Brocton piratre causes havok at Logan

[Neggy]

I know there are those of you who support pirate radio, and then there are the rest of us law abiding types who work in the trade and hate pirates.

Nice write up in the Globe today about a Brocton pirate than INTERFERED with the ground control radio frequency at Logan. When the Feds fond the transmitter they shut it down, left a note to leave it off, but did that work? Nope pirate back at it again.

Try to explain to 400 families why their loved ones died because a 767 taxied across 9L while another 767 was on its takeoff roll.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/09/07/rogue_radio_not_music_to_logan/

 

[jlehmann]

I found a station at that address back in June, it was on 103.1. It hasn't been on the air for probably 2 months now. Maybe this one actually shut down for good!

 

[freqlost]

This is why Homeland Security must become involved in this.
The FCC is either unwilling/unable to cope with this problem.
Miami has dealt with this same problem of airport interference as I recall.

 

[Neggy]

Trust me on this one, flying is hard enough, trying to hear the instructions from the tower, understanding them, and in most cases reading them back to the tower. Plus I have seen the airport diagrams for Logan and there is a lot of real estate there. It is one airport I have never flown into ( the $$$ to fly a small plane into logan is obscene) and I hope I never have to.

Wait till they screw up an airport like Nantucket where the tower controls the arrivals, departures, and ground traffic.... and they share a frequency with other airports in the area so you are at say 2500 feet picking up a pirate out of Brockton and it is screwing up Norwood, Marshfield, Provincetown, New Bedford, and ACK... would make for a fun afternoon as we are all trying to get in and out of these places dodging Cape Air's Kamikaze pilots.

(and if you think engineers have their own language, listen to pilots. )

 

[rapking]

Time for Logan ( and other airports ) fix there "Fisher Price " Towers . If a Pirate Radio can mess up Logan , I wonder what Bin Laden crew can do . Pirate Radio Rules ! Logan Airport,Please Fix That Tower outdated Junk .

 

[jlehmann]

Time for Logan ( and other airports ) fix there "Fisher Price " Towers . If a Pirate Radio can mess up Logan , I wonder what Bin Laden crew can do . Pirate Radio Rules ! Logan Airport,Please Fix That Tower outdated Junk .

Just curious... How would you feel about pirate radio if the stations were airing rock or country music?

 

[rapking]

Time for Logan ( and other airports ) fix there "Fisher Price " Towers . If a Pirate Radio can mess up Logan , I wonder what Bin Laden crew can do . Pirate Radio Rules ! Logan Airport,Please Fix That Tower outdated Junk .

Just curious... How would you feel about pirate radio if the stations were airing rock or country music?

If its Underground Rock ( That Boston Rock Stations are scared to play ) I will love it . Sorry but I not a country music fan .

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

pirates always wrong, always illegal. case closed.

Maybe when those who support illegal pirates are victims of something ELSE that is illegal, they will grow up and get the message...

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

further comments...

I would comment directly to those who advocate this illegal behavior, (who have obviously never worked
in a legitimate broadcast station - and never will) but I am quite certain that the moderators would censor me yet again. This has already happened several times. It would appear that openly supporting, and encouraging, illegal behavior is acceptable on this board, but responding to this behavior is 'inflammatory" and is not allowed...

 

[raccoonradio]

>>Time for Logan ( and other airports ) fix there "Fisher Price " Towers . If a Pirate Radio can mess up Logan , I wonder what Bin Laden crew can do . Pirate Radio Rules ! Logan Airport,Please Fix That Tower outdated Junk .

there= their

>>Pirate Radio Rules!

until you get a fine from the FCC...
Laura Ingraham was playing a tower conversation with a Chinese airline pilot who spoke English but
so heavily accented that the air traffic controller couldn't understand what the heck he was saying;
the ATC got enraged. These pilots are supposed to speak clearly, etc.

And pirate radio stations interfering with their signals is just as bad if not worse.

 

[mistermicrophone]

Time for Logan ( and other airports ) fix there "Fisher Price " Towers . If a Pirate Radio can mess up Logan , I wonder what Bin Laden crew can do . Pirate Radio Rules ! Logan Airport,Please Fix That Tower outdated Junk .

Grow up. This isn't about the pirate stations, this is about public safety. Regardless of the equipment Logan uses, these pirates are breaking the law and jeopardizing lives at the same time. For you to condone this shows your respect for your fellow man.

 

[Signpost]

I can't help but quietly cheer on the pirates - who arguably are engaging in the sort of "civil disobedience" that often can improve and enrich society - in this case a rigid radio industry that fails to provide what some listeners actually want - due to tight regulation that keeps forward thinking competitors locked out (ironically made worse by "deregulation" - handing all the frequencies over to a small group of owners).

In England, successful pirates like Radio Caroline and KissFM in London (100.00 Mhz) were so successful, they changed the radio industry for the better, and ultimately became legitimate broadcasters. Here in Boston, programmers would be wise to understand the popularity of "Big City FM", which seems to have a following.

But interfering with air traffic endangers lives. A punishment of jail time would be appropriate in this case. What frequency were they on? Was a harmonic causing the interference?

 

[rapking]

Time for Logan ( and other airports ) fix there "Fisher Price " Towers . If a Pirate Radio can mess up Logan , I wonder what Bin Laden crew can do . Pirate Radio Rules ! Logan Airport,Please Fix That Tower outdated Junk .

Grow up. This isn't about the pirate stations, this is about public safety. Regardless of the equipment Logan uses, these pirates are breaking the law and jeopardizing lives at the same time. For you to condone this shows your respect for your fellow man.

Logan dont care about "There Fellow Man ". With the lack of Security, Logan is the birth place of 9/11. Whats Next , Shutdown your cell phone's in 617/508 Area code's , because Logan airport equipment full of crap ! Maybe Logan need to stop talking into there Dixie Cups and use Smoke Signals , Ok Logan cant use Smoke Signals , Because To many American are smoking that " Against The Law Stuff " That might mess up Logan Smoke signals .

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Re: Brockton pirate causes havoc at Logan

It is not Logan Airport '"THEIR" equipment at fault. Illiterate, you cannot even speak the language!
Maybe when somebody that you care about is on a plane that goes down,
a police call that is never received, a house that burns down, a gas main that explodes ---
you will get a clue... Pirates are but a symptom of the problem -- not the solution, EVER,
under any circumstances.

As for "civil disobedience" -- it is a good thing that one of you is "broadcasting in a parallel universe" --
you sure as hell will never be broadcasting in THIS universe. You both need to GROW UP AND GET A CLUE!

 

[Neggy]

OK (c)Rapking why don't I book 4 hours of air time, you and I can go flying around southeastern MA down to say NYC and back, I'll file a VFR flight plan, and I'll shut off the radio, the GPS, we'll fly without LORAN, RADAR, we won't use any localizers or beacons, let's just pretend that the most protected part of the radio spectrum, (even more so than military frequencies) has been over run with unauthorized users or interference from harmonics and has become useless.

We'll go back to the way it used to be.. follow the roadways, use dead reckoning, landmarks, good old fashioned luck, a compass, and an altimeter.

Let us just hope we don't wander into restricted airspace.. like say over a NFL stadium, or class A airspace, or someplace where Air Force 1 is scheduled to fly through because without radio, those f-16's that will be about 50 feet of my wing tips will not be there to give us a high 5.

Don't worry we'll only be at 2500 feet above ground level.

 

[rapking]

OK (c)Rapking why don't I book 4 hours of air time, you and I can go flying around southeastern MA down to say NYC and back, I'll file a VFR flight plan, and I'll shut off the radio, the GPS, we'll fly without LORAN, RADAR, we won't use any localizers or beacons, let's just pretend that the most protected part of the radio spectrum, (even more so than military frequencies) has been over run with unauthorized users or interference from harmonics and has become useless.

We'll go back to the way it used to be.. follow the roadways, use dead reckoning, landmarks, good old fashioned luck, a compass, and an altimeter.

Let us just hope we don't wander into restricted airspace.. like say over a NFL stadium, or class A airspace, or someplace where Air Force 1 is scheduled to fly through because without radio, those f-16's that will be about 50 feet of my wing tips will not be there to give us a high 5.

Don't worry we'll only be at 2500 feet above ground level.

No Fear Here , but I dont date Strangers or Guys .

 

[Signpost]

As for "civil disobedience" -- it is a good thing that one of you is "broadcasting in a parallel universe" --
you sure as hell will never be broadcasting in THIS universe. You both need to GROW UP AND GET A CLUE!

Mr. WLYNgm, tell me this: to whom do the airways belong? Are the frequencies you license YOUR property? What entitles you to broadcast and profit from a piece of spectrum? "Civil disobedience" is entirely applicable here, and acts of civil disobedience have resulted in civil rights, US out of Vietnam, and equal rights for women, among other rectifications of an unjust society. If a pirate is causing no harm, no interference, the only real damage being done is to you - in the form of competition, which quite frankly the industry needs. Imagine if a pirate broadcaster was able to lure listeners BACK to radio when licensed broadcasters couldn't. Just the notion of someone operating illegally, risking fines or arrest, simply to broadcast "from the heart" - not for ratings - could generate interest, and possibly lure someone away from Satellite, internet radio, their iPod, or heaven forbid - YOUR station. I remember scanning the dial in London, fascinated by all the pirates I was picking up.. listening to those broadcasts instead of the BBC, Capital, or XFM.

I know most of the pirate's broadcasts are crap, so, as long as they're not interfering, then you have nothing to worry about. After all, you're only interested in "protecting your turf", right?

MESSAGE to RAPKING: bro, i usually agree with what you say, but you're off base about Logan airport - interference is interference, regardless of how good your communications systems are. I'm sure Logan could use an upgrade, but that doesn't excuse a pirate interfering with air traffic communication. That pirate needed to be shut down, and there's no philosophical defense applicable here.

 

[Neggy]

the airwaves may belong to the public but they are licensed to broadcasters for money. Those licenses grant us in exchange for hefty fees, exclusive use of a frequency in a geographic area, with the technical things like how close a first or second adjacent is located to you so that you don't get interfered with.

The airwaves belong to the PEOPLE, not to YOU. YOUR government licenses them out. Companies and others invest money to provide services to the public, in return for the right to air ads, the ad revenue pays for the licenses, and every other cost involved.

You as an American citizen are free to apply for a license(google Ed Perry), or challenge the fitness of anyone who currently holds one( google General Tire). There are legal uses for microwatt powered transmitters that can be heard over the AM and FM broadcast bands. There is no legal provision to throw up an antenna, run coax, and pump out hundreds of watts and sell advertising and program a frequency you do not have a license to operate on.

What part of that don't you understand?

When I go to work I am the person responsible for making sure the tower lights are lit so a plane doesn't fly into the tower, I make sure I am within 5% of our licensed power, I make sure we are on frequency, I make sure a proof of operation is run on a regular basis so I am not tossing a harmonic that will cause problems with other licensees or receivers. I make sure the EAS system is tested so Amber Alerts get aired. I work for a company that is paying taxes on their income. I bet you a c note your pirate friends are not. I make sure E.E.O. is followed. Thats what real broadcasters do.

 

[Neggy]

BTW this ( http://www4.passur.com/bos.html ) is one of my favorite plane related websites.

Before you go condoning the illegal actions of the pirate that screwed up the ground frequency at BOS, look at how many planes are arriving or departing from BOS at any given time. The site runs about 20 minutes behind real time for security reasons, and the actual flight info on plane type, point of origin, or destination is held back several hours, but you can go back and see it.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Mr. WLYNgm, tell me this: to whom do the airways belong?

"Airways" or "airwaves" (the ultimate artificial construct...read: straw man...always used by those who don't grasp the concept) do not exist in nature. They do not exist at all until someone turns on a transmitter on a specific frequency. The laws of the United States clearly and unmistakeably state that radio transmissions may be made only after a party is licensed to do so...laws which have been repeatedly upheld in the federal courts in this country for the past 70+ years. There is NO law which states, anywhere, in any language whatsoever, that so-called "airways" belong to the people.

Are the frequencies you license YOUR property?

Effectively, yes. While they are licensed to his company, he is entitled to use them pretty much as he sees fit, and to profit from them. His company pays the government an annual license fee for the use of that frequency. If that doesn't fit the definition of property rights, it's difficult to imagine what does.

What entitles you to broadcast and profit from a piece of spectrum?

A license from the FCC...which, you may or may not remember, pirates don't have. His company applied for a license, pursuant to the laws of the United States, and the government granted that license. Pirates don't give a damn about the law. They don't care about who they interfere with, and in some cases (as we've seen at Logan Airport recently, and at other airports around the country), they don't care whose safety they imperil. It's all about them. Not.

If a pirate is causing no harm, no interference, the only real damage being done is to you - in the form of competition, which quite frankly the industry needs.

Someone's notion of whether or not a radio station serves the community it's licensed to does not in any way, shape or form justify breaking the law. Please spare us the altruistic crap about pirates serving their community. This is the same garbage I repeatedly hear from those who try to justify downloading music from the 'net without paying for it: "CDs are too expensive or the music is crap or the record companies make too much money or (etc., etc., etc.), so I'm justified in stealing them." Show me one pirate broadcaster who turned on his or her transmitter for that "higher" purpose of serving their community. The fact is, you can't find one. They're egotistical morons whose contorted rationalizations to justify what they're doing would be laughable if they weren't so pathetic. They do it because they can, and they know that the legal process takes time. That's all there is to this...nothing more.