Civillian Uses Slain Officer's Radio To Call For Help, The Crystal Ship Has Sunk

Quoting a quick snippet from NBC San Diego:
"SAN DIEGO (NBC San Diego) - Seconds after San Diego Police Officer Jeremy Henwood was shot in his patrol car Saturday, a citizen used his radio to call for help. Henwood, 36, was shot in the head at University Avenue and 45th Street. The 4-year veteran of the department and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves was pronounced dead Sunday morning."



Shortwave America would like to briefly say that this civillian should be held to the same standards as Licensed Amateur Radio Operators. Not very long ago, an amateur was hiking in the U.S. when he fell and broke his ankle. No other means of communications were available, and without help, this hiking radio amateur would have been in serious trouble. He used his modified amateur radio HT to call attention to his situation on a local Law Enforcement frequency and has seen legal consequences despite having fulfilled the legal burden for his actions, so what makes this civillian who rescued the cop any different??


Our next piece of radio related news says that a long running rivalry between John Poet and the crew of The Crystal Ship vs. WBNY also known as "Commander Bunny" has ended in the United States FCC shutting down the primary transmit site for the Crystal Ship after nearly twenty nine years to the day of its first transmission. See the official statement from the Crystal Ship

After examining all of the available data on this matter, Shortwave America can conclude objectively that the preponderance of the evidence shows that Commander Bunny is indeed the FCC SNITCH that did in the Crystal Ship. This was a great station while it lasted. TCS never interfered with broadcasts, never interfered with military radio traffic, never interfered with the amateur service, and had no prior complaints before the FCC took this action. Granted, it IS illegal to "broadcast" without a license, TCS proved over the past 29 years of its operation that low power broadcast without a license on unused frequencies and when practiced with technical proficiency, is absolutely not a threat to anyone or any radio service. The fact is that the FCC wasted time, money, and manpower to pursue TCS! 

 

Florida Law Enforcement Deputy Misuses Department Radio System, Boss Approves?

Ok, so this was original and cute. If any of the Shortwave America readers are Law Enforcement professionals, you can see the danger in using the county wide radio system to do something like this. Both the officers in the field and the callers using 911 depend on this system for life threatening emergencies.

Obviously, the Officer's supervisor is just fine with this type of system use and that is VERY troubling, and if you don't find it troubling, you should! Law enforcement by its very nature means that anything can happen at anytime, anywhere! What IF there would have been an emergency at that time? The air would not have been available for an emergency transmission! An officer or 911 caller could have been put in danger!

The department doesn't see the abuse of the communications system in this case, and that is another troubling issue! See Law Officer for the original story and then see the Miami Herald.

Any other department would have initiated an investigation with expectations of handing down discipline...at least a few days off! Should Florida taxpayers expect such a trivial use of their Sheriff's emergency radio system? Shortwave America will search on-line archives for the complete radio transmissions and see about getting them here. Until then, the media recording should be enough to satisfy the point made.

Media Network Plus - 3rd Edition Airs Radio Bloopers

Paulette MacQuarry and Keith Perron of Media Network Plus have created a masterpiece with their newest edition of their show. You'll have to  forward to about a little past the middle of the show to get to the radio bloopers and get ready to laugh with intensity!

Thanks for the laughs Paulette and Keith! Listen HERE

Man & Son Tattoo Radio Station Logo On Foreheads

The man in this photo is David Johnathan Winkleman. Mr. Winkleman and his Son heard a radio station offer a cash reward for listeners who tattoo the station's logo on their forehead. Mr. Winkleman and son went along with the scheme, and then Winkleman was arrested. The photo above is from Winkleman's mug shot from his booking process.

See the story at the UK Daily Mail   

The radio station then changed their frequency & format after the stunt by the DJ's.

Update: Shortwave America beat ABC 7 to the punch on covering this story by almost a full hour! 

Tracking The Cuban Numbers Lady

Long winded with a message to be heard. That's the Cuban numbers lady. Some say the pretty voice is just too much to keep up with while others hang on to hear the finale, and give it their best to crack her mysterious code.

This past Saturday evening into Sunday morning, she was heard as always faithfully making herself known on 5.885.00Khz. She's on other frequencies as well, others have verified it. Now we are asking the question "How many stations are there using her voice?" A better question as of late Saturday evening is why did she use the same numeric pad as some weeks ago on the same frequency? What was the meaning of the cipher this time around?

Assuming that the purpose of the cipher is to hide the meaning of communications, and the function of the station(s) is not anything lawful...did they use the same cipher pad to test the waters and see if it would be noticed? Are they trying to get caught? Was it a distraction game to keep listeners away from the real broadcast taking place on another frequency at the same time? What other frequency was used that night? When was it used? How was it used? What mode and signal strength were used?

Reports state: "17.515 at 00.00UTC on Saturday", "I've been hearing her for the past few weekends, usually late on Sunday night around the same time", "I've noticed they'll often run a dead carrier for some time just before they actually start."

Ya know what was strange with this broadcast? The dead carrier came at the end of the transmission and her voice faded out more and more as the dead carrier got stronger and stronger. Eventually, after about five or seven more minutes under the carrier..poof! She was gone!