Here's the "whole other story" about superimposing text on an existing TV broadcast by emitting pulses synchronized with the scan.

* http://idlewords.com/2007/04/tv_solidarity.htm

I had the great fortune of knowing Andrzej Jesmanowicz, one of the participants in this story. He did MRI research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He was also a helicopter pilot, skydiver (how I met him), and total maniac in the best possible way. Andre died in 2016 and some of his friends got together to spread his ashes over Wisconsin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZhCCohSBg

Do you know if any of these guys were ham radio operators by chance? Sounded like ham ingenuity to me.

They were radioastronomers.

I like the story, but am even more curious as to their legal disclaimer at the bottom of the page.

Does anyone know whats up with "Note: by California state law, Title 17 U.S. Code § 1030, Rz. Pl. u.1994 nr 24 poz. 140, and binding international covenant it is forbidden to use the word "hack" in conjunction with this blog post."

Is this supposed to be in jest? Im not aware of any copyright laws that limit the manner in which I may refer to someone else's work.

That would be a joke. And it would also be Maciej Ceglowski's style. He would probably prefer something along the lines of "clever idea" or "ingenious solution"; it conveys the message in clear, conventional English without being hip, cool, or clickbaity in any way.

I don't understand.

They broadcasted in the UHF band, far from the FM band and VHF bands. How could the general public even are able to tune in and listen? Only people who use walkie-talkies for their jobs and amateur radio operators are known to own UHF radios. So did they manage to find a way to broadcast an audio-only signal on a TV-frequency, or what?

That's an error in translation. The original interview in Polish is dead now, but can be found here[0]. The Polish text mentions UKF, which stands for "ultra krótkie fale" (literally, "ultra-short waves"), and the correct translation to English is VHF, not UHF.

Paging 'idlewords, please fix it :).

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[0] - http://archive.is/7edP8#selection-353.650-353.653

It makes sense now. Thanks!

A great story and one of the funniest writing style I've seen in a long time.

You may enjoy his classic: http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_t...

This part at the bottom caught my eye:

>Note: by California state law, Title 17 U.S. Code § 1030, Rz. Pl. u.1994 nr 24 poz. 140, and binding international covenant it is forbidden to use the word "hack" in conjunction with this blog post.

Title 17 Chapter 10 only seems to go up to § 1010 on easily accessible public online sources. Is there a canonical way to look up what this actually means ? It seems questionable on first amendment rights anyway.

I think it was just a wry joke.

Remember the movie, “Pump Up The Volume?”