> These guys were part of the local BBS/DDial scene which is how I knew them...I remember seeing heavy duty AV equipment there, but I had no idea what it was used for
Note that the AMA mentioned in the response to that comment was updated later on to mention that the two people bpoag suspected to have done it (and by extension, the people referenced by Anonemoosity, I guess) did not do it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190722060448/https://old.reddi...
The equipment is the ability to transmit FM video on 6 or 18 GHz. Both stations were on the same building, so all they needed to do is be close enough to get FM capture.
I am guessing someone found an STL transmitter in a dumpster. TV stations were not careful about discarding old equipment.
The thing about those FM STLs is, the receiver AFC circuit would lock on the strongest carrier within 40 MHz. The culprits didn’t need to know the exact frequency nor be on it, they just needed to be within 80 MHz (40 MHz each side of desired carrier frequency) and be the strongest signal and the receiver would move to them.
What they did need to know is audio subcarrier, and the distorted audio hints that they were off by one channel.
I used to repair this gear. It isn’t common equipment, but it also isn’t a truckload. It was quite luggable by the early 70’s, and the reason I suspect it was the result of dumpster diving is, 1987 was a year deep into the transition to NTSC with MTS audio. TV stations needed new STLs to support it. A station upgraded and pitched their oldest mono STL transmitters.
That's what it looks like when the poster deleted their account, but not the post. When the post is deleted, the body text disappears. Account deleted but not post is relatively common on decade old reddit threads.
If this was one guy doing it on his own, that he has been able to keep his mouth shut all these years would be impressive on its own but there's at least a second person involved, and she's kept quiet too. Sure, one or both might be dead by now, but anytime you have multiple people involved with a secret, the odds of it leaking increase in a non-linear manner. But maybe Blipverts got them soon after the broadcast. As an aside, really getting Blipvert vibes from Tiktok (sounds like Zikzak) and some of YouTube's ultra short ads.
Depends on how intoxicated the people involved were, too.
I suspect there was more than just two involved in this; and I expect that when they saw the news the next day (or later) they had no idea that was them being talked about.
How funny is that his voice is altered presubmably by the two signals heterodyning, and the effect is similar to what they would accomplish with a ring modulator, which was the same effect used to create the Daleks voice in Doctor Who.
To give you some context, the signal strength required to capture a TV signal in a normal house one story is about a 12 volt radio battery.
How do I know this? Because it is the first thing you try when getting one of those 150 piece electronic kits out of the Sears catalog. Takes two transistor amply circuits with a square or other wave and the right capacitor combination.
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=9t07jqib6...