402 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
402 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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#######################################
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# ======== =\ = ====== #
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# <Tolmes News Service> #
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# ''''''''''''''''''''' #
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# > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < #
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#######################################
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Issue Number: 15-Part II
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Release Date: December 20, 1987
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Issue #15-Part II will continue where we left off with part I. All of
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Tolmes News Service Issue #15 deals with the Max Headroom TV Pirate who
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broke into two broadcasts recently.
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For more information, see TNS Issue #15-Part I.
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For those who missed it, here is the summary of what happened as printed
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in TNS Issue #15-Part I:
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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1) On Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago, the 9 o'clock news was interrupted during the
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sports section.
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2) For about half a minute, a character in a Max Headroom mask came on the
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screen (with a moving background too).
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3) Channel 9 (WGN) cancelled out the signal after about half a minute.
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4) About 2 hours later, on Channel 11 (PBS) in Chicago, the Max Headroom
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TV pirate came on again. This time Max Headroom did a little skit where he
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would drink a can of Pepsi and throw it away and other antics. Toward the end
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of the skit, the man with the Max Headroom mask dropped his pants, mooned
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the screen, and was spanked with a fly swatter. The entire episode took place
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while the science-fiction series Dr. Who was being broadcasted. The skit
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lasted for about a minute and a half. The pirate stopped the broadcast on
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his own (Channel 11 didn't knock it off the air). Since Channel 11 is public,
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it didn't really have the power to knock the broadcast off.. so Max
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Headroom might have been on for half an hour if he wanted to be. Some words
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were heard but most of it was blurred.
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TNS Issue #15-Part II will now print some other news broadcasts dealing with
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this TV pirate.
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This next news report comes from Channel 9 (WGN-TV) in Chicago. As you
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will note from the summary and Issue #15-Part I, Channel 9 was one of the
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stations that had its transmission broken into.
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Anything like this: *> xxxxxxx <*
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is an explanation of what was on the television at the time of the news
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broadcast. This is to help represent what was put on the screen as the
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report was in progress. Of course, there will be highlights from the Max
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Headroom pirate on the tv during the report at certain times.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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AN= The WGN Announcer (some lady)
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LR= Larry Rhoderick (a reporter from WGN, covering the incident)
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BS= Bob Strutzel (WGN director of engineering)
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AY= Andy Yokum (WTTW spokesman)
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PB= Phillip Bradford (Federal Communications Commission)
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The following were during the show:
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V1= Viewer 1 (some woman)
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V2= Viewer 2 (an old guy with glasses who was very angry)
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V3= Viewer 3 (a little boy)
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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AN: The Federal Communications Commission tonight is trying to find out
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whose responsible for two acts of video piracy. Last night, someone
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broke into regular programming here on Channel 9 and later at Chicago's
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public broadcasting. As Larry Rhoderick reports, the first interruption
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took place during last night's 9 O'clock News.
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*> On Screen: Bears Highlights <*
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*> "..the ten.. the five.. touchdown.." <*
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*> Bears Highlights Fading Away <*
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*> Max Headroom Coming Onto the TV <*
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LR: Sports anchor Dan Rollin had just started his Sunday night Bears report
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when the screen suddenly went black. It came back on with a new unruly
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prescense.
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*> Max Headroom Gyrating <*
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LR: ... a man wearing a Max Headroom mask. We had been taken over by a
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video pirate, for a time. Until technicians changed microwave channels
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between the studio and the transmitter and knocked him off the air.
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BS: Apparently, somebody with some microwave equipment was able to interfere
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with our signal going to the Hancock transmitter.
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LR: Now this is not just anybody off the street. He has to have an electronic
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expertise of some level, right?
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BS: Yes he does. It takes very sophisticated equipment to do this at a
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significant power level. So this isn't just something that anybody would
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be able to accomplish.
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LR: But Channel 9 wasn't alone in its Max Headroom appearance. There was
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even a longer episode on Channel 11, public broadcasting.
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*> On Screen: a Dr. Who episode <*
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*> The Image Starts to Get Cloudy <*
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LR: A little after 11 p.m. Dr. Who was knocked out by the Max lookalike, who
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pitched a soft drink....
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*> Max: Pitching a Pepsi Can <*
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LR: .. then performed a series of antics that station officials found less
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than humorous.
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*> Max: With No Pants On <*
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LR: .. before the pirate himself pulled the plug.
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AY: Fortunately, it was a self-destruct mechanism. It was beyond our control.
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We have already implemented steps whereby we could take something like
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that off the air immediately if it were to occur again. It did of its own
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volision go off, as I say, after about a minute and a half.
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LR: It annoyed some viewers....
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*> On Screen: Some Strange Woman <*
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V1: I don't know.. I thought it would be just a slight messup but THAT in
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the middle of the tape... we're going to have to tape over it.
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LR: Angered others....
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*> On Screen: Some Guy <*
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V2: Uhh.. if somebody wants to get attention, WHAT DO THEY DO? They break
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into a television broadcast. Just to get attention. Like throwing a brick
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through your window. So to speak. It'. It's not too bright
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really.
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LR: While some thought it was a lot of fun....
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*> On Screen: A Little Boy <*
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V3: vwerry .... vwerrry funny...
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LR: It may seem very humorous, but there is more to it than that. For when
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this person is caught, he or she will face both civil and criminal
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penalties.
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*> Phillip Bradford (from the FCC) <*
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PB: It is very serious and we would like to inform anybody who's involved
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in this type of thing that it is serious and we will take every step that
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we can to find out who is doing it. And once we have determined that, we
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will make sure that the full extent of the law is carried out.
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LR: Meanwhile, Channel 9 engineers say they have taken steps to prevent
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further appearances of the mock Max. This is Larry Rhoderick, WGN News.
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AN: The FCC says last night's piracy was the first of its kind in Chicago.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Channel 7 (ABC) in Chicago
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JD: John Drury (Channel 7 Eyewitness News)
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AD: Anders Yokum (Channel 11-WTTW spokesman)
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RP: A Channel 7 Eyewitness News Reporter
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JD: Federal Communications agents say they don't think what happened to two
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local TV stations here last night is funny. And they've launched an
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investigation to find the so-called video pirate who interrupted
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broadcasting.
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*> On Screen: the WGN Max <*
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JD: A figure resembling Max Headroom suddenly popped up during a WGN
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sportscast and later interrupted the science-fiction fantasy Dr. Who on
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Channel 11.
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*> Max Headroom on Channel 11 <*
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JD: Officials believe the pirate used a microwave to interrupt the signal from
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Sears Tower. They're not sure exactly how it was done but they feel
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sure it won't happen again.
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AD: I would think that an incident similar to what occured last night
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could not occur again.
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RP: Based on what you're doing now to correct it?
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AD: Based on what we're doing now, yes.
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JD: The stations would not elaborate on what those procedures are.
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*> Max Jumping Up and Down on TV <*
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JD: The FCC reminds any potential pirates that it's against the law and
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they could face stiff penalties.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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There are all of the news reports.
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Now I'd like to take this time to present some reactions from the Modem
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World. Just a few reactions from various modemers out there.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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87Nov23 6:28 pm from The Slipped Disk
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=> ALL MAX HEADROOM FANS <=
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It seems the hackers ARE rebelling over the recent cancellation of the Max
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Headroom TV show on ABC. Bill the Cat mentioned a story of t
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TV ignals on a channel 9, and I know that MTV is offering a "Max headroom
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Hotline" that some hackers took over.
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The number, by the way, is [818]-377-5000. It's a VMS.
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87Nov24 6:18 am from The Chamelion
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This morning of ABC's World News This Morning, there was a story about all the
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broadcast overrides. We've gotten WGN, WWOR, and the superatation out of
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Kansas, KTAT, I believe. He said "The FCC is looking into how someone could
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intercept broadcasts". I've studied this for a long time, and believe me,
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it's not hard. Especially overriding superstations. They showed a videotape
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of what was transmitted. It was Bo A homemade Max Headroom. It was pretty
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neat. We'll strike again. I can guarantee it.
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87Nov25 11:27 am from Milo Phonbil
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Who's "we", lizard-face?
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87Nov25 5:19 pm from The Slipped Disk
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"We", the concerned Max-Headroom-Watchers. We are a group, even though we
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don't particuarly hold meetings in the conference centers.
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87Nov26 1:05 am from Capt. Zap
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My thoughts on the jamming of the Chicago stations comes down to one simple
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thought. It takes no massive amounts of power to jam a signal to any
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reciever. The ability to trace this type of jamming is going to be very
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difficult since it was a line of sight interception and over-powering of the
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signal. Now I have a few ideas that would make such actions possible. Think
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about the use of standard microwave ovens with the basic wattage of 300 to
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500 watts. Now inject your standard video / audio signal into this
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giga-bandwidth of space. Wattage + directed targeting at something that is
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so open and un-protected allows for all sorts of jamming and over-powering
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with ease. If you are to think about the way to do something like this then
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a simple low cost system is for you.
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Your own "Max Headroom" kit contains:
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------------ 1 Amana Radarange 300 watts and up. 2 Your choice of
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4,6, or 10 foot dish antennas for your trans./rec
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station. ( Free Antenna Location Service with purchase! ) 3 Your choice of
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video camera and props. 4 Location of your target reception point and needed
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back-up data. 5. Desire to improve the commerical television viewing
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options! 6. A decent library of programming options and techno-guts!
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\/ Capt. Zap \/
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** --------- **
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87Nov26 11:55 am from The DataMaster
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....Too Bad most television stations have phone line control over their
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transmitters, and a Line integrity transeiver, or it might even work.
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(Doubtful, though)
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87Nov28 10:50 am fter
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Jam? Maybe, Broadcast over, No. you could to a much more effective job
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of Jamming with a baseball bat to the transmitter. If your Microwave
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overn isn't within full line of sight range, you can forget even trying to get
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the little blip, that It might even cause. (If that) You're forgetting
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people, that a microwave uplink is not very powerful, (usually around 100
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watts) but they have very large antennas, and are usually on top of some
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fairly large hill, or building. Meanwhile, you're using a cooking device,
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with an antenna smaller than most dummy loads, from your own backyard, which
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is probably not too high up in the air. Please people, let's move on to a
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topic that has some truths to it!?
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87Nov29 9:05 pm from The Slipped Disk
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So wait... How did these dudes in Chi town do it? I saw the transmission.
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Very witty. Inside job, you think?
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87Nov30 6:02 am from The Chamelion
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Hardly an inside job. They just aimed their transmitter at the same
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transponder that WGN uses, and used a higher power. It diesn't even have to
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be significantly higher. Just more, and the WGN signal will cancel out. As I
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said before, it's one of those things that doesn't work out on paper. But it
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works. Welcome to Earth--Where everything you know is wrong.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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That ends TNS Issue #15-Part II (and all of Issue #15 actually).
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