I tracked down two pirate stations on 87.9 in north Jersey last week. I had intended to track down only one of them, the 87.9 in Irvington with a French Creole format that’s been on for 20 years, but while I was driving around I heard a second smaller pirate station. The second pirate is in Madison NJ.
I found the format of the Madison pirate so interesting, all covers of popular songs. Wish they streamed, I kinda liked the format. It was overmodulated as you’ll see in the video. I recorded them while driving around trying to hunt them down.
I used a directional FM antenna mounted on a pole sticking out the sunroof of my car. I rotated it manually to find the direction that 87.9 was strongest. Then drove in that direction and found a new bearing of the strongest signal. Multi path was a challenge because I’d find a reflection to be the strongest signal instead of the actual direction. Also the antenna could only be safely mounted 2 feet above the roof of my car, so the metal roof interfered with the directional pattern. It couldn’t be as directional like it is when mounted 10 feet above the car.
When I was on the street the pirate station was broadcasting from, I could track down the actual house it’s from by turning the antenna towards the house with the gain turned all the way down. I couldn’t see an antenna for this pirate at night but I’m pretty sure that I found the right house based on the fact that the signal was strongest when I pulled in to the driveway.
Later I tracked down the other stronger 87.9 pirate in Irvington NJ. I did find an antenna on the roof of the house it’s from.
I recorded 87.9 Madison NJ on my SDR as I was driving around hunting it down. Here’s an aircheck of it. Of course there will be fade-outs because I had turned the antenna 360 degrees to find the direction that the signal was strongest.
I found the format of the Madison pirate so interesting, all covers of popular songs. Wish they streamed, I kinda liked the format. It was overmodulated as you’ll see in the video. I recorded them while driving around trying to hunt them down.
I used a directional FM antenna mounted on a pole sticking out the sunroof of my car. I rotated it manually to find the direction that 87.9 was strongest. Then drove in that direction and found a new bearing of the strongest signal. Multi path was a challenge because I’d find a reflection to be the strongest signal instead of the actual direction. Also the antenna could only be safely mounted 2 feet above the roof of my car, so the metal roof interfered with the directional pattern. It couldn’t be as directional like it is when mounted 10 feet above the car.
When I was on the street the pirate station was broadcasting from, I could track down the actual house it’s from by turning the antenna towards the house with the gain turned all the way down. I couldn’t see an antenna for this pirate at night but I’m pretty sure that I found the right house based on the fact that the signal was strongest when I pulled in to the driveway.
Later I tracked down the other stronger 87.9 pirate in Irvington NJ. I did find an antenna on the roof of the house it’s from.
I recorded 87.9 Madison NJ on my SDR as I was driving around hunting it down. Here’s an aircheck of it. Of course there will be fade-outs because I had turned the antenna 360 degrees to find the direction that the signal was strongest.
Last edited:
