A few logs: 11/16/20

 Well, 2020's been bad for my blogging.

Europe via Twente, Netherlands web receiver

1620 kHz, 1825+ Schlager, VG signal, some splatter from 1627. Male announcer

1627 kHz, 1828+ '60s Dutch pop with male announcer. VG signal

Columbia: 1632 kHz, 2025-2028* Male announcer in Dutch, shoutouts, then "David, this is especially for you" 

1636 kHz, 1810+ Perfect signal with AC/DC "Highway to Hell," The Police "Walking on the Moon," announcer talking in Dutch. Thought I heard mention of "harmonica" a couple of times and wondered if that might be the ID, but I couldn't find it on the UKDXer list, so that must not be correct

1646 kHz, 1829+ Instrumental beer hall schlager, VG signal

1646 kHz, 2035+ Male announcer talking & mentioned Columbia. Think maybe he mentioned "Radio Digital," which is Dutch MW pirate. Schlager music

Global HF Weekend: Sunday 4/5/20

Wow, it was a great night for listening to pirates in North America! Stations with long programs and coast-to-coast signals included Skippy Radio, Radio Free Whatever, Wolverine Radio, WBLU, Virus-19 Radio, and X-FM (via Mix Radio International and Radio Illuminati).

Some of the other stations with shorter programs or more regional signals included Yeah Man Radio, Sycko Radio, WTF Radio, and Ion Radio.










We'll see what's in store for today. If I get a chance, maybe I'll even write a few reception reports. Regardless, I'll try to update the blog a bit through the day.


Logs
Strawberry Lemonade Radio: 6950U, 1410+ Weak signal. Station playing rock with extended jams. I don't yet have this quite tuned in. I missed the ID, but this is it per HFU logs

Strawberry Lemonade Radio: 6950U, 1550+ Speed metal. Better signal for me than earlier. Clear ID at end "We might be back later  . . . or we might die"

Radio Ga-Ga: 6925U, 1608+ Pretty weak with music

Mix Radio International: 4960U, 2138+ A variety of music that I don't know. Pretty good signal. Wonder if it's Mix Radio International, which hasn't aired any of its own programming this weekend. Heard a programming ID for "____ dot com" At 2155, I thought announcer said "Chillout Radio." Licensed-sounding ID, so I wonder if it's a satellite radio channel or something. Radio 48 ID at 2200

Virus-19: 6936U, 2204+ Very strong signal again. Said coming from an undisclosed location off the Carolina coast. Thomas Dolby "She Blinded Me with Science"

Captain Morgan Shortwave: 6924.2, 0006+ Great signal with blues. Lotsa Twilight Zone musical theme segments with IDs

Global HF Weekend, Saturday Night, 4/5 UTC

Sorry that I missed out on so much activity! I had to be away from the radio, but there's been a ton of activity. Nice to see so much activity later in the evening that the West Coast listeners can enjoy. I don't know the last time four North American shortwave pirates were broadcasting at the same time in the 0200-0300 UTC block. Maybe a few Halloweens ago?

Logs 
Skippy Radio: 6955U, 0225+ The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place. Excellent signal, Billy Idol "Eyes without a Face," SSTV, into live blues, lots more SSTV images, Drowning Pool "Bodies," Arlo Guthrie "Alice's Restaurant" cut off, then J. Geils "Insane, Insane Again" and "Rage in the Cage"

WBLU (tent.): 6930U, 0225+ Saw the logs on HFU & tried to tune it in. It sounds like something is still here

Radio Free Whatever: 4195U, 0225-0245* Nice signal. DJ Dick Weed talking about Covid-19 and how he stopped smoking. Alternative rock. Said that he should be signing off now because the signal is probably skipping out to Antarctica & nowhere else. Lots of C-19 talk & sign off with "Do whatever in the confines of your own home."

Sycko Radio: 4165U, 0247+ Pretty good signal. Some kinda weird music. Laughing about being considered "essential"

Global HF Weekend continues: 4/4/20

Listening last night was a lot of fun and plenty of stations were on in North America. It was nice to see so many stations on later in the evening.

I tuned through 48 meters at least once, but didn't hear any carriers for European pirates. Not sure if Laser Hot Hits signed off earlier or if its signal just wasn't propagating here at all.

Anyway, this is the new page for today. As always, if you're an operator and you want to send your schedule for any time during the weekend, e-mail it to me at info /at/ hobbybroadcasting.com and I'll post it without your station name. Or you could post in the comments

On the Shortwave DX blog, Radio Merlin posted:
Line up for the weekend on radio merlin
Saturday 9:00 paul Watt 30th Birthday show
12:00 Steve Most (radio pamala)
14:00 Mike Person(rock n roll)
15:00 Mike collier (country)
Sunday 9:00 Paul Watt
10:00 Steve most on 6305 khz and 7505 khz
12:00 Mike Preston (rock n roll)
13:00 Mike Collier (country)

Cool AM also posted:
Radio Merlin International's 30th Birthday!!!

Radio Merlin is on 6305khz/AM and on our online streams
@ https://radiomerlin.radio12345.com and https://merlininternational.radio12345.com
Listen --> http://www.coolam.nl/merlin30.mp3

You can give Radio Merlin a "Shoutout" @ http://freeuk19.listen2myradio.com/chat/frame.php?frameid=2815834

6305 won't propagate to North America at those times, but at least you can check online receivers or listen on their streams.

Logs via my home receiver
unid: 6970, 1601-1604* Could hear that it was an old-time radio drama. Only caught the last three or four minutes. Off immediately after the theme music ended

Logs via Twente web receiver
Radio Merlin International: 6305, 1250+ Fair/weak with '70s pop/rock, but getting better. Nice, clear ID at 1305

Radio Fox 48: 6273, 1340+ Weak with schlager songs. Signal improving. ID per the UK DXer Shortwave DX blog.

XTC: 6321.2, 1536+ Weak, but pretty copyable signal . . . until the announcer started talking, then mostly washed out by background noise. Heard some shout outs to listeners and "thank you very much for your report." After a couple of decades of seeing logs of this station, I think this is the 1st time I've heard it, whether via my own radio or online.

Laser Hot Hits: 6205, 1950+ Wings song into DJ talk. Quick fade & almost gone

1640, 1955+ Hot Butter "Popcorn," schlager & Dutch pop songs. Perfect signal. Sounds like the op hardwired his mixer to the Twente receiver

1670, 2014+ Live dance version of "Country Roads." Excellent signal. And, the same song played again. Funny to hear this on a Dutch pirate. Wonder if the op has ever been to West Virginia? And, yes, it's now being played a 3rd consecutive time. Tuned back at 2025 to hear the song end again & loop back into it.

1660, 2021+ "Bend Me, Shape Me" into a live Eurythmics song, but cut part-way through. Another perfect signal

Global HF Weekend starts today 4/3/20

Sorry, I've been remiss with posting on the blog for quite a while. And the Covid-19 epidemic has definitely disrupted my plans. I have been listening to the radio & logging stations on the HF Underground, but just haven't been posting here.

In spite of everything going on in the world, this seems like the perfect time for a Global HF Weekend. People all around the globe are stuck at home in a quarantine, so why not listening to pirates from across the continent or ocean?

I'll be updating this blog throughout most of the weekend. If any unlicensed broadcaster wants to send their schedule to me, I'll post it (without the station name) so that listeners can tune in. I'll also post my loggings here.

Update: I've made exceptions about the "naming stations in schedules" rules in the past for those operators who have posted their tests elsewhere, so I'll do it again. Ballsmacker Radio posted this message on HFU today:

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Look for us again the 69's while you "shelter in place". 100% virus free tuning in! Strike!

A new theme this week of course! 9pm EDT Friday, 0100 UTC.

Thanks for tuning us in! Ideas and requests welcome. Better antennas under construction and better band conditions and global circumstances on the way!

New site at: http://ballsmacker.net/ Be well!   
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Logs
Texas Radio Shortwave: 4175U, 2305+ Huge signal with oldies, clear computer-voiced IDs, and good audio

Radio 48: 4177U, 0007+ Strong, but I get more local noise below 5 MHz, so a bit noisy. POD "Youth of the Nation" Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"

Virus-19 Radio: 6930U, 0007-0026* I've got the R-390A recording Radio 48 right now, so I'm listening to Virus-19 Radio via the NA5B online receiver in DC. Huge signal there & if their broadcast last night was any indication, I assume that it's huge here, too. A couple of Jethro Tull songs, one cut part-way through. Op mentioned that the station would be on through the epidemic & he won't get into politics "I could, but I won't." I saw this logged last night & again tonight as "Covid-19 Radio," but every ID I've heard has been "Virus-19 Radio" The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Ballsmacker Radio (tentative): 6960, 0105+ Some carrier but faint audio

X-FM: 4175U, 0208-0219* VG signal. A couple of modern pop/rock songs. I think Redhat said this was a test via Mix Radio Int'l. Pirate Radio Relay League IDs repeated a few times at QRT

Sycko Radio: 4190U, 0225+ The noise floor on 4 MHz is just pretty nasty at my location, as I mentioned above. Sycko is buried in the noise here, but I think that one at this level would be pretty decent around 43 meters . . . or even around 5150 kHz. Here? I can make out a bit of talking & some occasional reverb & sound effects

YHWH: 7475, 0313-0445+ Typical long sermon-style monologue from the operator. Weak, but if I crank the volume up, I can copy some of the talk. Wonder if YHWH is ever audible in New Zealand or Australia? Heard him say "God, capital G-O-D." Standard weird sign-off song at 0346, but operator still talking at 0348 after the song ended. Maybe back-to-back programs tonight? Yup, it does appear so. "Christianity is the most vile . . ." Talk at length about how evil the US and Christianity are. The station is putting an excellent signal into Hawaii tonight (I'm hearing it on the Maui Kiwi web receiver). The operator is really upset about Bible translations that use "Lord" instead of "Yahweh." "I'll use their own poisonous text against them." By 0445, YHWH was starting to fade into New Zealand--I can hear some audio on the Marahau web receiver!

Wow, that's quite a nice batch of stations on tonight. Thanks to everyone for making a lot of enjoyable radio!

Loggings & a few other things

I've been finishing my column for The Spectrum Monitor over the weekend. One of the remarkable stories that I scratched the surface of was Chris Smolinski's reception of CBS Radio from Greece on 1730 kHz. I definitely need to start checking the 1720-1790 area for Greek pirates. Dutch pirates would probably propagate much better over here, but they're essentially all between about 1615 and 1670 kHz. Our best bet at reception would be to use a loop on stations that operate on split channels.

Radio 48: 6925, 1/18, 2000 or so I tuned in, started recording, and the washer changed cycles and the RFI wiped it out.

Renegade Radio: 6935U, 1/18, 2211* Tuned in during song, voice came in and I tweaked the BFO to get everything sounding right, hit Record, and . . . it was gone. Bad timing; I haven't heard Renegade in a long time.

Via Twente webreceiver
1656, 1/19, 1445-1515* Mostly older music by The Kinks, The Fireballs "Bottle of Wine" etc. Excellent signal. Talk by DJ around 1510 over "I Was Made for Loving You." Sounded like he said "Amazonia" or maybe "Arizona"?

Neil Peart

Wow, can't believe Neil Peart, drummer from Rush, died today at age 67 from brain cancer.

"Spirit of Radio" is not only a classic song about radio, but its disappoint in the status quo makes it a great pirate radio song as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuL_euRslTc