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msg · January 7th 08, 09:10 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave

wrote:

On Jan 7, 2:18 pm, msg wrote:

snip

For awhile in the late '70s and early '80s in some U.S. cities a homeowner
could be subject to an intrusive search of premises if a certain size Yagi
antenna pointed in certain directions was observed on his property; the
intent was to prosecute 'theft of service' of directed pay TV services.

snip

Do you have a site that anyone was actually busted, much less convicted?

One would need to inspect the police blotter from legal newspapers in the
Twin Cities seven county metro area in that time frame; the issue was a
hot topic of the time; archives of the Mpls. Star-Tribune would have
articles. But yes, there were prosecutions and convictions and challenges
to the law which IIRC eventually succeeded, and IIRC involved hams
who were subjected to arrest and prosecution. Rather than cable leakage,
the service was a directed broadcast of pay TV (HBO at the time) from the
tallest building in downtown Mpls.

Here in central KY the cable company and I got into a ****ing contest
and when they leaned on me for my oversize Log Periodic Dipole, I pointed
out that per FCC rules they shouldn't have any detectable leakage. When
they sent nastygrams, I responded with a impromptu net on the 6M frequency
they used as the low band AGC control reference.

Tip of the hat to you on that one ;-)

Michael