==Phrack Magazine==
Volume Five, Issue Forty-Five, File 24 of 28
Anyway, good to hear from you. Let me know if you need further information.
Stephen Dunifer
Free Radio Berkeley
New Email Address: FRBSPD@CRL.COM
Submissions encouraged and welcomed
Richard described it this way, "Before it was all over there were at least 20 police officers on the scene. They were all so pumped up with adrenaline you would have thought I had committed the crime of the century. It was clearly irresponsible for this FCC agent to call for such a massive response without giving clear reason or instruction to the SF police. When police officers go into a situation not knowing the details they naturally assume the worst. For one dark moment I feared my life was in danger."
Clearly, this was an obvious case of overreaction by FCC agent David Doon who clearly endangered the life of Richard Edmondson by calling in such a massive police response. The FCC must be held accountable for the actions of their agents who use such extremely excessive and reactionary methods to suppress a growing micro power broadcasting movement. It would have sufficed for David Doon to have written down the license plate # of Richard's vehicle and run a DMV check. As more micro power broadcasters go on the air in the Bay area and Northern California we can anticipate further actions by the FCC to harass and intimidate those involved. However, we shall not be moved by their threats and police state tactics.
AMARC Solidarity Action Network received this urgent demand today from Bush Radio, a community radio project in Cape Town, South Africa.
An Action Alert was first issued in support of Bush Radio when its equipment was seized in May. For a copy of that Alert, send a request to amarc@web.apc.org.30th September, 1993
OPEN LETTER RE: PROSECUTION OF BUSH RADIO
To Bush Radio's Members, Users Friends and Supporters
Bush Radio is being prosecuted for starting a community radio station. We are charged on three counts:
The first court appearance is set for October 13. We now need your support to stop the victimization of genuine community radio before it even gets going.
Bush radio is a community radio initiative, owned and controlled by its membership, a wide range of organizations and individuals. For more than two years we planned and talked about going on air. Our attempts to get a broadcasting license from the Ministry for Home Affairs were repeatedly frustrated, and our membership eventually decided that we should go ahead without one.
So from 4 - 8 pm on Sunday April 1993, listeners on the Cape Flats heard a mix of programs produced and presented by our "networkers" (volunteer producers from the community). Scores of other people were there, and all of them had a chance to go on air, most of them for the first time in their lives.
In the week that followed the state seized our transmission equipment, effectively silencing us on the eve of our second broadcast, scheduled for May 1st. About six weeks later we were warned that the state was considering laying charges against us. Last week charge sheets were served on our lawyers, to appear before a regional court on October 13th.
For the state to take such action at this time seems to contradict their professed commitment to a more open South Africa. We are being charged in terms of laws inspired by apartheid at the very same time that new legislation passes through parliament - including bills for the transitional Executive Council and an Independent Broadcasting Authority, drawn up by parties at the negotiations.
The enforcement of these charges could have serious consequences for us at Bush Radio. For an organization which employs a staff of only two people, we do a disproportionate amount of work, and can ill afford to be spending time on defending unnecessary legal action. Bush Radio runs a range of training programs aimed at bringing new voices into the broadcasting environment. We work with a number of organizations, producing programs that are distributed either on audio-cassette or on other radio stations. Substantial time and energy is invested in building up a network of volunteers, the backbone of a truly participatory community radio. A lot of time is spent providing support to others who want to start radio stations in their own communities.
Despite our modest resources, Bush radio has become something of a "flagship" for the emerging community radio sector in SouthAfrica. For us to be criminalized could weaken the growth of this new sector which holds such real potential for communities wanting to control their own development.
We were always open and peaceful in our methods, and feel that this treatment is misplaced. To drag us through the courts is a waste of time and money, not only for Bush Radio but also for the taxpayer who foots the bill.
We hope the charges might be dropped, and seek your support in making our case. What can you do?
At this stage we ask that you write letters. They should be: "To whom it may concern,"
The content of your letter would depend on your relationship with Bush Radio.
If you are a member, we'd like you to say why you think it's inappropriate for us to be prosecuted, and include a statement of solidarity.
If you are a client, we'd like you to say why you think it's inappropriate for us to be prosecuted, and include a statement of solidarity.
If you are a client, we'd like to hear about the value of service you have derived from Bush Radio, and we would like you to be specific about what we did together.
If you are a friend, or supporter, please write whatever you feel is appropriate, and we'd appreciate comments on how this kind of action undermines confidence in the nature of change in our country.
Please send these letters to:
BUSH RADIO at fax no.:
+(27-21) 448-5451
and send originals to:
P.O. Box 13290
Mowbray, 7705
Cape Town, South Africa
We should receive these letters by Friday 8th October, or as soon as possible thereafter.
Thanking you in anticipation,
JEANNE DU TOIT
Secretary for the Coordinating Committee
The Solidarity Action Network is an initiative of AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
Action Alerts are posted in the conference amarc.radio carried by many members of the APC Network.
Email users who do not have access to the APC Network can receive Action Alerts directly by contacting AMARC.
For more information about AMARC or the Action Network, contact us at:
3575 St-Laurent, # 704 - Montreal, Quebec - H2X 2T7 Canada
Fax: +(514) 849-7129 - Tel: +(514) 982-0351
Email: amarc@web.apc.org
Freedom of communication is a basic human right. Like all rights, freedom of communication consists of being able to exercise your abilities with- out interference. Government cannot give you your abilities, but it sure as hell can (and will) interfere with you when you exercise them. Government cannot give you rights. It can only take them from you. If all governments (goons with guns forcing others to follow their dictates through violence and coercion) were to cease to exist, human rights would certainly not cease along with them.
The naive objection could be raised that while governments cannot give you rights, they can protect them by preventing your fellow citizens from interfering with you. That's the theory. In practice, governments rarely 'protect' citizens' rights, and then only when it suits their political purposes. Invariably, when governments feel the least bit threatened, they place their own 'security' needs above the human rights they supposedly safeguard. Through- out history the vilest and most consistent violators of human rights have been governments. Governments, along with their bedfellows, organized religions, have been responsible for the overwhelming bulk of human rights violations in every human civilization.
We cannot look to government to protect our rights. We have to do it ourselves, and an effective means of doing that is by exercising our rights. Use 'em or lose 'em.
At the moment we are working on a way to digitally record and compress 5 to 15 minute audio spots into a computer file which can be sent anywhere in the world where there is a computer to receive it. With an inexpensive digital recording and playback card which plugs into any basic PC system, micro power broadcasters will be able to send and receive these spots to and from anywhere in the world. This completely bypasses the rather expensive satellite feeds and makes for a much more decentralized system of distribution. If you are interested in this project please contact us. To reach CRL in regards to an Internet account give them a call (415) 381- 2800.
Even more sophisticated phase lock loop (PLL) frequency control designs are not that much more expensive to design and produce. At this moment, several individuals are working on low cost PLL designs which should meet current FCC requirements for frequency stability. When these designs are finished they will be available in kit form and assembled as well (for shipment outside US only).
What does it take to put a micro power broadcasting operation on the air ? First off, less than $500. A basic 5 watt FM transmitter, output filter (very necessary to reduce output harmonics), coax cable (50-100 ft RG8), antenna and power supply (battery or 12 volt regulated and filtered unit) is going to cost about $125-150. This is assuming assembly of kit and antenna. Next, a VHF power meter ($30-$40 at Radio Shack), a dummy load (make from resistors or $19 at Radio Shack) and a frequency counter ($50-150) are needed for tuning and keeping things optimized. Beyond those requirements one sort of audio source (line level -10 dbm, .3 volts) or another is needed to feed the transmitter. This source can be a walkman type cassette unit, a mixing board, tape deck, etc. Granted this is not a professional studio but for low budget community operations, it does not take top end gear. Creativity and determination as shown by many community stations can certainly make up the difference.
Once all the equipment has been assembled and arranged, a suitable place needs to be found for the operation and setting up the antenna. With FM, which is line of sight transmission, the higher the antenna the better. Depending on the regulations and political climate of the country in which you live, your operation may need to be portable for rapid set-up and break down. That seems especially true here in the United Corporate Snakes of America.
At the core of this is the potential to set up loosely coupled autonomous networks of communication around entire planet, outside the grasp of corporate/government control. This is the goal of the Free Communications Coalition, the umbrella organization which is being formed to support, defend and encourage micro power broadcasting.
Micro power technology makes this possible through a combination of low power. inexpensive FM, AM, TV and shortwave transmitters. Free Radio Berkeley, San Francisco Liberation Radio and other interested parties will be placing an international shortwave station on the air (100-300 watts initially at 40 meters - 7.4 to 7.5 Mhz range, increasing to 1000) sometime in November, 1993. If we had to use tube designs, doing such an operation would be impossible due to the portability requirements. Instead, relatively inexpensive transistor designs allow to us build linear shortwave amplifiers capable of output powers exceeding 1000 watts while running off a bank of lead acid batteries. Certainly, within the normal definitions, 100 to 1000 watts on shortwave is definitely beyond the usual micropower definition. However, when right wing evangelical ranters are running 100-500 KW it could be considered to be micropower. At the moment, Free Radio Berkeley is offering an entire line of transmitter and amplifier kits for FM broadcasting along with antenna and equipment designs. Assembled units are available for sale outside the US only. A rather effective antenna can be built using common hardware store parts for about $10. Our work will be expanding to include UHF & VHF TV, AM and shortwave designs.
We would like to find other engineers and technically inclined people to help increase these efforts since we are a rather small design and development operation. Further, we need such technically inclined people to act as advisors and facilitators in the process of helping people build, test, tune, and setup their transmitters and antennas. That way, we can create a pool of people across the country and world who will be available to lend a technical hand to those who wish put micropower broadcasting operations on the air.
Let a thousand transmitters bloom
Stephen Dunifer
Free Radio Berkeley / Free Communications Coalition - the People's FCC
If you have a story to tell on pirate radio, or information to share (voice/paper/email), please get in touch with us. On shortwave we reach also many European Pirates who would love to hear from you. (We indeed carried "legally" some of the pirates programs in the past in order to offer them better coverage to their "alternative" programs. Something we would also like to do again the future.)
Please send email to 100020.1013@compuserve.com, including a phone number and times when we can call possibly you from Europe for an interview. We will guarantee anonymity if so desired, since our Shortwave transmissions may also be heard in the USA. We'll love to hear from you! 73, Alfredo --- Alfredo E. Cotroneo, President, NEXUS-International Broadcasting Association PO BOX 10980, I-20110 Milano, Italy phone: +39-2-266 6971 | fax: +39-2-706 38151
One person writes about his FCC bust on the Usenet newsgroup alt.radio.pirate:
When I was busted in 1984, the FCC used a tan-colored buick passenger car. The passenger seat had been ripped out and was replaced with a rack of receiving equipment--nothing special, just commercially-available stuff. In the trunk was a pair of batteries driving inverters. The engine had a second alternator to charge the batteries. Beneath the vinyl roof was a direction-finding antenna array that was connected to an indicator on the dashboard. They'd just drive in the direction indicated until they reached the transmitter.
That car served 3-4 states in the Northwestern US. How do I know all this? After the guy finished writing me up, I asked him to show me his equipment. After all, I showed him mine. He started to say no, but then changed his mind since there was nothing secret involved.
Don Hackler responds:
When I was engineering an directional AM broadcast station, the station was inspected by two FCC engineers driving a similar car. The roof had been removed and replaced with a fiber glass replica of the original. The antennae were embedded in the new roof, and there were no indications of anything `special' about the roof, inside or out.
I was given a ride in the car to go check some of the monitor points with a field-strength meter. The passenger bucket seat had been replaced by a 3 foot tall rack on a swivel mount, so the driver or a passenger in back could operate the equipment. The rack had a slip cover made of upholstery vinyl that matched the car's interior. They refused (nicely) to let me see the equipment, but said it was just standard equipment; i.e. a spectrum analyzer and some general coverage receivers.
I never understood why they didn't allow a peek, but I assumed it was probably some policy they were following. That was my first, and so far only, FCC inspection.
Don Hackler - donh@shakala.com Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA 1-408-734-2289
Number Two: The technology has changed. It used to be very expensive to run a radio station. With modern electronics, however, small radio stations can be on the air with a minimal investment. In fact, people in Japan have been doing micro-power broadcasting for years. Most people in the U.S. just have AM, FM, and TV receivers. To reach these people, you usually have to buy advertising time on a commercial station. That's assuming some station is willing to broadcast your tape! What we want is true public access to the airwaves for everyone, not just the rich and powerful. The cloud of secrecy about broadcasting has lifted and now we know that media power has been stolen by our own government, and sold to the highest bidder. People need media access because human beings have a natural need to communicate with each other. Cable TV and Audio service should feature input from the community at large. The old concept of standing on a soap box and calling out to your fellow citizens will not work in the computer age.
Number Three: Health Concerns about Radio energy, in large doses, it is considered by some to be a real health hazard. Incidence of leukemia and cancer runs high among men who work on high power transmitting towers. People in San Francisco get blasted with literally millions of watts of energy coming from Sutro Tower. This is because some radio and television stations want to be picked up 100 miles away. Scientific opinion on the effects of exposure to radio waves varies quite a bit, but if you're one of those people living up near Sutro Tower, maybe you should move. Micro-power is the sane way to use radio and tv. The space on the radio and tv dial should be spread around to all interested parties, not just a small group of companies. Broadcast power levels for all stations should come down to safer levels.
-Paul Griffin
For educational purposes only. These kits are offered for the furtherance of one's knowledge regarding radio frequency design and principles. At all times during operation the assembled unit must be connected to a dummy load. Part 15 of the FCC rules prohibits an antenna being used with these units. All responsibilities for the ultimate use of these kits are born solely by the builder and/or operator.
KITS AVAILABLE NOW !
All kits are complete and come with professionally manufactured, drilled and tinned PC boards. All coils are pre-wound. Each unit, unless specified, requires 12 volts for proper operation. Full instructions and diagrams included.
Proceeds from the sales of these kits go to the furtherance of micro power broadcasting, bringing a voice of empowerment to every community.
Please add $3.00 for handling and shipping for each kit.
Payment to be made out to cash or to Stephen Dunifer, we are still working out the bank trip. Send to:
Free Radio Berkeley
1442 A Walnut St., #406
Berkeley, CA 94709
Voice mail: (510) 464-3041
San Francisco Liberation Radio - Wednesdays & Saturdays from 8 PM to 10 PM at 93.7 FM. Call their voice mail # (415) 487-6308 for further information and to help out. Or write them: San Francisco Liberation Radio, 350 7th. Ave, Box35, San Francisco CA, 94118.
Southern Marin, San Rafael Area - schedule not known at this time, try 87.9 FM.
Southern Marin, Sausalito - left end of the dial most every night, try 87.9 FM.
Mission District, SF - LaRaza station, schedule not known, try 87.9 FM
Santa Cruz - Either on the air or soon to be, schedule & frequency not known at this time
More stations taking to the air all the time, look for a whole network to be happening in Berkeley. An attendee of the New York City workshop is on the air in Connecticut with 5 watts as Ragged Mountain Liberation Radio. Phone calls are coming in from around the country, keep those calls and letters coming.
From San Francisco Liberation Radio: Each SFLR program closes with the words: "Fascists are like cockroaches. Shine a light on them and they scurry away. And together, you and I can be the light." Richard Edmondson of SFLR, author of that slogan, said, "Well, first and foremost of all it seemed like a truism, and it seemed like the sort of phrase to end a radio program with - catchy."
Stephen Dunifer with Free Radio Berkeley added, "Yes, but cockroaches do not carry guns". One of Free Radio Berkeley's favorite tag lines is "Are you going to continue to live the lie or are you going to act the truth ?
Both San Francisco Liberation Radio and Free Radio Berkeley have been carrying a lot of very diverse and interesting programming ranging from Food Not Bombs Radio Network programs to Jello Biafra declaring that Urinalysis is Freedom to local street interviews to an interview with the former program director at Pacicifa station WPFW in Washington, DC. If you are interested in producing programs, conducting news gathering and interviews, etc. or have tapes of your band, performance piece, etc. or wish to help out in any other way, please contact either Free Radio Berkeley or San Francisco Liberation Radio. Tapes may be mailed to the return address on this newsletter in care of Free Radio Berkeley. Let your voices and performance art be heard !
More coverage is expected to be forthcoming. An article may appear in the New York Times. KQED radio is working on a story. A fifteen page article on guerilla media will be in Mondo 2000, due out the first of November. Channel 31 (Marin County) is covering one of the broadcast operations in San Rafael. A press and info packet is going to be sent out around the country. Any help you can offer in the area of community and media outreach would be greatly appreciated. It is our intent to build an international movement and coalition. Contact the Free Communications Coalition (510) 464-3041
Saturday, November 13 - 8 PM 809 B Allston Way, Berkeley
(two blocks south of University Ave., between 5th and 6th streets)
$5-? donation. Free popcorn provided. Help us pay our operational expenses.
With the dramatic increase in publicity (Free Radio Berkeley made the front page of the Sunday New York Times - Oct. 24) and response we have experienced in the last month or so, it is rather important that all of us who are concerned with the defense, support and promotion of micro power broadcasting come together to plan and create a strategy which will lead to the Free Communications Coalition (the Peoples' FCC) becoming an international umbrella under which micropower broadcasting can flourish.
To that end, you are invited to attend the meeting of the Free Communications Coalition on Saturday, November 13 at 5 PM. It will be held at 809 B Allston Way (between 5th & 6th streets) in Berkeley. This will be a pot luck dinner meeting, bring a vegetarian dish to share. Following, at 8PM will be a video benefit, see above for further details.