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Pirates

B

BJSteigner

It looks like the FCC started to fine the pirates again.

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau on Friday (Jan. 18) said it had slapped a pair of pirate broadcasters with stiff fines for “willfully” operating transmitters without licenses.

The commission said Nicolas Paula was operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on 94.5 MHz in Bronx, N.Y., and failed to permit a station inspection. He was hit with a $17,000 fine.

In Danbury, Conn., Eliandro B. Ramos did not deny to the FCC’s Boston office of the Enforcement Bureau that he had no license to operate on 296.550 MHz, but he said he could not pay the $10,000 fine levied by the commission. However, the FCC didn’t buy the story and is leaning on him for full payment.


I wonder what will happen to the pirates here in New York City?

Are these people still protesting the programming on commercial radio? I believe that's why there are pirate signals being put on the dial.

Do we agree?
 
BJ Steigner said:
It looks like the FCC started to fine the pirates again.

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau on Friday (Jan. 18) said it had slapped a pair of pirate broadcasters with stiff fines for “willfully” operating transmitters without licenses.

The commission said Nicolas Paula was operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on 94.5 MHz in Bronx, N.Y., and failed to permit a station inspection. He was hit with a $17,000 fine.

In Danbury, Conn., Eliandro B. Ramos did not deny to the FCC’s Boston office of the Enforcement Bureau that he had no license to operate on 296.550 MHz, but he said he could not pay the $10,000 fine levied by the commission. However, the FCC didn’t buy the story and is leaning on him for full payment.


I wonder what will happen to the pirates here in New York City?

Are these people still protesting the programming on commercial radio? I believe that's why there are pirate signals being put on the dial.

Do we agree?
Click to expand...

Hey BJ-why don't you tell everyone that this is clipped from Radio and Records?
 
The FCC hasn't stopped fining the pirates, there's been other fines that I've read about in the past couple of years. However, for every one station they fine, there seems to be 20 or 30 others that are still on the air. And for every pirate station that does get taken off the air, there are others that come in to fill the void.
 
And of course the FCC slap the fine down, but there is no follow-up to collect it. If I get fined $17,000 and never pay it, did I really get fined?

Confiscate the darn equipment that these law breakers are using.
 
Towerclimber31 said:
And of course the FCC slap the fine down, but there is no follow-up to collect it.
Click to expand...

...and you know this...how?

Federal law provides that all fines not collected after a certain amount of time are automatically referred to the US Attorney of the district where the accused resides, for collection.
 
BJ Steigner said:
The commission said Nicolas Paula was operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on 94.5 MHz in Bronx, N.Y., and failed to permit a station inspection. He was hit with a $17,000 fine.
Click to expand...

In an interesting typo, the Public Notice said Paula was fined for "...failure to operate an unlicensed radio transmitter...".

In Danbury, Conn., Eliandro B. Ramos did not deny to the FCC’s Boston office of the Enforcement Bureau that he had no license to operate on 296.550 MHz, but he said he could not pay the $10,000 fine levied by the commission. However, the FCC didn’t buy the story and is leaning on him for full payment.
Click to expand...

This one is bizarre. It is of course not a broadcasting frequency. Best I can tell, it's a military frequency. I can't imagine why anyone would want to operate an unauthorized station on 296.55; there are plenty of normal two-way radio frequencies for which off-the-shelf equipment is available - if you're wanting to broadcast, a frequency between 88-108MHz provides a much bigger audience :) - and an unauthorized station is really going to stand out like a sore thumb in military spectrum.

I might guess:
- 296.55 is a typo.
- He was a would-be terrorist trying to jam military communications?


I wonder what will happen to the pirates here in New York City?

Are these people still protesting the programming on commercial radio? I believe that's why there are pirate signals being put on the dial.

Do we agree?




[/quote]
 
The pirates in New York lack variety. Most of them play Carribean music, except for one urban pirate that sounds like Hot 97.
 
Curious...what amount of power were their transmitters to receive such stiff fines?
What range did these pirate stations have?
What would be a fine for something really small such as a half watt or a full watt transmitter?
 
These pirates are probably pumping out hundreds of watts, if not 1kw or more. And now, more and more of them are on first-adjacent frequencies of NYC stations (94.5, 95.3, 96.1, 99.3, 102.5 come to mind, and I believe I even heard a 107.7 the other night)
 
I hear the 102.5 pirate barely in New Brunswick, NJ, about 25 miles away! Must be over 100 watts from a highrise building.

The Carribean pirates aren't just limited to New York. I heard 2 pirates in Boston at 101.3 and 102.9, both of them were Carribean. What's with that format being popular on the pirate stations?

If the 100+ watt stations in major markets aren't being caught, the weaker ones won't be caught, we just may not know about the weak ones.
 
The last time I drove around Brooklyn (several months ago), I picked up lots and lots of pirate stations in the vicinity of Brooklyn Museum, etc., as I detailed in this post:
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,70706.0.html

Here in Newark, I often pick up powerful pirates on second-adjacent frequencies in the commercial band, like 95.1, 99.9, 104.7, etc., plus a hip-hop pirate at 96.1 or 96.5, which can't make WQXR very happy. They often broadcast only at night and/or on weekends. There's a particularly persistent one at 90.1 FM called Roadblock Radio, which has commercials and heavily promotes various concerts and events. It causes interference with licensed station WKCR (89.9) on the GS Parkway at around exit 143-145, but nowhere else, so I'd guess it's coming from Irvington or southwestern Newark, but it reaches for at least 6-8 miles; you can sorta get it in Paramus. So, I agree that many pirates must be broadcasting with at least 100w from the top of high-rises. I also heard a Jewish orthodox (!) pirate at 91.9 while driving down the GS Parkway around Clark and Edison NJ several weeks ago. Seems like there are multitudes of pirates!

What's with that format being popular on the pirate stations?
Click to expand...
I read an article somewhere indicating that Carribeans listen to a LOT of FM radio, much more so than the average person these days.

See also:
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,14083.0.html
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,73846.0.html
 
There's an 87.9 pirate in north NJ broadcasting at least 500 watts, it has a better signal than Pulse 87.7 when it's on. That pirate has been on for 5 years at least.
 
Earlier today I heard that Jewish talk station at 91.9 again, depending on where I placed my antenna here in Newark. It was in Hebrew this time, not English. Surprisingly, someone mentions also hearing it (or another religious Jewish talk station) in Brooklyn (!) in this thread:

[EDIT]

I'm also hearing lots of Carribean pirates, as usual, including one at 107.9 with lots of professional-sounding advertisements for various businesses in places like Irvington, Maplewood, Bloomfield, and Newark, but I'll post more about that on the New Jersey board.

[EDIT-unauthorized link removed]
 
motnow said:
Curious...what amount of power were their transmitters to receive such stiff fines?
What range did these pirate stations have?
What would be a fine for something really small such as a half watt or a full watt transmitter?
Click to expand...

The power output or range is irrelevant.

The standard for unlicensed transmitters in the AM band is a maximum of 100 milliwatts input to the final RF amplifier stage and a maximum combined length of transmission line, antenna and ground wire of three meters (47 CFR §15.219)

The standard for unlicensed transmitters in the FM band is a maximum field strength of 250 microvolts per meter at three meters. (47 CFR §15.239)

Neither of those will get you very far.
 
Nick said:
I hear the 102.5 pirate barely in New Brunswick, NJ, about 25 miles away! Must be over 100 watts from a highrise building.

The Carribean pirates aren't just limited to New York. I heard 2 pirates in Boston at 101.3 and 102.9, both of them were Carribean. What's with that format being popular on the pirate stations?

If the 100+ watt stations in major markets aren't being caught, the weaker ones won't be caught, we just may not know about the weak ones.
Click to expand...

102.5 is in East Orange and 99.9 is in Orange.Tell em to look around Central ave,the 99.9 dingbat gives out his phone number,he wants to get caught!
 
I thought the 102.5 signal was close; I live in Bloomfield. The 96.5 pirate has been on the air for a year now; and does anyone remember the white supremacist pirate station on 95.1? That was on the air for a year too, although that one only broadcasted at night, which is why they got away with it for a long time.

But yeah, the pirate situation is out of control, here in suburban Jersey, they usually use the 2nd adjacent signals with some exceptions, 87.9, 90.1, 90.5, 91.9, 95.1, 99.9, 102.3, and 104.7, have been riddled with pirates for years.
 
The more power you have increases your chances of being tagged by the FCC. Low powered stations, ie. <1 watt, while still very illegal are tougher to catch unless someone complains to the FCC and they start hanging around the area. Unless your far away from NYC, the chances of finding an unused channel are slim to none. Ajacent channels don't work for obvious reasons.

The best thing to do is operate within the legal parameters and if you can afford the outrageous ASCAP/BMI/SESAC fees, the internet is the way.
 
Is that really the case? Some of the major pirates in NYC have been on for years and years and must be putting out hundreds of watts, if not a 1 kw or more...and they're all still here.
 
BJ Steigner said:
The commission said Nicolas Paula was operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on 94.5 MHz in Bronx, N.Y., and failed to permit a station inspection. He was hit with a $17,000 fine.
Click to expand...

You mean there's ACTUALLY VACANT FM frequencies in the NYC area? Last time I was there, it seemed like EVERY FM frequency had something on it!.....
 
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