hour on somewhere like WBCQ every so often?  A show like yours would beat the pants off some of the other rubbish they play on there *cough* religious hatemongers *cough*. 

That's a pretty good suggestion. Also, WRMI rents time too.

486

General Radio Discussion / Re: BBC radio transmitter disrupts trains between Leominster and Ludlow

« on: March 10, 2014, 2341 UTC »

As a Massachusetts guy, I was all like, Leominster and Ludlow???

And then I realized... because, Britain.

(The insider Massachusetts thing is, we have a Leominster and a Ludlow).

Also, the city name of Woofferton is pretty awesome, we don't have one of those. The person name Mavis Choong is pretty awesome too.

487

General Radio Discussion / Re: Play Our Show on your Station!

« on: March 10, 2014, 2329 UTC »

Hey there.

I'm not a pirate, just a listener, but having been around the hobby for a while and checking out your site and shows, I'd make just a couple of suggestions.

The shortwave pirate hobby is pretty close and largely based on interaction between operators and listeners. You might want to consider creating a few shows that specifically target a shortwave pirate audience. Also, pirates typically go on the air for 30 minutes, maybe 60 minutes in rare cases. For the purposes of continuity, you'd want to consider programming your shows for shortwave to be on the shorter end of things.

Of course, you'll probably want to have a commitment from an operator (we call them "relays" when they transmit someone else's show) before you go to the trouble of creating customized shows.

Just some friendly suggestions, and welcome to the site.

488

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Undercover Radio 6925 was 6948 2307 UTC 10 Mar 2014

« on: March 10, 2014, 2318 UTC »

S9+20 here on 6925 AM with a Benway monologue. Audio is not the typically great Benway audio. Quite... crunchy.

489

General Radio Discussion / Re: "Radios are not safe" (Malaysian 777 loss)

« on: March 10, 2014, 0157 UTC »

Unless there's a worldwide conspiracy by civil aviation authorities to suppress or alter aviation accident data, virtually all incidents have a very large human factor component to them. Competent and well trained crews can fly themselves out of most problems. Aloha Airlines Flight 243 landing with the fuselage ripped open. Sully landing the A320 in the Hudson with no engines. Countless others. Yes, there are a small number of incidents where pilots have no chance no matter what. But a lot of the bad incidents we hear about, while involving a system failure, are recoverable. Air France 447 was a pretty good example. A complex problem compounded by multiple system failures and finalized by pilot error.

The pilots on this plane were supposedly well qualified and Malaysian has a good record. This accident will likely be attributed to terrorism, or a non-terrorist event like a fast on-board fire or catastrophic structural failure. The supposed U-turn, if it really did happen, could indicate a crew beginning to deal with an on-board problem that got ahead of them too fast. See Swissair 111 and the UPS 747 freighter crash in Dubai.

490

European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: HORIZON FM 6245 KHZ AM MARCH 9, 2014

« on: March 10, 2014, 0114 UTC »

Clear "Horizon FM, Tenerife" ID by UK (?) accented announcer at 0113 UTC.

491

European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: HORIZON FM 6245 KHZ AM MARCH 9, 2014

« on: March 10, 2014, 0055 UTC »

Very nice S8 signal here with minor fading at 0055 UTC. Playing Daft Punk "One More Time". Clear Horizon FM ID after, and then into another song I don't recognize.

492

General Radio Discussion / Re: "Radios are not safe" (Malaysian 777 loss)

« on: March 10, 2014, 0032 UTC »

You know what, I was going to raise the BS flag on that and say I've never heard of such a thing ("uninterruptible auto pilot"), and I've followed commercial aviation as a hobbyist for a long time.

But then, to fact-check myself before I hit reply, I Google'd it. And found out such a thing may very well be implemented in airliners.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/new-autopilot-will-make-another-911-impossible-7239651.html

Most of the mainstream articles I've found on this topic are from circa 2006-2007, citing Boeing's patent, and then there is relative radio silence (no pun intended) on this subject except for some references on what I'll generously categorize as fringe sites. Also, there is a commercial pilot that has a blog and has been involved in litigation regarding his termination, somehow related to information about this system. [Edit: on further investigation it appears this guy is some kind of crank.]

This suggests to me that it's possible that there is such a system deployed and that most of the information about it is classified.

493

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6930 AM 0006 UTC 10 March 2014

« on: March 10, 2014, 0008 UTC »

Tracy Chapman as noted above. S9+5. Radio Marlene ID at 0010 UTC. Broadcasting from "somewhere near the Jersey shore".

494

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6876 KHz AM 2356 UTC 3/9/2014

« on: March 09, 2014, 2357 UTC »

Carrier popped up. Nice S9+10 signal. Hard rock music starting at 2356 UTC.

495

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 AM 2315 UTC 9 Mar 2014

« on: March 09, 2014, 2320 UTC »

Channel Z ID at 2318 UTC after B-52's "Summer of Love". Strapping S9+20 signal. Nice to hear an alternate B-52's opening.