I'm looking for a pirate... arrrG

[MickeyD]

No to be a wise guy, but once you find the pirate then what? We've got an FM pirate operating in the Bridgeport, Connecticut area in excess of two years and it appears the FCC is powerless to do anything about it. If they can't do anything about it what then?

As a current FCC Field Engineer told me about a year ago, all enforcement orders come from DC. The only way they will act on a local level is if the station is interfering with the aircraft bands.

 

[RadioMan203]

No to be a wise guy, but once you find the pirate then what? We've got an FM pirate operating in the Bridgeport, Connecticut area in excess of two years and it appears the FCC is powerless to do anything about it. If they can't do anything about it what then?

As a current FCC Field Engineer told me about a year ago, all enforcement orders come from DC. The only way they will act on a local level is if the station is interfering with the aircraft bands.

That's an interesting observation. I know at one point that the pirate in question was interfering with a licensed station's ability to receive their primary EAS monitor assignment. Then again, while letting pirates running hundreds of watts get away scott free they've evidently have their collective panties in a wad about 1/10 of a watt Part 15 AM operators - which I highly doubt are interfering with the aircraft bands.

 

[xmusicmatt]

That's an interesting observation. I know at one point that the pirate in question was interfering with a licensed station's ability to receive their primary EAS monitor assignment. Then again, while letting pirates running hundreds of watts get away scott free they've evidently have their collective panties in a wad about 1/10 of a watt Part 15 AM operators - which I highly doubt are interfering with the aircraft bands.

It all has to do I think if a major broadcaster feels threatened .. i am guessing a lot of the "foreign pirates" since they are not targeting the local Clear Channel or CBS cluster don't feel as big as a threat as long as they don't interfere. I know of a unlicensed station in a market that has been on for years running ethnic programming targeted at a specific market that doesn't compete with any of the major broadcasters... from the strength of their coverage I am guessing is putting out at least 50 watts.. and they are still on air.

 

[Kmagrill]

Although interfering with the aircraft band will produce immediate results, the FCC will also bust non-interfering pirates. Typically, it takes a complaint to get the field office involved. Sometimes, it takes a few complaints. We had a case some time back where a fraternaty was using an unlicensed tv transmitter to broadcast porn movies. The signal only went a few blocks, but someone complained and within a week, they had been located and shut down. A similar case involved an unlicensed FM station that was broadcasting a lot of rude or obscene material. They lasted about a month and were caught.

 

[TomZ]

I was able to narrow the transmitter's location to within a few hundred feet but I saw no visible antenna. The area is residential and every house had a solid fence, so I didn't crane my neck over the fence... The local two way radio dealer offered his Ramsey doppler toy and I will take it out next week.

I put the word out that we weren't really wanting to force the pirate into having to pay the FCC 10 grand....

Oh, they are broadcasting the stream from
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/

It might be anti'0bamaNation propaganda....