pirate radio problem

[jollyfix]

well had a bit of a shock today,just about to play some music in our tiny ex council London flat ,when on turning on my amp (rega brio),could hear music coming from the speakers.The music volume was like i had placed a set of headphones on each speaker playing at a mid level,ie you could hear it but sounded a bit distant if you know what i mean.After much head scratching went for a walk around our 6 floor block and saw a large aerial on the roof.phoned up our management office and was told its a pirate mast,the office person said they keep taking it down but the pirate keep erecting a new one.:doh:i feel so angry.....its a case of i kind of like pirate radio,but now it affects me and my enjoyment of my music....GRRRRR.

[MartinT]

You could try a few snap chokes placed judiciously on your power cables and interconnects (even speaker cables). They will help to reduce or eliminate the RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) you're experiencing.

http://store03.prostores.com/henryradio/media/00/a207920133473f502815e8_m.JPG

[Barry]

Agreed. They're not expensive, so try fitting them on all the cables of your system: all leads between source and amp; the speaker cables and even the mains cables.

Start with the interconnects, then the speaker cables and finally the mains cables.

[Reid Malenfant]

Or go up to the roof with a drawing pin & stuff it in the damn coax :steam:

Make sure you snap the head off of it so they can't find it...

The short should probably blow their transmitter within 20 or 30 seconds at the outside :)

[jollyfix]

thanks guys will try the snap chokes,and next time im up here will bring my tools (ah hum) too.thanks again for the sound advice

[Barry]

Or go up to the roof with a drawing pin & stuff it in the damn coax :steam:

Make sure you snap the head off of it so they can't find it...

The short should probably blow their transmitter within 20 or 30 seconds at the outside :)

That assumes the transmitter is in the same building as the aerial. I doubt if it is, otherwise the management could trace the cable to a particular flat, inform Ofcom, who would obtain a court order to size the equipment.

Chances are the aerial is actually a booster/repeater, receiving a signal from a nearby low-power transmitter, amplifying the signal and re-radiating it. Usually there will be some frequency conversion involved so the pirate broadcaster can exploit those frequencies where legitimate broadcasters transmit at low powers. The pirates can do all this at no cost to themselves: they are using someone else's mains supply!

Get the management company to fit very good locks to the roof top access and disconnect any outdoor mains supply there may be on the roof. Not a cure but a deterrent - pirates are persistant. All you can do is to make it difficult for them.

[Reid Malenfant]

If it's a repeater then shorting the coax will have the same effect :D

Or if you want to be quick about it just cut the stuff... Either way the VSWR will go through the roof & the transmitter will be damaged due to the power dissipation :violin:

[jollyfix]

prob is that the flats have open front balcony,ie everyone has own front door.To can access the roof from any part of the top floor only a standard step ladder required.so management with good locks wont work.

[Barry]

If it's a repeater then shorting the coax will have the same effect :D

Or if you want to be quick about it just cut the stuff... Either way the VSWR will go through the roof & the transmitter will be damaged due to the power dissipation :violin:

No, a short-circuited receiving aerial will have little effect on the transmitter: its aerial doesn't have sufficient directivity, so it will see a lot of free space and so will be sufficiently matched.

But you are right in that probably the best thing to do is to destroy the equpment. Whilst the components are not very expensive they do cost some money. Again the only thing you can do is to make it not worth the pirates time and effort.

[I do at times have a slight begrudging admiration for the bravery/foolhardiness of these pirates. We had a couple of incidents at work, where pirates had climbed to the top of a 350' mast in the dark of night to install a repeater and run a mains cable down to the bottom to tap into an outdoor mains socket. Like electricity grid pylons, the legs of the mast have barbed wire around them and it takes quite a long ladder to gain access to the internal ladder of the mast. 350' is a long way up: there are aircraft warning lights at the top. To climb and work at that height in the dark takes some doing!]

[goraman]

well had a bit of a shock today,just about to play some music in our tiny ex council London flat ,when on turning on my amp (rega brio),could hear music coming from the speakers.The music volume was like i had placed a set of headphones on each speaker playing at a mid level,ie you could hear it but sounded a bit distant if you know what i mean.After much head scratching went for a walk around our 6 floor block and saw a large aerial on the roof.phoned up our management office and was told its a pirate mast,the office person said they keep taking it down but the pirate keep erecting a new one.:doh:i feel so angry.....its a case of i kind of like pirate radio,but now it affects me and my enjoyment of my music....GRRRRR.

There is a very simple fix for your problem and cheap too.
Trace the coax cable from the arial,you will need a straight pin and a pair of wire nippers.
push the straight pin compleatly throught the coax in one side and out the other being sure to make contact with the center conductor,then clip both ends of the pin and massage the outer jacket of insulation over the clipped stumps of the pin so it is no longer visible.

When he transmits the dead short will send the power right back to the finals and his transmitter will have a catastrophic failure.
It will only cost you a straight pin.

[goraman]

Or go up to the roof with a drawing pin & stuff it in the damn coax :steam:

Make sure you snap the head off of it so they can't find it...

The short should probably blow their transmitter within 20 or 30 seconds at the outside :)

opps sorry i should have read all the posts first, You must be a ameture radio operator too as this trick is an old one.

[Reid Malenfant]

opps sorry i should have read all the posts first, You must be a ameture radio operator too as this trick is an old one.
Something like that, yes ;)

[aquapiranha]

Something like that, yes ;)

Pah! You 'amateurs' with your big showy Yaesu's, your 10M's and your motorised Yagi's.. do it the proper way like I did with a Cobra 148 Mk2 with all the deltas and SL to Sh, with a bloody big zetagi 150 and an antron 99. Man there must have been some peed off hams near me, writing it all down in their little books.. log this log that.. yawn.

Do it properly, seat of your pants DX'ing! :lol:


CQ...CQ...CQDX... this is station Delta Sierra 01, North West coast United Kingdom Calling CQDX and standing by...

Those were truly the days!

[Reid Malenfant]

Pah! You 'amateurs' with your big showy Yaesu's, your 10M's and your motorised Yagi's.. do it the proper way like I did with a Cobra 148 Mk2 with all the deltas and SL to Sh, with a bloody big zetagi 150 and an antron 99. Man there must have been some peed off hams near me, writing it all down in their little books.. log this log that.. yawn.

Do it properly, seat of your pants DX'ing! :lol:


CQ...CQ...CQDX... this is station Delta Sierra 01, North West coast United Kingdom Calling CQDX and standing by...

Those were truly the days!
:lol:

You didn't get it Steve :D I did say something like that...

As it happens I used to run a Superstar 2000 (4 block of 50 channels), Ham International Big-Mac antenna & Zetagi BV131 boots :D

I started off on AM in about 78 I reckon :scratch:

[aquapiranha]

Lol nice one! I started with a Colt 210 and a DV27 on a biscuit tin in the loft, must have been '82. Went through many many radios including HAM .int. various Presidents, a lovely lovely Stalker 9 and of course Cobras and for a short time a Uniden 2830 (what a rig! ) loads of different twigs - thunderpoles, firesticks, a Starduster and finally the Antron. I loved taking the kit up Pentre Halkyn for a night's DX'ing. Oh the memories! :D


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[Reid Malenfant]

Lol nice one! I started with a Colt 210 and a DV27 on a biscuit tin in the loft, must have been '82. Went through many many radios including HAM .int. various Presidents, a lovely lovely Stalker 9 and of course Cobras and for a short time a Uniden 2830 (what a rig! ) loads of different twigs - thunderpoles, firesticks, a Starduster and finally the Antron. I loved taking the kit up Pentre Halkyn for a night's DX'ing. Oh the memories! :D


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
:D My first rig was a Stalker 9, my second a Colt 210 & I think I started off with a DV27 in the loft on a biscuit tin to :rfl:

A bit of a difference between that & the 10M long Big-Mac (http://thecbmuseum.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/ham-big-mac-78.html) :eek:

That picture is in no way to scale :eyebrows: It was 6M across the ground planes, the first section (coil to coil) was 3M tall & the top section was 7M tall.......

One big b'stard that I had with it's base 15M from the ground.


Less stress on the house these days without it :rfl:

[tommy6206]

My main rig is an FT1000mp mk v with 200 watt on tap or 1k + with amp if needed but then I am a licenced radio ham.:eyebrows:

Try using a little portable to df it..