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Houston lost a pirate?

C

ContinuousWave

87.9 has been clean for a couple of days...and 38.9 says xxxTV and not xxxFM like it used to...
And found a pirate today in Port Arthur on 95.9...well got close but it got too dark to see antenna but I got close....could pick it up with no antenna on the SUV antenna so I was within a few blocks...I'll try again next weekend
 
Maybe XXX decided to stop pirating. However he's still working with that Guel engineer's station channel 38, so there's that.
What's 95.9 playing?
 
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Maybe it's slightly above part 15 levels. I have a few FM transmitters, the most powerful one doesn't get out more than a few blocks. I consider a bad pirate a station which interferes with another and/or covers more than half a mile or so. If you're on and not playing explicit music or covering another signal on the dial I don't see much wrong with it.
 
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AnyHuman said:
If you're on and not playing explicit music or covering another signal on the dial I don't see much wrong with it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, tell that to the pilot, crew and passengers of an LAX-MIA flight I was on some years back. We abruptly and rather violently had our landing descent aborted just a few miles from the outer marker. The pilot later told us that a pirate radio station had interfered on the tower preferred frequency, and we were at a point where there was not time to switch channels so we had to quickly get off the flight path and away from other planes.

Pirates generally use lower cost equipment that is unprofessionally installed, and are, as a class, dangerous. And, of course, they are illegal.
 
AnyHuman said:
Maybe it's slightly above part 15 levels.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what the actual ERP has been for 87.9, but it doesn't bear even a vague resemblance to part 15. It covers pretty much everything inside Beltway 8 with a semi-listenable signal.

Part 15 coverage is measured in hundreds of feet. The 87.9 pirate's coverage would be measured in miles.
 
But David how long does it take an airplane to travel the distance of half a mile? A few seconds I'd imagine as long as you're not taking off or landing near an airport. So I guess if you're not near an airport, half a mile or maybe even a mile coverage isn't that bad. Also I believe that while transmitters might emit spurious signals the spurious signals are much weaker than the signal on the intended target frequency. Another thing, I'd imagine air traffic control must've started using digital equipment by now but I could be wrong. I do agree with you in the sense that it's better to be safe than sorry though.
 
AnyHuman said:
Another thing, I'd imagine air traffic control must've started using digital equipment by now but I could be wrong. I do agree with you in the sense that it's better to be safe than sorry though.
Click to expand...
You would imagine wrong..Aircraft still use AM for voice comm, VOR and non digital modes for ATC...AM of course is best for weak signal and being able to hear multiple conversations on same channel...
 
AnyHuman said:
But David how long does it take an airplane to travel the distance of half a mile? A few seconds I'd imagine as long as you're not taking off or landing near an airport. So I guess if you're not near an airport, half a mile or maybe even a mile coverage isn't that bad. Also I believe that while transmitters might emit spurious signals the spurious signals are much weaker than the signal on the intended target frequency. Another thing, I'd imagine air traffic control must've started using digital equipment by now but I could be wrong. I do agree with you in the sense that it's better to be safe than sorry though.
Click to expand...

Some of the Miami pirates have been found by the FCC with ERPs in excess of 1,000 watts. Poorly matched and tuned, that means that some of the pirates are putting more power in spurs and harmonics than the actual transmitters on planes and at airports.

I have seen cases of pirate stations where "matching" the antenna consists of trimming elements of a yagi with a pair of dykes. I have seen badly tuned transmitters which put more power into the spurs and harmonics than the fundamental. Much of the gear they use is terrible crap.

In Argentina when I worked there, several of the commercial broadcasters had "pirate control" vans which looked for interfering pirate operations. The principal enforcement tools were a sledge hammer and bolt cutters. Pirate control staffers were hired for physical size.

At one point, one of the dance/rhythmic/hip hop Miami pirates would send sellers to lifestyle related night clubs and say, "if you don't advertise with us, we will send our crew to come and create fights and get you closed down." There is nothing noble or benign about an illegal pirate station.
 
38.9 has been playing music videos for like 3 weeks now
 
rageradio said:

38.9 has been playing music videos for about 2 years
Click to expand...

No it was just music with a slide show of images that is not the true music videos of songs.
 
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