Offcom and chances of being raided

[TGillies]

So i just recently started up again, broadcast on 102.1 in Glasgow, my last time on air was back in 2006, lasted a good 8 months before being raided by offcom. This time im a bit more on the ball and could say wary of the fact it could come at anytime.

however, ive been reading a lot of stuff about offcom having their budgets slashed and that the chances of being raided are significantly lower. im told that you'll only be raided if there is a complaint made against you. Surely not?

has anyone any proof, evidence or examples of this being the case with them. Just trying to get my head round it all.

cheers in advance.

[OldskoolPirate]

Do not leave finger prints on any transmitting equipment. use a virtual phone number. Don’t use band 1 or microwave directly from the studio. Always net link even if it’s to the midpoint. Don’t go to the rig site if it goes off or mod fucks up. They will be waiting.

Hope the cash slashing is true. FUCK YOU OFCOM !!!

[teckniqs]

A lot of stations in London never ever get touched, been like this for a few years now. As long as you're using decent equipment and not causing any interference in or out of the band, you shouldn't get too much of a problem these days...

[McDonalds]

I would say is it really worth all the effect these days as hard to tell even if any ones tuned in.
Who really listens other than in the car now days.

[teckniqs]

Who really listens other than in the car now days.

You.

[kevycorsa]

I've ran 200w direct with a pretty decent signal coverage a fair few times over the last year.
Mostly Friday Saturday and Sunday night's depending if i have time for a couple of hours say 5 or more hours at a time even for a few weekends on the run

[nrgkits.nz]

Do not leave finger prints on any transmitting equipment. use a virtual phone number. Don’t use band 1 or microwave directly from the studio. Always net link even if it’s to the midpoint. Don’t go to the rig site if it goes off or mod fucks up. They will be waiting.

Hope the cash slashing is true. FUCK YOU OFCOM !!!

Did they get you once? The govt regulator here in NZ is complaints driven, so if you're clean and well modulated (not causing interference in the aircraft band) then you'll be ok.

[FMEnjoyer]

My No.1 tip for not getting caught is double checking your name and address is not written inside the bag where you rig is . Silly mistake and lucky for me no problems. This was many many years ago. I felt like a prize dildo when I realized. Been out of pirating for 15 years and only ever did the occasional thing for fun. I still tune about a bit here and there.

[THE GOVERNOR]

Do not leave finger prints on any transmitting equipment. use a virtual phone number. Don’t use band 1 or microwave directly from the studio. Always net link even if it’s to the midpoint. Don’t go to the rig site if it goes off or mod fucks up. They will be waiting.

Hope the cash slashing is true. FUCK YOU OFCOM !!!

If you stick to this advice you're be fine and don't forget LOOSE LIPS SINKS SHIPS.

[MC Spanner]

If you stick to this advice you're be fine and don't forget LOOSE LIPS SINKS SHIPS.

Spot on but easier these days with lots of stations on where the DJs stream their audio to a central server. When we use to run stations from an actual studio we use to have to deal not only with OFCOM (formerly the DTI) and other rig thieves but also our own dickhead DJs inviting all their mates to the bloody studio and telling everyone in sight where it was. It never ended well

[Albert j]

Best way of not getting caught is don't post on a forum that offcom check daily your freq where your coming from what power your using and when you was last on! I'd say you can expect a visit soon after this post!

[nrgkits.nz]

It might be a good idea to find out the IP ranges used by OFCOM and other government offices, should be able to do a Whois lookup and get the info from ICANN, we can then block them through the server firewall - this won't stop them from accessing the site completely but will certainly slow them down a lot. This can also be done by reverse DNS checking for anything that resolves to a govt top level domain.

[THE GOVERNOR]

I'm aware that one or two employees take the job home with them. They've always got their hand on a knob.

[Matt]

I used to know a couple of guys who had stations. Their attitude was always that a raid was inevitable. That from the moment you switch on, you're on countdown to a knock at the door. If you intend to be on for an amount of time decent enough to build and sustain a reasonable audience, it was gong to happen one day. I believe that the technology used to hide the station has advanced since my mates were on air, but even though traceable links were used back in the day, there were still stories of DJs being followed from home to the studio, the DJs with the biggest profiles being the most vulnerable. I guess that must still happen.

[Albert H]

We used to have DJs followed, telephones (landlines) tapped, and engineers followed around by the DTI bods. When we'd spotted them (and we always did), we'd jam their Pye Pocketphones (a white noise jammer on their repeater input frequency rendered their radios useless), and we used to give out all sorts of interesting misinformation on the phone. It was fun to send the clowns all over London (and beyond) looking for non-existent sites. We put up wooden dummy dipole aerials on blocks all over London. They were pretty convincing from any more than a few feet, and we made them as inaccessible as possible. We wasted endless amounts of their time!