Spaceport image for may 25

Spaceport America, the organizers of the annual Spaceport America Cup intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition, did more than see students and amateur aerospace enthusiasts put rockets into space during its 2022 event. It also allegedly played host to a pirate radio station. Ahead of its 2023 event, the Federal Communications Commission has sent a notice to Spaceport America warning it could face fines topping $2.3 million if it has a repeat performance this year.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau says its Denver field office has been investigating a complaint about an unlicensed station operating on 95.3 FM and 96.3 FM. Agents confirmed the signals were coming from the Spaceport America property, located between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences, NM, between June 21 and June 25, 2022, during the Spaceport America Cup 2022 event.

While FCC rules allow for exceptions for certain extremely low-powered devices, agents determined that Spaceport America had not requested permission to sign-on a micro radio station to operate during its event. And based on the signal coverage, it appears what was there was more akin to a pirate station.

In a warning letter sent this week to the company, the FCC does not directly accuse Spaceport America of being behind the unlicensed FM. But it does give the company ten days to respond with evidence that it is no longer permitting illegal radio broadcasting to occur at the property.

The pirate station likely covered more empty land than people. Spaceport America is the first commercial spaceport in the world. The FAA-licensed launch complex, situated on 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, has what the company says is a “rocket friendly environment” of 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-foot by 200-foot runway, and about 340 days of sunshine a year.

Alaska Homeowner Also Warned

While most pirate warnings have been sent to big city landlords, the FCC in recent days has also targeted a homeowner in Wasilla, AK where it thinks another unlicensed FM has been operating. Based on complaints received by the Commission, field agents from San Francisco traveled to Alaska last October to use direction-finding equipment to trace the source of a pirate station operating at 102.5 FM. It led them to a home on South Gon Fishin Drive.

The result is the property’s owner, Zinaida Gamza, has been warned that a fine of up to $2.1 million is possible if an unlicensed station continues operating there. Gamza has ten days to provide evidence that they are no longer permitting pirate radio broadcasting to occur at the property.