Boxford pirate's coax cable cut

[Mike Fitzpatrick]

>Precisely my  point. He is definitely not licensed. I will say I wasn't 
>aware LPFMs aren't  licensed under 92 MHz--but indeed
>that makes sense. 

LPFM's are licensed to channels 201 (88.1) to 300 (107.9). There is no
"below 92mhz" rule.
Not sure where that started but that is completely incorrect information.

Right here in New England we have a LPFM operating on 89.1 (WYTC-LP), in
Hyde Park, VT.


>I don't really care  whether he has a license or not. The local police  
>aren't the FCC nor do they have the authority to do anything about it. 

They have the authority to contact the FCC before persuing anything.
 
>I guess that makes it alright to vandalize someone's home because he didn't

>have a license. 

I don't recall anyone saying that. What was pointed out was the true irony
of the situation.
The guy calling the police because someone damaged his illegal radio
station. Just a ironic situation 
was all that was said.

>It is doubtful that this station is interfering with anyone 87.9 isn't  
>doing anything right now and the increased range is probably due to the
fact 
>that  there is no other station on the frequency.  
 
Hmm. Might want to ask 2nd adjacent WBMT about that. WBMT, is a LICENSED
radio station, 
operating LEGALLY, using circular polarization. It is not very far from this
guy's illegal operation.
It is a class A FM station, therefor, it receives protection to its 1st,
2nd***, and 3rd frequencies.
So the answer is, technically, yes, this guy IS interfering with another
station, 2nd adjacent WBMT.3
And depending on the power he is using, he could be causing prohibited
overlap into 1st adjacent WMBR.
It's probably clear from IF spaced 98.5, but I couldn't tell at this moment
if it is or not.

>Let's not forget there are many pirates in Boston DO interfere with  
>commercial stations and what exactly is the FCC doing about it? My take on
it is  
>if there are others doing it and the FCC looks the other way what is the 
>problem  with that?  
 
This time I am going to agree with you, partially.
The FCC does seem to be looking away from this. What needs to happen here is
what happens in Florida.
Where the local authorities can go after these illegal broadcasters. Maybe
the FCC needs local broadcast
engineers to help them team up to go after these people. Maybe even the SBE
chapter could form some sort of 
"pirate alliance" that reports directly to the FCC. It isn't difficult to
find these guys.
I have a simple piece of equipment and have documented the location of
several dozen pirates all ready using
it and with the help of a friend of mine, we have yet to have a pirate which
we haven't found. The information
IS there, and the FCC will be told this information on a as-needed basis. (I
would be willing to share 
the whole list if they wanted it.)

>If any pirate has an audience and a commercial  or NCE station claims  that

>they are "stealing" their audience, as if the audience is obligated to  
>listen to a specific station,  you would think that they would get the
message 
>but they don't.
> 
>What station in Boston, or the suburbs, serves the 55+ year old  demo the 
>media dead people?  "Yeah, but they don't have a  license".  

See that's not the problem I have, nor do most engineers have with these
clowns. It isn't about the audience they serve, it's about
the engineering practices they are doing and the fact that they're breaking
a well established federal law.
These guys don't do interference studies, don't adhere to RFR guidelines.
There has been more than once when I have seen a pirate using 
a antenna that is literally feet off a roofline, and the station is clearly
using more than 1kW. The RFR levels on that would greatly
exceed the FCC minimums for uncontrolled exposure.

I do NOT condone who ever damaged this guy's equipment at all. Being a Ham
and a broadcaster myself, I would never want that happening to me.
There are legal channels to go take care of these things. And if you don't
like the interference being caused by the station, there are routes 
to take to get the station shut off without causing vandalisim. However
hopefully the vandals end up in court along side this guy, for both 
breaking the law.  

--Mike