Another article "trying" to grasp pirate radio

[Northern Relay Service]

Saw this one and thought I'd pass it on . Always find it interesting when someone tries to grasp pirate radio from within the bounds of the NORM. I relate it to a hamster sticking its head out of the unintentionally left open cage door and wondering why any hamster would want to leave the comfort its master affords them.

Hey look a wheel and a toilet paper roll tube ! Who could want anything more ??

Don't get me wrong I enjoy reading the articles that Engineering Radio produces,they are well written and try to see things from all sides. Paul Thurst does a great job .

  For me in the end pirate radio exists and always will because we(ie society) always need reminders that we are always one step away from living in a police state. Spectrum management is needed there is no doubt in my mind. Frequency is limited . But in an age when children can surf porn and neo nazi sites on line  at will, to say the content that pirates broadcast is at issue is non-sense. The truth of the matter is the radio spectrum was the first internet ,and at its birth scared the hell out of governments. We get spoiled by todays technology and seem to forget that it could all disappear in an instant. If that were to happen governments have done such a good job at limiting access to radio spectrum and shut down so many libraries that we(the people) would be up the creek without a paddle or the knowledge of what a paddle is.
  In a way the last 80 years or so have been about (for the governments of the world) getting back control of the information that we get. Lets face it they had it pretty good before radio and the printing press came along. As far as I am concerned they are awfully close to regaining mass ignorance and convincing people that they are somehow empowered . One of the greatest magic tricks ever.


http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2011/08/shortwave-pirate-broadcasting/#comments

Doc John

[Andrew Yoder]

Thanks for the link. Looks like the columnist has somewhat of an interest in pirates or at least isn't really opposed to most.

One question that I've wondered about for the 20 or so years since I've heard about RF fingerprinting. What do mods do to that fingerprint. For example, when Poet did all kinds of mods to his Valiant, it had to change the RF fingerprint. I would think that just changing a tube could conceivably change it. I'd like to see some full-out studies on this technique.

For example, two unmodified Viking Valiant II transmitters should have more similar fingerprints than a Viking Valiant II and a Knight T-150, for example. But, if one of those Viking Valiant II transmitters is heavily modded (audio and RF sections), I would think that it not only wouldn't have the same fingerprint anymore, but it probably wouldn't even be in the same "family" of fingerprints as other Valiant IIs.

I guess what it comes down to, for the cautious pirate, is: if pirates are also hams, they should operate on HF with ham-only equipment. I doubt that the FCC would be sitting around, trying to fingerprint every ham transmitter to see if they can match with a pirate signal, but an ounce of prevention...

[Zoidberg]

It is interesting to read about a niche hobby from someone else's perspective.  Especially to see what aspects grab their attention.

I feel the same way when reading about the FM pirate scene, and continuing tussle over LPFM and related issues.  The whole FM scene is like visiting another country and having only a toddler's grasp of the language.   I'll see something that seems unique or interesting, but to the locals it's like "Yes, that's called a 'restaurant'.  We have many of those here.  We also have indoor plumbing."

[Jolly Roger]

I only have a limited understanding of how RF fingerprinting works, but here's how the demo I saw worked: they had what looked like an a oscilloscope trace, and slowed it WAY down, like time lapse photography. When the transmitter was keyed and unkeyed the various relays and switches left a distinct "trace" that is different in every transmitter.
As far as audio goes, the way audio can be manipulated it would be a slam dunk for ANY lawyer to sew the seeds of reasonable doubt. ie: anybody could have that "sound" digitally. Relays are tougher to manipulate. I dunno, just my two bits.

[cmradio]

Any truthful information is not illegitimate in my eyes, but others see it differently.

Amen.

Peace!

[diymedia]

Paul Thurst is a working broadcast engineer with a penchant for the written word. There's not a lot of blogs like his out there.

I wouldn't doubt his factual claims given his experience in the field. I don't see him being anti-pirate, but not someone who officially condones the phenomenon. He's written before on the passage of the anti-pirate laws in NY and sees them (as I do) as a folly.

[Pigmeat]

Sounds like the simple frequency and detection software a lot of hams use. I knew a guy in Europe who could never hear my tx'es,but he would send me a screen capture of his software's display when he knew I was on the air. The peak showing the signal was there every time.

[The Hokie]

Sounds like the simple frequency and detection software a lot of hams use. I knew a guy in Europe who could never hear my tx'es,but he would send me a screen capture of his software's display when he knew I was on the air. The peak showing the signal was there every time.

What people are doing with DSP and very narrow-bandwidth digital modes is amazing. One-Yagi moonbounce on UHF - crazy