The Rise and Fall of 107.9 UnderGround Radio back in 2006

I saw this blog from Friendster which I find it very interesting to read. Please note that this was written around 2007. Today, it is now known as 107.9 U-Radio (They can't use 'Underground' anymore since there's another station that goes by that name, 105.9 RJ Underground Radio)

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Source: http://profiles.friendster.com/uradio

A pirate is a radio station that tries to be heard over a relatively large area but operates without benefit of a license from the government. This is the story of the rise and fall of a pirate: 107.9FM Underground Radio, as it came to be called.

It began several months ago when I happened across a review of the Tugicom FM-25 PLL FM stereo broadcast transmitter on the internet,a low-powered unit meant to be heard over a short range. "Own and operate your own FM stereo broadcast station," the review had said. Wow! I thought, my own radio station! Actually, I had been thinking about doing something like that for some time. Always fascinated by the mystery of radio communications since a was a child, one of my earliest questions as a kid was, "Dad, how does the music get from where that man is playing it to the dashboard of our car?" (I think he mumbled something about phone lines.) The technical challenge of doing it myself had always been there.

Radio: Elevator Music
In recent years a second reason for putting my own signal on the air has surfaced: Most of the programming now out there on the radio sounds like noise to my ears. Radio has become less important in my life because of that. The compressed and boring music (not to mention the commmercials and stupid trying hard DJ's on most stations) that comes out of my radio has become tiresome. I now only listen to radio while driving, and then only with the radio tuned to a news station. I've "tuned out", preferring to listen to music on my CD and mp3 player insted.I began to think there might be others out there who would like to hear something unconventional.

In all of my musing over the months,I have always considered FM was to complex and the cost would be to much. I had visions, I guess, of the early days of FM and the convoluted phase and serrasoid schemes that were necessary to produce high-fidelity modulation in a era before high-speed digital dividers and linear variable reactance diodes made directly-modulated synthesized exciters were commonplace. Upon reflection on new this new technology, it began to sink in: Of course, FM is the perfect choice! FM is for people who like music! The challenge was now irresistible.

The Station
So,I puchased the tugicom FM-25,(25watt FM transmitter)and designed and built my own antenna, attached a CD player, fired'er up and jumped in the car to check out the range. That little transmitter sounded just pretty darned good to my ears - at first. But I hardly got to the end of my town before its tiny signal fadded out. I also noticed an irritating buzzing in the audio and some strange noises that seemed to be coming from the CD - they were keeping time with the music. I can do better than this, I thought. From that moment I was hooked. I began an almost month-long struggle to get the signal out beyond the borders of our town and to clean up the FM-25, a struggle that turned into a happy addiction and a 5month life of crime.

Several antenna improvements were also made that first month. The system progressed from a homemade omni antenna to a giant 40 foot 4 element folded dipole made of aluminum pipe designed and made by me and mounted on a 125-foot tower in the back of my house. Range was now almost to the edge of the whole Metro Manila with just about 9 million souls, and I was having great fun. I played mostly club music..It was a blast.

But i never got the fm-25 to sound as good as I thought it should,So I bought a new transmitter. This time it was Broadcast Wearhouse MPX3000,(30 watt FM Transmitter)which had been featured in an article in an internet website. The MPX3000 was perfect, however. It had a strange 9 dB boost at the extreme bass end of its audio response range, and stereo separation and balance was very good. Also, that "dead quiet" was marred by a high-pitched whistling sound heard faintly in the background. In the next few weeks I made quite a few improvements to it mostly capacitor value changes and the tightening of resistor tolerances. The bass boost problem and the high-pitched whine were traced to problems in the unit's loop filter.

I also added a subtle modulation limiter circuit in the audio path between the mixer and the exciter. The purpose of a modulation limiter is to protect the transmitter from being driven into distortion by a too-loud audio signal, a condition very easy to encounter with high dynamic range CDs. Also, the typical mixer board operator's tendency is to bang the VU meters into the red in an attempt to sound as loud as possible over the air. The limiter allows the operator to indulge this proclivity without over-driving the transmitter.

The result of the improvement effort was highly satisfactory: The MPX3000 checked out at 0.1% audio distortion on a high-quality modulation monitor.Stereo Separation came in at better than 55 dB at 1 kHz, and noise was too low to be measured!

I also jacked up the power again, from 25watts this time to 300 watts,using an amplifier i purchaced from Ebay. The modification was no easy feat. Fortunately, I had access to a spectrum analyzer,and a high power dummy load for testing,to make a long story short, the result was impressive. The second harmonic was some 65 dB down and spurious emission and higher-order harmonics were non-existent. In other words,It was clean and perfect!

The station was now quite satisfactory from a technical standpoint and the choice to operate in the FM band was definitely the right one for the situation. The signal easily covered most of metro manila and beyond,Coverage was still a little spotty on cheap radios, however, so I began to lay plans for an increase in power - to 1000 watts.But it was not to be. 107.9FM was building to a downfall..

The Bust
As it turned out, there was someone in the radio industry who cared, and he cared very much. The owner of the local legally NTC-licensed FM station had been monitoring us and had decided to take action. I received a call from them one afternoon. Not knowing I was the perpetrator, the station owner explained the situation and asked if I could help him track down the guy. I almost came clean right then and there when I replied that I already had a very good idea of who the guy was... but would rather not identify him. The station owner then said that he had been in talks with the NTC and that they were "cracking down on this pirate station." Trying very hard to control my voice in this unreal situation, I said something to the effect that I would "talk to the guy" and could almost guarantee that he would shut down. Thanking me, he ended the conversation.

And that was how UnderGround Radio died without a whimper. Well, yes, there was a whimper. We went on the air for a short time at exactly 12 AM the following night with a tearful farewell.

A few days later I stopped in at the local station and, still operating in lying mode, told the owner I had "talked to the guy" and had been assured that his operation had ceased. It was at this meeting that I gained a little better appreciation of the owner's point of view. Basically it was this: He operates by the rules, pays his dues - thousands and thousands of pesos,it turns out, to something called a Regulation Fund, and to ASCAP (this money goes to local recording artists) - and of course, he's a businessman and makes his living from his radio station. He saw the pirate as taking food from his mouth. I quizzed him a little about whether the pirate had been interfering with his signal and, more importantly, on whether he considered the pirate to be a serious competitor given the fact that the program format was so drastically different. No, the pirate was not interfering, and no, he said with a bit of a chuckle, the pirate's format made absolutely no difference in his view. He then made it perfectly clear that he would be in contact with the NTC if the pirate's operation continued. We shook hands and I left, feeling like a jerk and a fraud..

A day or so later a Man. (I will not mention his name) and he was calling from the National telecomunications commision. He asked if I knew why he was calling. I replied that, yes, I did. He asked if I knew who the pirate was up there? Yes, I did, but would rather not say. Did I help construct the station? "Well.. yes," I said. Then.. "Aw hell, I may as well come clean. I'm the pirate.."

There followed a long, friendly conversation in which he tried to get as much information about our station as he could: What was the power? Where did I get the transmitter? Details of the transmitter's construction? Had I checked it on a spectrum analyzer?(yes) What sort of antenna? Were we making any attempt to conceal the antenna? (No.) What hours were we operating?(24/7) How long had we been on?(5months) Would I PROMISE not to operate anymore? (Yes.) Would I consider destroying the equipment? (No.) Would I sell the equipment to some other pirate? (No.) Who was that guy on there? (Matt Montoya) Did I know the station had been picked up 100 kilomiters away? (No), I thought it highly unlikely.)

I asked him a few also: Does he enjoy tracking down pirates? How many pirates does he track down a year? (i guess none coz im the first and only one in metro manila), We finished the conversation with him saying that he'd be sending an official warning letter. I said I'd frame it and put it on the wall.

I'd spilled my guts to the Heat. What a relief!

And, true to our word, 107.9FM Underground Radio has been silent ever since. Cold turkey..

But, no regrets...UnderGround Radio Will Live Forever...

We are now back on the air at 108MHz FM with a new owner and under new management from a super secret location in Metro Manila...So what you all waiting for tune in now to the best club music station in the country!!!