Tracking a Pirate Radio Station

[@ModernRogue]

This week’s free giveaway is a brand new deck from our buddy Diamond Jim Tyler, so you know it's exceptional! The Bamboozler's Deck features 52 different challenges, puzzles, magic tricks, or bar bets you can do with items around the house or a restaurant! Check it out here: www.scamstuff.com/products/bamboozlers-deck. We’re giving away a Bamboozler Deck to FIVE lucky winners of this week’s free giveaway. To enter, sign up at gimme.scamstuff.com (no purchase necessary, giveaway ends 9/9/2021). Congrats to the winners of last week’s Badassify Your Wallet bundle giveaway: Cain Leech, Mark Fugate, David Harber II, and Gabriel Roca! (We will contact you via email within the next two weeks)

[@jaydenhisey5101]

Y’all make my day

[@redbaron474]

Whatever happened to people creating videos and such simply to entertain and educate, instead of creating in order to get paid for it???

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

This was so much fun! Big thanks to Brian, Jason AND the crew! The crew worked so hard that day! The heat and humidity was real folks.

[@wobblysauce]

This was great, then that part 1/2 way in... oh you were looking at the wrong thing... but they were not that far off.

[@thepenguingameryt2080]

hye man i have this old radio thing it does not seem to have a talking spot but it has an antena any idea what it it is called a ubc 70 xlt pocket scanner from uniden and i cant find anywhere what it is can you help me?

[@MartinJDavidson]

@@thepenguingameryt2080 Look for any FCC stuff (TINY print).

[@skyewarper]

You can easily tell just that you had so much fun with the guys! You seem genuinely like a fun guy!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

@@skyewarper Thank you!

[@twojuiceman]

Some suggestions for future episodes: The modern rogue learns to rappel. The modern rogue learns to make soap. The modern rogue learns to triangulate their position with a map and compass. The modern rogue learns how to make really good beans from scratch.

[@StrokeMahEgo]

Modern Rogue learns how to keep bees ft codyslab

[@Yotanido]

Rappelling? Hell yeah, that would be awesome. I can only imagine Brian's terror

[@William_Asston]

The modern rogue 3d prints a firearm

[@thisaccountisntreal107]

@@William_Asston theyre based in Texas so they actually could have an episode on 3d printing a firearm

[@lukepotosky7710]

@@thisaccountisntreal107 yes texas is awesome. 🤠🤠

[@garym3624]

Lol, reminds me of when I used to run a pirate station back in London, UK, we was a house music station and mainly used huge tower block roofs for our transmitter site but once or twice I would go up to a local park on a hill and climb a tree and place my “rig” up at the top of the highest point with power cables hidden amongst the foliage that would end up being connected to a lamp post somewhere nearby, the authorities would have such a hard time getting the thing most of the time they’d just cut a cable to “turn us off” we’d come along a few hours later and re-connect the power and boom, back on air! Never worked as well as being on an actual rooftop signal wise but kept the government on their toes.. haha

[@Only_Cans_101]

That sounds awesome!! What a trip it would have been to hang out with you guys back then 👍 Gday from Australia 👍

[@garychap8384]

I used to work Manchester. We'd set up the transmitters and STLs and either the DTI or rival outfits would come and kill them. The studio would then swing the horn around to target the next transmitter - sometimes, only to find it had already been taken out. I used to build SO many transmitters and amps - losing gear was just a part of the business. You knew when the DTI had done it, because you'd find your cable and antenna cut into about 25cm sections. If a rival outfit took it, it'd just be "gone" ... thieving bastages! We'd take theirs too though, so... y'know : ) I used to be part of the team that would find locations, place them and align the STLs. Lots of fun breaking into roofs and equipment plant rooms with our FB keys. Rooftops rock! A few times we'd see DTI on our rooftop with their binoculars, looking in the direction the STL was pointed trying to spot the studio... without killing the transmitter in case it tipped us off. If they found your studio they'd take EVERYTHING : ( So, we used to point the STL so that it would diffract around buildings or reflect off water towers. Basically, we made the authorities lives hell for a few years : )))) The only big studio bust we ever had was due to neighbours, not the DTI. The big crime back then was _"abstract theft of electricity"_ ... and a few people went to jail for it. either stealing electricity in abandoned flats for the studios or stealing it from the plant rooms for the transmitter locations. A few of our guys went on to successfully get low power RSLs and a couple ended up going legit. Good memories though : ) I'm legit now. Still do radio, but as a Ham : )

[@bridgerbell4205]

If MR made an entire channel that was just them being amazed at Josh Nass explaining radio stuff I would be happy.

[@year6million]

just watch his channel

[@nicolasfritzges4013]

@@year6million yeah lol

[@AstradTheCynic]

Only a modern rouge would restart the injury counter on a ham radio episode 😎

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

I was thinking the same thing

[@Povilaz]

Can't believe they actually found it! Also, the injury counter got reset because of a _plant!_

[@ChrisLoew]

Plants, killing cavemen since forever lolz

[@spade_013]

Nature got hands.

[@jamesforgie6594]

@@spade_013 and likes to throw them.

[@deltaecho-59tx60]

It was a plant in the Yucca family. Saying they are sharp is an understatement. Ive been cut many times. However, one time I stabbed myself with one on the arm and I thought I was going to bleed out. It looked like I got shot . haha

[@nosbig98]

I still think it would be cool for Brian and Jason to get their amateur radio licenses... Even with a technician class, it's very much on-brand with a modern rogue to be able to have the ability to have decentralized communications.

[@TosterCx]

I like how the guy planted the transmitter almost in front of them and then they went to the other side of the property searching for it :D 7:06 12:59 14:17

[@Alleroc]

When I worked for law enforcement, I was always wary of the guys who's job it was to track down pirate stations (and stolen police radios). We called em sniffers, and the one that was in our area was exceptionally good. He always gave me the weirdest vibes too, just an overall odd guy.

[@wobblysauce]

and just like many things when you get good at something you don't always need to follow all the steps to get the same result.

[@Alleroc]

@@wobblysauce yeah for real. We had a deputy have their radio stolen out of their personal cars trunk. The guy keyed up twice and within 10 minutes of that, the guy had the exact location of the guy.

[@wobblysauce]

Ha, people getting the radios taken from cars never got old.

[@Alleroc]

@@wobblysauce yeah. She had her gear in her trunk of her personal car when she was at the gym. Dude broke into her locker and took her keys. He was smart enough to leave the gun haha

[@ColonelSandersLite]

"He always gave me the weirdest vibes too, just an overall odd guy." Shhhh.... He's still listening...

[@CptFUBAR]

I absolutely love when a new episode comes out. Idgaf what y'all are doing, I just know it'll be fun

[@MrFmiller]

Back in the CB craze era we went on “Rabbit Hunts”. The location of the CB antenna on a vehicle can influence the signal the same as a directional antenna depending on how it’s positioned. Just turning a circle gave the direction if the driver and/or co-pilot were a good team. Two turns a few blocks apart would usually get within a close proximity. There were various rules and sometimes many participants. A rogue CB operator couldn’t hide for long. It was fun.

[@jeremoe0312]

just got my ham license last week because of this channel. love you guys

[@NorthJerseyHamRadio]

Great work, congrats!

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

Congrats from WX4SAR

[@prakharmishra3000]

I wanted to get one but it's a pain in the ass here :(

[@haxboi5492]

Same

[@conradpankoff5616]

Pedantry ahead! The way the cell phone towers work is mostly trilateration, as opposed to triangulation. Each node on a tower is usually fairly directional, but the angular offset isn't used so much as the lateral offset, which is measured via round-trip latency of the phone's interactions with the tower. Triangulation is more effective when you can change the angle of a measurement device towards the target, and trilateration is more effective when you can only measure (or infer) the distance from the measurement device to the target. Both concepts are very cool.

[@possumguts]

thank you!

[@skyewarper]

Never once been interested in radio, but I love the passion your friend has about radio, it's so much fun to watch!!!!!

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

It's a fun hobby with many sub hobbies. There's always something new to learn or try.

[@yetanother9127]

This used to be known as radio direction finding (RDF), and it was actually hugely important back in the day. Before GPS, RDF was how planes found their way around in the dark or across oceans, using radio beacons at pre-mapped locations as a kind of landmark. In WWII, U-boats would track convoys using RDF to follow their radio transmissions, but anti-submarine patrol aircraft could also locate the U-boats using the same method when they radioed back to headquarters. It's estimated that "huff-duff" (the nickname of the British RDF systems) contributed to one in every four U-boats sunk during the war. (So arguably this belongs in the "Warrior" category.)

[@kerbalairforce8802]

These systems are still on modern aircraft, and useful for search and rescue, and hunting targets.

[@TheAustinHewlettOfficial]

I've been working toward my Ham Radio Technician license for a couple months. Got hamradioprep abt a month ago(Amazing) and watching HRCC a lot. I really like and appreciate these ham radio videos on the Modern Rogue!!

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

Best of luck to you from WX4SAR

[@TheAustinHewlettOfficial]

@@BluegrassFilmsKY Thanks!

[@lndrvrus]

Josh’ channel is pretty good. There are so many aspects to amateur radio that some would be surprised. It’s a fairly new hobby of mine but very helpful if you live in areas prone to natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. )

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

That's why i joined a search and rescue team that uses ham radio. - WX4SAR

[@the_crusading_otaku]

Definitely the most interesting channel on the internet love every episode

[@TheStrangerous]

Thanks! Spread the word. :)

[@HeyImJorg]

Awesome to see Josh on the show again! Seeing him on the show was what introduced me to radio and inspired me to obtain my license! Love yall!

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

Congrats from WX4SAR

[@shellbournian]

"hacking The Gibson" I see what you did there, Acid Burn

[@MaybeUnavailable]

i knew it a split second after he said it xD

[@chrisvighagen]

pool on the roof must have sprung a leak

[@BluegrassFilmsKY]

"HACK THE PLANET!!!!"

[@tzisorey]

You should do an episode on how to use an old-fashioned paper map. For when the GPS decides to die. Triangulate where you are from distant landmarks, that kinda thing.

[@CooperMusicPage]

I’m curious as to Brian’s seemingly random name drop of an obscure early 2000s Filipino college radio station 🤔 weird/interesting back story OR randomly generated show flair for people like me to search and hone in on for no reason…..also you almost drew an interesting shape tracking the radio signal 😂

[@MattFowlerBTR]

This video made me in to a licensed radio amateur. The earlier ones were intriguing, but this particular one pushed me over the edge. Thanks Josh and the whole MR team for the inspiration! Seriously, I watched this when it was new (after watching the previous HRCC-collab ones) and it made me curious enough to go look in to the licensing situation here in the UK. Turned out that our basic (Foundation) licence was WAY easier to study for than I had assumed, so I did that. Then I found a nice online radio club (the Online Amateur Radio Community) who helped me study for my Intermediate because I wanted more of a challenge, and then on to my Full because I figured "why stop now?". (Yes, from zero to top-tier licence within the age of this video.) So now I have joined the ranks of people with button-pressing privileges - even the next time I visit the US. Thanks Modern Rogue!

[@nativetexan9776]

What would make my day is after viewing these videos about the Waldo Uda Yoda antenna, you two went and got your Ham licenses

[@Razor1rot]

The gibson!!! Your Hackers reference did not go unnoticed sir!! Crash Overide!

[@rdbjrseattle]

In Seattle we would drive up an down I-5 to find out where signals were perpendicular to freeway and then head to neighborhoods along bearings.

[@drocles]

I was shown that when you think you are really close, detach the antenna altogether, for an omnidirectional attenuation, and use your body for some directionality

[@RyanStonedonCanadianGaming]

The injury counter is always in danger of being reset... even during a radio frequency hunt where the plants even want to reset the counter.

[@rdbjrseattle]

We did rabbit hunting of CB radios using one foot diameter loop antennas around San Francisco in the mid 1970s. We would simultaneously track from Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais, and Mount Hamilton locate a transmitter in the Bay Area and then have local trackers in individual cities close in on transmitters. As many as 150 hunters in one night.

[@grampabadger]

I personally knew a couple of ham radio guys in Denver who loved to do direction finding exercises and had their vehicles set up with some pretty sophisticated direction finding equipment - they both worked in the calibration lab at Hewlett Packard. I heard stories from them about how to do this more simply and learned a lot from their expertise. Unknown to the general public, the FCC also has even more sophisticated equipment to find such outlaw stations and when they find the operator, they can confiscate equipment and levy substantial fines. Ham radio tends to police itself.

[@jongeddes09]

I freakin love these radio episodes with Josh. Keep em up!

[@cinnamongum466]

THE NUMBERS, JASON. WHERE ARE THEY BEING TRANSMITTED FROM?

[@spark_two]

Expected an AI voice to say "The Modern Rogue Tracks Pirates"

[@umbraelegios4130]

When I was in school we did a version of this with CB Radios. One car would hide everyone else would try to find them.

[@Alex-em9ij]

Best antena i saw in my entire life 😂😂😂😂

[@RetroDriveRadio]

I have been waiting for a video like this to come out from the rogue! Finally!

[@WickdPerfekT]

This has been moreso a test of Josh's teaching ability. Good movie.

[@kheldarath]

THE GIBSON!!! Nice reference guys!

[@josepaniagua7989]

You guys are absolutely awesome, I fucking love this channel

[@russliquid4858]

The pirate says: “ARRRRRRRRRRGH is for Radio” 😂*sound of crickets*🙈

[@mattymerr701]

Cell tower triangulation is becoming more and more important as we go faster and faster because the signals become weaker and change how the propagate, so the towers need to beam form the signals to and from you

[@Psikeomega]

Hey guys, long time watcher and scam school fan. I just got my GMRS and Amateur Technician licences. With your backgrounds I think it would be cool to see a journey where you guys test for license.

[@justinbanks2380]

"Touched by a Plant" coming to Lifetime channel this Fall. Brought to you by the producers of "Touched by an Angel"

[@Lolindir_Fox]

Love Fox Hunting, found each of them during a Field day event/contest many years back we had stationary transmitter and a mobile one

[@mre9593]

When Brian was calling out the strength on the meter I was yelling at the screen "The Alien is above you!!!" lol :-D

[@cjpmedic]

Need to add a compass to your Yoga, so you can shoot an azimuth. Which how to do would be a good episode come to think of it.

[@kerbalairforce8802]

"something like this" *Curved line drawn* So haphazard

[@Travelinmatt1976]

There was a group of about 20 of us in high school that would do this on the weekends with CB radio. We didn't have directional antennas so we just drove around listening to somebody that was hiding.

[@Veptis]

Doing this with a non directional device is more interesting, but you would need a good model of signal strength. Two points give you two possible points as circled intersect twice. A third measurements will give you more points. Hopefully close to one of the two of original points.

[@AudiophileTubes]

6.925 and 6.950 MHz are popular frequencies for receiving pirate radio broadcasts!

[@didotb01]

I'm gonna keep calling that yoda antenna from now on and hope to find some sad hams

[@PeterLawton]

19:45 Does Dracula give off RF? Yes, obviously. That's why you need a silver stake (conductive metal) through the heart, to short out the RF circuitry when killing him. Duh. ;-)

[@johnbeauvais3159]

This triangulation process was pretty much exactly how they beat the U boats during the war. By using bombers, convoy escorts, and land based stations they could work in consort to find and submarines and route convoys away from waiting wolf packs.

[@kerbalairforce8802]

Allied airborne radar was also sensitive enough to ping U-boat pariscopes

[@kaoticyagura5242]

this reminds me far too much of my old hunting methods with the D-scan in EVE Online

[@johnbeauvais3159]

A guy I knew in college had a cloaked tengu that he used to hunt a streamer, it was a good game we played. I’d call range data and he’d figure a relative bearing.

[@happinessprepper]

Super explanations, I want to do it too!!! What radio did you use? Please share the specs. I am a new Technician, studying for General.

[@kyleguiffredo6771]

Another great episode... Suggestion, mens hats , homemade paddleboard from bottles of foam!

[@reggiep75]

10:45 - I was wondering why the signal strength/power level wasn't being monitored and then this was revealed... Bah!! 😂

[@StrokeMahEgo]

When does the full Jason's madman rant go live?

[@colinsphoneemail]

kinda make me want an IC-705 now. try the second harmonic.. double the frequency.

[@ATOMSHAMRADIO]

Love that icom qrp radio

[@fractal4284]

There was this awesome Pirate radio station outside of Katy Texas I used to listen to that played psychedelic music on Fridays..... And they would literally send people on geocaching hunts to find LSD and mushrooms lol it was insane and it was like that for 3+ years on interrupted then one day it just disappeared into Oblivion.

[@Lansolot]

I recently bought an HLA antenna. I was wondering at a high enough point with no power going to it would it be able to pick up signals outside of 30mhz+?

[@Djformula]

Great video! now try with a station using a dodgy microwave link 😅

[@jbl5342]

"Hacking the Gibson"... naw HACK THE PLANET!!!!

[@N0SSC]

How one gets an injury during a foxhunt….hahaha! That was good.

[@guppie19833]

Awesome, my dad fox hunted all the time, sometimes being the fox and sometimes hunting, he had an antenna on the roof of his car to search for the baken. And in the car a meter, if we came Closer the meter reacted.

[@guppie19833]

Btw this is in the Netherlands what I’m talking about.

[@Hendlton]

Is it possible to do a shotgun mic version of this? Basically a piece of wire the right length inside a PVC tube wrapped in aluminum foil to stop waves coming at it from the side.

[@nikolausluhrs]

That's basically what the antenna he has now is. Its as close to a shotgun mic as we can get with antennas

[@MrDJXR]

Yep, I have one. Haven't got a chance to try it out. I'm usually running the net.

[@ilobdell]

Please do some parks on the air or summits on the air with Josh!

[@TheProdChild]

I wonder if the illicute mushroom trade has anything to do with the episode where they hid treasure on the foot path on the property. Bryan said he thought the container he found was a mushroom stach.

[@kevindavis4709]

You boys don’t care if my building full of LED lights drown my neighbors radio reception I better shut up led light be illegal next 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@rafibausk7071]

Here's an idea can you use a directional antenna on a controllable pivot in a HF set up to control specifically where you're bouncing to?

[@404DisasterNotFound]

RF is what? :D Hint "not Radio Frequency"

[@memyopinionsche6610]

But really technology falters.. smartphones go down and the internet falters as well. shortwave radio..or CB will be the best way to talk to each other and to figure out everything..

[@lilricky2515]

Still calling the bus the Roguemobile.

[@gconnor18]

What’s the chances we will get Trevor on another episode soon using the ‘I’m a modern chooch’ from the bar etiquette video.

[@mmickle6191]

Do I achieve Modern Rogue status by watching this, or do I need to go outdoors and do antenna stuff too?

[@danpblogger]

Five minutes of yakking before they even get started.

[@ZacDeclerck]

I love your property. Heaps of forest, the way it should be

[@buckcherry2564]

so strange seeing the same watch I usually use in a vid. It isnt uncommon or expensive, just unexpected seeing it.

[@danielemanuelsson4233]

Look for a signal in this way, they have been competing for many years.

[@Sadsoft]

Just like Hal from from malcom in the middle

[@goldpipe2003]

I am wondering if you guys still hunt down “rogue” cb stations? And what would classify a cb station as rogue?

[@nativetexan9776]

Don't look at the waterfall. You want to follow the S meter

[@bearnaff9387]

Does anyone ever tell the Rogues about Slinkies(TM)?

[@fflynnful]

Were you using a convertor attenuator?

[@g45sp4]

Pov: you are the fudd and you are going to DF those criminals using a baofeng without a callsign

[@kerbalairforce8802]

No one does more damage to amateur radio than license holders

[@bingus2550]

Ask Josh to get some noaa satellite weather imagery via sstv!

[@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098]

Now we can locate cocaine drop spots

[@robertk1701]

And turn them over to the police... right?

[@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098]

@@robertk1701 oh of course! Anything else would be naughty

[@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098]

@@robertk1701 jk tho I don’t want to be murdered by the mafia

[@YankeeinSC1]

We (my local fellow aviation community joint property owners) had a group of illegal aliens (undocumented ...? Not sure what the politically correct term is) open a radio station within a few miles of our private airport. Their spurious emissions were jamming out airport Unicom (CTAF) Frequency. Fortunately some of my co-owners are also ham dorks, or whatever you call odd social mis-fits that find a niche and stave off inevitable self termination with the use of amateur radios. In a brave moment, they traced the signals to a taco shack, from which they were emanating and convinced the proprietors to stop transmitting or be reported to authorities that might have them deported.

[@sausagedog52]

Plot twist: the madman is ajit pai

[@jackwriter1908]

Modern Rogue, It's not important if you want to learn how to track radio signals or if you want to find out who were the smartest thieves ever caught (which means they weren't smart enough), you will find on this channel something you like. _And once you are in... There is no turning back._

[@TheOodoneOut44]

Is it weird to have a pirate radio inside one's tomestone?

[@austin951014]

You guys are the best!

[@StrokeMahEgo]

Can't Stop the Signal

[@3v068]

YOOOO im not gonna lie. i been waiting for this.

[@05Matz]

I dunno if a "not technically gambling" gambling site is a good sponsor, but I suppose it is a good demonstration of Scoundrelry.

[@jeffbrownstain]

Today in Modern Rogue: How to do something the incorrect way for 20 minutes straight, as usual.

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

Doing it the hard way...

[@gavinbryant9699]

thats way to complicated I can track pirates on the fm band with a car stereo. been doing it in UK for years.

[@ATOMSHAMRADIO]

Now your talking my language ham radio or they call it also shortwave radio👍⚛