From: jduncan@got.net (Jim Duncan) Newsgroups: alt.radio.pirate >I have never seen any posted on this 'newsgroup'. >Does it ever happen? > My "pirate" station was busted by the FCC on 7/31/79. Two agents showed up at my house in a big station wagon, responding to a complaint from a commercial broadcaster. It was KOAN FM 107.9 and AM 1600 in Scotts Valley, CA. The FM was 5 watts from a 1200 foot hill and had a large coverage area. The AM used 35 watts. This simulcast had been on the air 18 hours per day since Nov. 1975. It was KOAN (KO-AN) Mountain Fine Arts, translating classical music KDFC from San Francisco most of the time, while I could go on live from time-to-time. It was a blatant, long running violation, and I figured my broadcast engineering career would be damaged. Numerous broadcast engineers were aware of it and had even been to my house. I can't believe I ever did this. Having been a defense industry technician, I designed and built everything myself - antennas, receivers, transmitters, etc., and it was all optimized for maximum coverage. The agents seemed to be amused by the whole scene, actually, and visited with me all afternoon. I got an ugly looking citation, but there was no fine at the time. KDFC apparently got a number of phone calls and letters wondering where the music went (in the Santa Cruz mountains). The FCC people made it clear that a repeat visit for the same type of violation would be a bloodbath. Naturally, if microbroacasting were to be legalized in some form, KOAN would instantly reappear, however, again with its fine arts format. -- << Jim Duncan: jduncan@got.net >> SEMPER FAC TOTUM