87.9 MHz UNID May 8, 2013 1253z Minneapolis, MN

[skeezix]

In Minneapolis, heard a rap station on 87.9 MHz from 1235Z until it went abruptly off at 1239Z. Freq is usually quiet.

Figure its a pirate as the lyrics in the song would result in a fine if on a legal station.



Sony CDX-GT570S with 31" whip

[William Hassig]

It may have been an old satellite radio add-on that had the too powerful transmitter. Before I retired in March 2008 I would hear them on 87.9 and 88.1 MHz while driving to and from work between my home in Mount Prospect, IL and work, usually in Libertyville IL but sometimes in other offices too. Sometimes during the workday in the company car (phone company) I'd tune to 87.9 & 88.1 and hear a dead carrier from a parked car for at least a city block either side of the car. There was also some a-hole in the Northbrook Illinois area who had a too powerful in-car transmitter on 91.5 which is the NPR station I listen to. If there was an important article I wanted to hear I had to pull over and wait for that jerk to get several blocks ahead of me in traffic. 

[ssfahrer]

Could it have been audio from a TV channel 6 some place? In NYC, we have a low power "TV" station that broadcasts at 87.7[5] MHz (WNYZ TV- LP -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNYZ-LP). For example, "On many FM radios, the audio for analog channel 6 can be picked-up by turning the tuner dial below the lower FM band edge, at 87.75." Note from this chart (all frequencies in MHz) :
Channel      Lower edge      Video carrier      ATSC pilot      Audio carrier      Upper edge

6                82                83.25              82.31                87.75                  88

Since the upper edge is 88 MHz, maybe your transmission was some channel 6 audio carrier run slightly amok? Didn't mention lyrics, but was it THAT racy? (Nowadays, a lot of stuff may slip past would be censors....)

[skeezix]

No so much racy, as a good collection of the banned words.  We don't have a ch 6 in our market, and considering the words, it wouldn't have been on a licensed ch 6. lol

Haven't heard it since. So it was either a pirate or, probably more likely what William said, someone with a low power transmitter in their car to listen to their MP3 device on the car stereo.