I was roving around the Internet and ran across this book. It's interesting to note the somewhat laissez faire attitude towards radio pirates in Canada, considering that 2 of the editors claim that they have run pirate radio stations over a long period of time, and are still running them.
And while I can understand some of their attitudes, I think there are better and certainly more legal ways to make your point than running a pirate station.
I always thought that pirate radio in Canada is rare. Not like in the USA. Usually if a pirate is discovered here it makes the news and they get a write up with an interview in the paper.
But maybe we don't really know as ISED doesn't publish this like the FCC does.
A pirate in Toronto quite a while ago now got a write up in the Star and was interviewed and that was not too smart as the agents also read the paper and I think he was incriminating himself. I remember he was on 87.5(not legal in itself) thinking no one would discover it there and by his coverage on the map in the article I know that wasn't legal in any stretch. He said in the article he broadcasted only on one evening a week and on that day the following week I went to the area and my car radio gets 87.5 and nothing! Probably had a visit. Not too smart to do an interview in a national newspaper! Then there was the kid in Ottawa back in the 90s or early 2000s and it was news too. He was covering half the city! Doing on air calls and requests also.
Doing it from his room with roof mounted antenna. But other than that I don't think it's too common here.
I saw a story on the Internet about a pirate station in Ottawa, running thousands of watts ...The operator was a teenager. He was asked to shut down but continued to broadcast. I don't remember the rest of it other than the teen didn't get into any serious trouble. . I was a pirate operator for an extreme long period of time , both on FM and TV . I never had any problems at all . I know of several pirate stations on Am and FM , been operating for many years and no have not been shutdown. One station that is off the air but for other reasons , house fire , his FM signal reached 35 miles and his AM signal I could hear 65 miles away on 1710 am . Back during the 1970s when I first went on the air I didn't know what part15 was or what pirate radio was about ...Never heard of either . My FM signal reached more than 4 miles in a straight line , not road miles . I have no idea of how far my SW signal reached . It was during the late 80's I modified a vcr and boosted it's signal up to 100000 times when operating at full power . I really never thought of it as a pirate station though . The station was extremely popular, people bringing me videos all the time to be played over the air so they could record them . It was around 2016 when I saw a sign for talking house on 1700 am . I turned to the real state add on the radio and wanted to see how far it would reach ...about 4000 feet on a crappie car radio . I decided t o look into getting a transmitter like it . It was at that time I found out about part15 . I ordered a transmitter and from there onward ditched pirate broadcastING . I started out on AM back in the 70's ,transmitter I had sucked but I kind of missed being on AM especially during the day . The FM Band is extremely overloaded but AM is clear channel during the day .
A well tuned am transmitter at 100 milliwatts ,with a well designed antenna and good counterpoise has as much or more range than a FM transmitter that's 5 watts .
Industry Canada does shut down pirate stations, based on complaints.
Mostly FM, although I am aware that they've investigated several Part 15 AM stations, again, based on complaints. Industry Canada talked to them because with AM you're not supposed to broadcast with an RSS-210 certified transmitter - BETS certification is required, and there are no BETS certified AM transmitters. One guy got shut down, the other talked his way out of it.
That teen on FM you mentioned was shut down several times, and eventually had his equipment seized.
There was an FM pirate on one of the Gulf Islands here in BC that had their equipment seized. For all I know, it was the same one that co-edited the book I referenced.
I had no issues running a BETS certified Decade MS-100 on Bowen Island, but I do know that Industry Canada was checking me out at one point. There's usually someone who will complain, even if you're attempting to run a community service.
If you're in a rural or semi-rural area with reasonable ground conductivity, then Part 15 AM is definitely the way to go, particularly if you have the space to install a good ground with radials. Even in a semi-urban area with no radials, I was able to get 1-2 miles of range with a Hamilton Rangemaster (to a car radio with a weak but listenable signal).
@artisan-radio
That one that got a visit with a Procaster was not actually shut down per say just he couldn't do as he was doing which was broadcasting outdoors with 3 of them.
I wonder why people complain unless they are adversely affected which I don't think that's the case in a lot of complaints. Could be someone just doesn't like you. How would ISED have gotten info that you were broadcasting where you are? Someone tipped them off for them to have been monitoring.
I believe that the complaint came from a licensed station in the same small town.
@artisan-radio I'm gonna check out Bowen Island on Google maps , never heard of it. The guy using 3 Procastor transmitter s ...He kind of asked for trouble even here in US , that's asking for trouble depending where you live . The Half Moon Bay network of several transmitters on 1710 continues to broadcast his network , which is connected to a low power legal FM station . I posted a while back about the guy in one of the Dakota s who was shutdown. He was operating several transmitters but in his case I suspect it was the political shows he broadcast. One of the shows was Alex Jones ...Definitely pissed people off enough to complain , though I find him fun to listen to at times . Total off the wall crazy conspiracies.
@artisan-radio I looked it up on maps and Wikipedia. The picture from the ferry looks like a giant rock sticking above the water . One to two miles range would be good on a rocky land area . In the USA , Long Island has the worst ground conductivity .5 . I doubt Bowen Island would be much different. In this area where there's large outcrops of rock that are large, my signal is much weaker , go beyond the rocky areas and it get much stronger.
@1620am-w9xaz One thing about carrying programs not originating with you, there's copyright. You know, the disclaimer none of this show/broadcast can be rebroadcast or reproduced in whole and in part without written consent of the owner/network. In Canada the CRTC even with unlicensed stations says you can't rebroadcast something...like a news cast, baseball game, or other talk show, and so on. If the show's owner, or network hears about someone, even in the USA, rebroadcasting something without permission they can alert the FCC.
@mark The Half Moon Bay California stations on 1710 are directly connected to the low power FM station. Check out theIr website 1710 am half moon bay . I'm not sure what the real situation going on with it . All the content I broadcast belongs to other people. It is legal on the radio here to play music over the radio without paying fees but not the internet. I don't profit from their work in anyway vs a commercial stations . If anything I'm promoting them for free . I
Mark, I think you meant that the CRTC says you CAN'T rebroadcast programming if you are operating under the BETS unlicensed rules. All programming has to originate from your station.
Heavy Metal, I assume you're broadcasting from the U.S. I know that radio stations there don't have to pay performance licensing fees over-the-air, but I understood that they were still responsible for music licensing. BMI did have a Part 15 license for a flat fee; not sure about the other licensing bodies. Internet streaming licensing fees are another matter.
In Canada, SOCAN and the other music licensing bodies have stated that they do not care about over-the-air BETS broadcasting. We're still responsible for internet streaming fees, but unlike the U.S., the same agencies also take care of that (i.e., SOCAN). Artisan Radio does have a SOCAN license, at least until the end of the year (when we'll see if we continue streaming).
@artisan-radio it wouldn't be worth getting a license for part15 . Most of the music and sound effects I play are from outside the USA and North America. Many are the work of people who posted them on line , done out of their own studio . In fact , in many cases I can't read what the band's name or title of albums are . Many are in Russian . My wife at times ask me what they're saying in their growling and screams ...I really don't know is what I tell her . World Heavy Metal music , from remote New Zealand, Australia, Africa , Asia Arab Oriental Metal , anywhere in the world but very limited music from North America or well known bands . I have a few recordings 2 plus hours long in some cases of chains clanking, Erie background sounds , chanting and screams that I play . Everyday is Halloween on my station .