Honestly, I don't know if I am on the right board. I have a question I hope someone can answer. If a pirate radio station is on the air, The FCC has the technology to find out where the signal is originating from. I am wondering if someone like myself can purchase a "Detector" of sorts to find out where a pirate radio station is originating from? Are there any Electronics stores online or not that sells it?
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Is there a such thing as a "Pirate Radio Station Detector?
- Thread starter Madmansam
- Start date
To find a pirate, one must first ascertain the transmission is not a licensed signal. They may be so good you can't tell them from a
licensed station, but most of the time, even if they have given passable call signs, they are obviously, or proudly, a pirate.
There is no detector. If you have ever rotated an AM radio to make the signal better, you have learned how to radio-locate.
You find which side of the radio is hot vs. dead and then you plot on a map the direction of the strongest signal.
Now you move yourself and radio. 5 blocks, 5 miles, whatever. Aim the radio again. Plot the new heading on the map.
Where the lines cross, is the transmitter/antenna. For FM, you need a directional antenna (yagi) looking like an old TV antenna, horizontally oriented. Same drill, find max heading, plot on a map, move postion and repeat.
Amatuer radio guys still do this for fun, and call it a fox hunt.
licensed station, but most of the time, even if they have given passable call signs, they are obviously, or proudly, a pirate.
There is no detector. If you have ever rotated an AM radio to make the signal better, you have learned how to radio-locate.
You find which side of the radio is hot vs. dead and then you plot on a map the direction of the strongest signal.
Now you move yourself and radio. 5 blocks, 5 miles, whatever. Aim the radio again. Plot the new heading on the map.
Where the lines cross, is the transmitter/antenna. For FM, you need a directional antenna (yagi) looking like an old TV antenna, horizontally oriented. Same drill, find max heading, plot on a map, move postion and repeat.
Amatuer radio guys still do this for fun, and call it a fox hunt.
They use radios, spectrum analyzers, and RADIOS. It's not at all hard to tell when a meter is pegging the scale, and you drive around just a little bit to make sure. Then you knock on the door. If you're doing a good job at radio, it is very hard to NOT be found.
This is why the successful pirates (over 10 yrs operating) DO NOT broadcast from home, but have worked out effective means of being somewhere else with their RF indiscretions.
This is why the successful pirates (over 10 yrs operating) DO NOT broadcast from home, but have worked out effective means of being somewhere else with their RF indiscretions.
C
callfm
Guest
A yagi (diretional) antenna is good, however once you are within 0.5-1.0 MV and greater signal strength (within a few miles of the pirate station) the signal is more than saturating the radio reciever and moving the antenna in different directions won't make a difference. You would be better with a signal strength meter connected to the antenna so you can see some type of increase in the field strength.
Ramsey Electronics makes a doppler direction finder DDF, but it is difficult to use and it is designed to work up in the 140MHz range which isn't the FM radio band. We've used one, but it needs to be modified according to the equations provided in the design notes to work for the FM band.
There are some commercial doppler units that the FCC and FAA use. These are expensive, $1000-$2000 plus. A field strength meter works good and you just need to criss cross through the signal center a time or two to find the pirate antenna.
Another alternative, we have used many times, is to start with 1) a listener complaint to get the general part of town, 2) drive toward that area repeatedly scanning back and forth on the car radio and note where the radio begins locking onto the pirate station consistently. Then drive through that area till you can't lock onto the signal anymore. Double back to the center and 3) use a pocket radio, without an antenna, inside the car the reception will be minimal until you are within blocks of the station 4) find the center of reception again and then 5) cover the pocket radio in foil to limit the reception even more and then narrow in on the center. 6) Look for an antenna on a mast, once you have found it, verify it by 7) wrapping the radio completely in foil well - you will only get reception from the street in front of the crime scene.
In 99% of the pirates we have found, they are renting space in a commercial office building. Write down the phone number off of the "for lease" sign in front, or look up the address on the county's property tax appraiser website to determine the owner. Notify the owner that there is an illegal station operating from the property and that you have already notified the Federal Communications Commission and that you will pursue a civil suit for damages against the property owner if the antenna is not removed within 12 hours. Most of the time the landlord is not even aware that a tenant has put an antenna on the roof of their building and they'll take care of it immediately.
Ramsey Electronics makes a doppler direction finder DDF, but it is difficult to use and it is designed to work up in the 140MHz range which isn't the FM radio band. We've used one, but it needs to be modified according to the equations provided in the design notes to work for the FM band.
There are some commercial doppler units that the FCC and FAA use. These are expensive, $1000-$2000 plus. A field strength meter works good and you just need to criss cross through the signal center a time or two to find the pirate antenna.
Another alternative, we have used many times, is to start with 1) a listener complaint to get the general part of town, 2) drive toward that area repeatedly scanning back and forth on the car radio and note where the radio begins locking onto the pirate station consistently. Then drive through that area till you can't lock onto the signal anymore. Double back to the center and 3) use a pocket radio, without an antenna, inside the car the reception will be minimal until you are within blocks of the station 4) find the center of reception again and then 5) cover the pocket radio in foil to limit the reception even more and then narrow in on the center. 6) Look for an antenna on a mast, once you have found it, verify it by 7) wrapping the radio completely in foil well - you will only get reception from the street in front of the crime scene.
In 99% of the pirates we have found, they are renting space in a commercial office building. Write down the phone number off of the "for lease" sign in front, or look up the address on the county's property tax appraiser website to determine the owner. Notify the owner that there is an illegal station operating from the property and that you have already notified the Federal Communications Commission and that you will pursue a civil suit for damages against the property owner if the antenna is not removed within 12 hours. Most of the time the landlord is not even aware that a tenant has put an antenna on the roof of their building and they'll take care of it immediately.
D
dbdigital
Guest
callfm said:
Then tazer the pirates and their supporters, bust their heads open, fine them into insolvancy and haul their sorry carcasses off to prison like the dangerous criminals they are. In this way the community can continue to safely listen to the crap licensed stations pump out.
Oh, and if anyone questions these tactics as excessive, play the "planes falling out of the sky" scare card.
db
If they are doing such a poor engineering job as to hijack an in-use frequency, or even if they do find clear frequency but run the thing so poorly they interfere or do not respect even weak adjacents, I say fry 'em, too.
Listener complaints will get pirates taken down faster than local-to-transmitter complaints, and in fact, the rooftop installations
decribed may not have had tenants in the building to complain about rectification/detection in phones or other equip.
The near-field measures are all gospel, You just reduce gain until there's nothing left but on the doorstep of where it's from.
What I want know is, what about stations that were really professional sounding like WHOT, they ran a long time.
The airchecks I've heard would not lead me to complain, but become a loyal listener. So, if they operated at the same engineering quality level, public service level, and their allocation, COL, if in fact would be "approvable", would the FCC leave them on if they went 24/7?
Is that why some of those political pirates ran for years?
I know there was at one time some reluctance to knock on the door until after transmissions ceased, and the longer you made them wait, the madder they got, because you were probably tying up some local policemen as well.
Listener complaints will get pirates taken down faster than local-to-transmitter complaints, and in fact, the rooftop installations
decribed may not have had tenants in the building to complain about rectification/detection in phones or other equip.
The near-field measures are all gospel, You just reduce gain until there's nothing left but on the doorstep of where it's from.
What I want know is, what about stations that were really professional sounding like WHOT, they ran a long time.
The airchecks I've heard would not lead me to complain, but become a loyal listener. So, if they operated at the same engineering quality level, public service level, and their allocation, COL, if in fact would be "approvable", would the FCC leave them on if they went 24/7?
Is that why some of those political pirates ran for years?
I know there was at one time some reluctance to knock on the door until after transmissions ceased, and the longer you made them wait, the madder they got, because you were probably tying up some local policemen as well.
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