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GMRS WEB
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03/10/01
Dave Roberts/ KAF8195
With the FCC's move to permit GMRS operators' use of all primary channels, I felt a huge sigh of relief. Finally, I would be able to get away from those kiddies on FRS, and use my radios as they were intended. I couldn't wait to get to those quiet, interference-free channels. Boy, was I surprised!
It turns out that in my area (Providence County, RI), all but one of the primary channels are being heavily used by commercial traffic, with high-powered repeaters blasting through the entire state (granted, a small state, but the entire state none the less).
After a few encouraging words from Corwin Moore (Personal Radio Steering Group), I decided to become a "Pirate Buster", tracking down and reporting (if necessary) every pirate I could find. My first attempt was very successful, though not without it's share of headaches.
I decided to start with 462.600, which was particularly busy, with (at last count) 3 different businesses all, competing for airtime (and not figuring out why sometimes they can't hear each other...duh!). What made this particularly challenging was one user who not only transmitted VERY frequently (at least once every 5 minutes, for 14 hours a day, weekends included), but was transmitting with a voice scrambler.
Attempts to call them on the air (including through the repeater) were unsuccessful. By monitoring the repeater while calling them, I was sure I was making it through, but they appeared to lack the sophistication (or equipment options) to temporarily disable the scrambling circuitry. This of course also meant they were unable to monitor the channel for existing radio traffic, and equally unable to announce their call sign (well…I suppose scrambled they could).
What made this pirate especially hard to track down was the sheer strength his signal. Trying to track it down by driving while monitoring signal strength was impossible, and I ended up wasting a lot of time. With such hilly terrain, the pirate's signal varied from total static to next-door-like strength in just a matter of 1/8'" of a mile. {Author's note: Since this story, I've purchased a Doppler DF unit, so this shouldn't be such an issue in the future.} There had to be another way!
A quick search of the FCC database (frequency/State) uncovered nothing helpful, so I was pretty much resolved to finding them on my own. My first step was to tackle the scrambling, in order to identify who they were. Since I don't own any equipment capable of frequency inversion voice de-scrambling (and didn't really want to buy it just for finding this pirate), I was forced to find another way. The Internet provided a pivotal role, when I found a small, freeware, voice de-scrambling program for the PC. It was very easy to use, with a box for entering the inversion frequency (trial and error until the voice is recognizable). Within minutes, I had my scanner patched to the computer, and plain voice was pouring out of the speakers almost as clear normal.
It didn't take long for me to recognize the context of the messages. My "Pirate" was a taxicab company, making frequent pickups & drop-offs at all hours of the day. While the information I ascertained was very helpful in determining their general location, they never gave specifics as to which cab company they were. I tried on one or two occasions to telephone several of them, asking: "Did you just send a cab to the bus station?" Unfortunately, I was never able to make the connection to my pirate, and had to come up with a more creative idea.
A big break came when they instructed a cab to go to a small local clinic. It only took seconds for me to look up the clinic number in the phone book and dial it. With voice trembling with excitement, I asked, "What cab company did you call for? Quite surprisingly, the woman answered without hesitation, "Friendly Cab". I thanked her and hung up. The hunt was over, but the work was just starting.
My first step was to figure what (and whom) I was dealing with, which prompted a fury of Internet queries. What was their address & phone number? Where they registered with the RI Corporate Licensing Division? If so, who is the owner/contact? The information was readily available and easy to find, so now it was time to take a trip over there and check out the physical site. Boy, was I surprised to find an empty lot when I got there!
The lot clearly had signs of being recently occupied (4 or 5 months earlier), with scores of debris showing burn marks everywhere. Apparently my pirate had recently moved as a result of a fire, confirmed by a passerby. Fortunately too, the passerby was pretty familiar with my pirate, and pointed down the road about 3 or 4 blocks to their new location. The hunt was back on.
The office was closed when I arrived, which made it pretty easy to scope the place out. It turned out to be less dramatic than I had expected; no black sheets covering glowing radio equipment, no secret two-way mirrors, and no laser beam intruder detectors zigzagging across the floor. Ok, so maybe I was enjoying this a little too much (and too much time on my hands). There was a small base-station sitting on desk with a coaxial wire leading off towards the back of the office. It was the ground floor of a 3-story building, yet there was no sign of an antenna on the roof (or coax going up the side). In hindsight, they were so close to their repeater they probably had a magnet mount stuck on a file cabinet in the back room.
At this point I had these people nailed on at least 3 abuses: failure to identify their station (in plain voice), not monitoring the channel prior to transmission, and voice scrambling. However, I knew I'd need more to really nail the coffin shut. This is where Corwin came through again. He was able to use the information I provided and confirm that not only was the pirate operating without a license; the expired license they did have was for another frequency! To avoid wasting the readers' time, I'll summarize the next three weeks in one sentence: I sent them a letter stating the above findings, and they never answered.
So... they were going to be rude, were they? Fine, I'll hit them where they need it most...the repeater operator!
It was a simple plan... I was going to write to the repeater operator and ask them to pull the plug on this user, or else face my wrath! That's when I found out the repeater was a pirate too!
Knowing the general area, it was easy at this point to track the repeater down. The tower turned out to be as massive as I expected, with a prime location on top of a wonderfully high area hilltop (Sigh! In a different place or time...) I wrote down the address and headed home. An Internet reverse-address search identified the homeowner, and once again, Corwin Moore came through with tons of valuable information. The repeater I identified had: a) an expired licenses, b) was under a different name, and c) was licensed for a different frequency (the same as my first pirate). I guess that makes sense; they both had to switch to a GMRS frequency for it to work. For some reason naive me thought a legitimate GMRS repeater owner was improperly leasing space to a business. Gee, go figure!
This time, I impatiently decided to call this person, to inform them of the cab company's infractions. {As a side note to the readers, don't assume that when a repeater owner's name is "Francis", it's necessarily a guy. It kind of threw me for a loop when a woman answered.} Anyway, she claimed ignorance of anything, said she'd "check on it", and get back to me in a couple of months. I thanked her for her time and quickly mailed out a follow-up letter, reiterating my position and the points made on the phone call. It was two days later when I received a call from the State Police responding to a complaint that I had threatened the woman.
Apparently, my less-than-polite statement in my letter that I would like a response within two weeks or "further action will be taken" was perceived as a threat. {Author's note to himself: In the future include the phrase "further LEGAL action..."} The officer patiently listened to my side; quickly coming to realize that I knew what I was talking about and everything was ok (I indeed was threatening to file a complaint with the FCC). Sounding a little embarrassed about the whole thing, the officer apologized for wasting my time and hung up.
Within a flash, two faxes zoomed out of my PC directly to the FCC field office in Boston, detailing the specific points of my complaints. I filed two, one for the Cab Company and one for the repeater operator. I never heard any response from the FCC ("We can dream..." as Corwin said), but it doesn't matter.
Several days ago I noticed the pirates hadn't talked for a while. I waited a few more days but heard nothing, nadda, zilch. My curiosity got the better of me, as I frantically reprogrammed my radios for the repeater PL tone, anxious to see if they were still on the air.
THE PIRATES ARE GONE! I'm not sure where they went (somebody else's problem?), but the channel is now free of the constant screeching and squawking of their signal.
Hooray! The good guys won this battle!
Yesterday, I heard and made contact with some people on another channel that were leasing repeater space as their "private channel" (462.550). The repeater owner assured them that it was their "private line", and no license was required. Back to work…
Authors footnote: About a month after noticing my pirate was gone, I had the opportunity to talk to the area FCC field agent regarding this pirate. While I didn't ask for details, it appears that indeed it was the FCC who was instrumental in removing them from the airwaves. A job well done by the FCC!
| Last updated March 10, 2001 GMRS Web Magazine / [email protected] |
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