Background Captain Midnight broadcast signal intrusion

fort lauderdale, macdougall raised after moving family florida in 1970.

john r. macdougall born in elmhurst, illinois; western suburb of chicago. youngest of 5 children of building contractor robert macdougall , wife thelma, homemaker. shortly after father s retirement in 1970, family moved florida. spent childhood years tinkering cars , cb radios. macdougall brought in fort lauderdale, educated @ american heritage school. after 2 years of studying in management engineering program @ worcester polytechnic institute, macdougall abandoned studies , found employment installing satellite dishes in ocala.

in 1983, opened satellite dealership macdougall electronics in ocala. company turned healthy profit, following scrambling of hbo s signal on january 15, 1986, turnover declined. consequently, reduced expenses possible , in same month offered part-time job @ central florida teleport uplink station (which uplinked services satellites) operations engineer him pay bills. not receiving customers, macdougall pulled company advertising , saved money switching off air conditioning. became increasingly reclusive during period, watching television , reading magazines. macdougall later said of experience: have been watching great american dream slip grasp. @ 12:49 a.m. eastern standard time (est) on april 20, 1 week before jamming, macdougall transmitted color bar test pattern superimposed on hbo s signal. lasted few seconds, , hbo did not investigate incident had occurred during overnight hours, , result few people had been watching @ time.

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