101.9 Hacked?

[fordranger797]

You seem surprised that they put the broadcast antenna up in a tree- were you expecting everything to be zip tied, labeled and properly documented with the antenna hung on a polished stainless steel tower? This is hillbilly pirate shit, in line with every other aspect of this operation. And no pirate I have ever visited or been involved with ever hung their antenna on a tree.

Really though, this is one the most poorly engineered setups that I have personally seen. LP radio doesn't always HAVE to be a bad thing, but who the hell is engineering this thing? This looks like something I would have come up with as an engineering solution back when I joined this board at the age of 17. I can only hope if the FCC caught wind of this, that they would immediately shut this operation down. Of course, you shouldn't need to have a state of the art facility to run a LP, but the current setup isn't even on the same level of quality as a full blown pirate.

 

[rikwall]

I can only hope if the FCC caught wind of this, that they would immediately shut this operation down. Of course, you shouldn't need to have a state of the art facility to run a LP, but the current setup isn't even on the same level of quality as a full blown pirate.

Actually, Voice of Vashon reported KQES to the FCC as running without ID, running equipment/program testing without the required notification to the FCC, probably running at unauthorized higher power, and etc. back in June of 2016. The letter included photographs of the antenna in the tree. As far as we know, there was no action by the FCC.

Rick

 

[Kelly A]

Actually, Voice of Vashon reported KQES to the FCC as running without ID, running equipment/program testing without the required notification to the FCC, probably running at unauthorized higher power, and etc. back in June of 2016. The letter included photographs of the antenna in the tree. As far as we know, there was no action by the FCC.

Rick

Couple issues to consider:

1. LPFM's go after each other all the time in front of the Commission. Many times the allegations are unfounded, so I suspect the FCC have grown weary of investigating what usually amounts to nothing more than petty LPFM turf wars or what amounts to buyers remorse. Remember, LPFM's are considered secondary service, just like translators. They don't carry the same weight as full power FM licensed stations. Of course, broadcasting obscene content without a license usually gets folks motivated.

2. The local FCC Field Offices in Seattle (Bellevue) and Portland, OR were closed a while back. The local field office for reporting anything "local", as in West Coast matters, is Los Angeles, CA.

 

[Radio-X]

I flung my antenna in a 60' tree out in SC when I dabbled in pirate radio during college. With a decent 15w transmitter and a good antenna, I pulled 5-7 miles of good signal off that puppy. 8-10 miles of listenable signal! Not bad for $150 of supplies and an old computer!

That being said, to KQES' defense, a place like the Eastside can be darn tough and expensive to put up any man-made structure. Even tower rent ain't cheap out there! 150' tree on church property provides them with far more bang for their buck signal-wise than most other options.

However, a signal that can be picked up on a Walkman at the Radio-X compound in NW Shoreline is highly suspect that it's running by the book. Given a lack of notification to the FCC and a clear uncontrolled operation of a station, I'd make the case that multiple letters should be sent to the Feds to shut this joint down and delete the license. Clears up 101.9 a bit for the Slavic church and VoV who run their operations properly!

For those who think the Feds won't bat an eye on this, I present a former poster to the Houston board on this site who has made it a part-time hobby to petition to deny licenses to various stations and translators for fairly minor transgressions of FCC rules!

He has been moderately successful to boot...

Radio-X

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

I could be wrong...but thinking the engineer who collected the bits and pieces of KARR and put it back on the air was running an antenna in a tree in his yard (though it is probably licensed). I may have the tree part wrong, but do know he (was?) running the signal from his home in North Bellevue/South Kirkland.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

I could be wrong...but thinking the engineer who collected the bits and pieces of KARR and put it back on the air was running an antenna in a tree in his yard (though it is probably licensed). I may have the tree part wrong, but do know he (was?) running the signal from his home in North Bellevue/South Kirkland.

Yup, that was (is) Jim Dalke. Not sure if he's still running the temporary antenna but IIRC he applied for a translator.

 

[Kelly A]

I could be wrong...but thinking the engineer who collected the bits and pieces of KARR and put it back on the air was running an antenna in a tree in his yard (though it is probably licensed). I may have the tree part wrong, but do know he (was?) running the signal from his home in North Bellevue/South Kirkland.

As Rob mentioned Eric, it was the former KARR contract engineer, Jim D. When Family Radio was wrapping up operations after Harold Camping passed and KARR lost use of the Kirkland site, Jim worked a deal with FR to take KARR. He set up a horizontal long wire antenna in his back yard, just to keep the license active until he figured out a long term solution.

Stringing a long wire between trees is pretty common for ham radio and other low frequency radio use. The wire is the radiating element, and is generally away from the tree foliage. In other words, different scenario than what the LP being discussed is doing.

 

[IndigoCoyote]

BTW, the pirate mentioned upthred operating on the Sammamish plateau has moved to 87.9- happened at least last summer if not earlier. Probably to get out of the way of this LPFM.

 

[98052_radio]

Seattle Metro LPFM activity

BTW, the pirate mentioned upthred operating on the Sammamish plateau has moved to 87.9- happened at least last summer if not earlier. Probably to get out of the way of this LPFM.

Maybe moved for a while but was back on air at 101.9 MHz on Saturday (Jan. 29th), although I didn't listen on 87.9. 101.9 from Sammamish is not really much overlap with VOV (KVSH) or the Slavic station (KCSC-LP). 87.9 had been occupied by Overlake Christian Church in north Redmond until I politely suggested they turn off the 24/7 church information broadcasts that could be heard 3-4 miles away.

Anyone heard 103.1 KAPY-LPFM yet? They just got their license granted this month. l I can't get it in Redmond but I believe they began on-air transmission a few days ago (or maybe will in a few days???).

Also, looks like KBFG will also make an appearance at 107.3 FM from a site immediately west of the Zoo?

 

[notalent]

Who is the engineer of record on the KQES-LP project? Surely they didn't just buy a radio shack kit and wing it.

 

[Kelly A]

If you go to:https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/fm-query And put in KQES-LP, you can find all that information in their various applications, including contact info. Keep in mind that the engineer of record, isn't necessarily the one who built the station. They could have used the local Comcast installer on his days off for all we know.

 

[IndigoCoyote]

Maybe moved for a while but was back on air at 101.9 MHz on Saturday (Jan. 29th), although I didn't listen on 87.9. 101.9 from Sammamish is not really much overlap with VOV (KVSH) or the Slavic station (KCSC-LP). 87.9 had been occupied by Overlake Christian Church in north Redmond until I politely suggested they turn off the 24/7 church information broadcasts that could be heard 3-4 miles away.

Anyone heard 103.1 KAPY-LPFM yet? They just got their license granted this month. l I can't get it in Redmond but I believe they began on-air transmission a few days ago (or maybe will in a few days???).

Also, looks like KBFG will also make an appearance at 107.3 FM from a site immediately west of the Zoo?

Heck, there may be TWO up there. WIll be going through there tomorrow evening and will have to check.

KAPY 103.1 has been on the air since the day after they got lic. to cover. They do well in Duvall and Redmond Ridge, but don't get over the hump into Redmond proper. I live north of Redmond about 5 miles on the east facing slope of Hollywood Hill, so can listen to them in my car fairly well. The get chewed up by Victoria co channel another half mile north, by the Woodinville- Duvall Road near Lake Leota. The Victoria station really comes blasting in during the summer- will remain to be sen how well they get out then.

 

[notalent]

@ Kelly. That info only shows what engineer (in VA) did the application paperwork. No mention if they hired someone local to install or maintain that site. I would like to think that the engineers in this area would not be so desperate for clients that they would be involved with something so sketchy.

 

[98052_radio]

Heck, there may be TWO up there. WIll be going through there tomorrow evening and will have to check.

KAPY 103.1 has been on the air since the day after they got lic. to cover. They do well in Duvall and Redmond Ridge, but don't get over the hump into Redmond proper. I live north of Redmond about 5 miles on the east facing slope of Hollywood Hill, so can listen to them in my car fairly well. The get chewed up by Victoria co channel another half mile north, by the Woodinville- Duvall Road near Lake Leota. The Victoria station really comes blasting in during the summer- will remain to be sen how well they get out then.

@IndigoCoyote, thanks for the info!

 

[FreddyE1977]

Why spend the time and money, and take the legal risks of running a pirate station,
when you can just hack into the online transmitter feed of a licensed station and hijack it?

 

[AQH]

Why spend the time and money, and take the legal risks of running a pirate station,
when you can just hack into the online transmitter feed of a licensed station and hijack it?

Because it's a federal crime?

 

[Kelly A]

Here's an update to more incidents: http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/hackers...Spy&utm_campaign=Adweek_Newsletter_2017000112

 

[Bongwater]

Why spend the time and money, and take the legal risks of running a pirate station,
when you can just hack into the online transmitter feed of a licensed station and hijack it?

Well, part of that has to do with Barix IP boxes in particular and those are mostly used by LPFMs. The fact there's info out there on how to do this would scare the crap out of me if I had a Barix fed LPFM. But ethically, to me, that would be even lower than starting a pirate. I mean most LPFMs are started by good people wanting to do good for their communities by going through a minefield of red tape,regulations, financial quicksand and Catch 22s with far more to lose overall than the big radio conglomerates and to have all those years of blood, sweat and tears go up in flames because of some hacker's "statement" is pretty damn horrific.

Yes, I understand these stations take some ownership of the problem by not securing their boxes as tightly as they should. But honestly, I don't think anyone really saw it coming (and yes, there was an earlier incident of this happening, but never on this scale.) This hacking information should not even be out there. I mean, who would even THINK of it? Whoever did certainly has enough time on their hands to coordinate this mess to happen the way it did on a national scale.

But worst of all, they got the IP info for these boxes from someplace online. I don't know much technically about how Barix works, but I'm pretty sure these stations don't deliberately make that information public. So how the hackers were able to collect that information and launch the attack the way they did is EPICLY frightening, Even with every possible security measure taken because hackers don't get any LESS sophisticated with time. But we are living in scary times and realistically, I don't think anyone, not even major market stations with far more security advanced equipment than Barix could be absolutely 100% sure these days. It makes me ill to even think of it.

 

[Kelly A]

I think stations need to take at least 75% of the accountability for this. Saving money by using under-secured Internet appliances as STL links is fraught with known peril. You'd think the embarrassing zombie apocalypse EAS incident of a couple years ago would have been warning enough, but apparently not.

Don't install equipment at your radio or TV station that connects to the public Internet and leave default passwords, IP address, or DHCP. This rule is especially true for devices that can go directly on the air.

 

[frankberry]

I think stations need to take at least 75% of the accountability for this. Saving money by using under-secured Internet appliances as STL links is fraught with known peril. You'd think the embarrassing zombie apocalypse EAS incident of a couple years ago would have been warning enough, but apparently not.

Don't install equipment at your radio or TV station that connects to the public Internet and leave default passwords, IP address, or DHCP. This rule is especially true for devices that can go directly on the air.

AMEN! The affected stations are 100% responsible for the hacking. They did not follow the instructions to change the device passwords.
It WILL happen again. The FCC should hold the stations accountable for these hacks. There is no excuse.
That's my two-cents worth (as I step down from my soapbox).