Hayden I loved this video, so entertaining. I was on the hunt in January on a trip to NYC. Best place to listen is in East Flatbush...about 22 stations daily...most come on evening around six and all weekend. upper Manhattaan (Washington Heights) and Bronx is next with about 10 or so. There's a smattering in Corona and Jamaica, Queens, Newark, NJ and Paterson NJ. Washington Heights...168th Street you'll hear more. they're broadcasting to Latino and West Indian neighborhoods, so that's where you have to go.
A couple of things: you could have easily found the station with a portable radio using "body fade" and also the polarization of your yagi was supposed to be vertical not horizontal. The elements should have been up and down not side to side to match the orientation of the transmitting antenna Body fade would have gotten it though~ one holds a portable radio close to the chest and then you rotate in place until your body blocks the signal. When the signal is at its worst it is directly behind you..
Horizontally polarized FM transmitter aerials are not unheard of, but nowadays it is indeed rare that anyone would choose to transmit horizontally polarized FM radio.
@@DCDura I doubt very much whether a pirate would use a large complex circularly polarized transmitting antenna when a simple vertical dipole is so much more straightforward and easy to conceal.
Watching Modern Rogues for the build. Nice! It is really helpful to watch others doing similar things to not have to re-invent the wheel. The addition of the step-ladder was a good idea. I might have held the antenna by hand for part of that test, but you did fine. And take it from a long-time geek, sometimes you have to go out there and look "funny" to the public to learn what's going on. Also, a yellow or orange jacket makes one look like an official workman and is a great disguise when you are doing something like this. People tend to ignore you.
Some landlord is going to throw you off of his roof. You can damage a membrane roof with your shoes. Clear channel was behind the beefing up of FCC enforcement. They hate the thought of people actually liking someone else's station. I grew up during the heyday of FM. My father (an RF engineer) and I made a 16 element FM beam when I was 14. In 1974. I could pick up great stations from Utica, Rochester and Buffalo and we built a 30 watt transmitter and I rebroadcast them so my friends could pick them up. Mono but it was better than nothing. Now I have a McIntosh Richard Modafferi modified Mr78 the same FM beam live on a hill and here in sunny Syracuse there is NOTHING worth listening to. Now I use a internet tuner and there are some really great stations. But it was more fun when it was your "iron in the air" doing the heavy lifting. Another thing according to "Radio Locator" there are no unused channels on the FM band in New York City. All these pirates must be running some serious power to get on the right side of a radios capture ratio.
Sorry if some of the hams you talked to were not the nicest. Most of us are very friendly and enjoy helping others. One thing that will help is to build an attenuator box so as you get close you can reduce the signal into your radio to make it easier to locate.
There are so many things that could be done to benefit local neighborhoods and even schools if people could run just a few watts without having to break the law. Things commercial stations or other non profit stations would never do.
Interesting. I have both an amateur license with various HAM radios and a non FCC complying FM transmitter that can transmitt in the 70 to 100 plus Mhz range. Being a retired mathematician I live in a very remote area and aside from my dog Buddy the Australuan Shepard I rarely see anyone thus have considered using the FM radio as a pirate radio to entertain the few in the area that due to rugged terrain and lack of cellular service have little in the way of radio. My only real obstacle has been what form of audio and for how long and on what days do I broadcast. I could use canned music as the audio or audio books or short stories. Anyway, the station remains unrealized and would only be 10 watts if implemented. Should you gain interest in this endeavor again post a comment and I can pass along information that likely will save you a lot of research. Also, If you build a Yagi again, I find that you don't gain too much by three elements thus a two element antenna would work well and be more compacr. Also, rather than cutting up a tape measure I use speaker wire tapped to PVC supports. The other two things worth a mention are: to have a stronger signal hold your antenna in the same orientation/polarlization which normally is vertical not horizontal as you had implemented & perhaps a mag -loop antenna is the better direction finder because you can actually null out the signal and they are in fact easy to build. Take care, enjoyed your sleuthing, I think there is a heck of a lot more to the pirate radio story in NYC and it would be cool beans if you could make a more in depth documentary. Good luck....
As a general rule, using a yagi for direction finding, it's best to use it vertical instead of horizontal. One of the photos showed a dominator antenna leaning which is popular for pirate use.
At 12:10 there, you are looking at what's called the dominator (aka exterminator) antenna. It is literally only used specifically for FM radio broadcasting. You 100% found them and for some reason you think you didn't. Pirates use that type of antenna the most frequently because it equates to a much larger stacked antenna system (like what a pro-station would use) in a much smaller size and height.
Boss, One of my favorite direction finding tricks. Most pirate stations have poor output filtering. So if you set your receiver for a second or third harmonic, you can get much closer. So much of df is counter intuitive. In DF gain is bad, you need attenuation. Give it a try. Mike in Silver Spring Maryland.
Jpole antennas have a cardiod radiation pattern. This means there is a null region this is actually more handy when trying to direction find. Generally its eaiser to null the signal than it is to find its peak. Great video BTW 👍
All you need is a handheld radio with a telescopic ariel. Tune the station you want with the airel extended, then walk around with ariel down. You will find the station. However there maybe a blank spot directly beneath the block. This is because of the way radio signals spread. Sending greetings from London UK
Far more than an indie rock station It's the greatest freeform radio station in the nation! Primary freq. is 91.1 which has great coverage to Brooklyn. 91.9 is the translator which was added to enhance the station's Manhattan coverage.
Small FM antenna and a portable FIM (Field Intensity Meter). I actually have one. Its easy to locate the source of a signal or fine-direct your recieve antenna.
You can have and operate an unlicensed radio station under the FCC's Part-15 rules and regulations. There are transmitters in both AM and FM that are made to comply with the rules yet yield very good performance when set up properly. Range becomes a non-issue when you put your station's audio either on a live stream on the front page of your station's website or on Live-365.
(11:16) Print out a map of the area put a dot where your located and use a ruler to draw a straight line out. Then go to the 2nd location put a dot draw a line straight out to the location you year the station the best. If the lines cross that's where the station is located roughly. If they don't your probably bouncing off the steal and metal buildings because the transmitter although is high its low enough to bounce around a bit. In that case the only way to DF is to get higher into the air. DF is great while in a private airplane because of this. Personally for portability I would have created a 70cm Yagi antenna and used it here is the reason why your not transmitting on this antenna only using it for RX sure that big antenna will do great while your further away but as you get close your can use a smaller yagi to then hone in on the transmitter. I am KC9ZHV.. Sorry about the other hams that bullied you around. Our community does need to be cleaned up a bit and taught to help one another more.
I enjoyed the video, but why would you want to locate a pirate radio station. The FCC loves to crack down on these, especially if they are interfering with licensed operators?
@BVN-TEXAS I fox hunt all the time. I just don't understand putting out the location of a potentially illegal radio station. Seems as if he's just making the FCCs job easier.
It's expensive and you need a commercial broadcast license. There's info on the FCC website. The legal limit for unlicensed broadcast is 1/2 watt or 200 feet whichever is greater. If you want to broadcast you can rent airtime from wmri and wccr @$75 an hour and that's shortwave so global
Wow it's not that hard to track down and FM station, all you needed was a portable FM radio, tune it to the channel you want to listen to. Hold it close to your chest. And turn it and your body 90°, you'll hear the signal shift in and out. Your body acts as a shield. As you work that in and out of no, you'll be able to figure out the direction of the signal. Once you got into a point where no matter what position you hold the radio it starts to overload. Or we'll pick up the signal. You tuned slightly off of the signal that you want to listen to. Thereby reducing it sensitivity of the radio. And repeat the process you could go through the trouble of using the directional antenna but with only three elements on it you're being with is going to be about 45° wide which even after a couple hundred yards that's going to be a very broad spectrum of the city to look at. Normally when radio Direction finding is done, it's done with very high gain antennas and have high knowing to the sides, or using multiple receiver stations and triangulating the signal. But in general just using a portable FM receiver in your body is a shield works pretty well. Once you think you found the antenna on the building. You then make access to the building go up to the where the antenna is and disconnect it. I guarantee you within a very short period of time whoever runs that station will be up to that roof to figure out what happened to their signals. That's when you tell them that you're actually the HVAC guy or some other benign worker and you tripped over their cable.
Hayden I loved this video, so entertaining. I was on the hunt in January on a trip to NYC.
Best place to listen is in East Flatbush...about 22 stations daily...most come on evening around six and all weekend. upper Manhattaan (Washington Heights) and Bronx is next with about 10 or so. There's a smattering in Corona and Jamaica, Queens, Newark, NJ and Paterson NJ.
Washington Heights...168th Street you'll hear more.
they're broadcasting to Latino and West Indian neighborhoods, so that's where you have to go.
@RingwayManchester.... fancy meeting you here! Ha ha!
@@KarlWitsman hey Karl!
A couple of things: you could have easily found the station with a portable radio using "body fade" and also the polarization of your yagi was supposed to be vertical not horizontal. The elements should have been up and down not side to side to match the orientation of the transmitting antenna
Body fade would have gotten it though~ one holds a portable radio close to the chest and then you rotate in place until your body blocks the signal. When the signal is at its worst it is directly behind you..
Horizontally polarized FM transmitter aerials are not unheard of, but nowadays it is indeed rare that anyone would choose to transmit horizontally polarized FM radio.
Most FM Broadcast Transmitters use a circular polarization. So his orientation would not make much difference either way.
@@DCDura I doubt very much whether a pirate would use a large complex circularly polarized transmitting antenna when a simple vertical dipole is so much more straightforward and easy to conceal.
Watching Modern Rogues for the build. Nice! It is really helpful to watch others doing similar things to not have to re-invent the wheel. The addition of the step-ladder was a good idea. I might have held the antenna by hand for part of that test, but you did fine.
And take it from a long-time geek, sometimes you have to go out there and look "funny" to the public to learn what's going on. Also, a yellow or orange jacket makes one look like an official workman and is a great disguise when you are doing something like this. People tend to ignore you.
Some landlord is going to throw you off of his roof. You can damage a membrane roof with your shoes. Clear channel was behind the beefing up of FCC enforcement. They hate the thought of people actually liking someone else's station. I grew up during the heyday of FM. My father (an RF engineer) and I made a 16 element FM beam when I was 14. In 1974. I could pick up great stations from Utica, Rochester and Buffalo and we built a 30 watt transmitter and I rebroadcast them so my friends could pick them up. Mono but it was better than nothing. Now I have a McIntosh Richard Modafferi modified Mr78 the same FM beam live on a hill and here in sunny Syracuse there is NOTHING worth listening to. Now I use a internet tuner and there are some really great stations. But it was more fun when it was your "iron in the air" doing the heavy lifting. Another thing according to "Radio Locator" there are no unused channels on the FM band in New York City. All these pirates must be running some serious power to get on the right side of a radios capture ratio.
Sorry if some of the hams you talked to were not the nicest. Most of us are very friendly and enjoy helping others.
One thing that will help is to build an attenuator box so as you get close you can reduce the signal into your radio to make it easier to locate.
Defund the FCC and recind the pirate act
100% agree
There are so many things that could be done to benefit local neighborhoods and even schools if people could run just a few watts without having to break the law. Things commercial stations or other non profit stations would never do.
I totally agree
Interesting.
I have both an amateur license with various HAM radios and a non FCC complying FM transmitter that can transmitt in the 70 to 100 plus Mhz range.
Being a retired mathematician I live in a very remote area and aside from my dog Buddy the Australuan Shepard I rarely see anyone thus have considered using the FM radio as a pirate radio to entertain the few in the area that due to rugged terrain and lack of cellular service have little in the way of radio. My only real obstacle has been what form of audio and for how long and on what days do I broadcast. I could use canned music as the audio or audio books or short stories. Anyway, the station remains unrealized and would only be 10 watts if implemented.
Should you gain interest in this endeavor again post a comment and I can pass along information that likely will save you a lot of research.
Also, If you build a Yagi again, I find that you don't gain too much by three elements thus a two element antenna would work well and be more compacr. Also, rather than cutting up a tape measure I use speaker wire tapped to PVC supports. The other two things worth a mention are: to have a stronger signal hold your antenna in the same orientation/polarlization which normally is vertical not horizontal as you had implemented & perhaps a mag -loop antenna is the better direction finder because you can actually null out the signal and they are in fact easy to build.
Take care, enjoyed your sleuthing, I think there is a heck of a lot more to the pirate radio story in NYC and it would be cool beans if you could make a more in depth documentary. Good luck....
As a general rule, using a yagi for direction finding, it's best to use it vertical instead of horizontal. One of the photos showed a dominator antenna leaning which is popular for pirate use.
Very cool. Interesting and entertaining. Thanks.
The antenna you found that wasn't it is called a Dominator and it's s FM broadcast antenna. Could be a LPFM or old pirate station.
At 12:10 there, you are looking at what's called the dominator (aka exterminator) antenna. It is literally only used specifically for FM radio broadcasting. You 100% found them and for some reason you think you didn't. Pirates use that type of antenna the most frequently because it equates to a much larger stacked antenna system (like what a pro-station would use) in a much smaller size and height.
One tip is you need to turn your antenna to have the elements vertical since FM is vertically polarized.
FM has traditionally been horizontally polarized. Vertical has only been added to achieve circular polarization.
@@kenenglish124 not when comes to urban listeners.
Most car antennas and such are vertical.
Boss, One of my favorite direction finding tricks. Most pirate stations have poor output filtering. So if you set your receiver for a second or third harmonic, you can get much closer. So much of df is counter intuitive. In DF gain is bad, you need attenuation. Give it a try. Mike in Silver Spring Maryland.
Jpole antennas have a cardiod radiation pattern. This means there is a null region this is actually more handy when trying to direction find. Generally its eaiser to null the signal than it is to find its peak. Great video BTW 👍
All you need is a handheld radio with a telescopic ariel. Tune the station you want with the airel extended, then walk around with ariel down. You will find the station. However there maybe a blank spot directly beneath the block. This is because of the way radio signals spread.
Sending greetings from London UK
The indie rock station is WFMU 91.9 FM broadcasting on 10 watts of power
Far more than an indie rock station It's the greatest freeform radio station in the nation! Primary freq. is 91.1 which has great coverage to Brooklyn. 91.9 is the translator which was added to enhance the station's Manhattan coverage.
@@shortwaveology yes I know
Small FM antenna and a portable FIM (Field Intensity Meter). I actually have one.
Its easy to locate the source of a signal or fine-direct your recieve antenna.
Pirate radio operators should never ever talk
Why?! As long as the operator stays within legal limits then he/she is good
Would have been a bit of a bugg*er for radio caroline
Exactly. Talk= Being Caught
You can have and operate an unlicensed radio station under the FCC's Part-15 rules and regulations. There are transmitters in both AM and FM that are made to comply with the rules yet yield very good performance when set up properly. Range becomes a non-issue when you put your station's audio either on a live stream on the front page of your station's website or on Live-365.
Yeah, they regulate range, not power. In the case of part 15 FM you get 200ft. AM is more practical for part 15 operation.
200 foot max range
So pretty much tips to help bust pirate stations
Your video is amazing ☆
Thanks a lot! Glad you like it.
I think your man bun is the antenna
(11:16) Print out a map of the area put a dot where your located and use a ruler to draw a straight line out. Then go to the 2nd location put a dot draw a line straight out to the location you year the station the best. If the lines cross that's where the station is located roughly. If they don't your probably bouncing off the steal and metal buildings because the transmitter although is high its low enough to bounce around a bit. In that case the only way to DF is to get higher into the air. DF is great while in a private airplane because of this. Personally for portability I would have created a 70cm Yagi antenna and used it here is the reason why your not transmitting on this antenna only using it for RX sure that big antenna will do great while your further away but as you get close your can use a smaller yagi to then hone in on the transmitter. I am KC9ZHV.. Sorry about the other hams that bullied you around. Our community does need to be cleaned up a bit and taught to help one another more.
You should look up the RasHAwk its a very cool device for Radio Directional finding.
I can’t listen to my legal station because of the illegal one is too powerful and bleeds over half the band!
Try to point the antenna on line of sight to the legal radio station
Probably using a junk Chinese transmitter.
@@DJPhantomRage Or really, really close. Either way, very annoying.
I enjoyed the video, but why would you want to locate a pirate radio station. The FCC loves to crack down on these, especially if they are interfering with licensed operators?
It’s the thrill of the hunt. We do it all the in ham radio, we call it a fox hunt.
@BVN-TEXAS I fox hunt all the time. I just don't understand putting out the location of a potentially illegal radio station. Seems as if he's just making the FCCs job easier.
@@a.c.2219 fair criticism
El residente del sur de California (JOSH) es muy famoso
𝓟Ř𝔬𝓂𝔬𝐒ϻ ❤️
Where I can buy license and how much it cost for 20w transmitter
It's expensive and you need a commercial broadcast license. There's info on the FCC website. The legal limit for unlicensed broadcast is 1/2 watt or 200 feet whichever is greater.
If you want to broadcast you can rent airtime from wmri and wccr @$75 an hour and that's shortwave so global
You would have been better building a more directional antenna like a log periodic.
Wow it's not that hard to track down and FM station, all you needed was a portable FM radio, tune it to the channel you want to listen to. Hold it close to your chest. And turn it and your body 90°, you'll hear the signal shift in and out. Your body acts as a shield. As you work that in and out of no, you'll be able to figure out the direction of the signal. Once you got into a point where no matter what position you hold the radio it starts to overload. Or we'll pick up the signal. You tuned slightly off of the signal that you want to listen to. Thereby reducing it sensitivity of the radio. And repeat the process you could go through the trouble of using the directional antenna but with only three elements on it you're being with is going to be about 45° wide which even after a couple hundred yards that's going to be a very broad spectrum of the city to look at. Normally when radio Direction finding is done, it's done with very high gain antennas and have high knowing to the sides, or using multiple receiver stations and triangulating the signal. But in general just using a portable FM receiver in your body is a shield works pretty well. Once you think you found the antenna on the building. You then make access to the building go up to the where the antenna is and disconnect it. I guarantee you within a very short period of time whoever runs that station will be up to that roof to figure out what happened to their signals. That's when you tell them that you're actually the HVAC guy or some other benign worker and you tripped over their cable.
Does that work locating a station that is several kilometeres away?
Facebook live killed pirate radio
Why are you hunting for pirate radio stations? What are you going to do when you find them, rat them out? SMDH