Brazilian satellite pirates busted

For years, several suspected Brazilian radio hams have been using several US satellites for their communications, of course, in an illegal way.

But recently 39 persons were busted, with some arrested and a lot of homebrew equipment seized by the Brazilian authorities.

Fernando, EC1AME in Spain, has the full story:

This week, mid of March, a man was arrested in Unai in the NW of the Minas state under the charges of homebrewing rigs to get through some military US sats like FleetSat-8 and UFO.

The rest of the Brazilian guys are all licensed ham radio ops and had antennas towards those sats and were often heared on many frequencies, even here in Europe.

The operation, under the name of "Operation Satellite" was held by the Brazilian federal police  and the US Department of Defense which reported the almost exact location of each pirate.

The suspected may go to jail for a period of 2 to 4 years.. it all depends of the local laws in Brazil. Beside the guy that built the rigs, there are more than 20 suspects in the states of Minas Gerais, Goias, Tocantins, Mato Grosso do sul, Mato Grosso and Santa Catarina.

This kind of satellite piracy is popular in Brazil. Since many years when they tried to use homebrew rigs transmitting on the uplink of those US military sats, activate them and therefore being able to communicate through the huge Brazilian territory.

Just google it and you will discover what is this all about.. (look for: "pirates on satcom" or similar)

There are several videos on youtube about this...too.

I  have found a video of a Brazilian tv channel with some shots showing the antennas used etc...

Check it out here: http://www.radioaficionados.info/253mhz.html

Fernando, EC1AME
Spain