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# <Tolmes News Service> #
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# > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < #
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Issue Number: 15-Part II
Release Date: December 20, 1987
Issue #15-Part II will continue where we left off with part I. All of
Tolmes News Service Issue #15 deals with the Max Headroom TV Pirate who
broke into two broadcasts recently.
For more information, see TNS Issue #15-Part I.
For those who missed it, here is the summary of what happened as printed
in TNS Issue #15-Part I:
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1) On Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago, the 9 o'clock news was interrupted during the
sports section.
2) For about half a minute, a character in a Max Headroom mask came on the
screen (with a moving background too).
3) Channel 9 (WGN) cancelled out the signal after about half a minute.
4) About 2 hours later, on Channel 11 (PBS) in Chicago, the Max Headroom
TV pirate came on again. This time Max Headroom did a little skit where he
would drink a can of Pepsi and throw it away and other antics. Toward the end
of the skit, the man with the Max Headroom mask dropped his pants, mooned
the screen, and was spanked with a fly swatter. The entire episode took place
while the science-fiction series Dr. Who was being broadcasted. The skit
lasted for about a minute and a half. The pirate stopped the broadcast on
his own (Channel 11 didn't knock it off the air). Since Channel 11 is public,
it didn't really have the power to knock the broadcast off.. so Max
Headroom might have been on for half an hour if he wanted to be. Some words
were heard but most of it was blurred.
TNS Issue #15-Part II will now print some other news broadcasts dealing with
this TV pirate.
This next news report comes from Channel 9 (WGN-TV) in Chicago. As you
will note from the summary and Issue #15-Part I, Channel 9 was one of the
stations that had its transmission broken into.
Anything like this: *> xxxxxxx <*
is an explanation of what was on the television at the time of the news
broadcast. This is to help represent what was put on the screen as the
report was in progress. Of course, there will be highlights from the Max
Headroom pirate on the tv during the report at certain times.
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Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago
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AN= The WGN Announcer (some lady)
LR= Larry Rhoderick (a reporter from WGN, covering the incident)
BS= Bob Strutzel (WGN director of engineering)
AY= Andy Yokum (WTTW spokesman)
PB= Phillip Bradford (Federal Communications Commission)
The following were during the show:
V1= Viewer 1 (some woman)
V2= Viewer 2 (an old guy with glasses who was very angry)
V3= Viewer 3 (a little boy)
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AN: The Federal Communications Commission tonight is trying to find out
whose responsible for two acts of video piracy. Last night, someone
broke into regular programming here on Channel 9 and later at Chicago's
public broadcasting. As Larry Rhoderick reports, the first interruption
took place during last night's 9 O'clock News.
*> On Screen: Bears Highlights <*
*> "..the ten.. the five.. touchdown.." <*
*> Bears Highlights Fading Away <*
*> Max Headroom Coming Onto the TV <*
LR: Sports anchor Dan Rollin had just started his Sunday night Bears report
when the screen suddenly went black. It came back on with a new unruly
prescense.
*> Max Headroom Gyrating <*
LR: ... a man wearing a Max Headroom mask. We had been taken over by a
video pirate, for a time. Until technicians changed microwave channels
between the studio and the transmitter and knocked him off the air.
BS: Apparently, somebody with some microwave equipment was able to interfere
with our signal going to the Hancock transmitter.
LR: Now this is not just anybody off the street. He has to have an electronic
expertise of some level, right?
BS: Yes he does. It takes very sophisticated equipment to do this at a
significant power level. So this isn't just something that anybody would
be able to accomplish.
LR: But Channel 9 wasn't alone in its Max Headroom appearance. There was
even a longer episode on Channel 11, public broadcasting.
*> On Screen: a Dr. Who episode <*
*> The Image Starts to Get Cloudy <*
LR: A little after 11 p.m. Dr. Who was knocked out by the Max lookalike, who
pitched a soft drink....
*> Max: Pitching a Pepsi Can <*
LR: .. then performed a series of antics that station officials found less
than humorous.
*> Max: With No Pants On <*
LR: .. before the pirate himself pulled the plug.
AY: Fortunately, it was a self-destruct mechanism. It was beyond our control.
We have already implemented steps whereby we could take something like
that off the air immediately if it were to occur again. It did of its own
volision go off, as I say, after about a minute and a half.
LR: It annoyed some viewers....
*> On Screen: Some Strange Woman <*
V1: I don't know.. I thought it would be just a slight messup but THAT in
the middle of the tape... we're going to have to tape over it.
LR: Angered others....
*> On Screen: Some Guy <*
V2: Uhh.. if somebody wants to get attention, WHAT DO THEY DO? They break
into a television broadcast. Just to get attention. Like throwing a brick
through your window. So to speak. It'. It's not too bright
really.
LR: While some thought it was a lot of fun....
*> On Screen: A Little Boy <*
V3: vwerry .... vwerrry funny...
LR: It may seem very humorous, but there is more to it than that. For when
this person is caught, he or she will face both civil and criminal
penalties.
*> Phillip Bradford (from the FCC) <*
PB: It is very serious and we would like to inform anybody who's involved
in this type of thing that it is serious and we will take every step that
we can to find out who is doing it. And once we have determined that, we
will make sure that the full extent of the law is carried out.
LR: Meanwhile, Channel 9 engineers say they have taken steps to prevent
further appearances of the mock Max. This is Larry Rhoderick, WGN News.
AN: The FCC says last night's piracy was the first of its kind in Chicago.
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Channel 7 (ABC) in Chicago
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JD: John Drury (Channel 7 Eyewitness News)
AD: Anders Yokum (Channel 11-WTTW spokesman)
RP: A Channel 7 Eyewitness News Reporter
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JD: Federal Communications agents say they don't think what happened to two
local TV stations here last night is funny. And they've launched an
investigation to find the so-called video pirate who interrupted
broadcasting.
*> On Screen: the WGN Max <*
JD: A figure resembling Max Headroom suddenly popped up during a WGN
sportscast and later interrupted the science-fiction fantasy Dr. Who on
Channel 11.
*> Max Headroom on Channel 11 <*
JD: Officials believe the pirate used a microwave to interrupt the signal from
Sears Tower. They're not sure exactly how it was done but they feel
sure it won't happen again.
AD: I would think that an incident similar to what occured last night
could not occur again.
RP: Based on what you're doing now to correct it?
AD: Based on what we're doing now, yes.
JD: The stations would not elaborate on what those procedures are.
*> Max Jumping Up and Down on TV <*
JD: The FCC reminds any potential pirates that it's against the law and
they could face stiff penalties.
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There are all of the news reports.
Now I'd like to take this time to present some reactions from the Modem
World. Just a few reactions from various modemers out there.
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87Nov23 6:28 pm from The Slipped Disk
=> ALL MAX HEADROOM FANS <=
It seems the hackers ARE rebelling over the recent cancellation of the Max
Headroom TV show on ABC. Bill the Cat mentioned a story of t
TV ignals on a channel 9, and I know that MTV is offering a "Max headroom
Hotline" that some hackers took over.
The number, by the way, is [818]-377-5000. It's a VMS.
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87Nov24 6:18 am from The Chamelion
This morning of ABC's World News This Morning, there was a story about all the
broadcast overrides. We've gotten WGN, WWOR, and the superatation out of
Kansas, KTAT, I believe. He said "The FCC is looking into how someone could
intercept broadcasts". I've studied this for a long time, and believe me,
it's not hard. Especially overriding superstations. They showed a videotape
of what was transmitted. It was Bo A homemade Max Headroom. It was pretty
neat. We'll strike again. I can guarantee it.
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87Nov25 11:27 am from Milo Phonbil
Who's "we", lizard-face?
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87Nov25 5:19 pm from The Slipped Disk
"We", the concerned Max-Headroom-Watchers. We are a group, even though we
don't particuarly hold meetings in the conference centers.
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87Nov26 1:05 am from Capt. Zap
My thoughts on the jamming of the Chicago stations comes down to one simple
thought. It takes no massive amounts of power to jam a signal to any
reciever. The ability to trace this type of jamming is going to be very
difficult since it was a line of sight interception and over-powering of the
signal. Now I have a few ideas that would make such actions possible. Think
about the use of standard microwave ovens with the basic wattage of 300 to
500 watts. Now inject your standard video / audio signal into this
giga-bandwidth of space. Wattage + directed targeting at something that is
so open and un-protected allows for all sorts of jamming and over-powering
with ease. If you are to think about the way to do something like this then
a simple low cost system is for you.
Your own "Max Headroom" kit contains:
------------ 1 Amana Radarange 300 watts and up. 2 Your choice of
4,6, or 10 foot dish antennas for your trans./rec
station. ( Free Antenna Location Service with purchase! ) 3 Your choice of
video camera and props. 4 Location of your target reception point and needed
back-up data. 5. Desire to improve the commerical television viewing
options! 6. A decent library of programming options and techno-guts!
\/ Capt. Zap \/
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87Nov26 11:55 am from The DataMaster
....Too Bad most television stations have phone line control over their
transmitters, and a Line integrity transeiver, or it might even work.
(Doubtful, though)
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87Nov28 10:50 am fter
Jam? Maybe, Broadcast over, No. you could to a much more effective job
of Jamming with a baseball bat to the transmitter. If your Microwave
overn isn't within full line of sight range, you can forget even trying to get
the little blip, that It might even cause. (If that) You're forgetting
people, that a microwave uplink is not very powerful, (usually around 100
watts) but they have very large antennas, and are usually on top of some
fairly large hill, or building. Meanwhile, you're using a cooking device,
with an antenna smaller than most dummy loads, from your own backyard, which
is probably not too high up in the air. Please people, let's move on to a
topic that has some truths to it!?
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87Nov29 9:05 pm from The Slipped Disk
So wait... How did these dudes in Chi town do it? I saw the transmission.
Very witty. Inside job, you think?
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87Nov30 6:02 am from The Chamelion
Hardly an inside job. They just aimed their transmitter at the same
transponder that WGN uses, and used a higher power. It diesn't even have to
be significantly higher. Just more, and the WGN signal will cancel out. As I
said before, it's one of those things that doesn't work out on paper. But it
works. Welcome to Earth--Where everything you know is wrong.
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That ends TNS Issue #15-Part II (and all of Issue #15 actually).