AM Pirate Nailed!

[Carmine5]

The FCC in the real world allows power violations out the wazoo for commercial stations, so long as ther are not interference complaints.  Stations authorized to run specific power is not enforced.  Daytme power / nightime power not a problem.  Tower lights not a problem.  I live in the Tampa enforcement district.  What goes on around here is a joke.

Just make sure you're not running a 1/2 watt LPFM!!! and...your AM ground lead is not to long!

No doubt about it, there are double standards at work here.

I just got back from visiting a small town that had a 10kW AM station.  Two years ago, the owner lost his lease and was forced to go dark while he tore down his tower and studio.  No doubt he was scrambling to find another site as the station was dark for some time.

In the end, the owner rebuilt the station in his home with a make-shift antenna in his backyard, and began broadcasting at what I estimate to be 100 watts.  The station address in the FCC files was bogus.  It's an abandoned building in another town. 

Not once during this whole time did the owner file an STA or any paperwork with the Commission.  And I highly doubt during that time he kept the station public files up to date or had his EAS equipment running.

Eventually, the FCC got wind of the situation and investigated.  Ultimately, the owner received a slap-on-the-wrist fine of $3500.00 for not notifying the FCC that the TX site was moved.  To this day, he still hasn't filed the correct address with the Commission.

Yet, someone can run an unlicensed 1/2 watt FM signal on an open channel and the FCC happily sends the person a $10,000.00 bill.

C5

[FreddyE1977]

There was a college near me that took their carrier current transmitter and tied it into an antenna. They were running it that way for months. I don't know what finally brought it to an end, but I was surprised they got away with it for so long.

If it is the college that I am thinking of, they not only tied into an antenna, but used the wiring grid of the local lightrail system AS
their antenna (and got busted when agents picked up their signal at some ungodly distance).

I have posed a theory in another thread about this.....since colleges and universities are allegedly allowed to have a Part 15 service running
out to the edge of their campus boundary, and many of these institutions now have multiple campuses, what is to keep an enterprising
State Legislature out there somewhere from declaring all of them to be part of one "common campus", and to then operate a "Part 15" station that
would service the boundaries of all campuses across many miles (and potentially thousands of watts)?  Provided the signal did not spill over into a neighboring
state, it might make for a very interesting legal case (since "campus" does not appear to be clearly defined anyplace).

[druidhillsradio]

Carmine5, You Get it!  A Big Star for You!!
73, me

[Alan McCall]

And we still think LPAM will even happen with those clowns in charge?
[/quote]

No, I'm not sure it will ever happen at this point.

The LPAM proposal, which I am one of the signatories of, was filed back in August of 2005
and, as far as I know, has had no action taken on it.

Carmine noted the situation of the 10kw AM station. Within a couple hundred miles of me, there is:

a LPFM listed as "licensed" that has been silent for over 2 years;

an AM that operates with no personnel in the place and has run their daytime-only station at full power at night;

an AM with no studio, personnel, or even a working phone number;

I could continue, but I think everyone gets the point already!