UK: Pirates jailed in air alert - June 2000

This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated October 20, 2014 at 12:39 am by General Lighting.

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July 6, 2003 at 3:09 am #1035777
Techno Viking
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Pirates jailed in air alert
By thisisessex – Monday 12 June 2000

Copyright: thisisessex

Bemused pilots were left listening to rave music when a pirate radio station interfered with an air traffic control system, a court heard.

Martin Kelly and Terry McCormac’s illegal pastime was discovered when frequencies from Klass FM were picked up by air traffic controllers working at Rochester Airport.

Kelly, 24, of Munro Court, Wickford, and McCormack, 23, of Havengore, Pitsea, were on Friday both behind bars – thanks to their enterprising scam.

At Southend Crown Court, both pleaded guilty to abstraction of electricity and two offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 relating to running of the station.

Kelly admitted a further charge of having equipment under his control after they had been warned of the danger of their activities.

The Radio Control Agency was contacted after pilots circling to land at the Kent aerodrome reported hearing music on their radio sets.

Prosecution barrister Jonathan Davies said: “The air traffic control system was also connected to international May Day.”

The court heard that the transmitter was traced to Westleigh Heights in Laindon. The defendants turned up while officials were still at the site.

A large amount of equipment was seized and the men were arrested by police. However, Kelly was found a month later in a studio used by Klass FM in Spire Road, Laindon.

Defence barrister Lindsay Thomspon said McCormack became a DJ at the radio station in 1998.

His dream of getting into internet radio is now shattered – his conviction means he cannot work in legal radio for five years.

Kelly, an engineer, became involved later as a “behind the scenes helper”.

Miss Thompson said: “Neither of them knew the potential result of their activities. They chose their radio frequency with care in order minimise the risks.”

McCormack was sent to prison for four months. Kelly was sentenced to six months.

http://www.thisisessex.co.uk/
October 19, 2014 at 1:44 pm #1061411
General Lighting
Moderator
@Techno Viking 1941 wrote:

Miss Thompson said: “Neither of them knew the potential result of their activities. They chose their radio frequency with care in order minimise the risks.”

McCormack was sent to prison for four months. Kelly was sentenced to six months.

This is Essex the web portal for Essex

Band II is 87.5-108 MHz – then from 108-136 MHz are all the aircraft radios.

in the 80s the chaps at the monitoring station explained to us that our first TX was cutting across all the buses communication radios (as we had thought that was a clear frequency as we used a London frequency plan rather than the correct one); and this was just two small transistors; and had we put any more power into it and gone further up the band any signals past 108 MHz would find their way into the airband.

They also encouraged us to listen to the aircraft bands (even if we weren’t that interested in aircraft) as then you realised how important those frequencies are; it also made having a radio scanner not seem so suspicious.

Those lads clearly were using way too much output power (especially to get caught for abstracting electric)and forgot their filter after the end stage; do that anywhere in the EU and this happens

though having been to Pitsea and nearly lived there sitting in prison might be preferable…

the filter is only a few bits of antenna cable in a metal box (the Klompenboer got the info from a British book but converted the dimensions for the FM broadcast band); but a lot of the more recent pirates in UK (especially those who just want to be “DJ’s/MCs” can’t be bothered with it and get trouble (the Dutch and Germans take more care)

Filter gemaakt van coaxkabel

if you don’t understand Dutch all you need to do is follow the dimensions. I might even make one for a receiving antenna (as the Ofcom man knows where I live and work so I have to behave) as it should stop my band II antenna being overloaded by strong pager signals and the aircraft/ships radios…
October 20, 2014 at 12:39 am #1061412
General Lighting
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PS: This is why you have to be careful in coastal areas which have busy aerodromes (that is just 1 minute of VHF radio traffic from aircraft above Ipswich)
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