The SWLing Post
By Thomas
October 14, 2013
As frustrated as many are over the US government shutdown, it nonetheless offers one unique benefit to the shortwave radio community, and to pirate radio in particular––no FCC enforcement.
As we mentioned earlier, the FCC’s enforcement arm was shut down along with all other FCC activities that weren’t directly connected with “the protection of life or property.”
The result? Pirates––lots of pirates––on the air! The Jolly Roger flaps in the breeze…
Pirate radio activity since the shutdown has truly been at a record high, with pirates taking to the airwaves throughout the week, and especially on the weekends.
Case in point: this past weekend, the North American “pirate radio grounds” of 6,920-6,970 kHz were packed with pirate radio stations. There were even crowded band conditions; at one point I tweeted that there were no less than three pirates broadcasting simultaneously in just a small chunk of bandwidth on AM. Indeed, there may even have been a fourth that I couldn’t quite detect…An unusual occurrence, to say the least. And with pirate radio’s favorite holiday, Halloween (think War of the Worlds), fast approaching, there’s likely to be more such unusual activity.
http://swling.com/blog/2013/10/thanks-to-us-shutdown-pirate-radio-activity-reaches-an-all-time-high/
(Source: Mike Terry, radioanoraksuk Yahoo! group)
Activity is indeed much higher, almost twice the number of broadcasts per day being logged on HFunderground.com: http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,13187.0.html
ReplyDeleteThis is really very crucial time for many employee because this shutdown is not over and everyone facing this problem.
ReplyDeleteIdaho Falls Hotel