1545 UTC: Cupid Radio did well this morning, with reports from Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, Rhode Island, Ukraine, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and who knows where else.
1355 UTC: BTW, no carrier audible here from the 9300.8 station
1337 UTC: 9300.8 probably isn't high enough in frequency to make it to North America, but I'll give it a listen
1324 UTC: While I wait for Global HF broadcasts, I'm checking out some stations on the Twente webreceiver (see Twente logs below)
1245 UTC: Same bandscan as yesterday morning, except that I'm also hearing Radio France International on 21580 kHz.
Pirate Radio Logs
OTR unid: 6770, 11/6, 1342+ Back again with a drama. Signal much weaker than yesterday morning, but I don't have the local noise that I had then, so it evens out.
Cupid Radio: 15070, 11/6, 1545+ Left just before sign on and returned to the receiver as the signal was fading out. Signal seems to be right on 15070, unlike yesterday
Loggings via Twente Webreceiver
Radio AC/DC: 6240, 11/6, 1324+ Good signal with Bee Gees, Peter Gabriel "Sledgehammer"
unid: 6230.66, 11/6, 1326+ Fair signal with what sounds like Emerson, Lake, & Palmer
Akenzo: 6267, 11/6, 1400+ Huge signal with schlager. Male DJ talking with mix of Dutch and English. Tough for me to understand, but ID per Iann's chat
Focus International: 6286.9, 11/6, 1332+ Excellent signal with rock music. Clear ID, e-mail address, into song by Wolfsbane
unid: 7700, 11/6, 1349+ post-new wavey dance music, "Let's Do the Timewarp Again" good signal. I think there was an ID a bit ago, but the signal took a quick fade & I missed it. Off mid-song at 1354
unid: 9300.8, 11/6, 1336+ Orange Juice "Rip It Up," excellent signal
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Global HF Logs: 11/5/16
2306 UTC: Just in from mortaring stone. That bag lasted forever. As of now, the only station that I have info on for tomorrow's broadcasts is the 11401-kHz station, but if today is any indication, more stations should show up.
1934 UTC: Just received some loggings from Zacharias Liangas in Thessolonika, Greece. He didn't have a lot of luck listening, but he did hear Cupid Radio with a good signal. He said "I think it could be better for the next time (or session) to ask all of these pirates to provide their listing in advance for at least 1-2 days so anyone can program his family schedule and get better isolated." I understand and it would be much easier this way. However, all I can do is let people know that I can publicize any stations that choose to broadcast during this time. Whether anyone decides to listen (or broadcast) is their decision.
1903 UTC: Be on the lookout for 11401 kHz. I received an e-mail that a station is on there now and also tomorrow morning.
1813 UTC: The weather's so nice outside that I've been trying to mortar stone on the foundation of the house. I'm about done with this bag & then I'll check through the bands again and post an update. I've hoped that some North American stations would be testing for long distances on the high frequencies today, but nothing so far.
1623 UTC: I tuned away from Cupid too quickly. Some really nice peaks here now. The op posted on HFU that he has a bad RFI coil in his antenna mast & he climbed the tower during the broadcast to check it. Now that's hobby radio :o)
1539 UTC: Awesome! I see that Daniel Wyllyans in Brazil heard Sluwe Vos Radio on 15890 kHz at 1528 UTC.
1533 UTC: Mike Radio is being logged by Joe Filipkowski, Flexoman, and Chris Smolinski (and by me, too, see log below) on 13895 kHz USB. That's four different states, not bad.
1525 UTC: A decent carrier (but no audio) cropped up on 21470 kHz. According to short-wave.info, this is BBC via Ascension Island, not a pirate. The signal quality here is very similar to that of a pirate, so be aware.
1520 UTC: I still have the carrier for Cupid, so keep checking 15070; it might fade into your area. I have a carrier on about 15049 kHz, but this might just be a utility
1515 UTC: Cupid Radio has completely faded out here, but I see that the station was reported by Hiroyuki Okamura in Japan on 21460 kHz earlier this morning. Congratulations to both!
1509 UTC: The signal from Cupid is getting worse, not better. Wonder if 13m will be better this afternoon?
1500 UTC: I had all of my times off by an hour. Would've been perfect if the time had changed last weekend. I fixed'em all now
1451 UTC: See Cupid Radio logging below
1442 UTC: I'm away from the receiver at the moment, but I see that Cupid Radio is being logged in New York and the Ukraine on 15070 kHz.
1420 UTC: I just received a message to check 15890 kHz for a European station. I have a carrier on the Twente receiver, but nothing on my own. Maybe someone can hear this in another part of the world?
1315 UTC: I'm not sure if it's our electric baseboard heat or what, but I'm getting S7 noise on 43m (!)
1300 UTC:
13m: On the Twente receiver, I'm hearing good signals from Saudi Arabia on 21505, WRMI on 21565, and Radio France International on 21690 kHz. As I'm typing this, someone just signed on 21650 kHz . . . I think it's the BBC in French. Otherwise, the lower 250 kHz of the 13m broadcast band are clear in Europe. On my own receiver, I have Saudi Arabia fair/fading on 21505, WHRI on 21610, and what I think is the BBC on 21650.
19m: Also on the Twente receiver, 15000 to 15100 kHz is wide open, aside from All India Radio on 15040 kHz. On my own receiver, I have WWV with a fair signal on 15000, a carrier from All India Radio on 15040 kHz.
1230 UTC: Still early in North America for any transatlantic logs.
Pirate Logs
OTR unid: 6770, 11/5, 1315+ Sounds like a detective show? The signal's pretty good, but it's tough to copy anything in this S7 noise! Just heard a CBS Radio ID and into an old ad. This is probably the best signal I've had from this station in about 6 months, so it's too bad about the noise
Cupid Radio: 15070.5, 11/5, 1451+ Very nice peaks here, so I hope the signal will keep improving. Pop music and shoutouts to ULX2 and others. Clear ID. Faded out by around 1520, but faded back & now it's about 1625 UTC and there are some really nice peaks, with pop music. Thanks for the show!
Mike Radio: 13895U, 11/5, 1532+ Weak signal, but I do have music peaking up. Haven't been able to ID any songs yet
Relay Station unid: 5150, 11/5, 1941+ Relaying a buy/sell amateur radio net! Would really surprise me if I heard this without knowing about the relay. One station is in Sacramento. Still on at 2300 UTC with an excellent signal. Charlie Feathers "Can't Hardly Stand It"
Pirate Logs via Twente web receiver
1626.2, 11/5, 1915+ Splatter from, I believe 1635.9. Folk music with accordian. Listeners on Iann's chat say this is either Greek or Serbian. Pretty awesome to finally hear one of these. Sounds like he must be running a lot of power to go that distance.
1630, 11/5, 1905+ Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" Sounded like op taking a phone call (both sides audible)
1635.9, 11/5, 1913+ Station with enormous and wide signal. Older Dutch folk music: schlager, yodeling, etc.
1934 UTC: Just received some loggings from Zacharias Liangas in Thessolonika, Greece. He didn't have a lot of luck listening, but he did hear Cupid Radio with a good signal. He said "I think it could be better for the next time (or session) to ask all of these pirates to provide their listing in advance for at least 1-2 days so anyone can program his family schedule and get better isolated." I understand and it would be much easier this way. However, all I can do is let people know that I can publicize any stations that choose to broadcast during this time. Whether anyone decides to listen (or broadcast) is their decision.
1903 UTC: Be on the lookout for 11401 kHz. I received an e-mail that a station is on there now and also tomorrow morning.
1813 UTC: The weather's so nice outside that I've been trying to mortar stone on the foundation of the house. I'm about done with this bag & then I'll check through the bands again and post an update. I've hoped that some North American stations would be testing for long distances on the high frequencies today, but nothing so far.
1623 UTC: I tuned away from Cupid too quickly. Some really nice peaks here now. The op posted on HFU that he has a bad RFI coil in his antenna mast & he climbed the tower during the broadcast to check it. Now that's hobby radio :o)
1539 UTC: Awesome! I see that Daniel Wyllyans in Brazil heard Sluwe Vos Radio on 15890 kHz at 1528 UTC.
1533 UTC: Mike Radio is being logged by Joe Filipkowski, Flexoman, and Chris Smolinski (and by me, too, see log below) on 13895 kHz USB. That's four different states, not bad.
1525 UTC: A decent carrier (but no audio) cropped up on 21470 kHz. According to short-wave.info, this is BBC via Ascension Island, not a pirate. The signal quality here is very similar to that of a pirate, so be aware.
1520 UTC: I still have the carrier for Cupid, so keep checking 15070; it might fade into your area. I have a carrier on about 15049 kHz, but this might just be a utility
1515 UTC: Cupid Radio has completely faded out here, but I see that the station was reported by Hiroyuki Okamura in Japan on 21460 kHz earlier this morning. Congratulations to both!
1509 UTC: The signal from Cupid is getting worse, not better. Wonder if 13m will be better this afternoon?
1500 UTC: I had all of my times off by an hour. Would've been perfect if the time had changed last weekend. I fixed'em all now
1451 UTC: See Cupid Radio logging below
1442 UTC: I'm away from the receiver at the moment, but I see that Cupid Radio is being logged in New York and the Ukraine on 15070 kHz.
1420 UTC: I just received a message to check 15890 kHz for a European station. I have a carrier on the Twente receiver, but nothing on my own. Maybe someone can hear this in another part of the world?
1315 UTC: I'm not sure if it's our electric baseboard heat or what, but I'm getting S7 noise on 43m (!)
1300 UTC:
13m: On the Twente receiver, I'm hearing good signals from Saudi Arabia on 21505, WRMI on 21565, and Radio France International on 21690 kHz. As I'm typing this, someone just signed on 21650 kHz . . . I think it's the BBC in French. Otherwise, the lower 250 kHz of the 13m broadcast band are clear in Europe. On my own receiver, I have Saudi Arabia fair/fading on 21505, WHRI on 21610, and what I think is the BBC on 21650.
19m: Also on the Twente receiver, 15000 to 15100 kHz is wide open, aside from All India Radio on 15040 kHz. On my own receiver, I have WWV with a fair signal on 15000, a carrier from All India Radio on 15040 kHz.
1230 UTC: Still early in North America for any transatlantic logs.
Pirate Logs
OTR unid: 6770, 11/5, 1315+ Sounds like a detective show? The signal's pretty good, but it's tough to copy anything in this S7 noise! Just heard a CBS Radio ID and into an old ad. This is probably the best signal I've had from this station in about 6 months, so it's too bad about the noise
Cupid Radio: 15070.5, 11/5, 1451+ Very nice peaks here, so I hope the signal will keep improving. Pop music and shoutouts to ULX2 and others. Clear ID. Faded out by around 1520, but faded back & now it's about 1625 UTC and there are some really nice peaks, with pop music. Thanks for the show!
Mike Radio: 13895U, 11/5, 1532+ Weak signal, but I do have music peaking up. Haven't been able to ID any songs yet
Relay Station unid: 5150, 11/5, 1941+ Relaying a buy/sell amateur radio net! Would really surprise me if I heard this without knowing about the relay. One station is in Sacramento. Still on at 2300 UTC with an excellent signal. Charlie Feathers "Can't Hardly Stand It"
Pirate Logs via Twente web receiver
1626.2, 11/5, 1915+ Splatter from, I believe 1635.9. Folk music with accordian. Listeners on Iann's chat say this is either Greek or Serbian. Pretty awesome to finally hear one of these. Sounds like he must be running a lot of power to go that distance.
1630, 11/5, 1905+ Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" Sounded like op taking a phone call (both sides audible)
1635.9, 11/5, 1913+ Station with enormous and wide signal. Older Dutch folk music: schlager, yodeling, etc.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Global HF Weekend Starting!
The Global HF Weekend is now starting up.
I just received a schedule for a station to listen for:
Any stations may send schedules to me for posting here . . . or, of course, stations might just show up on the bands. We'll see what happens. I sent personal e-mails to a number of hobbyists from around the world about a month ago and I plan to send follow-up messages to people.
I just received a schedule for a station to listen for:
21460 kHz, 0800+ UTC, 11/5
Any stations may send schedules to me for posting here . . . or, of course, stations might just show up on the bands. We'll see what happens. I sent personal e-mails to a number of hobbyists from around the world about a month ago and I plan to send follow-up messages to people.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Global HF Weekend coming up in a few days!
Halloween evening was awesome! We had somewhat average activity here in North America over the weekend leading up to it, but the day of 10/31 through the night of 11/1 UTC was fantastic. A big thank you to all of the stations who made Halloween evening (and some of the other days) a blast by the receiver. And, as some people have mentioned, there isn't a lot on shortwave to get excited about these days, but on Monday night, 43 meters was a blast. BTW, Chris Smolinski summarized the weekend activities on his blog.
Halloween is over but the fun is not. This weekend coming up is the first revival of the Global HF Weekend. I wrote about it in the October issue of The Spectrum Monitor. If you aren't subscribed and are interested, check here.
Here's what I wrote about the Global HF Pirate Weekend:
Halloween is over but the fun is not. This weekend coming up is the first revival of the Global HF Weekend. I wrote about it in the October issue of The Spectrum Monitor. If you aren't subscribed and are interested, check here.
Here's what I wrote about the Global HF Pirate Weekend:
DXers love tuning in long-distance
stations. Pirates love to experiment and be heard across long
distances and in obscure places. Dating back to the late 1970s, some
stations, such as RX4M and Radio Confusion, announced tests on high
frequencies. The latter broadcasts were regularly publicized in FRENDX (now NASWA)
and some of the European radio newsletters, bringing in many reports
from two continents.
The problem with announcing tests in
advance is that it can make a pirate more susceptible to an
enforcement action, whether official or vigilante. Although most
stations that ran announced tests did so successfully, there are a
few examples of stations that ran into problems with enforcement.
On a worldwide scale, the first hugely
successful mass tests of pirates were the Global HF Pirate Weekends
organized by Finnish DXer Harri Kujala in the early 2010s. Kujala had
a fascination with logging stations of all sorts (licensed or not)
from foreign cultures. Within the pirate niche, this meant logging
hundreds of Dutch and Balkan MW pirates and Irish church services on
the CB band. In addition to hardcore DXing of these stations, Kujala
even took trips to the Netherlands and Serbia and visited a number of
the operators.
Kujala's pirate webpages and blogs
attracted radio fans from around the world to read of things like new
pirates from Russia and Hungary, and tests from new stations hoping
to be heard in distant locations. Finally, he organized what he
called the HF Global Pirate Weekend, when he published schedules of
different pirates testing on high frequencies. A number of pirates
participated and were very successful in reaching listeners in
different continents. In particular, Cupid Radio and Borderhunter
Radio received a number of reports from listeners in India, Japan,
New Zealand/Australia, and countries from the former Soviet Union.
Kujala hasn't updated the pirate
portions of his websites for several years and the intercontinental
tests have essentially disappeared over that time. But some of those
who tuned in or tested have not forgotten.
A few of the operators from those
years said “I'm always up for these special tests and experiments.
I can't believe the last Global Pirate Weekend was 4 years ago. Time
really flies.”
“I
always love to do this kind of broadcasts. I was thinking about this
two years ago, I got great memories on the weekend from 2012, youtube
is filled with clips from the pirates then.”
Such a day weekend has been scheduled
for this year and it's coming up soon, so mark your calendars.
Some of the European hobbyists have been busy contacting others who would be interested and I've e-mailed a lot of people about it as well. I've had listeners from South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe tell me that they were excited about the chance to hear North American stations. Likewise, I think a number of North American listeners would like the chance to hear stations from other continents with hopefully some good signals. Also, if conditions are good, it should enable North American stations from either coast to be well heard on the opposite coast.
That all said, I do plan to mention schedules on the blog if any operators want to let me know in advance. But I will not include the station names. It will be something like: "A station let me know that it will be on Saturday 11/5 from 1500-1600 on 15070 kHz" This system seemed to work when Harri organized the activities. This time, there is no organizer but I'm happy to report what I hear.
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