28146: Hermantin(news)Pirate radio signals interfere with pilots (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Pirate radio signals interfere with pilots

By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

March 21, 2006



Pilots hoping to hear "cleared to land" at Miami International Airport instead 
have been greeted by hip-hop and Haitian music over their radios in the past 
month.

The tunes might be catchy, but the broadcasts are illegal, interrupting 
pilot-controller communications.

"It's a nightmare," Jim Marinitti, president of the Miami Tower branch of the 
National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said Monday.

The music apparently is airing from two pirate radio stations, one in Opa-Locka 
and the other in Lauderdale Lakes. Authorities have been unable to find the 
operators and shut them down.

The problem is the broadcasts sporadically bleed over to two aviation 
frequencies, one for the Miami control tower and the other for departure 
control. Although controllers cannot hear the music, pilots can be, and have 
been, blocked from clearly hearing instructions.

So far there have been no close calls at the bustling Miami airport, which 
handles more than 1,100 daily flights. But an accident could be waiting, 
Marinitti said.

"It's sporadic, but it always seems to happen at the most inopportune time, as 
soon as traffic starts to pick up," he said.

A radio station that calls itself Da Streetz, at 107.1 FM, has been identified 
as one source of the music, said Paige Patterson-Hughes, spokeswoman for the 
Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

State agents think it had been broadcasting from an Opa-Locka warehouse after 
they confiscated an antenna, computers, a sound-mixing board and other 
equipment there on March 3. However, authorities have yet to find the 
transmitter or identify the people who operate the station.

On Monday, that station played Creole melodies, and Creole-speaking disc 
jockeys took caller requests.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified a second illegal radio site in 
Lauderdale Lakes, said agency spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. That information was 
turned over to the Federal Communications Commission, she said.

Federal laws prohibit anyone from transmitting over the radio waves without a 
license. Florida also put an anti-piracy law into effect a year ago that 
forbids anyone from interfering with a public or commercial station.

Last July, the state shut down a pirate station in Fort Lauderdale and arrested 
two men. The same month, it shut down a second station in Jacksonville. In all, 
FDLE has investigated six cases of radio interference, Patterson-Hughes said.

Those caught violating the state law face third-degree felony charges, up to 
five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Bergen said in the past decade, the FAA has investigated at least 30 instances 
in South Florida alone where radio stations interfered with pilot 
communications.

"Obviously, this is an issue we're addressing," she said. "But it's not 
uncommon for this thing to occur."

Staff Writer Thomas Monnay contributed to this report.



Ken Kaye can be reached at kkaye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7911.


Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel