[aprssig] Bootleggers On Navy FLTSATCOM Satellites

[Stephen H. Smith]

 From the    those-would-make-REALLY-wide-coverage-APRS-digipeaters    
department......   

Story linked on Slashdot.com this morning at:

    <http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/21/151225>
  


      Brazilian Pirates Hijack US Military Satellites

  Brazilians in the boondocks are bootlegging on US Navy FLTSATCOM 
satellites, using them like CB. 

   
The Slashdot post links to the original story on Wired.com at:

     <http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2009/04/fleetcom>

"To use the satellite, pirates typically take an ordinary ham radio 
transmitter, which operates in the 144- to 148-MHZ range, and add a 
frequency doubler cobbled from coils and a varactor diode. That lets the 
radio stretch into the lower end of FLTSATCOM's 292- to 317-MHz uplink 
range. All the gear can be bought near any truck stop for less than 
$500. Ads on specialized websites offer to perform the conversion for 
less than $100. Taught the ropes, even rough electricians can make 
Bolinha-ware.

"I saw it more than once in truck repair shops," says amateur radio 
operator Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN) "Nearly illiterate men rigged a radio in 
less than one minute, rolling wire on a coil."