Thoughts on untracable pirate radio.

[benburch]

The recent story of the DC area pirate radio station caused me to think;

That poor sucker is going to get RDF'ed, located. and imprisoned. Any pirate can be located and shut down, and that is why this isn't a threat that the establishment takes seriously.

Now, if I were to write a suspense novel with a pirate radio station in it, say in some future dystopia, that pirate would have to be a bit harder to catch than this fellow is going to be.

The core of the problem is that the signal is in close physical proximity to the pirate.

Obviously, if the radio transmitter were quite remote from the pirate, triangulation would only stop that signal, not cause the immediate arrest of the pirate.

One could have a rebroadcasting setup, for example, where one fed the transmitter with a walkie-talkie, but that just puts off the inevitable; The establishment can trace the walkie-talkie.

But you know, a lot of business establishments have fast internet connections attached to wireless systems that are either not well-secured, or intended to be public.

What if our pirate could mate a cheap computer with a wireless card with an even cheaper AM radio?

Our pirate would design the device to come alive at a specific time and connect to an address on the internet that would be determined by reading a file at some public FTP site and then deleting said file.

Thereafter, it would relay the audio feed from that address until shut off, after which there would be no record of the address it connected to as that address would have never been saved anywhere but in RAM.

Our pirate would deploy this anywhere a power source could be found- In drop ceilings, light fixtures, street lamp bases, outdoor electric sockets behind bushes...

I imagine he would be really difficult to stop.

Comments?

[knowbody0]

1. do you remember the guys

that op erated from a boat for a few months? good times

[benburch]

3. Yes I do!

Finally the Coasties shut them down.

[Ian David]

2. Wouldn't you like to broadcast from my beautiful balloon

How about affixing a transmitter and a recorded message to a smallish weather balloon? Last time I looked you could buy the things on ebay.

It coule even transmit continuously.

[benburch]

4. I thought about that.

But the winds being unpredictable, how could you know it would be heard by any significant number of people?

[htuttle]

21. Tether the balloon

Unless you can manage to haul a 1000 watt transmitter up there, you're going to want to stay within a few hundred feet up anyway. I'd do some research on this first regarding transmitter power and optimum tower height for range. Most low power towers (less than 100w) aren't much taller than 100 feet.

Just turn it on, put it up, tether it somewhere inconspicious, and walk away.

on edit:

Better yet, instead of a tape, buy one of those prepaid disposable cell phones, hook it up to the transmitter, and call it up from your studio for a live broadcast. Make sure the other end is an untraceable phone too, since the broadcast one will store the last number that called.

[Obviousman]

5. Do we have reason

to believe this pirate is on DU?
William Donohue

[benburch]

7. None that I am aware of.

And if he is; Man you are in deep shit.

[Sirveri]

6. I heard a story about some guy who used a fence.

Apparently they thought it was wierd because they kept going out to this farm in the middle of the Bay Area and looking around in the grass.

[madrchsod]

8. a well equipped van

broadcasting on am or fm signal- range up to 2-5 miles in the city. underground schedule of broadcasts also wireless connections. cost some money but i think it would work..

[Sporadicus]

9. Remember 'Pump Up the Volume?'

Christian Slater's character laid some traps for the unwary FCC agents trying to track down the source of his pirate station. Of course it's only a movie, but a clever pirate could confound the feds for a long time. Technology has advanced somewhat since 1990, so I envision an encrypted SW signal - very low power - to a decoder, then to an RF modulator, amplifier & antenna. It would require a lot of work - and the logistics of relocating equipment on a regular basis would make it an endeavor for only the most dedicated broadcaster.

[ChairOne]

18. Zactly - just put the shit in a jeep, and drive around.... .eom

[LifeDuringWartime]

23. sweet movie!

i remember my friend, his step-brother, and i were discussing plans for setting up a pirate radio station. it never happened, however, because the step-brother moved out of state.

it was a good plan...only broadcast from certain times of day, but change it randomly, never from the same place twice, etc.

we were just planning on using it for music...heh.

[DBoon]

10. Have a bunch of different transmitters in diferent locations

and just switch between them at arbitrary intervals.

Feed the audio over the internet as an encrypted stream.

Include coded instructions for one transmiter to drop and the next one to start.

Make sure no one transmitter stays on the air long enough to permit triangulation.

Maybe even make some of the transmitters mobile. Instead of a single van that could be tracked, have many vans, only one of which is actually on at the time

[jesusq]

22. The revolution will not be broadcasted

Or something to that effect, according to Joe Trippi. Internet radio is a cheap way to go international, and if a few enterprising souls wish to fire up a transmitter, build a tower, or transmit the signal from a van, well good for them, but the amount of investment in equipment and power is prohibitive. A 500 watt AM signal covers about 10-15 miles and a 3000 watt FM signal can cover a 20 mile radius, assuming both signals are transmitted from 200 feet above the level of the intended audience. On a positive note, the equipment can be bought cheap since old tube transmitters are throwaways to most legit broadcasters.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. 100,000 watts of outlaw power from Mexico

Or on a ship in international waters in the Gulf or off the east or west coast.

Or maybe in Cuba .......

[benburch]

15. Any fixed site is a target.

And ships simply are slowly moving ones.

Think "Radiation-guided missile."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Would they be crazy enough to bomb Cuba over pirate radio??? (nt)

[benburch]

19. No they'd JAM Cuba.

Huge jamming sets in Key West. The USA used to Jam Radio Havana Cuba on a regular basis.

[Lady Sonelle]

20. Remember Old XPRS?

With the Wolfman howling at night? I heard him every night!

Remember the signoff? "Ekhe, ehpeh, err-esseh, Rosarita, Baja, California!" in a heavy mexican accent. The first words being, of course the letters X P R S in Spanish.

And floating on the illegal airwaves, Wolfman Jack hollering and raving, sometimes almost incoherent, but always there in the night...

"Caller, dis is de WOOF-mayunnn, whatchoo gonna say ta me? Tell me, caller... are you NAY-kidd?!!"
"Oh, wow, Wolfman, no, but if you want..."
"Take off yo PANTIES fo de WOOF-MANNNNN! AaahhhAAHHHH Lemme see yo SWEET thang!! BAY-bahBAYYYbahhhhh!"
**Give him Dr. Ross Dog Food and do him a favor! It's got more meat and it's got more flavor! It's got more meat to make it taste the way it should - Doctor Ross Dog Food, it's Dog Gone Good! WOOF!**
"Yeah, y'all gotta buy that stuff coz DA _WOOF-MAN eats it! (recorded howl) YEAH~!! Yo doggies gonna LOVE that shit! Next caller...!!"

Art Bell is a wannabe!

Lady Sonelle
(Owooooo! Arerehhh... owwwwooooooo...."

[mitchum]

12. Don't support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting!

They have led the fight against low-power transmissions for the past 25 years

Sorry if that was a little off topic, but it is the truth

[knowbody0]

14. spawning creativity

i feel seeds growing everywhere. listening to sweet bobby marley.peace out comrades

[caligirl]

13. Could this be used for

the protests, to get accurate stories out about abuse by police SS and miliary?

[MadHound]

17. There are ways of doing things so you can't be easily caught

Running the signal down the phone lines or power lines. Overpowering and hijacking various satellites. Mobile stations, cross border stations, piggybacking on another signal. There are ways, and as the technology becomes more sophisticated you can expect these stations to keep cropping up.

[Pepperbelly]

24. RDF gives only a direction, not a location.

It takes at least two, preferably more to "cut fixes" to get any closer than that. Even then, it is still not totally on the money.