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Any ideas about what could be going on here? Recently a new radio station has been heard in my town. But only in an area approximately five miles by five miles.....very strong signal in that area, but then it just dies out once you go further. They never say anything, other than prerecorded messages about the time (at the top of the hour). No commercials, announcers, nothing. I can't find them in the FCC listing of stations.
I think someone is doing it out of their house or something. Is there a way to pinpoint where the signal is coming from??
My college's radio station (back in the 1980s) had about that much of a signal coverage area.
Perhaps they're gearing up to start a full-fledged station but are working out the kinks while doing a low-power transmission? If they signed a contract to have "piped-in" music/programming from a syndicator, the contract might not have gone into effect yet. Sounds kind of exciting, wondering what you'll hear every time you turn on the radio.
Phoenix has a pirate radio station on 87.9 kc that has been broadcasting now for a year or more. Unknown location but can be heard mainly in the SR-51 & Camelback Road area of central east Phoenix. KWFUCC 87.9 pirate radio seems to be left alone by the FCC and continues to broadcast.
An update: I actually heard ONE commercial on the station. It was a national spot (I think for a hardware chain). ???
Other than that, no speaking at all, other than "the time is exactly......" in a very prim and proper voice!!
Very odd.
Five miles by five miles would be the right range for an LPFM. But I see nothing in Caribou, Maine. I don't think the FCC would allow anything on that channel due to a 93.5 across the border in New Brunswick. It's probably a pirate.
If it's mostly just broadcasting dead-air & the time, it's probably a legitimate, new station operating under it's FCC Construction Permit license that's trying to adjust power output and/or antenna height, directionality, etc. in order to conform with signal propagation (range) restrictions that the FCC placed on it. In this initial testing phase, many stations don't broadcast music, etc. because the license doesn't allow them to be on the air for profit-yet (in which case, the one commercial you heard would have been a mistake) but as part of the license, it may be required to benefit the public anyway, by broadcasting time info, relaying the local National Weather Service/NOAA Weather Radio station, etc.
Based on the relatively small (so far) coverage area, as someone else suggested, it's probably going to be operated as a Low Power FM station, designed just to provide coverage to a particular neighborhood or city, and not a wide-range FM broadcaster using an antenna high above the ground, transmitting with a lot of power, etc.
It's pretty easy to radio-direction find what seems to be a 'low-profile' station like this. The basics are that you tune in while in your car, stop the car at the spot in the community that you hear the signal the strongest, then tune OFF the freq 100kHz (i.e. going from 93.9 to 93.8 or 94.0). As you get close to the transmitter/antenna site, you will hear the station 'bleeding over' while off frequency. When the signal (albeit distorted) sounds very strong on 93.8 or 94.0, try tuning another 100kHz above or below, to either 93.70 or 94.10MHz & do the same thing. If you're two-steps (200kHz) above or below the actual station frequency but able to hear the distorted signal very well, you're likely close enough to where you might see the antenna on a roof, or even somewhat hidden in a tree, etc. Because the station is mostly transmitting dead-air, you may need to wait off-frequency until you hear the voice stating the time before you judge whether or not you're getting close.
There are other techniques, but the above is the simplest if you're new to RDF'ing.
I'm not finding any new station construction permits, etc. in the FCC database, but then I don't know for sure it'd show LPFM/Translator stations in the database I'm looking at.
It *could* be a pirate station, but people set up pirate stations because they want to play DJ or think that they have important information to convey, & don't want to bother getting a license from the FCC. Since these guys are anxious, you should be hearing them playing music and/or giving their "commentaries" out over the air, not mostly transmitting dead-air.
Well, it's been two years now, and my local "pirate radio" station is still on the air. NEVER hear a word on-air, except the time being announced at the top of the hour in a pre-recorded message (with a lovely, British woman's voice, oddly enough!)
If one wanted to try to track down the area of town where this was emanating from (without spending too much money), what kind of signal detector would work?? Any ideas?? (I just want to thank whoever it is for playing good tunes...........plus find out what their deal is. We NEVER get stuff like this happening in my neck of the woods).
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Pirate Radio ,,,,,,, in Phoenix
