Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/hold me in your arms/micropower.news.may

Text File | 1994-11-10 | 84KB | 1,729 lines

Supporters of Micropower Broadcasting:

    We are enclosing the latest etext version of our May/June
newsletter along with a special bulletin.  Our FTP site on crl.com is in
the process of being loaded with lots of info and technical files.  The
directory is ftp/users/ro/frbspd.  By the 10th of May, all of our current
designs, board layouts, schematics, etc should be there, please see that
these get distributed and used.
    Volunteers are needed in a number of areas: technical mentors are
needed to help people build their kits and put their stations on the air;
since we have been invited to take part in the Lollapalooza tour, we need
folks to set up a literature and information table at all of the tour
sites; technical design help is needed on further micropower designs in
the area of TV units; general organizing in your community around the
entire issue of micropower broadcasting, free speech, etc. - conducting
public forums and workshops for example; fundraising, expenses are rising
with the ever increasing reponse to micropower broadcasting; distribution
of informational material, we just printed 5000 copies of an 8 page
tabloid newspaper for the May/June newsletter.  If you know of bookstores,
community centers, etc where these can be distributed, please let us and
we mail a packet of 50 or so to you for distribution; legal support - if
you know of any attorneys who might be interested in helping out and
providing local legal support, we will send them legal documents and
briefs to bring them up to speed on this issue; and just the usual
suppport and organizational work associated with these sort of endeavors.

    If anyone on this distribution list has ordered a kit but has not
received it, please let us know.  When we first started out with this
process last fall, a few orders went astray.  Our order process is in
pretty good shape right now.  Their are some simple modifications that can
be made to the 5 watt transmiter which will improve its stability and
performance, see the newsletter for the details.  One rather wonderful
person, Dave Forbes finished out the PLL design and has got it working
with the 5 watt transmitter.  Board layout will go next week to the shop
and should be back the week following.  If all goes well, the PLL kit will
be going out the first of June.

    We have set the filters for around 108 Mhz,  this was checked on
a rather expensive spectrum analyzer from a friend's place of work.  The
second harmonic is knocked down by at least 50 db with this filter on a
transmitter running at the low end of the band - 88.1.  We will be
supplying just this one frequency since it seems to work very well over
the entire band.  The above mentioned mod to the 5 watt transmitters
reduces the harmonic content as well.


    If you want to be removed from the distribution list, please let
us know.


    Thank you very much for your support and patience.

Stephen Dunifer

Doug Forbes

Richard Edmondson

Captain Fred

--------------------------------------------------
 SF Liberation Radio - Free Speech Stand - Solidarity Needed

    Beginning this week, SF Francisco Liberation Radio (93.7 FM)
will be on the air, 5 days a week (m-f) from 8 PM to 10 PM from a fixed
location.  It is their intent to make a free speech challenge to the FCC
and the corporate it represents.  Some may want to flame them for taking
such a risk, please don't.  You have to understand that we are taking the
position that what we are doing is legal and protected by the US
Constitution, Bill of Rights, International Law and other related law,
statutes and so forth.  We are also political organizers with a lot
experience in challenging the system.  Considering the media attention we
have received from merely being threatened with fines by the FCC, if
they raid SF Liberation Radio and drag people and equipment off, I can
guarantee the media response will be rather awesome.

    We need your help, solidarity and support to ensure, in the event
of raid, that as many people know about this as possible.  We are asking
you to take the following steps.  If this does happen, we will post a
press release on this newsgroup within 24 hours of the event.  Please
take this release and see that it gets distributed to your local media.
Add some sort of statement of support and outrage of your own to it.  If
you can, organize some type of "Free Speech Support" action in front of
your local federal building, FCC office or whatever other building in
your city or town seems appropriate.  We are asking that this action take
place on the Saturday following the raid, if it does occur, so they all
happen on the same day.  Just call up your friends, make some signs with
appropriate slogans, tell the the press where it will take place, make up
flyers announcing the action and pass them out where they will do the
most good.  One person should be the media contact person.  We will
include some tips with the press release on dealing with the media.  It
is important to be familiar as possible with the issues, please see the
current newsletter posted in the news group - alt.radio.pirate.  Also
urge people to call their local FCC office to voice their opinion about
this as well.

Thank you very much for any support and solidarity you may put forth

------------------------------

    RECLAIMING THE AIRWAVES

Published by Free Radio Berkeley and the Free Communications Coalition


May/June 1994


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TO CONTACT US:

email: [e-mail]

voicemail: [phone]

snailmail: Free Radio Berkeley, 1442 A Walnut St. #406, Berkeley, CA 94709

ftpsite: crl.com - directory: ftp/users/ro/frbspd

We welcome any and all submissions for the next newsletter


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MICROPOWER BROADCASTING THE FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT OF THE 90'S

    One of the most defining threads of political. cultural and social
history is freedom of expression.  In almost any circumstance, the degree
of overall freedom present is directly proportional to the degree of
strictures placed upon freedom of expression and who controls or maintains
the mediums of expression.  Whether it was the underground resistance to
the Star Chamber or the free speech fights of the Wobblies, the desire to
communicate with one's feelings, ideas, thoughts, etc. has remained
undiminished throughout history.  Subject to licensure for the first 500
years of its existence, the printing press of Gutenberg's day has been
transmuted into the micropower transmitters of the 1990's.  With an
agency, the FCC (Fostering Corporate Control), totally in the grip of
media monopolies who number less than 30 but own over 50 percent of the
media resources, we have reached an intolerable situation where the
peoples' airwaves have been turned into an instrument of social control
engendering crass consumerism, and obescient response to the crudest of
political flim-flammery.

    An owner of a printing press could have had his or her hand
chopped off, or worse, for printing material considered to seditious or
critical of the ruling elite.  Although micropower broadcasters have not
been subject to a similar fate, they are being threatened with huge fines
ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 and, in some cases, their entire household
has been ransacked by local FCC agents and police.  Clearly, free speech
and other constitutional rights are under a state of siege.  With the
current anti-crime hysteria and what passes for "public debate" in the
hands of the corporate monopolies and their mouthpieces such as Rush
Limbaugh, an aggressive campaign of taking back the airwaves is the only
hope of creating democracy in this country.  It is our intent and purpose
to see thousands of transmitters taking to the air in an all out, no holds
barred movement of electronic civil disobedience.  When was the last you
refereed to as a citizen and not a consumer by the media ?

    One has to ask the question, what is the underlying premise behind
who has rights to the airwaves which, like so many other natural
resources, have been plundered and raped by the corporate interests who
desire to line their pockets to the extreme detriment of the planet and
all who reside on it ?  Why should just a few be allowed to dominate what
should be a resource of the many ?  It is just the further diminishment of
public space and resources which are fenced off and declared private
property of the corporate elite.  If the power levels were brought down to
some reasonably sane limit, like 100-1000 watts on FM for example, many
more people and communities could have a voice.  Consider the cancer
cluster risks alone from having megawatts of RF radiating from vertical
antenna farms such as Sutro Tower in San Francisco.

    If we are a country founded on democratic principles, with a
government created to ensure and guarantee to all the rights enumerated in
the Bill of Rights along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
why have we reached such an intolerable situation where any reasonable
analysis will show the total lack of any democratic process.  And why do
we meet such fierce resistance when tried to exercise any of these rights,
such the right to vote, to speak in public parks, or to receive a just and
fair wage ?  The question is, should the airwaves be used as a primary
means of fostering a democratic, pluralistic, and vibrantly diverse
society through a free and open exchange of ideas, news, information, art
and culture or should they be a concession stand for narrow,
anti-democratic corporate interests working hand in hand with a government
whose main goal is domestic pacification, control and the maximization of
private profit ?  Who does the government really work for, the people or
the plutocrats ?  Of, by and for the people does not seem be an operative
principle at this time.

    Spectrum scarcity is largely the fault of the FCC.  Take a look at
your TV tuner.  Notice all those vacant UHF channels.  In most areas the
UHF band is wide open.  Yet, even though low power TV has been created as
a legitimate category, the FCC has flatly refused to grant licenses in the
50 major urban areas where there is plenty of room on the UHF band.  In
1980 the FCC forced many low wattage (10 watt) , class D FM stations to
either increase their power to a minimum of 100 watts and adhere to
tighter technical requirements or go off the air.  This was done largely
at the behest of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (another
contradiction in terms), the agent orange of grassroots radio, who had
been lobbying the FCC since the early 1970's as part of their drive to
"professionalize community radio.  It was the combined hope of both the
FCC and the CPB to drive a number of stations off the air.  What happened
was that everyone scraped their pennies together and increased their power
and operating budgets with a net result of crowding the spectrum more than
before and having to rely more and more on bringing professional
fund-raisers and managers on board to meet the larger budgetary
requirements - thus began the slow death of real community radio in this
country.  Why does the FCC grant 90 mile fringe protection to many giant
operators ?  As stated above, bring down the power limit to a reasonable
level, the broadcasters will scream. Let them, they have had 60 years to
make an obscene amount of profit from the peoples' resource.

     We are creating an alternative to the FCC, the Free Communications
Coalition - the peoples' FCC.  An umbrella organization which intends on
helping ensure good technical standards and support for micropower
broadcasting, basing itself on a community and grass roots volunteer model
using mediation and open discussion to foster responsible micropower
broadcasting.  Further, it is working toward the full democratization of
all means of communication whether it is electromagnetic space or
cyberspace in conjunction with any & all groups or individuals who are
working toward this common goal.  We would like to see many of these
issues addressed and resolved at the community level.  We hope to create a
talent and resource pool of individuals who can provide the necessary
technical expertise whether it be legal, electronic, organizational, etc.
to aid in establishing micropower broadcasting as a fully functioning
entity whose purpose is to break the stranglehold on the free flow of
information, ideas, news, culture and art.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "We own the public airwaves.  That's federal law, approved by the
Supreme Court of the United States.  We are the owners, we are the
landlords.  The Federal Communications Commission is our real estate
agent.  It licenses portions of the spectrum to corporate broadcasting TV
and radio stations--they are the tenants.They pay nothing for the rent of
a TV station.  Some of the greatest fortunes in American history have been
made by television and other electronic communication company executives-
-tens of millions of dollars--using public property free of charge.  The
tenant pays the landlord nothing, decides who says what on radio and TV,
and laughs all the way to the bank, and because we grow up corporate, we
don't even *think* of challenging it because we never *heard* of it.  We
never reflected on it.  Our courses never *talked* about it.  We never
majored in it.  And therefore, we're anesthetized.  It's a controlling
process."
            - Ralph Nader


---------------------------------------------------------------

 I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes
 me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . .  Corporations have been
 enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the
 money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working
 upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few
 hands and the Republic is destroyed.

            --- Abraham Lincoln (quoted in Jack London's "The Iron Heel").

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



    Over the last few months the response to the whole issue of
micropower broadcasting has taken off at an incredible level, the mailing
list has doubled since the first of the year.  Largely due to a number of
rather good articles which have appeared in Mondo 2000, Option and Spin
magazines.  Micropower broadcasting has been invited to be part of the
Lollapalooza tour this year.  New designs are being worked to make it as
easy as possible for people to reclaim the airwaves.
    Unfortunately, this work can not continue without a response of
support from you.  We hope that you consider micropower broadcasting to be
a vital and critical tool to restore some sort of democratic process to
the world and break the stranglehold on the free flow of information,
news, ideas, art and culture.  Several of us have basically put a good
portion of our lives on hold to make this happen.  If this work is to
continue we need not only financial donations but volunteer help as well.
Whatever you can do would be most appreciated.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TAKE BACK THE AIRWAVES - THE SPRING & SUMMER OFFENSIVE

Free Radio Berkeley / Free Communications Coalition


First, we would like to thank everyone for their support of micro power
liberation broadcasting and their extreme degree of patience as we get
our act together on ramping up for full scale production of kits.

FRB and the Peoples' FCC invite you to take part in reclaiming the
airwaves.  This can be done in many ways, it is not necessary for you and
your community to put a station on the air if you feel that is too great
of a risk.  A lot of public education needs to happen around this issue
so folks understand that is a matter of free speech, constituitional and
human rights.  We urge you to consider conducting public forums and
presentations on this in your community.  Printed materials, videos, etc.
can be provided for this type of activity.

Further, if you are technically inclined and would like to provide
assistance as a mentor to those whose technical abilities are vastly
exceeded by their enthusiasm, we would like to hear from so we can refer
folks needing assistance to someone in their area.

If your are good at teaching and presenting technical matters in an
understable manner, please consider leading a workhsop in your
community.  We can supply materials for this including a how to video
that is in production.

We need any information on what happening in your community as it regards
micro power broadcasting, especially regarding any actions taken by the FCC.

Micro power broadcasting will be part of the Lolapalooza tour this
summer.  A transmitter will accompying some foks who are part of the tour
and we have been invited to have a table at each concert site.  If you
live anywhere close to the concert sites (most major urban areas) and can
volunteer to run an info table, pleaes contact us.  We will see that
passes are arranged and send you the materials to be distributed along
with materials you might wish to add.  That would be a good time to
organize a local meeting/public forum or workshop on micro power
broadcasting and reclaiming the airwaves.  All in all, the Lolapalooza
tour was attended by 2 million people last year, a great opportunity for
outreach.

Let us know if there is any way we can help you, many of us here are rather
experienced community activists and organizers.  We have legal support
available through the National Lawyers Guild and can send legal info to
supportive attorneys in your area to bring them up to speed on this issue.

If you can, come to the Bay Area for the weeekend of April 30 and May 1
and the following week.  On Saturday, April 30 Food Not Bombs is putting
on Soupstock 94 with lots of good bands including MDC, Mudwimmin, Clan
Dyken, etc.  It will be held at the Golden Gate Park Bandshell near the
DeYoung Museum and starts at 12 noon.  San Francisco Liberation Radio
will be broadcasting it live at 93.7 FM with a possible higher power AM
simulcast.  On Sunday, May 1 the 25th anniversary of Peoples' Park will
be celebrated with a big party and concert at Peoples' Park in Berkeley.
This event will be broadcast live by Free Radio Berkeley at 88.1 FM.  A
whole series of workshops on media, computers, broadcasting, etc. will be
held that week in both SF and Berkeley.  A public forum on micro power
broadcasting and radical art will be held on Thursday evening, May 5 at
the Capp Street Gallery in SF.  A micropower broadcasting workshop will
held on Wednesday, May 4 in Berkeley and on Saturday, May 6 at the Capp
Street Gallery in SF.

More articles are coming out on mirco power broadcasting.  The most recent
issue of Option had a very good article.  The May issue of Spin will
feature an article as well.  It is possible that Rolling Stone might be
interested in this issue.  Hopefully, you can get the local media in your
area to do the same.

Richard Edmondson with San Francisco Liberation Radio and Food Not Bombs
Radio Network is now producing a weekly show for Radio For Peace
International, a shortwave station operating from Costa Rica.  It is a
half hour show on the best of micro power broadcasting in the US with
segments from air tapes of various stations that are currently on the
air.  If you are on the air send us air tapes so they can be incorporated
into the show.

We are setting up to record program materials onto hard disk with a DSP
card in one our PCs.  These will be compressed with a program from Xing
and loaded into our FTP site for distribution.  This will begin on May
1.  If you are interested in this project, let us know

We have decided to make a major push for next 6 months to create a
national movement to take back the airwaves and break the
coporate/government stranglehold on the free flow and exchange of ideas,
information, news, music, culture and artistic expression.  If we do this
in an organized, concerted way we can take back the airwaves and show
what real democracy is all about.  It involves taking risks and a
lot of hard work but if worth the effort if one values free speech, human
rights, liberty and self determination.


Thanks again.

Stephen Dunifer
Doug Forbes
Richard Edmondson
Keith McHenry
Captain Fred
JS
Universal Radio
and many others who wish to remain unknown at this time

Contact:

Free Radio Berkeley / Free Communications Coalition
1442 A Walnut St. #406
Berkeley, CA
94709

[phone] - voice mail

email - [e-mail]
ftp site: crl.com  - directory: /ftp/users/ro/frbspd


Send us any program material you might have.


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SAN FRANCISCO LIBERATION RADIO TO TAKE FREE SPEECH STAND

    San Francisco Liberation Radio, in a bold move placing free speech on the
line, will begin on May 2 broadcasting five nights per week from a fixed
location.
    "It's risky," admittede SFLR's Richard Edmondson.  "If the FCC wants to
find us they will be able to do so fairly easily."
    He added, however, that the problems inherent in constantly moving the
station from place to place, broadcasting in concealment, setting up and
breaking down by flashlight--all were considerations driving him and other
SFLR members to make the decision they did.
    "At the new location we'll be powered by electricity rather than
batteries, giving our broadcasts more regularity, reliability, and, with the
expanded hours, greater listnership," he said.
    The new broadcast schedule, the commencement of which will coincide with
SFLR's first anniversary, will be Mon-Fri from 8-10 pm--if the station
survives.
    "Our lawyers tell us it's a very real possibility that we'll be arrested
and that our equipment will be seized," he said, adding that in such an
eveutuality SFLR will call for a demonstration at 5 pm the following day in
front of the San Francisco federal building.
    "We're encouraging everyone who values free speech to come out and support
 us when and if the clampdown comes," Edmondson said.
    The government's assault on San Francisco Liberation Radio began last
year when Edmondson received notice from the FCC that he was being fined
$10,000 for an alleged illegal broadcast on the night of Sept. 22.
Since then the station has been on the air two nights a week unhindered.
    But what begins on May 2 will be a strong departure from the clandestine
guerilla broadcasts of before.
    "Beginning on May 2 we'll be more above ground.  We'll even have a live
phone line for listners to call into--so that's how easy it will be for the
government to track us down should they want to," Edmondson said.
    "I can't say enough about how important it is for people to come out in
the streets and support us should the government shut down the station.  If
they're paying workers in Haiti fourteen cents an hour, how much longer do
you think it will be before that's what they're paying workers in this
country?  We have to make a stand now--or we may as well resign ourselves
to watching our situation grow more and more desperate with each year that
goes by."
    The path being taken by SFLR is actually one that has already been
blazed by two Black Liberation stations in the state of Illinois.
    "Mbanna Kantako and Napoleon Williams are the real precedent setters
here, and we are very inspired by what they have been able to do,"
Edmondson said.



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JOLLY ROGER THEATRE SKEWERS THE POLICITICAL ELITE


    Political satire is the weapon of the day--or at least the weapon of
choice of the Jolly Roger Comedy Troupe, whose skits can now be heard
on Free Radio Berkeley and San Francisco Liberation Radio.
    And who are the Troupe's victims?  Anyone from Frank Jordan to the
International Olympic Committee.
    Imagine Frank Jordan and Jordan top advisor Jim Wunderman clad as hunters
and standing on San Francisco city hall balcony taking pot shots at the
homeless people on the streets below; or two mundane CBS sportscasters
named Hank Hasbeen and Kathy Vapid broadcasting the "Immigrant Bashing
Finals" at the winter olympics in Lillehammer.
    With the Jolly Roger Comedy Troupe it's anything goes; no target is
sacred.
    And what happened when members of the University of California-Berkeley
Police Department got caught by video camera watching movies in the campus
film library when they were supposed to be out on patrol?  Yep, you guessed
it.  The Troupe's skit writers got busy and produced "At the Movies with
the U.C. Police," featuring two barely literate cops "reviewing"  various
current movies, including Geronimo ("another crybaby indian movie from
Hollywood") a la Siskel and Ebert.
    And who will be the next target of the Jolly Roger Comedy Troupe?
Tune into San Francisco Liberation Radio and Free Radio Berkeley to find
out.







----------------------------------------------------------------



FCC PULLS PLUG ON BOOTLEG RADIO STATION IN BROADVIEW

(Associated Press) 4/4/94 Chicago Sun Times
The message on the answering machine said, "Power Radio is
off the air today because of an occurence of technical
difficulties."

The technical dirriculty that shut down the bootleg FM station
in Broadview was a raid by the Federal Communications Commission.
Power Radio was operated by a 15-year-old boy with assistance from
his father.

Friday's raid in the Chicago suburb was confirmed by Paul Gromoll, the
electronics technician of the FCC's Midwest enforcement division
office.

Pete Sinadinos had shared deejay duty with his dad for 2 1/2 years.

Sindinos and his father, jim, played oldies, dance, country and some heavy
metal and
featured a popular "stupid hour".

The station was "just for kids, to keep them off the streets, to keep
them off drugs," Jinm Sinadinos said.

They say they did not know their broadcast, using a 5-watt transmitter bought
through a flea market, was illegal.

The Riverside-Brookfield High School freshman said he made no attempt to evade
authorities; he broadcast a phone number and post office box over the air.

Gomoll said the FCC shuts down three or four unlicensed radio stations around
Chicago each year.

He said no charges have been filed against the Sinadinos.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


      Well, I finally got up enough courage to post an advertisement for
our station.  We are by no means a _new_ station, we have been operating
every weekend when possible all winter.  New spring hours will be much more
sporadic.  If you are in the Des Moines area, "west-ish on the freeway" on
a weekend night, and happen to like alternative music, listen to:

        Radio KAOS, Des Moines _ONLY_ Pirate radio station!  95.9Mhz, just
        one click above KGGO because we are just one click better!

        96 KAOS, All NAKED, all the time.

        Radio KAOS, if you can hear us, you are TOO DAMN CLOSE!

(this is of course an experiment to find out if the FCC actually investigates
 alleged pirate radio broadcasts, or if they monitor or have agents monitor
 this newsgroup.  If anything happens to our lovely little 12,000mw StereO
 transmitter, you can be assured that I will let everyone who reads this
 newsgroup know.  Later this summer we will be changing our setup, adding a
 200 watt amplifier, 80 ft. tower, and a yagi beam pointing back to DSM!)


---------------------------------------------------------------------


5...4...3...2...1...ANARCHY!
by Captain Fred

We came on the air with a "plut plut plut" sound.  It was not what I
expected to hear.  I started to notice things were not functioning
properly.  For starters, my CD player was spinning in the wrong
direction...How could this be happening?  The cassette deck kept turning
itself off for no apparent reason, and I was starting to get a little
panicky. Ralph had the good judgment to grab the marantz PMD 420.  It
saved the show for us.  Finally, there was some music playing in my air
monitor. The broadcast microphone was a small dictation tape deck set in
"record" mode.  The sound was rather tinny but audible.  Our broadcast
console was a small steel box with a four channel mixer inside.  Some of
the cables seemed sensitive to touch and would emit a low hum if touched
in the wrong way.  I found out later that shielding is very important for
the audio connections.  The control room was the passenger seat in my car
and the antenna was a simple "j-pole" attached to an aluminum tripod
stand.  We played some music, a short interview with Norman Solomon, and a
tribute to Orson Welles, with selections from his famous "War of the
Worlds" broadcast.  There were also shameless plugs for micro-power radio
and Free Radio Berkeley.  Keeping control of the audio level was a full
time job for me, and Ralph fine-tuned the transmitter frequency with a
tiny plastic screwdriver.  I'm not sure how many people actually heard us
that night, since there was no publicity announcing the broadcast.
Considering it was a trial run, we were pleased.  The sound coming from my
walkman was clear and clean!  On the next occasion we were better
prepared, better cables, we had learned that arranging the equipment the
wrong positioning could cause the TX to get a weird hum.  Captain Fred had
some great headphones and I was very impressed with the sound quality.



------------------------------------------------------------------


Report No. GN-154                                      March 11, 1994
                            GENERAL ACTION


         FCC ISSUES $17,500 FORFEITURE TO PIRATE BROADCASTER

The Commission has denied Andrew R. Yoder's Application for Review of
the $17,500 forfeiture penalty issued by the Field Operations Bureau
against him for repeatedly operating a broadcast station without an
authorization in violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act.

Commission investigators monitored transmissions from the station
which operated under the call sign "Radio USA" from various locations,
eventually tracing the transmissions to the home of Mr. Yoder's
parents in Springs, Pennsylvania.  Mr. Yoder refused to allow the FCC
investigators to inspect his radio station, another violation of
Commission Rules.

The station and operator were positively identified by voice and
close-in direction-finding techniques.  The Commission rejected Mr.
Yoder's arguments that the evidence was insufficent to establish that
he was the operator of the station, and that he was not obligated to
allow the FCC investigators to inspect his radio station.

Action by the Commission March 10, 1994, by Memorandum Opinion and
Order (FCC 94-66).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello and Barrett.

                                -FCC-

News Media contact:  Audrey Spivack at [phone]; Pamera
Hairston, Chief, Legal Branch, Field Operations Bureau, at (202)
632-7059.


Editor's note:

Why not call these fine folks and express your opinion about this.  Autodial hack attack anyone ?



-----------------------------------------------------------------


ANDREW YODER RESPONDS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PO Box 109, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214         [phone]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Howdy!

Have you ever been harassed by the government?  I have been accused
by our Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of operating an unlicensed
(pirate) radio station.  I am contesting their fine.  I believe that I
might have been singled out as a result of my notoriety in the pirate
listening scene.  In fact, the FCC agent who came to my parents' house
told me he read my column every month in one of the newsletters!

I have been fined $17,500-- nearly half of which was for not
letting an agent in my parents' house at 3:00 AM who didn;t have a
search warrant!  More troubling aspects of the fine are that (1) they
have no evidence, (2) the fine is 175 times greater than when the pirate
WKND was caught  in 1990 (WKND was caught a second time and had
approximately $100 in equipment confiscated), (3) pirate radio is nonprofit
and public service oriented.  This fine is on par with being fined $17,500
for being within two blocks of a jaywalking incident.

To start my case, the FCC sent press releases to all of the media
outlets in this area and to all of the radio-hobby publications.  These
press releases announced that I DID (without question) operate a pirate
radio station and that these broadcasts could interfere with emergency
communications (again, not true).  Without a court case, these press
releases were slanderous and they also damaged my right to a fair trial
(an perhaps even prove myself to be not guilty) because I had already been
pronounced guilty by the FCC and by the mass media.

In addition to being fined $7,500 for not letting someone who didn't
have a search warrent into a house that wasn't mine, I was fined $10,000
for unlicensed operation.  The trouble is that this fine is based on
commercial rado stations who make thousands of dollars per day.  Also, this
new fin structure was instituted in April 1992--thus, I was fined under a
structure that didn;t exist when my incident occurred!  When my incident
occurred, the minimum enforcement was a warning or loss of license, the
maximum was a $2,500 fine (for a commercial station).

Although the FCC has allowed me to question the legalities of their
actions in my case, they have not answerd any of my questions or lowered
the fine (in spite of the obvious conflicts with our legal system).
Yesterday, I received a bill from the FCC stating that I had 30 days to pay
them $17,500 or it would be taken up by a debt collection agency.  They
did not even notify me of my right to a trial or court case!  This is
not lawful because they have not notified me of my right to due process
(and attempted to mislead me) and because they do not have the power to
collect fines.

At this point I'm getting desperate.  The ACLU won't represent me
because there is a disccepancy as to whether I am guilty or not.  After
months of playing telephone tag with the National Lawyer's Guild, I
haven't come up with any assistance.  In the meantime, the FCC is behaving
much like an agency from some little totalitarian government.  They only need
to drag me ff to a jail and beat me for a few days to complete the
process.  At the pace with whitch they are breaking laws, that might just
be next.

This case does have an affect on other aspects of radio operations.  Of
course beating the FCC in this case will cause more pirate radio stations
to go on the air (both on FM and shortwave) because the FCC will no
longer appear invincible.  This could improve the quality of radio
programming in communities across the United States.  If I lose, on the
other hand, it will be a strong case for the FCC to continue to destroy
any sort of alternative broadcasting.  The FCC's policy over the past
10 years has been to allow 1 corporation to own more stations than
ever (making the mainstream bigger and driving small stations out of
buisness) and to raise the minimum power levels of stations (to keep
small organizations out of broadcasting).  The next step for the FCC
might be a major assault on college radio, which has already been
damaged.  The FCC will only stop when someone else stops them.

What can you do to stop the FCC?  Please publicize this case in zines or
wherever you can, support radio stations that air programming that you
like, and support pirate radio stations.  So, if you would like to
contact pirate stations for interviews or if you have further questions
for me, do not hesitate to write or call!

73's

Andrew Yoder


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Micro Power Broadcasting
Technology for the People


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), 50 ohm coax cable (25-100 ft
RG58, Mini8, RG8), antenna and power supply (battery or 12 volt regulated
and filtered unit) is going to cost about $150-$175.  This is assuming
assembly of kit and antenna.  Next, a VHF power meter ($30-$40), 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.  In total, a
fully functional station can be put on the air for $500 or less.

Transmitter kits can be obtained from Free Radio Berkeley, contact us for
a list of the kits.  You need to have some experience in soldering and
electronic assembly to do this properly.  If you do not have this
experience try to find someone who does.  A 5 watt transmitter can be
assembled in about 4-5 hours.  Next you will a need a dummy load for
testing and tuning.  A power meter and frequency counter (a digitally tune
radio will work) will be required as well.  After tuning the transmitter
to the frequency of choice, (pick a vacant channel) you will be ready to
hook it up to an antenna.

A number of antenna designs are provided with the kit, most can be built
rather easily with parts obtainable from your local hardware store or as a
kit from Free Radio Berkeley.  Further you will need a length of 50 ohm
coaxial cable to connect the antenna to the transmitter, it needs to have
PL259 connectors on both ends, these connect to SO239 sockets - one on the
transmitter and the other on the antenna.  If you are planning on running
mobile, a magnetic mount 1/4 wave whip antenna will work very well.  After
connecting the antenna to the transmitter, it will need to be tuned.  This
is covered in the instructions that come with the antenna designs.  Once
this has been done, you will need to choose a location for the antenna,
the higher the better.

If you are working from a fixed location, apartment building or whatever,
it is best to disguise the antenna somewhat to throw off the FCC.  Several
of the antenna designs can be slipped down inside a piece of 6" or so
black plastic pipe so it will look like a stand pipe on the roof.  A
single occupancy dwelling is the least safe since it is pretty obvious
what is going on, a apartment building is better since their are a number
of possible locations for the transmitter.

Most of the antenna designs are portable enough to be carried to a high
site.  Lengths of 1 1/2" electrical conduit securely joined together will
get the antenna 20 feet or so into the air.  Many of the antenna designs
need to be isolated from the metal mast .  The antenna can attached first
to a piece of 1 1/2" plastic pipe which is then clamped to the metal mast
with radiator hose clamps of the proper diameter.  A four foot piece of
1/2" pipe driven into the ground with the 1/12" mast slipped over it will
anchor things rather well.

Once your are ready to go on the air, the really hard part starts -
creating a programming mix that will attract and build a listening
audience.  This involves a lot of work, doing street interviews, taping
programs, gathering information, etc.  Also, you have avoid the FCC.  If
you are lucky enough to live several hundred miles or more from the
nearest field office, then the likelihood of them showing up is somewhat
is minimized as long as you do not step on other folk's frequencies.  Be
on the lookout for a car or Chevy Suburban type vehicle driving around the
neighborhood rather slowly.  They have an antenna array buried in a false
plastic roof of the vehicle and a whole rack of gear to go with it.
Triangulation is a thing of the past.

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 micro power
broadcasting operations on the air.

Free Radio Berkeley has a lot of information available, please contact us
if you would like to receive our newsletter or have any particular needs.
The newsletter contains a list of the kits we have currently available.  A
legal guide on dealing with the FCC is provided as well.

Let a thousand transmitters bloom !

Stephen Dunifer
Free Radio Berkeley / Free Communications Coalition - the People's FCC
1404 A Walnut St. #406
Berkeley, CA 94709

voice mail: [phone]
email: [e-mail]



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KITS & ACCESSORIES FROM FREE RADIO BERKELEY

First, a word from our legal department:

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.  Required tools include a  25-30 watt soldering iron
with a fine tip, diagonal cutters, needle nose pliers, assorted
screwdrivers and other small hand tools.  Full assembly diagrams and
instructions are included with each kit.  Antenna construction diagrams
are provided with each transmitter or amplifier order.

Certain kits are designed to work with each other.  For those whose wish
to boost the output of their Ramsey FM-10 the 1/2-1 watt amp will work
very well for this purpose.  The 30 watt amp is designed to be driven by
3-5 watts and works extremely well with the 5 watt transmitter.  The 15
watt amplifier is designed to be driven to full power with about 1/2 watt
of input power, hence it works very well with the 1/2 watt stereo
transmitter.  If you wish to only boost a 1/2 watt signal to 5-7 watts
then choose the 6 watt amplifier kit.  An amplifier only increases the
output power of a given input signal, it can not produce an FM signal
whereas a transmitter or an exciter creates the FM signal at a suitable
power level for possible further amplification by an RF amplifier.


5 Watt FM Transmitter - $55

     An improved version of the Panaxis 5 watt design with a much more
rugged output transistor capable of producing 5-6 watts.  This is a very
good basic unit that is very compact, fits into a 4 x 6 inch enclosure
(available punched and drilled).  Frequency stability is maintained by a
well designed oscillator section.  It is a mono unit that accepts line level
input (i.e. an audio signal from a tape deck, mixer, etc.).  A fine
frequency adjustment control allows for easy adjustment of operating
frequency.  To increase power of this transmitter use the 30 watt
amplifier.  Both will fit into a 7 x 7 inch enclosure (available
punched and drilled).  Requires 12 to 14 volts DC at 3/4 to 1 amp for
operation.


6 watt RF Amplifier - $30

     Uses the same output transistor as above.  It is designed to boost
low wattage transmitters to a bit higher output power and will produce up
to 8 watts of output power.  A very small and compact circuit measuring 3
x 1 1/2 inches for 1/2 watt input drive.  Easy, quick assembly.  Requires
12-14 volts DC at 3/4 to 1 amp for operation.


15 watt RF Amplifier - $50

     Uses a very high gain (14dB, power gain of at least 25X) RF transistor
to boost a 1/2 watt input to 15 watts.  Perfect for boosting the 1/2
stereo transmitter to 15 watts.  Measures 2 1/2 by 5 inches and fits into
a 4 x 6 enclosure (available punched and drilled).  Includes heat sink.
Easy, point to point surface mount assembly.  Requires 12-14 volts at 2
amps for operation.


20 -24 watt RF amplifier - $95

     $95 might sound a bit steep, but for those who do not wish to do an
extensive amount of soldering and tuning, this is kit is for you.  It uses
a broad band high gain, RF power module which will put out a 20-24 watt
signal for only a 100 to 200 miliwatt input.  Kit requires less than 20
solder connections to complete, including a 5 element filter.  Since the
module is broad band from 88 to 108 MHz no tuning is required, plug and play
as they say.  Requires 12-14 volts at 3 to 4 amps.


25-30 watt RF Amplifier - $60
     Will produce full power with an input drive of 3-5 watts.  This unit
works very well with the 5 watt transmitter kit.  In fact, next to the 5
watt kit, it is our most popular item.  Fits a 4 x 6 inch enclosure
(available punched and drilled).  Easy point to point surface mount
assembly.  Includes heat sink. Requires 12-14 volts DC at 4-5 amps for
operation.

1/2 to 1 watt Amplifier - $25

     1/2 to 1 watt output for an input power of 10 mw.  Great for boosting
lower power VFOs and low power Ramsey FM-10 type kits.  Very compact
size, 3 1/2 X 1 1/2 inches.  An optional transistor can be substituted to
take the power up to  1 1/2 watts, add $5 for this option.


Output Filter Kit - $8.00

     A seven element low pass filter, composed of 4 coils and 3 capacitors,
to flatten those harmonics.  Specify cutoff frequency desired, 94 MHz,
 100 MHz, 104 MHz, 108 MHz.  The cutoff should be about 2 to 4 MHz above
the frequency the transmitter is set for.  Please use a filter on any
transmitter you to use to avoid possible interference with other services.

15 Watt Dummy Load Kit - $10.00

    Essential for tuning up and testing transmitters and amplifiers.
Will handle 15 watts without any strain, higher powers for a briefer
period of time (i.e. shut down when it gets rather hot).  Presents a
uniform 50 ohm impedance to the transmitter.

 25 Watt Dummy Load Kit - $20

    As above, use this with the 30 watt kit for testing and loading
purposes. Uses a single, film non-inductive resistor

50 Watt Dummy Load Kit - $35

    Same design as the 25 watt unit, use this if you plan on running
the 30 watt unit for an extended period of time with a dummy load.

100 Watt Dummy Load Kit - $50

    Same design as the 25 & 50 watt units.  Uses 2 film resistors.

1/2 - 1 watt Stereo Broadcast Transmitter - $50

     A vast improvement over the Ramsey FM-10.  It uses the BA1404 IC as a
stereo modulator only to modulate a FET vfo, buffer and amp chain.  Better
audio input filtering and bypassing.  IC voltage regulation for the 2.5
volt supply for the BA1404.  A very rugged output stage and collector
voltage bypassing make this unit stand out from all other transmitter
designs using the BA1404 chip.  Requires 12 volts DC


Stereo Generator Only - $30

    Actually 1/2 of the above the stereo transmitter, will allow one
to broadcast in stereo using the 5 watt transmitter with a very minor
modification.

HIGH POWER AMPS - USE WITH CAUTION

75 Watt Amplifier - $165

    Requires 28 volts DC (two car batteries in series or 28 volt DC
power supply).  Point to point surface mount construction.  Easy
assembly, includes heat sink.  Amplifier measures 6 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches.
Only 5 watts input power needed to drive to full power.

125 Watt Amplifier - $200

    Requires 28 volts DC (two car batteries in series or 28 volt DC
power supply).  Point to point surface mount construction.  Easy
assembly, includes heat sink.  Amplifier measures 6 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches.
Use a power FET RF transistor that requires only 3-5 watts of input power
for 125 watts output.


ANTENNA KITS

These are partial kits, just go to your local plumbing supply or hardware
store for the copper pipe and/or wire needed for completion.  Full
construction diagrams and instructions included.

J-Pole - $20

    Metal box drilled with SO239 connector, tuning cap and tubing
clamps.  This one is know as the "electricians special" since it uses
mostly electric hardware in its construction.  Works very well for urban
areas.  No soldering of copper pipe required for assembly.  Can be
adjusted for operation over the entire FM band.

Slim Jim - $15

    SO239 connector and clamps.  Works very well for urban areas where
a powerful horizontal pattern is needed.  If used at too great of height,
an area surrounding the antenna will be skipped over due to its low angle
of radiation.  Even at a height of only about 12 feet mounted on a traffic
sign pole this antenna was able send a 5 watt signal 2-3 miles.  Requires
soldering of copper pipe.  Can be placed inside a 6" piece of black
plastic pipe for concealment.  Provides a gain of 2-3.

Dipole - $20

    Plastic box, SO239 and clamps.  Easy and quick design.  Can be
concealed by placing inside a 4" piece of black plastic pipe.

5/8 Ground Plane - $30

    All necessary parts except copper element and ground radials.
This is a great design and works extremely well.  It is very portable and
will boost the power by a factor of 2 to 4.


POWER SUPPLIES

    Unless you are planning on operating from a 12 volt lead acid
battery or from the lighter socket in a vehicle you will need an AC
operated DC power supply.  Wall adapter units can not used.  We have the
following units available.

2.5 Amp 13.8 V DC power supply  - $29

    Use this to power either the 1/2 watt transmitter or 5 watt
transmitter or the 1/2 watt stereo unit in combination with the 6 watt
amplifier.

4.5 Amp 13.8 V DC power - $39

    Use this to power the stereo transmitter in combination with the
15 watt amplifier.

12 Amp 13.8 V DC power supply - $65

    Use this to power the 5 watt transmitter in combination with the
30 watt amplifier


METERS

Power & SWR Meters

    These are essential to the proper tuning and setting up of both
transmitters and antennas.  An antenna has to be fine tuned so that it
accepts the full power of the transmitter and reflects the lowest amount
possible back, that ratio of forward power to reflected power is know as
the standing wave ratio (SWR).  The various stages of both transmitters
and amplifiers have adjustable capacitors which are used to tune the unit
to the frequency of operation.  A power meter allows you to see the effect
of these adjustments on the power level and to set everything at an
optimum level.

Economy Power/SWR meter - $35

    A compact in-line unit that works up to a frequency range of 150 MHz.

High Quality Daiwa Meter - $100

    A dual cross needle meter that shows both forward and reflected
power on the same meter face.  Makes tuning up very easy, no need to
switch back and forth between these two functions.  Compact design with 12
volt connection for lighting the meter face.

FREQUENCY COUNTER

    To accurately maintain your operating frequency a digital
frequency counter is highly recommended.  A digital tuner with signal
strength indication can be used as a substitute.  We have a frequency
counter available for $80.00

COAXIAL CABLES

    A coaxial cable is a special type of wiring that has an inner
conductor surrounded by an insulating plastic sheath which is covered by a
braid of copper wire that is then covered by a plastic jacket.  The 75 ohm
video cable used in home TV applications is one type of coaxial cable.
For most RF purposes, 50 ohm cable is used.  Quite a number of 50 ohm
coaxial cables are available ranging from the rather small to cables over
1" in diameter.  Regardless of the type, all such cables exhibit a loss
that increases with frequency of operation and the length of the cable.
For most purposes we will concern ourselves with RG8 and RG8x (mini
version of RG8).  In very short runs RG58 can be used, but we prefer RG8x
due to its lower loss and ability to stand a bit more abuse.  RG8 has the
lowest loss of the group.  Under no circumstances should the cables be
twisted, kinked or crushed, this will cause major problems.  We supply
both RG8X and RG8 in the following lengths.  Each end is terminated with a
PL259 plug.

RG8X:  25 feet - $15, 50 feet - $25, 75 feet- $35, 100 feet - $40

RG8: 50 feet - $32, 75 feet - $42, 100 feet - $52


ENCLOSURES

4 x 6 aluminum chassis punched and drilled for 5 watt xmtr, 15 watt
amplifier or 30 watt amplifier - $18

7 x 7 aluminum chassis punched and drilled for 1/2 watt stereo xmtr or 5 & 30
combo. - $25

VARIOUS & SUNDRY ITEMS

Tweak stick - $2.50

    Essential to tuning transmitters and amplifiers.  Non-conductive
body with tiny metal blade at end.  In tuning these transmitters and
amplifiers a metal screwdriver will cause false tuning to happen due to
the interactive effects of the metal with the circuit.  A plastic TV
tuning tool kit can be found at Radio Shack as well.


NEW ITEMS TO BE INTRODUCED BY JUNE-JULY

Phase Lock Loop Controller for 1/2 watt stereo transmitter and 5 watt
transmitter

Phase Lock 1 watt exciter/transmitter

Stereo Audio Processor & Mixer

    A combined stereo generator, limiter and audio mixer

2-4 Watt AM & SW Transmitter kit with companion 25-50 watt amplifier kit

2-3 watt UHF TV transmitter kit with 15 & 50 watt amplifier kits


If you have any other particular requirements please let us know.  Custom
design and fabrication services are available including PC layout and
production.  Full CAD services as well.


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.  $5.00 for the 2.5 & 4.5 amp
power supply and $10.00 for the 12 amp power supply.  Add $2.00 for 2nd
day mail service for each kit.

Payment to be made out to Free Radio Berkeley

Free Radio Berkeley
1442 A Walnut St., #406
Berkeley, CA 94709

Voice mail:  [phone]

Net mail: [e-mail]


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


5 WATT TRANSMITTER MODIFICATION IMPROVES STABILITY & PERFORMANCE

    Our designs are not static, we are always trying to improve
performance and stability.  In that vein, we have made some improvements
to the 5 watt transmitter design.  It is a rather simple modification.  A
ferrite bead is slipped over the base end lead of the 1K resistor (R11)
from Q2 (2n4427) to ground and similarly a ferrite bead is slipped over
the base end lead of the 56 ohm resistor (R13) from Q3 (2SC1971) to
ground.  A third ferrite bead is slipped over the 12 volt end of the 100
ohm resistor (R12) connected between 12 volts and the zener diode.
Finally, C12's trace lead to the coil L5 is cut and is jumpered to the RF
out pad.  Send us $1.00 along with a SASE and we will mail you the ferrite
beads and complete instructions on how to make these modifications.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


PROTECT YOUR EQUIPMENT FROM REVERSED VOLTAGE LEADS

    Reversing the voltage leads is all too easy to do, most of us have
done it at least once with the result being several fried transistors.
With RF power transistors costing $5-$150 it can be a rather expensive
mistake.  One simple way to protect your units from this possibility is to
put in voltage polarity reversal protection circuit, see diagram below.
It works on the principle that a diode only lets current flow in one
direction.  With correct voltage polarities the diode does not conduct the
positive voltage to ground.  However, if the ground lead is hooked to the
posivitve voltage jack of the unit and and the positive lead is hooked to
negative jack of the unit, the diode immeadiately conducts the voltage to
ground creating a short which blows the fuse thereby protecting the
transmitter from harm.  We are offering this protection set up as a kit
for $4.00 ( + $2.00 P & H), it includes 2 fuses, a fuse holder and a diode
along with full instructions.  These parts are also available at most
elecronics stores.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 WHAT TO DO WHEN THE FCC KNOCKS ON YOUR DOOR

Produced by the Committee on Democratic Communications -- A National
Committee of the National Lawyers Guild

Address:  Committee on Democratic Communications, One Sansome St.,
Ste. 900, San Francisco, CA, 94104, [phone].



NOTE:  The following discussion assumes that you are not a licensed
broadcaster.

Q)  If FCC agents knock on my door and say they want to talk with
me, do I have to answer their questions?

A:  No.  You have a right to say that you want a lawyer present when
and if you speak with them, and that if they will give you their names,
you will be back in touch with them.  Unless you have been licensed
to broadcast, the FCC has no right to "inspect" your home.

Q)  If they say they have a right to enter my house without a warrant
to see if I have broadcasting equipment, do I have to let them in?

A:  No.  Under Section 303(n)  of Title 47 U.S.C., the FCC has a right
to inspect any transmitting devices that must be licensed under the
Act.  Nonetheless, they must have permission to enter your home, or
some other basis for entering beyond their mere supervisorial powers.  With
proper notice, they do have a right to inspect your communications
devices.  If they have given you notice of a pending investigation,
contact a lawyer immediately.

Q)  If they have evidence that I am "illegally" broadcasting from
my home, can they enter anyway, even without a warrant or without
my permission?

A:  They will have to go to court to obtain a warrant to enter your
home.  But, if they have probable cause to believe you are currently
engaging in illegal activities of any sort, they, with the assistance
of the local police, can enter your home without a warrant to prevent
those activities from continuing.   Basically, they need either a
warrant, or probable cause to believe a crime is going on at the time
they are entering your home.

Q)  If I do not cooperate with their investigation, and they threaten
to arrest me, or have me arrested,  should I cooperate with them?

A:  If they have a legal basis for arresting you, it is very likely
that they will prosecute you regardless of what you say. Therefore,
what you say will only assist them in making a stronger case against
you.  Do not speak to them without a lawyer there.

Q)  If they have an arrest or a search warrant, should I let them
in my house?

A:  Yes.  Give them your name and address, and tell them that you
want to have your lawyer contacted immediately before you answer any
more questions.  If you are arrested, you have a right to make several
telephone calls within 3 hours of booking.

Q)  Other than an FCC fine for engaging in illegal transmissions,
what other risks do I take in engaging in micro-radio broadcasts.

A:  Section 501 of the Act provides that violations of the Act can
result in the imposition of a $10,000 fine or by imprisonment for
a term not exceeding one year, or both.  A second conviction results
in a potentially longer sentence.  If you are prosecuted under this
section of the Act, and you are indigent (unable to hire an attorney),
the court will have to appoint one for you.

Q)  Are there any other penalties that can be imposed upon me for
"illegal broadcasts."

A:  Under Section 510 of the Act, the FCC can attempt to have your
communicating equipment seized and forfeited for violation of the
requirements set forth in the Act.  Once again, if they attempt to
do this, you will be given notice of action against you, and have
an opportunity to appear in court to fight the FCC's proposed action.
Realize, though, that they will try to keep your equipment and any
other property they can justify retaining until the proceedings are
completed.  You have a right to seek return of your property from
the court at any time.

Q)  If the FCC agents ask me if I knew I was engaged in illegal activities,
should I deny any knowledge of FCC laws or any illegal activities?

A:  No.  You will have plenty of time to answer their accusations
after you have spoken with an attorney.  It is a separate crime to
lie to law enforcement officials about material facts.  Remain silent.

Q)  If I am considering broadcasting over micro-radio, is there anything
I can do ahead of time to minimize the liklihood of prosecution?

A:  Yes.  Speak with an attorney before you are approached by law
enforcement to discuss the different aspects of FCC law.  Arrange
ahead of time for someone to represent you when and if the situation
arises, so that you will already have prepared a strategy of defense.

Q)  What can I do if the FCC agents try to harass me by going to my
landlord, or some other source to apply pressure on me?

A:  So long as there is no proof that you have violated the law, you
cannot be prosecuted or evicted.  If there is evidence of misconduct,
you might have to defend yourself in court.  Depending upon what the
FCC said or did, you might be able to raise a defense involving selective
prosecution or other equivalent argument.  If the conduct of the agents
is clearly harassment, rather than a proper investigation, you can
file a complaint with the F.C.C. or possibly a civil action against
them.

Q)  If I want to legally pursue FCC licensing for a new FM station,
what should I do?

A:  It isn't the purpose of this Q and A sheet to advocate or discourage
non-licensed broadcast operations.  A person cited by the FCC for
illegal broadcasting will find it virtually impossible to later obtain
permission to get a license.  If you want to pursue the licensing
procedure, see the procedures set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations,
Title 47, Part 73.  The application form (Form # 301 A) is extremely
complicated, and requires a filing fee of $2,030.00.  If you want
to contact the FCC directly, call them at their Consumer Assistance
and Small Business Division, Room 254, 1919 N St. NW, Washington,
D.C. 20554, tel [phone].  Don't bother to try this without
significant financial backing.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


JELLO BIAFRA, DEAD KENNEDYS, MOJO NIXON, CHILL EB & MORE

    As both a bit of fundraiser and an attempt to put more dissident
voices on the air, we are selling CD's of these and other performers.
Thanks to the PMRC and other "decent christian citizens" many of you might
not be able to obtain these recordings at your local record store.  If you
are familiar with Mordam Records, we have their entire line available,
they feature hard core, grunge etc. on such labels as Allied Recordings,
Alternative Tentacles, Flipside, Lookout, Seeland, Vinyl Communications
and more.  A complete listing will be available soon, please send a SASE
for this.


Dead Kennedys -     In God We Trust
            Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
            Plastic Surgery Diasters
            Frankenchrist
            Bedtime for Democracy
            Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death

Jello Biafra -        No More Cocoons  - double CD
            High Priest of Harmful Matter - double CD
            I Blow Minds for a Living - double CD

Virus 100 -        A Cover Release of Dead Kennedys songs with Didjits
            L7, Disposable Heros and more, 16 in all

Jellof Biafra & -     Prairie Home Invasion
Mojo Nixon

Chill EB -        Born Suspicious


Cost for the CD's is $11, doubles are $13 - add $2 per CD for shipping and
handling


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ANOTHER ARGUMENT FOR MICORPOWER BROADCASTING

We received this email communication from a person on the net:

TO FRB:

    Having nearly completed a million-dollar AM project as technical chief,
where many people have put their talents, effort, and money on the line, I
cannot begin to tell you how insignificant and worthless this "micro-power"
stuff seems. Commitment and dedication is something I routinely see in our
local family-owned professional broadcasting organizations--not in a bunch
of kids that want to play radio on a whim.
    When one of your gang puts seven figures on the line to build a
four-tower AM, with the full knowledge that it could all be money down the
drain, then you might get my attention. Putting a 10-watt splattermaster
on the air is something I did when I was eight years old. Not impressed.

 Stephen Dunifer wrote in response ( denoted by >):

>        Thank you for the wonderful note, in fact, it was so perfect we
>are going publish in our next newsletter under the headline of "Another
>Argument for Micro Power Broadcasting".  Your letter clearly points out
>the prohibitive cost of the current broadcasting situation.  Why indeed
>should someone risk millions of dollars and hours upon hours of blood,
>sweat and tears on something that might be down the drain the next
>day when a low power micro operation can be put on the air for less than
>$1000.

I can give you a few reasons. First, the coverage will be such that more
than just a few people will be able to hear it. Ten watts of FM from a few
feet in the air has a distressingly limited range. Second, this new plant
will probably outlive me by decades. People who are in the real business go
into these things for the long haul, not the year or maybe two-year
attention span of all the "community radio" projects that I have ever seen.
(KKUP is an exception--and for some very interesting reasons.) Third, radio
is a mass-market, mass-audience medium. It takes a lot of effort and money
to produce something that large numbers of people will listen to. Your
teapots suffer a double whammy: they are technically limited and the
programming is probably a severe tune-out. If activism was something people
craved hearing, KPFA would need larger wheelbarrows to carry subscriptions
to the bank.

Maybe you can put a micro on the air for $1000, but I'll bet some of my
stations' costs per listener are lower.

>        I agree that many operations have been using equipment of rather
>dubious quality.  We are trying to bring a level of quality to this area
>which has not existed before.  As a 42 year old engineer who obtained his
>first class commercial ticket at 17 years of age, has spent over 20 years
>as an analog and digital circuit designer and computer systems
>integrator, I am designing circuits that are inexpensive to build and do
>not do the all nasty things associated usually with "garage operations".
    Very impressive. And just how many of these dozens or even
hundreds of micro operators will have those credentials? How many of them
will have the slightest clue concerning modulation levels, spurs,
harmonics, frequency stability, or any of the other things that can
influence the cacophony of signals in the air? > Again, I would like to
thank you for your wonderful note and let >you know we are hard at work
trying to restore democracy and free speech >to the United Corporate
States of America.  Please send us your address >and you will receive the
next copy of our newsletter with your letter in it.
    By all means, send it. I, too, had the answers to all the world's
problems before I was 21. I, too, had the transcendental truth that the
world needed to hear. But the older I got, the less I seemed to know and
my omniscience appears less and less viable. I am older than you, and as a
result am, of course, totally senile. By the time I was even your age, I
had relinquished my grasp on the sum total of enlightened knowledge and
wisdom.
    Besides in my day, we activist types got licenses for our stations
such as KRAB, KBOO, KTAO and the like. Why do I get the feeling that if
the FCC legalized micro that the whole "movement" would die out overnight?


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    Micropower broadcasters now have the chance to have their programs
heard by an international audience via the airwaves of Radio for Peace
International, a shortwave station in Costa Rica whose signal is received
in more than sixty countries worldwide.
    In March RFPI began airing a weekly half hour program entitled "Micro-
power Radio in the U.S."
    "We originally conceived of it as a sort of 'best-of' program, taking
material from different micropower stations from around the country," said
Richard Edmondson, of San Francisco Liberation Radio, the show's producer.
"The only requirement we had was that the station had to be unlicensed by
the FCC."
     So far the program has featured broadcast excerpts from Free Radio
Berkeley, Anarchy Radio, Radio Free Detroit, and San Francisco Liberation
Radio.
    "We are constantly in search of new material and would encourage
micropower broadcasters from around the U.S. to send us tapes of their
best shows," Edmondson said.
    He added that RFPI's range was illustrated recently by correspondence
received by a listener in Japan.
    "We got a letter from a guy in Japan who not only wrote to say he had
heard our program, but actually sent us a tape showing us what it sounded
like on an actual short wave set in Japan--very scratchy but you could
definately tell it was us."
    Within the last week several more reponses have been received from
listners in the United States.  Tune your shortwave receiver to 15.03 (24hrs.),
7.375 (0000-1200), 7.385 USB (0000-1400), 21.465 USB (1200-0400).  Saturdays
at 2300 hours UTC is the slot for the Micropower show and the Food Not
Bombs Radio Network.


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RALPH NADER ON CORPORATISM AND PLUTOCRACY

Excerpts from a speech given at Harvard University


    . . . "plutocratic power" . . .  is really the singular index of
    what has been going on, decade after decade, in this country.
       . . . those people who have civic power accorded them--freedom to
    vote, freedom to speech--if they do not *use* the authority that they
    are empowered to use in a constant, daily, diverse manner, power tends
    to concentrate itself and before you know it, you have a plutocracy
    that uses the symbols of government, and the symbols of democracy, to
    regale itself and to achieve legitimacy.
       Now, the avaricious triumph and spreading tragedy of corporatism
    *should* be the singular, most important issue in the presidential
    campaign

When we're talking about plutocracy, what are we talking about?
    Here's an example of plutocracy:  corporate socialism.  That is,
    corporations who get in trouble if they're important enough or big
    enough, do not go bankrupt, they go to Washington.  They are then
    subject to a process known as corporate welfare--entitlements--where
    their bankruptcy, mismanagement, speculation or corporate crime
    generates losses which are socialized on the backs of the taxpayer.
       This corporate socialism and corporate welfare is booming.  In
    fact most of what Washington does is conduct a bazaar of "Accounts
    Receivables" for corporate requestors.  There are dozens and dozens
    of corporate welfare projects that we can conveniently call "aid to
    dependent corporations."  Now look what this does.
       First of all it reduces corporations incentive to work,
    productively.  Because they know they're going to be bailed out.
    They know that there are a certain number of banks in this country
    which are too big to fail and the federal reserve had them on the
    list:  Citicorp, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan, Morgan Guarantee,
    Chemical, etc.  In other words, they were too critical to avoiding a
    domino affect and they would be bailed out. . . .
       I mentioned plutocratic power versus democratic power . . .
    plutocratic power exercises its will on us everyday. . . .

The plutocracy takes control of what we own.  This must be a hot
    topic and the Kennedy school.  Look at what we own:  we own, as a
    commonwealth, the public airwaves, the public lands, three trillion
    dollars of public and private pension money, a trillion dollars of
    savings, a half a trillion dollars at least of mutual insurance
    monies--all these we technically, legally own.  Some as a
    commonwealth, some as *pooled* assets.  Can you imagine how our
    political economy would be different, how our standards of living
    would be different, if we *controlled* what we legally owned?  And
    that is *never* discussed in any political campaign that I have been
    aware of in the last several decades.  Can you imagine anything more
    fundamental to discuss than the incidence of popular and commonwealth
    ownership of assets?
       Here's how it goes:  we grow up corporate.  By growing up
    corporate, we never even *think* of what we own.  We never even
    *think* of what is the commonwealth.  We are told to "go for it"
    individually and make a pile of money.  And because we're growing up
    corporate, our minds are anesthetized so they can be controlled by
    the corporate ethos.  Such a thesis is so easily proven that it's not
    worth spending much time on other than to give one example:  who is
    raising our children today?  Ask parents who's raising the children.
    Children are raised by those environments in which they spend most of
    their time.
       Children today spend less time with adults, including their
    parents, than any children in *history*.  They are spending, pre-
    teen, thirty-five hours a week on the average, watching TV, video
    games, and in between, walkman audios.  So for thirty-five hours a
    week they are Pavlovian specimens.  They are not engaging in human
    conversation.  They are not interacting with their their siblings and
    their parents, except modest squabbles during ad time perhaps.  They
    are watching programs that convey basically three themes
    relentlessly.  Look at Saturday and Sunday morning TV if you doubt
    that.


Now when you grow up corporate like that do you develop a critical
    mind?  Do you develop a civic spirit?  Do you understand what
    community is?  Do you ever thirst for *feedback*?  For talking *back*
    to the TV set, in front of you.  Never occurs to people to even ask
    for an electronic Letters-to-the-Editor time on TV.
       And what is TV?  It's ninety percent entertainment--including
    ads--, ten percent redundant news, zero percent mobilization.  But it
    is our property.  We own the public airwaves.  That's federal law,
    approved by the Supreme Court of the United States.  We are the
    owners, we are the landlords.  The Federal Communications Commission
    is our real estate agent.  It licenses portions of the spectrum to
    corporate broadcasting TV and radio stations--they are the tenants.
    They pay nothing for the rent of a TV station.
Some of the greatest fortunes in American history have been made
    by television and other electronic communication company executives-
    -tens of millions of dollars--using public property free of charge.
    The tenant pays the landlord nothing, decides who says what on radio
    and TV, and laughs all the way to the bank, and because we grow up
    corporate, we don't even *think* of challenging it because we never
    *heard* of it.  We never reflected on it.  Our courses never *talked*
    about it.  We never majored in it.  And therefore, we're
    anesthetized.  It's a controlling process.
       The challenge in our country, in getting democracy upgraded to
    override plutocracy, is not the challenge that is contained in
    Orwell's "1984," it's the challenge that is contained in Huxley's
    "Brave New World."


To give you an illustration.  Two hundred years ago we got free
    speech--first amendment--ratified.  That meant that a big merchant in
    Boston and a worker in Boston could get up on a soapbox on the Boston
    Commons and tell it the way it is.  Who could hear?  As many people
    as wanted to congregate, and as powerful as the speaker's voice could
    be.  Two hundred years later, a worker can get up on the soapbox in
    the Boston Commons and say his or her pitch.  But the big merchant
    can buy television time and reach millions of people.  There is a
    decibel level quality to the exercise of our first amendment rights
    due to new technology.
       What is the tool?  The tool is to recognize that we own the public
    airwaves.  We're entitled to have our own network, let's call it the
    audience network.  It could be chartered for legal purposes as a
    non-profit federal corporation (chartered by Congress the way the Red
    Cross and the Salvation Army is).  It would be a private-sector
    corporation, chartered by Congress, open to any viewers and
    listeners, and the asset which would be returned to it would be one-
    hour of prime time TV and drive-time radio.  Therefore we will become
    part of a communications commonwealth that will let us develop our
    electronic literacy, and let us put on television what we want to put
    on through a deliberative process that reflects great diversity among
    its membership, which is voluntary, from entertainment to politics to
    science to mobilization of the community.  Doesn't cost the taxpayer
    a cent, voluntary to the viewers and listeners, and it's our property
    being returned.
       Now if we had that, and if we had a cable viewer's group--because
    cable is a monopoly and there's a reciprocity that should be accorded
    monopolies, and one of them should be the presentation of the cable
    viewer's address and telephone number and description at least ten
    times a day on all cable channels so the cable viewers can
    voluntarily band together and organize and have their own staff and
    begin feeding back the kind of programming they want.



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                           SHIP OF DREAMS

    It was a ship full of dreams.  Dreams of broadcasting on
    international shortwave.  Dreams of sending hopeful messages from
    many people transmitted over the air.

    The Voyager Broadcast project was the hope and dream of many.
    Financed by a man of God, Brother Stair of the Overcomer
    Ministry, the station was to be an outlet for religious
    programming and the right of free speech.

    The Voyager ship was a converted fishing trawler 140 feet long by
    30 feet wide.  She was planned to be fitted out with four
    shortwave transmitters, and was in the process of repair and
    restoration in Charleston harbor South Carolina.

    The ship was to set sail in early February for southern waters
    where she was to broadcast from a safe anchorage in Belize
    territory.  (The Country of Belize is located on the Yucatan
    peninsula in central america about 600 miles south of the United
    States.)  It was not to be so.  On January 19, 1994 at 8:30 AM
    EST, The Federal Communications Commission aided by U.S. Federal
    marshals and the U.S. Coast Guard, sized the M.V. FURY and almost
    immediately began to debowel her of all her radio equipment.

    One day later it was all gone.  Transmitters, tubes, parts, test
    equipment, personal stereos, transformers, cable, insulators,
    tape recorders, CD's, antennas, towers, cassette machines, all
    the stuff that make up a radio station--gone!  No arrests, no
    hearings, nothing!  The reason?  The FCC claims to have
    identified transmissions from 12:10 AM EST to 3:21 AM EST on
    January 14, 1994 which they claim were pinpointed to the location
    of the ship.  I was on board the vessel at the time an I observed
    no such transmissions between those times and none were
    technically possible with the existing equipment.

    I built the radio station on board the FURY for the Overcomer
    Ministry.  As the engineer, I advised the owners of the ship to
    secure all legal registry and ships radio licenses.  This was
    done; I insured everything was to be done by the book.  The FURY
    was issued a ship registration and radio station license that
    would make it entirely legal to broadcast once the vessel arrived
    in Belize territory.

    At Charleston harbor no broadcasts came out of the FURY while I
    was on duty.  In fact only two of her four transmitters were
    partially restored. Of these two only one could be applied
    primary filiment power.  None of the transmitters were ready to
    broadcast--period!  Furthermore there was no available source of
    transmitter power.

    Both transmitter generators were down for final installation and
    repairs. The main generator was inoperative due to a fuel leak
    and the backup generator had a burned out regulator.

    So the question remains, why was an entirely legal radio station
    destroyed without a hearing and due process?  What is going on
    here?  Does the FCC possess such fear that they will disregard
    all assemblage of personal rights, international law, and due
    process?

    As a radio engineer it pains me to see such wanton destruction of
    personal property for no reason.  The Overcomer Ministry had
    invested large sums of money and time to make this floating radio
    ship of GOD and freedom a reality.  All to be destroyed because
    someone in Washington D.C. apparently doesn't like Brother Stair
    or me.

    Dear reader, I think now is the time to take a "hard look" at the
    Federal Communications Commission and their policies of total
    disregard of law and due process; especially the so called
    seizure laws in which they legally "steal" personal property.

    Is this a nation of laws or government brytes?  I thought a fair
    hearing and trial is guaranteed all.

    The ship owners plan to seek restitution from the government.
    Many questions remain.

    A radio station, a printing press of the air, has been smashed.
    Please protest this illegal action by the FCC to your
    Congressperson.  Only Congress can stop the madness.

                                                Allan H. Weiner
                                                     (sig)
                                                Radio Engineer
                                                507 Violet Avenue
                                                Hyde Park, NY 12538


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END OF MAY/JUNE NEWSLETTER