I had my own Pirate station when I was in high school too, I can thank my grandfather for the skill of Ham Radio and teaching me what I needed to get my station going. Im not proud of how I gathered the equipment but it wasnt being used, and I did use my own tape, record player, mic and music. I was also a photographer for the high school I attended and I knew just about everything that was going on (the dirt). I never got caught, in fact, I dont even think the FCC cared, we had 3 FM radio stations in a town of 60K people. I think the best part of doing the radio and my personality is that no one could pin me as the guy on the radio, my voice sounded deeper on the air, everyone thought the guy was a professional. Me? I had long hair, I acted like Spiccoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High movie. I wish I could have told people it was me then sometimes Im glad I just walked away, I kept it to 3 girls from school that would supply me the news (gossip). I was at my 10 year reunion, people started talking about it, I didnt say anything but the conversation got really serious. People claiming they knew the person and were there in the middle of it all, some just sitting there wondering if the stories are true. Im thinking that I will anonymously bring him back on the next reunion, ill drop the hint to the person that organized the last one (I have her email), I now have better equipment. My son has taken over and does his own little broadcast in a 5 mile radius where most of his friends and students from his school live. I think its cool, he pulls out my albums (80s metal), hes got long hair and wears my old black biker leather jacket. I asked him one day why he just didnt do it on you tube or some other online media. He told me that people dont really watch you when you talk but if you're good at what you do, they'll listen and he likes the anonymity. Not bad for a 14 year old kid.
I had a 40 watt transmitter, i attaches my antenna to the top of a maple tree next to my room and had 3 10 ft wires soldered to the middle and extended . I don’t remember where I got the idea for the antenna but you could hear my transmission at our farthest party places at night. The technology and knowledge is better now, my son uses a 10 watt transmitter with a $20 dipole about 40 feet up. I don’t know how far he can get his signal but he says it’s perfect.
Nice one mate👍👍, my career started in basically the same way! It was a bit later in the early 90s. We used to play hardcore/jungle/drum and bass some that I had made on my Commodore Amiga!!!. Our transmitters were poorly designed kits bought from Hammersmith electronics or something and they and kept blowing the power transistors 😅 fun times.
Thanks Andy, I thought I might get some flack from folks on this video but it seems many hams were in to the scene at the time and folks that have been involved in it aren't bad ppl, it was a very exciting time 😎
knoxieman yeah exactly, I mean for us, there was no other way to get our music out there and it wasn’t being played on the main stations so to be able to make something in the day and then play it out on the radio the same night was amazing!
Very interesting. In March 1993 I have obtained licence to broadcast on FM, with reduced ERP power of 300W in Vojvodina (Serbia, at the time Yugoslavia). I was then and for the next 3-5 years the only independent radio station, but actually the only independent broadcasting media in Autonomous region of Vojvodina. From the first moment I have the licence there was sophisticated but gradually very cruel pressure to became state controlled radio. It was very lucrative, but it means to broadcast populistic and hate speech propaganda. That was not something I could agree, and there started a state organised terrorism. So I was forced to broadcast using some similar transmitters. Mostly LPFM having 2n3866 and 2n4227 (I guess) output transistors. Despite fact my ERP was very low, but the very existence of my radio station was reason to shot broadcasting antenna by a sniper. Transmitter started to burn as result of a short circuit. And there was nobody in Yugoslavia (including famous Soros Foundation) willing to help me by bringing me some FM transmitter kit from Britain or Holland (I offer to pay all expenses ). Just to mention Yugoslavia at the time was under the OUN sanctions. Well it was clear to me there is no hope and I was forced to leave the country. Half an a year later I came back trying to re run radio station, but Milosevic regime special police with "Kalasnikov" automatic guns took me to the police station in order to make strong pressure using arms, to leave the country forever. At international conference in Ljubljana, my radio station was recognised by UNESCO, IFJ, IFEJ as great contributor for peace reconciliation and high class in information and cultural programmes. So by the facts I was legal licenced radio broadcaster, but in the real life I was forced to use practice of clandestine and pirate radio stations,...
Ha ha none actually I bought all the bits and the rest were salvaged from old TV sets, we used to run a blow torch across the back of them and knock components out and put them in jars.
Wow what a fantastic video Knoxie! How common was it to hear a pirate radio broadcast, or was it more like a thing that you would tell people about ahead of time. I'm curious as to how poeple would discover them. Fascinating bit of radio history!
Broadcasts were quite common round here, there were 4 stations I was aware of at that time, it was a fun time in my life something I really look back on very fondly.
my yupi now having funny symptoms, i need to use a heat source blow to the battery compartment(main ic area), then the unit only will receive transmission or function correctly for few minutes till the heat gone... i had dismantled it and resolder every component and change most of the electrolyte cap but the problem remains the same... I suspect is the main ic or the crystal is giving the headache ... hope yours are in perfect conditions...
Hi yes mine has been perfect, the display is fading a little and I also had to change the memory capacitor battery too, fantastic scanners, don't sell it I don't think a better ones been made since.
Brilliant video! I have a 5 watt Veronica VFO transmitter, very stable when warmed up. I would like to get it out and five it a blast round the house. I can't get a dummy load from veronica and the likes. Can I use any fm dummy load?
1997, it's made little to no difference either, the criminals still get guns and we have no literal means of protection, sadly the UK is getting more Authoritarian, they will ban everything in time, in particular the wrong political opinion, very sad.
Same gun crackdown happened in 96 here in Australia. It did absolutely nothing but take firearms from honest people. The crooks still have theirs. Great video BTW
@@knoxieman I could not agree more. Britain is becoming very much an Authoritarian state. I know I am going off on a tangent, but I still think that the Dunblane shooting was a very strange event; with a lot of aspects that do not add up. Anyway, thanks for making the videos, they have assisted in inspiring me to take a Foundation Radio Amateur course. :)
15wts did 25miles! 🤣 Try 5miles. 150wts off a tower block on flat ground just about does that. Using 300wts off a 700ft National grid pylon on the Thames in essex was hitting Portsmouth’s to cambridge when it was being used until last year
Had no problem, I have 5 watt Walkie talkies that will do 25 miles with clear line of sight, you obviously don't know how to setup your equipment properly.
Yea I haven’t got a clue that’s why other stations ask me to set up for them now! 🤣 Is the fm on the same band?? No. Different bands will go further. My 5watt band 1 link that is below the fm band has linked in from 15miles from ground level no problem. One night we even had a french station half linked in before we turned our link on. If that transmitter was 20foot up a tree on flat ground you will get about 5 miles. Up a fuck off hill you may push 20 miles. As you said you’ve never been part of any decent pirate station so without setting it all up and going for a drive you can only speculate because you obviously haven’t got the balls to set it up outside properly to do a real test... I’ve had signals from the Thames area in essex reach Portsmouth to Cambridge!
I had my own Pirate station when I was in high school too, I can thank my grandfather for the skill of Ham Radio and teaching me what I needed to get my station going. Im not proud of how I gathered the equipment but it wasnt being used, and I did use my own tape, record player, mic and music. I was also a photographer for the high school I attended and I knew just about everything that was going on (the dirt). I never got caught, in fact, I dont even think the FCC cared, we had 3 FM radio stations in a town of 60K people. I think the best part of doing the radio and my personality is that no one could pin me as the guy on the radio, my voice sounded deeper on the air, everyone thought the guy was a professional. Me? I had long hair, I acted like Spiccoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High movie. I wish I could have told people it was me then sometimes Im glad I just walked away, I kept it to 3 girls from school that would supply me the news (gossip). I was at my 10 year reunion, people started talking about it, I didnt say anything but the conversation got really serious. People claiming they knew the person and were there in the middle of it all, some just sitting there wondering if the stories are true. Im thinking that I will anonymously bring him back on the next reunion, ill drop the hint to the person that organized the last one (I have her email), I now have better equipment. My son has taken over and does his own little broadcast in a 5 mile radius where most of his friends and students from his school live. I think its cool, he pulls out my albums (80s metal), hes got long hair and wears my old black biker leather jacket. I asked him one day why he just didnt do it on you tube or some other online media. He told me that people dont really watch you when you talk but if you're good at what you do, they'll listen and he likes the anonymity. Not bad for a 14 year old kid.
I had a 40 watt transmitter, i attaches my antenna to the top of a maple tree next to my room and had 3 10 ft wires soldered to the middle and extended . I don’t remember where I got the idea for the antenna but you could hear my transmission at our farthest party places at night. The technology and knowledge is better now, my son uses a 10 watt transmitter with a $20 dipole about 40 feet up. I don’t know how far he can get his signal but he says it’s perfect.
We did that back in the early 80's FM stereo running about 40 watts good times still have air check tapes of it
Just clicked on this and thought I would have a quick mooch.Ended watching all of it and thought it was a great story and 14 minutes well spent.
Your very kind thank you 😎
L
Very nicely put together video mate! Been waiting for this! Thanks for sharing, looking forward to part 2!
Great video...Thats exactly what i did back in the 80's..73..Ian Harling.G7HFS.
Yes so many hams seem to have had an interest 😎 Thanks for the comment.
Thank you for this great video .keep on , it is very interesting
Well worth while Paul cracking video i really enjoyed that.
Thanks Gary
Never normally post on here but I just subscribed to you and I was 3000. Keep up the hard work bud.
Thanks Kyle thats great 😎
Nice one mate👍👍, my career started in basically the same way! It was a bit later in the early 90s. We used to play hardcore/jungle/drum and bass some that I had made on my Commodore Amiga!!!. Our transmitters were poorly designed kits bought from Hammersmith electronics or something and they and kept blowing the power transistors 😅 fun times.
Thanks Andy, I thought I might get some flack from folks on this video but it seems many hams were in to the scene at the time and folks that have been involved in it aren't bad ppl, it was a very exciting time 😎
knoxieman yeah exactly, I mean for us, there was no other way to get our music out there and it wasn’t being played on the main stations so to be able to make something in the day and then play it out on the radio the same night was amazing!
I’m in court this November for cyndicut fm pirate radio.
Was using a 700ft national grid pylon on the Thames with 300wts until last December 🤣
knoxieman
Of course we’re normal people. The big stations wouldn’t let us play with their toys so we got our own!
like the photo at the beginning of Tim Westwood in a very early 80's LWR studio in London
Very interesting. In March 1993 I have obtained licence to broadcast on FM, with reduced ERP power of 300W in Vojvodina (Serbia, at the time Yugoslavia). I was then and for the next 3-5 years the only independent radio station, but actually the only independent broadcasting media in Autonomous region of Vojvodina. From the first moment I have the licence there was sophisticated but gradually very cruel pressure to became state controlled radio. It was very lucrative, but it means to broadcast populistic and hate speech propaganda. That was not something I could agree, and there started a state organised terrorism. So I was forced to broadcast using some similar transmitters. Mostly LPFM having 2n3866 and 2n4227 (I guess) output transistors. Despite fact my ERP was very low, but the very existence of my radio station was reason to shot broadcasting antenna by a sniper. Transmitter started to burn as result of a short circuit. And there was nobody in Yugoslavia (including famous Soros Foundation) willing to help me by bringing me some FM transmitter kit from Britain or Holland (I offer to pay all expenses
). Just to mention Yugoslavia at the time was under the OUN sanctions. Well it was clear to me there is no hope and I was forced to leave the country. Half an a year later I came back trying to re run radio station, but Milosevic regime special police with "Kalasnikov" automatic guns took me to the police station in order to make strong pressure using arms, to leave the country forever. At international conference in Ljubljana, my radio station was recognised by UNESCO, IFJ, IFEJ as great contributor for peace reconciliation and high class in information and cultural programmes. So by the facts I was legal licenced radio broadcaster, but in the real life I was forced to use practice of clandestine and pirate radio stations,...
Wow! Now that's a story
Amazing story
Brillian video
Good video
Excellent. Subscribed.
Thanks 👍😄
Great story
The real question is, how many parts to make it were borrowed from work and how many came from Tandy?
Ha ha none actually I bought all the bits and the rest were salvaged from old TV sets, we used to run a blow torch across the back of them and knock components out and put them in jars.
I’m looking for this other videoo
Wow what a fantastic video Knoxie! How common was it to hear a pirate radio broadcast, or was it more like a thing that you would tell people about ahead of time. I'm curious as to how poeple would discover them. Fascinating bit of radio history!
Broadcasts were quite common round here, there were 4 stations I was aware of at that time, it was a fun time in my life something I really look back on very fondly.
hi ..why my yupi Mvt-7000 quite similar to yours.... ;)
my yupi now having funny symptoms,
i need to use a heat source blow to the battery compartment(main ic area), then the unit only will receive transmission or function correctly for few minutes till the heat gone...
i had dismantled it and resolder every component and change most of the electrolyte cap but the problem remains the same...
I suspect is the main ic or the crystal is giving the headache ... hope yours are in perfect conditions...
Hi yes mine has been perfect, the display is fading a little and I also had to change the memory capacitor battery too, fantastic scanners, don't sell it I don't think a better ones been made since.
Sounds like Akira Yamaoka's music on Silent Hill.
Brilliant video! I have a 5 watt Veronica VFO transmitter, very stable when warmed up. I would like to get it out and five it a blast round the house. I can't get a dummy load from veronica and the likes. Can I use any fm dummy load?
Yes the impedance is the important bit, when testing the radios we used to use lightbulbs 😄👍
@@knoxieman lightbulbs? I saw that in video how does that work?
Nice
Thanks Dave
Cheers Lewis 😎
Interesting
1:26 what is L-lec-tronics. Eeee-lec-tronics
Very cool story and material, around what year did the crackdown on guns in the uk happen?
1997, it's made little to no difference either, the criminals still get guns and we have no literal means of protection, sadly the UK is getting more Authoritarian, they will ban everything in time, in particular the wrong political opinion, very sad.
Same gun crackdown happened in 96 here in Australia. It did absolutely nothing but take firearms from honest people. The crooks still have theirs. Great video BTW
@@knoxieman I could not agree more.
Britain is becoming very much an Authoritarian state.
I know I am going off on a tangent, but I still think that the Dunblane shooting was a very strange event; with a lot of aspects that do not add up.
Anyway, thanks for making the videos, they have assisted in inspiring me to take a Foundation Radio Amateur course. :)
you have to put lowpass filter !!!
Sink trax
Forsale
15wts did 25miles! 🤣
Try 5miles.
150wts off a tower block on flat ground just about does that.
Using 300wts off a 700ft National grid pylon on the Thames in essex was hitting Portsmouth’s to cambridge when it was being used until last year
Had no problem, I have 5 watt Walkie talkies that will do 25 miles with clear line of sight, you obviously don't know how to setup your equipment properly.
Yea I haven’t got a clue that’s why other stations ask me to set up for them now! 🤣
Is the fm on the same band??
No.
Different bands will go further.
My 5watt band 1 link that is below the fm band has linked in from 15miles from ground level no problem.
One night we even had a french station half linked in before we turned our link on.
If that transmitter was 20foot up a tree on flat ground you will get about 5 miles.
Up a fuck off hill you may push 20 miles.
As you said you’ve never been part of any decent pirate station so without setting it all up and going for a drive you can only speculate because you obviously haven’t got the balls to set it up outside properly to do a real test...
I’ve had signals from the Thames area in essex reach Portsmouth to Cambridge!
knoxieman
th-cam.com/video/PVK07KqqIT0/w-d-xo.html
You're an idiot. My 7 watt transmitter that I hooked up last night was going 7 miles and still crystal clear when I turned around.