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One down, thousands to go, NJ Pirate equipment confiscated
- Thread starter Deleted User
- Start date
I was thinking about posting that; if it's the one I'm thinking of, which radio-info news mentioned, one big reason it prob got shut down was its proximity to a legit station, WFUV. And I think it ran for quite awhile;
the operators were probably notified of their illegal operation and just kept doing it figuring they'd never be
nabbed.
They were.
the operators were probably notified of their illegal operation and just kept doing it figuring they'd never be
nabbed.
They were.
You're probably right, Bob...there's been a handful of pirates nailed in Boston over the years, and invariably they were the ones operating on an adjacent channel of a major signal in such a way that it demonstrably caused interference to listeners.
The classic example was...if I remember the story correctly...the bonehead in Dorchester, mere blocks away from the Boston Globe's offices, who tried to start a pirate station on 90.5FM. Globe reporters weren't about to lose WBUR while at work, so many of them called WBUR's engineers, who in turn got on the horn to both Washington and Quincy, and that pirate was fined and equipment confiscated within two weeks. Bye-bye stupid pirate!
The classic example was...if I remember the story correctly...the bonehead in Dorchester, mere blocks away from the Boston Globe's offices, who tried to start a pirate station on 90.5FM. Globe reporters weren't about to lose WBUR while at work, so many of them called WBUR's engineers, who in turn got on the horn to both Washington and Quincy, and that pirate was fined and equipment confiscated within two weeks. Bye-bye stupid pirate!
Ah! Hadn't heard of that one, thanks! Yup, getting them to contact WBUR helped. Complaints from
legit broadcasters themselves carry weight.
I know WCRB was getting some interference from a pirate at one point.
A few yrs back a co-worker of mine, who lives in Methuen, complained to the FCC about a pirate on 88.1
preventing him from hearing WMBR's Lost and Found. They were soon gone.
Allegedly Radio Free Allston, later Allston-Brighton Free Radio, had been at 106.1 and I think both WROR
and WMJX complained even though the station was 0.4 MHz away from the former and 0.6 away from the
latter...but yes, the ones right next to legit freqs get the action soon.
legit broadcasters themselves carry weight.
I know WCRB was getting some interference from a pirate at one point.
A few yrs back a co-worker of mine, who lives in Methuen, complained to the FCC about a pirate on 88.1
preventing him from hearing WMBR's Lost and Found. They were soon gone.
Allegedly Radio Free Allston, later Allston-Brighton Free Radio, had been at 106.1 and I think both WROR
and WMJX complained even though the station was 0.4 MHz away from the former and 0.6 away from the
latter...but yes, the ones right next to legit freqs get the action soon.
... and AB Free operated as a pirate station for most of its time on the air. I think we were at 30 watts...
Yes have heard they popped up on that freq a little while back
raccoonradio said:
Driving nearby the Worcester area about a month ago, I heard it and a few others. There was also one on 102.9 that was definitely not Boston's "Choice FM", which wouldn't have come in so well out there (if at all).
My trip though there was on the way to Hartford CT, where I heard a few local pirates there as well.
"Radio Free Allston", the FM incarnation, did indeed operate at 106.1 with 20 watts from a whip antenna, IIRC. That was before I ever met Steve, so I'm not sure. I heard Vince tell the story about busting them at his retirement (from the FCC) dinner a few years back. I think RFA was nailed because it was one of the first really organized (snort!) FM pirates out there...moreso than any real interference to WROR or WMJX. Later as the pirate "problem" got worse and worse, the FCC seemed to get less and less interested in dealing with them. I think there's a host of factors behind that, but that was the end result.
Anyways, about a year after RFA was busted, Steve resurrected it as "Allston Brighton Free Radio". At first it was legal, using a Part 15 "talking house" transmitter on 1540 attached to the billboards on top of the old "Allston Mall". Later that moved to 1630, and another Part 15 AM Rangemaster transmitter on 1670 on top of 119 Braintree Street (the big factory-ish building by the Stop & Shop next to the Pike). ABfree operated legally this way for a few years, but eventually the crew gave up trying to be legal because it was so pointless; nobody could hear that 0.1 watt signal. :-\
I know a 20 watt carrier-current-style AM transmitter was found (probably on eBay), and coupled with a homebrew ATU and a homebrew TIS antenna on the roof of the studios. It worked reasonably well; you could hear ABfree for a mile or two in any direction. The station always had money problems, though...and after a few years the transmitter died and nobody could afford to replace it. That was the end of ABfree. Oh well.
Anyways, about a year after RFA was busted, Steve resurrected it as "Allston Brighton Free Radio". At first it was legal, using a Part 15 "talking house" transmitter on 1540 attached to the billboards on top of the old "Allston Mall". Later that moved to 1630, and another Part 15 AM Rangemaster transmitter on 1670 on top of 119 Braintree Street (the big factory-ish building by the Stop & Shop next to the Pike). ABfree operated legally this way for a few years, but eventually the crew gave up trying to be legal because it was so pointless; nobody could hear that 0.1 watt signal. :-\
I know a 20 watt carrier-current-style AM transmitter was found (probably on eBay), and coupled with a homebrew ATU and a homebrew TIS antenna on the roof of the studios. It worked reasonably well; you could hear ABfree for a mile or two in any direction. The station always had money problems, though...and after a few years the transmitter died and nobody could afford to replace it. That was the end of ABfree. Oh well.
aaronread said:
I don't recall ABFR being on 1540. Are you sure it wasn't 1580 or 1570, or perhaps 1530? It wouldn't have made sense for them to do Part 15 first-adjacent to 10kW daytimer 1550 WNTN just about six miles away, and co-channel with the powerful (easterly) nighttime skywave from 1540 in Albany.
aaronread said:
They could be heard a lot farther than that toward the end. Al may have been correct about 30 watts. I could hear them on any average AM radio in my apartment in Somerville at that time.
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