[BC] FM jamming story-More details

[Steve Michaels N4AY]

The person in the building when Charlie arrived was a former CC employee =
who
had been terminated by CC.  To the best of my knowledge, he was the only
person trained to operate the transmitter.  Have you heard a Bext XL1000
when it is making power?  The thing sounds like an F-16.  You could hear =
the
thing all over the building.  It was sitting on top of a rack, it =
doesn't
use thumb wheels to set the frequency, and the power switch is on the =
back
of the box, necessitating going behind the rack to turn it on.  It was =
no
"accident" it was on the WPAP frequency and turned on.  Because of the
racket the thing makes, there is also no way anyone in the building =
would
not have known it was on.  On a side note, the Friday before the =
incident, I
was helping install an EAS receiver about a mile from the "jammer."  =
After
verifying WPAP had ample signal and plenty of audio, suddenly there was
nothing there.  Another station in the TFT rx was loud and clear--same =
tower
as WPAP and same ERP.  Considerable head scratching--and when checked =
later,
WPAP was back.  I know Charlie has very well backed-up facilities, so I
seriously doubt that WPAP was off the air for more than a few seconds, =
if at
all.

I have been told that virtually the entire Double O staff had bailed out =
of
town anticipating a hit by Dennis, essentially leaving only one person =
to
baby-sit four stations--the one who was there when John Law came =
knocking on
the door.  It is also my understanding that the deputy was only there to =
be
a witness to the operation of the transmitter and who was present in the
building.

Steve
Gruntled ex-Double Uh-O employee

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Steve Michaels
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:28 AM
To: 'Broadcast Radio Mailing List'
Subject: [BC] FM jamming story

 From the WJHG website (Panama City, FL)

Story is essentially correct except it was not an exciter, it was a Bext
XL1000 transmitter.....

"Double O" FCC Probe=20
Adam Kramer


As a hurricane approaches land, residents who live in its path depend on =
the
media to broadcast vital information about the storm.

The Federal Communications Commission is now investigating a local radio
station for allegedly interfering with another local station during
Hurricane Dennis.

It all started back in Jul, when an engineer for WPAP was driving around =
and
noticed his signal was being jammed. He went to the station, got a =
device
which tracked down the signal, and found out it was coming from rival
station WAKT.

The engineer went into WAKT with a sheriff's deputy who proceeded to =
turn
off a device called an exciter, basically a small transmitter, which was
jamming the signal.=20

What makes this story more disturbing is that WPAP is the local =
emergency
access radio station, which means in situations such as Dennis, they're
suppose to be broadcasting the latest information to help save your =
life.=20

But they were unable to do so because their signal was jammed.=20

Newschannel 7 spoke to Double "O" Radio, owners of WAKT, and they =
refused to
comment on the situation, but if the FCC says it was intentional, no one
knows what penalty WAKT may face, because this is pretty unprecedented. =
It
could be anywhere from a slap on the wrist to losing their broadcasting
license.=20

WAKT has 30 days to respond to the charges from the FCC and turn over =
all
information to the investigation.

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