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Off Air Dead Carrier

They have a tower behind their old building with microwave links to the transmitter sites. I’m not an engineer so not sure if they still use that stuff, or if there’s a more modern way.
Old tech microwave if installed properly is almost hack proof and not subjected to Internet outages caused by carless construction workers cutting buried cables, failure from the Internet provider's failed updates, and nefarious folks messing with the Internet. The US government has already told members of Congress not to have encrypted conversation on their cell phones. They say Chinese hackers have infiltrated the phone network and apparently they can't figure have to get them out.

Personal opinion: I am afraid for this country if there is a real confrontation with China. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on "connection less" communications that isn't secure and potentially exposed to anyone with a laptop. Back in the "old days" someone had to physically wire tap to steal your info.
 
Live morning shows on WPEG, WNKS and WSOC, correct?
Correct, and mornings are the only daypart with more than one station live. Janine Davis on WBAV is the only live midday show, and Charlie and Debbie on WSOC is the only live afternoon show. I’ve been to the old studios in the afternoon and it’s a ghost town, so I guess it’s a more efficient use of space.
 
Old tech microwave (especially if analog) is 100% hackable by someone who knows what they are doing.
Unless you allow access for remote control thru the RS 232 port and leave your laptop or network it to allow for Internet access through that port, I know of no Internet access for hackers. There is older Marti stuff didn't even have the port or anyway to access to the Internet. IIRC the older (economy) stuff pre 1996 only has audio and composite inputs.

I guess one could get a transmitter and get in the path and overpower the "real" signal.

If there is another way to hack a 1 year old Marti GTX / GRX pair that are not hooked up to the Internet please PM me. I am helping a non commercial that that's running a pair. I am sure some nefarious hillbilly will try it sooner or later
 
I guess one could get a transmitter and get in the path and overpower the "real" signal.
Yes. It's happened in a few places, both radio and TV (e.g. the "Max Headroom" incident in Chicago about 40 years ago). There is plenty of 950-MHz gear around, and someone who is sufficiently motivated and technically proficient could do as you suggest with some effort. No Internet hacking required.

I am sure some nefarious hillbilly will try it sooner or later
I don't think the hillbilly is the most likely miscreant to try something like that.

There was an incident a few years ago in Wilmington NC, where the Cumulus radio cluster started having significant 950 MHz STL dropouts almost every afternoon. The chief engineer was able to track it down to an individual who was upset about people using cell phones in vehicles, and who had mounted a "cell blocker" transmitter in his truck and would drive around town in afternoon traffic. When he got close to the stations' transmitter site, it wiped out the STL receive signal.
 
Being from and living in Appalachia I have been called a Hillbilly. Considering the person who called me that, I consider it a complement. Your examples of microwave hacks are within a small geographic area of the signal path and should be easily handled by local police*. IMHO this is on par with shooting out transformers on power poles which happens more than you would think.

It's the state sponsored folks in or from (name your favorite country that hates America) with laptops that should scare anybody that replies on the Internet.

*I feel the FCC or Trade Commission should keep tabs on folks getting their hands on radio gear that could be misused. Just like when you buy Sudafed they scan your licence in GA. But that discussion would really sidetrack this thread and there are folks that post snarky comments if the tread wonders in a direction they considered a waste of their time reading.
 
Old tech microwave (especially if analog) is 100% hackable by someone who knows what they are doing.

Even digital microwave links can be blocked. Maybe not hacked, as in being able to put other programming on the STL, but a carrier of sufficient level can very well block a digital microwave path.
 
*I feel the FCC or Trade Commission should keep tabs on folks getting their hands on radio gear that could be misused. Just like when you buy Sudafed they scan your licence in GA. But that discussion would really sidetrack this thread and there are folks that post snarky comments if the tread wonders in a direction they considered a waste of their time reading.

Without intending to sidetrack, I agree with you on that.
 
Nothing but dead air on WBAV right now. Not sure what’s going on
Last night around 6:40 PM I tuned in and WBAV ran an intro to a "live remote" at a Taco Tuesday somewhere. There was silence and then the live remote kicked in already in progress. Wondering if this had something to do with what you heard.
 
Even digital microwave links can be blocked. Maybe not hacked, as in being able to put other programming on the STL, but a carrier of sufficient level can very well block a digital microwave path.
But the interference has to be very very local. I still believe microwave STL's can not be hacked by someone with a laptop anywhere in the world there is Internet.* There are a lot more laptops than microwave gear.

*As long as it is not hooked to the Internet by some some "digital crazy engineer" who thinks he has to check on a type of equipment that has ran at some stations for multiple decades with no issues except for lightning. Of course all bets are off when the tower takes a "direct hit" or lightning hits the commercial power feed a mile away and tries to go "up the tower".
 
Last night around 6:40 PM I tuned in and WBAV ran an intro to a "live remote" at a Taco Tuesday somewhere. There was silence and then the live remote kicked in already in progress. Wondering if this had something to do with what you heard.
They didn’t come back on air until after 10pm, and the remote only goes until 9. They always have someone live in the studio for remote, so I doubt it.
 
In the early 1990's WHAS lost a couple of hours one afternoon due to "painters working on a sign".


That's funny, but it's not. Kinda reminds me of the old tower painters joke I heard our first engineer tell, years ago. They decided to skimp on the paint, thinning it out. Afterwords, there came a thunderstorm and God spoke through the clouds, repaint and thin no more.
 


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