Man Stung With $15,000 Fine in North Miami Pirate Case

[Oliver]

Pirate enforcement announcements continue to emerge from the Federal Communications Commission.

The latest is a $15,000 proposed fine for an operator in North Miami, Fla. Vilnord Simon was already on the commission radar; back in 2008 he was found to be operating illegally at 103.1 MHz and given a written warning to cease immediately or be subject to further action.

According to the commission, Simon seemed to comply; it looked like the transmitting antenna — installed at a multistory building where he was a tenant — had been removed. But in January and August of 2015, in response to complaints, agents from the Enforcement Bureau’s Miami office tracked transmissions on 103.1 and said they were coming a multi-unit residential building. The FCC reported another incident in April 2016. In all three cases, agents found that transmissions exceeded limits for operation under Part 15. Simon was identified as the tenant where the antenna was located; the bureau said it also found information online connecting Simon to the signals.

FCC rules set a base forfeiture of $10,000 but the commission has discretion and raised the penalty because it had issued a written warning earlier and because of the alleged multiple infractions.

Simon has 30 days to pay or seek reduction or cancellation of the fine. Whether the fine will be collected is a separate question; observers of FCC enforcement often point out that anecdotal evidence suggests many pirate fines are not collected.

As we reported earlier, another Florida man faces a $15K fine in a similar case. Florida, New York and New Jersey are among the states hit hardest by illegal unlicensed signals; broadcasters in those areas have been vocal in seeking more FCC enforcement activity.

Source: http://www.radioworld.com/article/man-stung-with-15000-fine-in-north-miami-pirate-case/279487

[radiozed]

Out of curiosity, I've always wondered how they track down pirates operating in high occupancy buildings.  Granted, somebody with an antenna or coax coming out of their window is going to be easy to find regardless.  But it seems like a pirate operating out of a single apartment 5 floors up is going to be somewhat difficult to pinpoint unless they're operating 24/7. 

[Pigmeat]

There are state laws against pirating in those three states, Oliver. I know pirating is a low level felony in both FL and NJ. NY I'm not certain about, but there was a push for similar statutes as the other two states. Northern NJ and NYC across the river are hotbeds of FM piracy, as is South Florida and the corridor across the state from Tampa on the west coast through Orlando and on to the Daytona area on the east coast.

The FCC df's, local law enforcement does the actual dirty work of making the bust, and the FCC puts out another press release of another pirate they've brought down. What the don't mention is w/o he guys with the guns to help them out, the bust usually ends and begins with a big "f-u" from the pirate and being told to get the Hell off the property before the pirate sets the dogs on them.

I've known a lot of cops in my time. I'm sure the officers in the jurisdictions above are just thrilled to death to have to do the FCC's job for them. They all know just what a menace some guy playing radio is, compared to the other matters they have to deal with. I'm surprised local LEO in FL hasn't tossed a couple of those FCC guys in a canal to see if they can outswim a gator?

[ka1iic]

Don't quote me because I have heard this third hand but it is my understanding that collection of these fines are a problem for the FCC.  I know at least one Ham that has 45k fine that is about 8 years old and still hasn't been collected.

Point is who/whom does the collection for them?  I don't think they can do it on their own.  Most of the fines that do get collected are from 'honest' people that just pay it without any question.

[MDK2]

Don't quote me because I have heard this third hand but it is my understanding that collection of these fines are a problem for the FCC.  I know at least one Ham that has 45k fine that is about 8 years old and still hasn't been collected.

Point is who/whom does the collection for them?  I don't think they can do it on their own.  Most of the fines that do get collected are from 'honest' people that just pay it without any question.

I certainly can't answer, but your question made me think of something I heard just the other night. I was listening to a couple of hams on 3840, and one of them was reading some release from the Justice Department. Apparently the FCC sent them a case of an uncollected fine, and the DOJ gave it back to them, without any real explanation. If so, it sounds like they lack the authority to collect unpaid fines which strikes me as really weird.

[Pigmeat]

Don't quote me because I have heard this third hand but it is my understanding that collection of these fines are a problem for the FCC.  I know at least one Ham that has 45k fine that is about 8 years old and still hasn't been collected.

Point is who/whom does the collection for them?  I don't think they can do it on their own.  Most of the fines that do get collected are from 'honest' people that just pay it without any question.

I certainly can't answer, but your question made me think of something I heard just the other night. I was listening to a couple of hams on 3840, and one of them was reading some release from the Justice Department. Apparently the FCC sent them a case of an uncollected fine, and the DOJ gave it back to them, without any real explanation. If so, it sounds like they lack the authority to collect unpaid fines which strikes me as really weird.

The DOJ isn't going to do a thing about knuckleheads jamming and cussing each other on 75/80 meter's, they've got more serious things on their plate than glorified CB'ers. It's a civil offense and up to the FCC to assess and collect the fine, if possible. It's an on air jaywalking ticket with a heftier potential fine.

FM is different. A poorly filtered transmitter running decent power is going to play Hell in the above airband with spurs. There you're not dealing with just the FCC, you've got the FAA and the airline industry involved. They'll jump on you with both feet and the DOJ will get involved. Do you want to be circling NYC and Newark while Joe Blow is throwing spurs all over the air band, futzing up comms between controllers and pilots with planes stacked on top of each other, doing an all day Archies marathon? I'd want him horsewhipped before they fined him, but I'm getting cantankerous in my old age.

It's fine and fun to play radio, but not if how you're doing it could possibly put hundreds of lives on the line. That's what you're doing if you run a piece of crap, poorly filtered FM transmitter in a heavily used flight corridor.

[ka1iic]

What bugs me about it is the FCC, at times, confiscates pirate equipment in violations but never, it seems, confiscates ham equipment in cases like this.

Seems to me that if a pirate was to questions the confiscations in court and uses the above it might be a very interesting outcome.

It's NOT illegal to own transmitting equipment, what is illegal is using said equipment without a license.  Now I can see a logic going both ways in this argument.  Now if a Ham were a pirate, would they just confiscate his pirate equipment or all of his equipment?

They couldn't put a fine against the ham for illegal operation in the ham band but they could for operating on a frequency without a license.

The only thing they could do against the ham, other than being a pirate on an improper frequency, is to note he was acting in a way outside of the knowledge he might know from being a ham.

And yes, it is the DOJ that has to make collections.  The FCC has no power to do this.

[Azimuth Coordinator]

I find this interesting... He first got "The Knock" in 2008...  7 years later.. he got the second "Knock" and 8 years later they moved to shut him down... Now  He was probably running an Illegal Broadcast Station.. all that time and selling advertising to locals who listen to his station.. The same is going on in New York and New Jersey so the broadcasters formed the "New York State Broadcast Authority"  and hired a consultant to go out every week in a different location and track down Illegal Broadcast Stations running 24/7 or close to it and compile all the relevant data and turn it over to the FCC.. Because enforcement is complaint driven and no one in the neighborhoods were complaining..   The FCC acted on really bad sloppy stations with cheap sloppy transmitters relatively quickly.  However.. a few Illegal Broadcast signals are relatively pure and the average citizen wouldn't know the difference and would just think it's a new station or a format change. One guy in Paterson NJ was on the air for 15 years. before he got the NOV .  It's a problem that there is no easy solution..  some guy spends $2000 and he for the most part has a viable 100 Watt FM Station..  if he's on the air for a year he's made his investment back and can walk away if he gets the knock.. and a month later he's got a different location and back on the air.. Can the FCC actually collect the fines?  They haven't been able to yet.. so the wheel keeps turning..   And I think the term "Pirate" should be changed in these cases because to me a Pirate pops up puts on a show for a few hours once in a while..  An Illegal Broadcaster is on the air for 12 + hours a day 7 days a week... Just my 2 cents.

[redhat]

Yet another reason I cringe when I hear someone is broadcasting with a transmitter they built with no real test equipment, or bought from China on Ebay.  Just because the meter moves does not mean all is well, and that is one of reasons for the type acceptance rules from the three letter company.  Commercial stations are supposed to perform NRSC measurements for occupied bandwidth on BOTH AM and FM stations any time something in the transmission system is changed, and are required annually on AM's.  Even in the commercial world equipment fails, and sometimes you won't notice until the station fails its NRSC annual.

+-RH

[John Poet]

What bugs me about it is the FCC, at times, confiscates pirate equipment in violations but never, it seems, confiscates ham equipment in cases like this.

The FCC cannot confiscate anything unless you allow them to do it-- that is, voluntarily surrendering your equipment.  Otherwise, they have to get a court order, which is unlikely before there are multiple violations by the same party.

[MDK2]

Even in the commercial world equipment fails, and sometimes you won't notice until the station fails its NRSC annual.

+-RH

A good reason to report spurs from local AM (MW) stations when you find them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYyRPI7NJ20

[ka1iic]

Even in the commercial world equipment fails, and sometimes you won't notice until the station fails its NRSC annual.

+-RH

A good reason to report spurs from local AM (MW) stations when you find them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYyRPI7NJ20

Report them you say?  Boy I would have to take a week or so just to get all the data needed to do that where I'm located now.  There is more sh*tty signals on the AM band here... mostly by sports radio stations... I wonder why that is?  Good thing I don't do AM radio all that much anymore.

[MDK2]

Report them you say?  Boy I would have to take a week or so just to get all the data needed to do that where I'm located now.  There is more sh*tty signals on the AM band here... mostly by sports radio stations... I wonder why that is?  Good thing I don't do AM radio all that much anymore.

Me either, but this one was spurring right at 6950 - that's pirate country, dammit, and I have enough trouble getting those signals! 

Ironically, this was from one of the few local AM stations I do listen to with any regularity, the others being KOA 850 (just when I'm listening to the game) and 1190, a college station. The transmitter for 1390 is less than three miles from my QTH, so it often overloads my Satellit 750 even when I do the maximum to attenuate my reception.

[redhat]

Ya know, you could add a highpass filter to your setup to eliminate most of your issues with MW...

http://www.qsl.net/kp4md/mwfilter.htm

http://www.dxing.com/tnotes/tnote06.pdf

+-RH