Can “pirate” radio signals really make airplanes fall from the sky?
Malfunctioning equipment in the broadcast band, CB radios, cable TV lines, and even garage door openers can cause interference problems. None of these services is denied to the American public because of the possibility that something might go haywire. LPFM is technically no different from any of these other services, and no more likely to cause harmful interference. If you ask them, the FCCs engineers will have to admit that the overwhelming majority of pirate radio operators operate within the specs for licensed radio stations. If the FCC really cared about public safety, they would take a pragmatic approach, enforcing the law when interference occurs. Instead, they have focussed their resources on a hysterical “war on pirate radio”, using the emotional issue of air safety as bogey-man to scare off rational consideration of the issue. Interference would be better prevented through legalization and education than heavy-handed enforcement. According to Dharma Bilotta-Dailey and Tracy J
