Are any other ASTers into this besides me?
Currently I'm pumping a 5 watt transmitter and air late nights, pretty much every weekend. My signal travels throughout the Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Brooklyn area. So much fun, having guests over and at the drop of a button we can go on the air.
There's quite a bit of resources now available for obtaining solid, cheaply priced equipment. If anyone's interested, I'd love to discuss.
I've always wanted to have my own pirate radio station but never pursued it. It's still something I'd be interested in trying out...maybe when I have a couple of bucks to thorw around for fun.
How'd you get started?
-Nick
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Is there some site somewhere that slavishly indexes pirate radio shows, their air times, locations and frequencies, and makes it all available in some website?
HOEP ME
This topic intrigues me and confuses me a little. How does anyone ever know you're on the air? Is the hope that people will "scan" their radios and happen upon your signal?
Yeah, that is my main question. Do you know if anyone is listening? Not that you shouldn't do it anyway, but I'm just interested how you could gain an audience from it. But in a highly congested area such as NYC, at least you've got access to a lot of people.Originally Posted by Itslikeimsayin
I know a few people that work with the Prometheus Radio Project (www.prometheusradio.org) here in Philadelphia, they seem to be doing a lot, even on the FCC/legislative-side to try to make low power stations legal.
Same here, I've wanted to put a station together since around 1992. As a kid living in suburban South Jersey, the pirate and college stations broadcasting out of Philly were my only real exposure to great alternative music. The stuff that basically shaped me to who I am today. I've always wanted to have that sort of influence, kind of keep the ball rolling.
Recently I had a little extra dough while stumbling upon some cheap equipment and went for it.
Most of your needs can be met via Ebay. There's a cool company based out of China that can provide different levels of inexpensive transmitters (which also come with free antennas!), check out their store here
Aside from the transmitter and antenna (aka your stations lifeblood) you'll also need a mixer, compressor/limiter, coaxial cable, microphones and music source. All of which could be purchased on Ebay. Since I already had my music sources - laptop brimming with mp3s, turntable and a gorgeous stack of vinyl - I was able to buy everything for a combined total of around $300. Not bad since the finished product is way greater than the sum of its parts.
Exactly, for the most part it's by chance. Although the station was written about on one of the more popular community blogs here in Brooklyn, which may be both good and bad. The beauty of being somewhat of a secret is:
1. It allows the liberty to experiment and have fun without the pressure of knowing there's someone out there waiting to be pleased.
2. The authorities don't catch wind of the goings on and slap the taste out my mouth.
Aside from that, maybe it'll find its niche. There's been some consistancy with the airtimes, mainly late nights/early mornings, so perhaps people will tune in. We've only began doing actual shows in late June, and there hasn't been any immediate listener response. It's still really fun to just have a conversation with someone that may or may not be eavesdropped upon. And I love going up to my roof just before hitting the air and adjusting my antenna using the "line of sight" technique and knowing that anywhere my antenna sees, my signal travels.
I LOVE pirate radio! It's the graffiti of the airwaves. Putting aside such flagrant abuses as ten straight hours of Frank Zappa music, what I especially love about pirate radio is tuning in and discovering that somebody is speaking to me in his home no more than 50 or so miles away who is bonkers, stoned, indecipherable, disturbingly brilliant, or otherwise among the kinds of people regularly excluded from even most non-commercial radio but who nonetheless are fascinating Harry Smith superstars-in-waiting.
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I liked Pump Up the Volume a lot as a kid as well! In fact, I am going to find that flick and watch it tonight if possible. I bet that nobody really understands these shy guys who want to run a pirate radio station
Do you broadcast at the same frequency each time?
I do - a nice, comfy one in the low 89's. The goal is to aim for a frequency at the very bottom of the dial so as not to obstruct any other existing stations. The one you choose should be completely unoccupied as well as sandwiched between two other free frequencies. That way you're guaranteed not to cause any interference, which would definitely lead to FCC attention.
I wish, every website I've come across offers mainly dead links. It's sad. There has to be something out there and I haven't given up the search.
On a similar note, I found this on Free Radio Berkeley's (another great transmitter/equipment manufacturer) website:
I bet with digital television ruling the airwaves beginning February 2009, we're going to see a whole new pirate tv subculture taking over the newly free analog signals. These are definitely exciting times, the era of discovery!The Revolution Will Be Televised
From Free Radio to Free TV Broadcasting
It is now time to “Turn on, tune in and take over”. Finally, guerilla media activists will be able to say: “There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure.” (Outer Limits intro circa 1963)
Free Radio Berkeley’s engineering staff have designed and developed low power VHF and UHF transmitters by the creative use of off-the-shelf technology. So far, design engineering efforts have yielded TV transmitters capable of reaching a distance of 4-5 miles. Amplifers capable of covering an even greater distance will be available in the first quarter of 2006. Estimated cost for a VHF transmitter and antenna system with an effective radiated power of 75 watts is about $500 (cost of kits & modulator), $700 to $800 for a system with an effective radiated power of 400 watts. For a UHF system, add about $300 to the above amounts. Coverage pattern is 220 degrees, not fully omni-directional. Further work is continuing on the development of antenna systems.
TV Broadcasting kits are now available, check the store catalog for kits. Any composite video source with an audio out signal can be used by the TV transmitters. Click here for a typical TV broadcast configuration diagam. Typically, most folks will most likely use a multiple disk DVD player or a computer with video files on a large capacity hard drive. Live broadcasts are certainly a possibility. This would require several video cameras and a video switcher/mixer.
A 200-disk DVD juke box style player would be able contain almost two weeks worth of material, assuming two hours per DVD. Considering the quantity of video material available, most of which will never be seen on either broadcast TV or cable/satellite feeds, there should not be any problem providing audiences with an exciting and compelling selection of material.
No doubt, the FCC, the National Association of Broadcasters and other entrenched interests will most strenuously object to Micropower or Free TV Broadcasting. What better way to respond to the total propaganda environment that has been created with television media.
I thought DTV would use the same broadcast frequencies, but instead encode them differently (digitally)?
There's a whole generation of kids who haven't heard Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me." Now there's a place where they can hear it 5 times in a row.
Finnegan has experienced first hand my Rockwell mini-marathon. Although we had to snap into the set with breaking news...announcing Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" was being played on the radio. Followed by another million hours of "I aint got no privacy" bliss.
Hey pirate radio, thanks for making podcasting seem relatively legit.
(also, the current analog TV frequencies are being repurposed for high speed internet -- hence the big spectrum auction earlier this year)
I ran a 15 watt low power radio station out of a venue I used to run in a warehouse when I was a pointlessly rebellious teenager with delusions of Happy Harry Hardon, we had a nearly 24/7 schedule though. Set up a booth with all the gear for whoever wanted to DJ, we literally allowed drop-in DJ'ing. If you knew where we were, and dropped by with records, cd's, cassettes, whatever you could have a show for as long as you wanted. Our DJ booth was a fishbowl window that looked onto a foot traffic area so that was cool too. We also broadcast all the concerts and performances we had at the space. It was pretty awesome, 99.9 in Bend, OR circa 1997-1999 or so.. Covered a good portion of town from where the antenna was located.in
Last edited by mediocre; July 25, 2008 at 4:39 PM.
Pirate radio was the podcasting of its day, complete with meandering blog-like monologues. Plus it was cool and dangerous what with Christian Slater and all so getting laid was way more likely, at least that's what I liked to think as I sat playing Pulp records at 3:30 in the AM by myself in boxers..
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