Weekend Pirate Loggings: 2/13-2/15/2016

Just got back to the radio after a drive through the snow. The Italian Broadcasting Corporation is a pirate that stuck in my mind when I was a kid because their radio antenna QSL/logo was reprinted in The ACE a few times. I never heard them back then because I really didn't know much about DXing Europirates (either in terms of setting up decent antennas or knowing when/how to listen). Thirty years later, I see that they're testing to North America tonight. I tuned to 6970 kHz. Just some utility mess. Oh well, maybe I haven't advanced very far in the past 30 or so years, afterall.

But, I tuned through 48 meters & I found a station on 6325 kHz--and some audio's coming through! I pulled up a file on the recorder, started recording, and checked HF Underground to see if someone has it with a better signal. They do and it's:

Odynn Radio/Radio Veronica/Radio Twentana: 6325, 2/13, 0022+ Can hear some music & I thought I had an ID around 0027. I guess this is a joint broadcast. I'll have to listen to my recording on headphones & see if I can dig out some details. <later> I listened to my recording and not much is there.

Speaking of not much being there:

KROW: 6920U, 2/13, 0302 I saw that this was logged on the HFU and tuned in. I could hear a little bit of audio and then it faded away or disappeared. According to an HFU log, the station returned about 50 or so minutes later. I let the recorder run for an hour and I can hear someone tuning up around this timeframe, but that's all I've got.

Pee Wee: 6925U, 2/13, 1237+ Electric blues rock. Not sure if it was Hendrix, but that general style. Off and then "Pee Wee" in Morse code. Good signal

unid: 6925U, 2/13, ca1550 Good signal. I checked into the radio room to see if I could pull much out of the KROW & Odynn/Veronica/Twentana loggings (which I couldn't). I hoped that who ever was broadcasting here would still be on when I finished trying to dig out some IDs, but the station was gone.

I've noticed over the past few days the Old-Time Radio unidentified station on 6770 kHz is missing. I wonder if it's off for what seems to be a maintenance period, if it's moved frequencies again, or ?

6925, 2/13, 1727+ Fair signal with Boston "More Than a Feeling"

Radio Illuminati: 6150, 2/13, 2237+ Beatles "Lucy in the Sky" & possibly a Neil Young song. Good with fading & nice audio. Styx "Grand Illusion" Kansas "Carry on My Wayward Son" The Who "Pinball Wizard" The Who "Eminence Front" Hoping to catch some IDs on the recording, but no luck thus far.

Radio Monique International: 6299.9, 2/13, 2315+ Just a carrier in high noise levels

Radio Focus International: 6284.8, 2/13, 2327+ Much stronger carrier than Monique, so I have hope that audio will make it through. I'm not sure where these S6 noise levels that I'm getting tonight are coming from?

A question for anyone who might still be reading my loggings down this far. At 0010 UTC, on 6340 kHz, I'm hearing what sounds like an international shortwave broadcaster with operatic music. The way it sounds, it's gotta be either a spur or a receiver image. But I was also hearing a "choo-choo-choo-choo (etc.)" on the frequency that had been on for at least an hour, but stopped while I was typing this. Anyone know what these are? BTW, the station is now playing opera with bird-style whistling! The weird kind of stuff that got me interested in shortwave to begin with!

6955.2U, 2/14, 0035-0038* "Mexican Radio" Pretty good, thin signal. "I am Oz, the great and powerful" repeated at QRT.

6955.2U, 2/14, *0042- Either the same station or someone else following up on the frequency with bluegrass

Radio Azteca: 6950, 2/14, 1357+ Good signal for program #7, CHU news

Radio Illuminati: 6150, 2/14, *1551+ VG signal playing pop ballads for Valentine's Day, such as Phil Collins "One More Night" Heard an ID on here for the first time on a music break "I am your host, the Azimuth Coordinator" and announced "another 10 songs in a row"

unid: 6950, 2/14, 2027+ Good signal with Motley Crue "Looks That Kill" & Steve Miller Band "Fly Like an Eagle"

Radio Free Whatever: 6950U, 2/14, 2325+ Dick Weed with Death from Above & Bad Religion. Talk about all of the listeners who are e-mailing in and posting on HF Underground with some shoutouts. Also some talk about using "um" as a crutch word and listeners who send screenshots of the RFW's signal from their SDRs.

Solar Centric: 6949.5, 2/15, 0203+ I just saw Token's log of this on HFU. I've never heard Solar Centric and this is the closest I've come to hearing it. I've got a nice carrier and I'm getting fade-ups with some decent noise quieting, but just haven't gotten any audio yet. I've got it recording just in case I get a really good fade up . . .