MESSAGE
| DATE | 2009-03-03 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Pirate Radio are Terrorists....no realy..
|
Pirate radio 'puts lives at risk'
By Daniel Emery
Technology reporter, BBC News website
Authorities have been increasing their efforts to crack down on pirate
radio stations in the UK.
Regulator Ofcom says the broadcasts can put lives at risk by interfering
with emergency service frequencies, and can also block legitimate
stations.
Police officers raided an address in North London which, they say,
housed an illegal pirate radio station.
Five people were arrested and officers seized thousands of pounds worth
of broadcasting and musical equipment.
Ofcom says there are more than 150 pirate radio stations operating
across the UK, half of which operate in London and the South East of
England.
Last year, officers raided 43 studios used by illegal stations and shut
down 838 illegal transmitters.
Ofcom's head of investigations, Paul Mercer, told BBC News that pirate
radio was not a victimless crime.
"Ofcom receive complaints from the emergency services. The two services
that are most affected are the National Air Traffic services and the
London Fire Brigade.
"In both instances, because of the proximity of the frequencies used by
those services and the illegal broadcasters, they can suffer some
difficulties when trying to use their radio systems to communicate."
However, one pirate radio DJ told the BBC that while pirate stations may
have interfered with the emergency services in the past, it was now a
rare occurrence.
Steve, who manages the pirate radio station Ice Cold FM, said: "Problems
can occur if people use a badly built link box that connects the studio
to the transmitter.
"These systems, called Band 1, can put out multiples of their frequency,
so a link on 50Mhz could spill out onto 100Mhz and other high band
frequencies.
"I would say 90% of pirates don't use Band 1 links any more. We all use
microwave links that are completely interference free," he said.
He added: "I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, but we check all our
stuff to make sure it's clean and on the band."
Ofcom says that if there were other avenues open for legal broadcasting,
such as setting up a community radio station.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has provided money for the
Community Radio Fund, managed by Ofcom, which so far has awarded
£215,900 to 15 applicants.
But Steve from Ice Cold FM said that it was difficult to win a community
radio station licence.
"I wanted to go legal. We tried to get a community based licence and
even went off air for a while.
"But once we looked into it, they wanted us to show that we had £25,000
in sponsorship to prove that we could establish the business for a
length of time, which is far more than we would actually need.
"Even to apply costs money and Ofcom can still say no, so it's just not
worth the effort."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7919748.stm
Published: 2009/03/03 06:02:54 GMT
© BBC MMIX
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