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Oh, this is fascinating. Just a bit disappointing that the article doesn't mention at all why it's possible for random people in Brazil to access these satellit

Oh, this is fascinating. Just a bit disappointing that the article doesn't mention at all why it's possible for random people in Brazil to access these satellites.

oyebenny 6y ago
> Oh, this is fascinating. Just a bit disappointing that the article doesn't mention at all why it's possible for random people in Brazil to access these satellites. This is my question as well.
- tonyarkles 6y ago
  The Fleetcom satellites are, if I recall, just “bent pipe” satellites. There receive on one frequency and retransmit on another with zero logic onboard. Analog, digital, whatever. If you wanted them to encrypt their broadcasts, you’d just encrypt the signal before transmitting on the ground and it would happily rebroadcast your encrypted signal back to earth.
- ColanR 6y ago
  From the article, to answer the hardware side of your question, which was mine as well. > To use the satellite, pirates typically take an ordinary ham radio transmitter, which operates in the 144- to 148-MHZ range, and add a frequency doubler cobbled from coils and a varactor diode. That lets the radio stretch into the lower end of FLTSATCOM's 292- to 317-MHz uplink range. All the gear can be bought near any truck stop for less than $500. Ads on specialized websites offer to perform the conversion for less than $100. Taught the ropes, even rough electricians can make Bolinha-ware.
matheusmoreira 6y ago
These specific satellites have no security. They just retransmit any signal that comes at them. Makes me wonder who else is using them...
- jplayer01 6y ago
  Seems weird to me. They made these things when they were at war with Eurasia. Seems like it'd be a good idea to ensure only you could use them.
  - matheusmoreira 6y ago
    Right? Might as well open it up to the public. Brazilians hueing it up in their satellite is really the least of their problems. If a bunch of civilians can cobble together enough equipment to use the satellite, gotta wonder what nation states with real resources can manage. So how insecure is this stuff, really? Radio security seems to be based on "authorities really, really don't want you to do this".

Oh, this is fascinating. Just a bit disappointing that the article doesn't mention at all why it's possible for random people in Brazil to access these satellites.

oyebenny 6y ago

> Oh, this is fascinating. Just a bit disappointing that the article doesn't mention at all why it's possible for random people in Brazil to access these satellites. This is my question as well.

tonyarkles 6y ago
The Fleetcom satellites are, if I recall, just “bent pipe” satellites. There receive on one frequency and retransmit on another with zero logic onboard. Analog, digital, whatever. If you wanted them to encrypt their broadcasts, you’d just encrypt the signal before transmitting on the ground and it would happily rebroadcast your encrypted signal back to earth.
ColanR 6y ago
From the article, to answer the hardware side of your question, which was mine as well. > To use the satellite, pirates typically take an ordinary ham radio transmitter, which operates in the 144- to 148-MHZ range, and add a frequency doubler cobbled from coils and a varactor diode. That lets the radio stretch into the lower end of FLTSATCOM's 292- to 317-MHz uplink range. All the gear can be bought near any truck stop for less than $500. Ads on specialized websites offer to perform the conversion for less than $100. Taught the ropes, even rough electricians can make Bolinha-ware.

matheusmoreira 6y ago

These specific satellites have no security. They just retransmit any signal that comes at them. Makes me wonder who else is using them...

jplayer01 6y ago
Seems weird to me. They made these things when they were at war with Eurasia. Seems like it'd be a good idea to ensure only you could use them.
- matheusmoreira 6y ago
  Right? Might as well open it up to the public. Brazilians hueing it up in their satellite is really the least of their problems. If a bunch of civilians can cobble together enough equipment to use the satellite, gotta wonder what nation states with real resources can manage. So how insecure is this stuff, really? Radio security seems to be based on "authorities really, really don't want you to do this".