I've had to work today, but I got home in time to hear someone throw a carrier on and off 6925 a couple of times. My guess is that it was Radio AV. Too bad I didn't make it just five minutes earlier because I haven't yet heard this station.
Tonight should be interesting because not all that many Halloween shows have aired so far. I expected much more Halloween-related activity in the days leading up to 10/31, but that doesn't seen to be the case. It's time to have multiple receivers running (although I don't; my backup longwire had to come down a few months ago).
Also, a couple of notes. One is that Chris Smolinski noted on the HFU that propagation went long early last night and he expects that to be the case again today. So, expect a lot of activity between 2000 and about 0000 UTC. After that time and after 43 meters empties out, it might be a good idea to also check some of the low frequencies, such as 3400-3500 kHz and even possibly 1710 or 1720 kHz.
In the past, we've never had much Halloween activity from Europe, but tonight is an exception. A press release states: "Marconi Radio International will once again be on air tomorrow, Monday, 31 October 2016, as follows: 17.00-22.00 UTC on 7700 kHz (USB Mode) with 100 watts." 100 watts and in sideband? We might have a chance to hear it between about 2130 and 2200 UTC.
Logs
Amphetamine Radio: 6923U, 10/31, 2127+ Alright! I came in from insulating the garage and here's some activity. Very strong signal with "One of These Nights." Male DJ with accurate timecheck, wished a Happy Halloween, etc. CW IDs, then into SSTV at 2141
I left Amphetamine Radio to take a shot at Marconi Radio Int'l before heading out to do some more insulating. I checked the Twente receiver and MRI is barely audible now, so I hope the signal will skip out a bit further in the next 15 minutes and maybe it'll make it here
Moonlight Radio: 6930U, 10/31, 2306+ Weak signal with splatter from 6935. Because of both, I decided to start recording 6935 instead. I need to have that other antenna right now!
Doctor Detroit: 6935, 10/31, 2306+ Excellent signal with Halloween-themed hard rock: AC/DC "Highway to Hell," Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper" Dr. Detroit ID'd & mentioned broadcasting from Wayne County over a James Brown song
unid: 6925U, 10/31, 2317+ Excellent signal with INXS "Devil Inside"
Who would schedule a basketball game on Halloween night? I'm sweaty, but back again and recording
Wolverine Radio: 6935U, 11/1, 0106+ Noted in passing with an excellent signal. Sorry, but I've never heard Radio Free Furry.
Radio Free Furry: 6945U, 11/1, 0111+ Excellent signal. Dire Straits "Walk of Life," Lipps Inc. "Funky Town," Van Halen "Jump," Kool & the Gang "Celebration," Starship "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us," Eddie Murphy "Party All the Time," Michael Jackson "Beat It," Chicago "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," U2 "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" Bowie "Let's Dance" ID per HFU. I haven't heard any IDs or other talk--Just non-stop music for 40+ minutes. Ah, talk at 0154. A skunk, a bear, and a ? doing the show. Said using a belt-driven turntable . . . & Moody Blues "Wildest Dreams" coming up, although he once heard it as "Wireless Dreams"
X-FM: 6960, 11/1, 0159-0352* Good signal with some co-channel QRM, I think from pescadors. I think I heard the phone number as 408-800-6925. Redhat taking listener requests. Nice long show tonight. Black Sabbath, Boz Skaggs, Pink Floyd, & a whole lot more. I also checked the Twente web receiver & had a carrier there
Undercover Radio: 6975U, 11/1, 0202+ 2005 special ending. Dr. Benway with ID & addresses, Edgar Winter "Frankenstein" fair signal, but getting better
Radio After Dark: 6950U, 11/1, 0209+ Pop music that I can't yet identify. Fair signal fading up & down. Talk at 0217 "Hope you're enjoying all of the Halloween shows out there" e-mail address, I think he said for requests. Getting splatter from either X-FM or Radio Free Furry.
WJD: 6930U, 11/1, 0222+ VG signal with rap. On HFU, posters are saying it's Russian or Ukranian. No idea.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
2016 Halloween Weekend Logs
Unid relay station: 5150, 10/30, 1920+ Excellent signal. Had this recording for a while. I haven't checked the recording, but according to HFU, it included a relay of Radio Merlin Int'l
Witch City Radio: 6925, 10/30, 2056+ Nice signal with Alice Cooper "Welcome to My Nightmare"
Captain Morgan SW: 6924, 10/30, 2229-2235* Strong signal, but distorted audio. Spooky story, then instrumental dance song with chainsaw sound effects. No IDs heard, but ID per HFU logs
OTR unid: 6770, 10/30, 2225+ Heard part of a comedy monologue with audience laughter from what was probably at the beginning of a variety show. Fair/weak signal. Nice to hear the OTR unid again
Rave On Radio: 6935U, 10/30, 2345+ Good signal (one of the best I've had from ROR) with "Return of the Living Dead" clips interspersed with Grateful Dead songs. Good idea for Halloween. Shoutouts to a bunch of listeners on HFU. At QRT, said was about to let the generator run out of gas, pull down the antennas, & get out of his studio in the woods.
non-pirate log
6968.5U, 10/30, 2255+ MARS net. 4LP, RD, KY, 4KJ etc. trying to do a net, but lots of utility QRM
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Weekend Loggings 10/1-10/3/2016
It's gotten cold and rainy, the days are suddenly short. Guess it's time to be at the radio.
Radio Azteca: 6925, 10/1, 2050+ Nice signal with an old program from Bram Stoker. Good stuff. I listened to this while trying to clean up the disaster that is my radio room. I wound up assessing some things that I need to do rather than making any real progress, but at least the Azteca show was fun.
Unid relay station: 5150, 10/1, 2050+ Relaying Radio Azteca in // with the 6925-kHz transmitter, then switched to music for a while. Later on, it seemed to be playing audio from the old horror movie The Manipulator, with Mickey Rooney as a crazed kidnapping director. Seemed to go off a little after 2300. But it's back with Radio Illuminati relay: Night Ranger "When You Close Your Eyes" and '70s pop music
Radio Azteca: 6925, 10/1, 2050+ Nice signal with an old program from Bram Stoker. Good stuff. I listened to this while trying to clean up the disaster that is my radio room. I wound up assessing some things that I need to do rather than making any real progress, but at least the Azteca show was fun.
Unid relay station: 5150, 10/1, 2050+ Relaying Radio Azteca in // with the 6925-kHz transmitter, then switched to music for a while. Later on, it seemed to be playing audio from the old horror movie The Manipulator, with Mickey Rooney as a crazed kidnapping director. Seemed to go off a little after 2300. But it's back with Radio Illuminati relay: Night Ranger "When You Close Your Eyes" and '70s pop music
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Global HF weekend: Nov. 4-5
I mentioned the Global HF Pirate weekend in my last post on here. I also wrote about the event in much greater detail in the October issue of The Spectrum Monitor. This event was run a few years ago, with the concept of friendship and cooperation among stations and listeners from around the world. Successful tests would give the stations new listeners in different parts of the world and listeners the chance to hear new stations.
November 5-6, 2016
General frequency ranges:
- 15010-15100 kHz
- 21455-21550 kHz
Basic schedule:
- European morning, 0800-1200 UTC from Europe to Asia/Japan/Oceania.
- European afternoon, 1200-1600 UTC from Europe to North American and vice versa.
- European night, 2200-2400 UTC from North America to Asia/Oceania.
Of course, these are general frequency ranges where pirates have broadcast during prior Global HF Pirate weekends. Some stations will surely operate on frequencies and times outside of these ranges. These will be updated on HF Underground and on the Hobby Broadcasting blog as it happens.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
European Pirates, PRA, and the Global HF Pirate Weekend
I've been working on station lists for the 2017 Pirate Radio Annual (which I hope I can finish in 2017 so that it doesn't become the 2017-18 PRA).
I just finished the stations that I have for Europe thus far, through the first eight months, but there's still more than four months left in the year. As you might know, I tally up the stations that are heard in North America and more than just along the East Coast. So, some of the serious pirate DXers might log stations in New Hampshire or Newfoundland, for example, but I don't include them in the book because listeners in the majority of the country can't hear the stations. But if a pirate is reported somewhere like Chicago, bingo, they're in the book. Also, I've had a few stations in the past who were reported with good signals in, like, 8-10 coastal states. I've been willing to add these because I assume that the signal would make it further inland to a place like Ohio, for example.
That said, here are the stations that I have for the 2017 PRA:
I just finished the stations that I have for Europe thus far, through the first eight months, but there's still more than four months left in the year. As you might know, I tally up the stations that are heard in North America and more than just along the East Coast. So, some of the serious pirate DXers might log stations in New Hampshire or Newfoundland, for example, but I don't include them in the book because listeners in the majority of the country can't hear the stations. But if a pirate is reported somewhere like Chicago, bingo, they're in the book. Also, I've had a few stations in the past who were reported with good signals in, like, 8-10 coastal states. I've been willing to add these because I assume that the signal would make it further inland to a place like Ohio, for example.
That said, here are the stations that I have for the 2017 PRA:
Radio Black Arrow
Blue Dragon AM
Borderhunter Radio
Coast FM/Energy FM
Cupid Radio
IBC Radio
Johnny Tobacco
Mike Radio
Mustang Radio
Sluwe Vos Radio
Technical Man
A few pirates from both sides of the Atlantic wrote to me about the possibility of another Global Pirate Weekend. I asked the organizer of the former weekends, Harri Kujala if he'd consider organizing more weekends so that I could pass along information to interested listeners. I didn't hear back from him (and I hope all is well), so interested stations moved ahead with plans.
I'll post more information on this blog later (maybe later this week), but for now, listeners might want to be by the receivers on November 5-6, 2016.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
International shipping costs for Pirate Radio Annual
Sorry, I've been slow with posting info about international shipping. I've been disappointed with the dramatic increase in costs.
My apologies for our postal system, but they keep jacking up our international rates. Now it's up to $15.50 to ship to Canada and $22.50 to send to Europe! I'm charging $14 to Canada & $21 to Europe to try to save everyone a little bit of money.
Also, it's the same price to send 2 copies, so if you have a friend, you could go together, buy a couple of copies and save $7 (in Canada) or $10.50 per copy (in Europe)
It's absurd that it costs more than 5X the price to send a copy to Canada than to Hawaii or Alaska.
So here are the prices:
One copy to Canada: $16 + 14 = $30
Two copies to Canada: $32 + 14 = $46
One copy to Europe: $16 + 21 = $37
Two copies to Europe: $32 + 21 = $53
You can either send the payment via check or MO to:
Cabinet Communications
POB 109
BRS, PA 17214
or make a PayPal payment to info /@/ hobbybroadcasting dot com (take out the spaces & slashes).
My apologies for our postal system, but they keep jacking up our international rates. Now it's up to $15.50 to ship to Canada and $22.50 to send to Europe! I'm charging $14 to Canada & $21 to Europe to try to save everyone a little bit of money.
Also, it's the same price to send 2 copies, so if you have a friend, you could go together, buy a couple of copies and save $7 (in Canada) or $10.50 per copy (in Europe)
It's absurd that it costs more than 5X the price to send a copy to Canada than to Hawaii or Alaska.
So here are the prices:
One copy to Canada: $16 + 14 = $30
Two copies to Canada: $32 + 14 = $46
One copy to Europe: $16 + 21 = $37
Two copies to Europe: $32 + 21 = $53
You can either send the payment via check or MO to:
Cabinet Communications
POB 109
BRS, PA 17214
or make a PayPal payment to info /@/ hobbybroadcasting dot com (take out the spaces & slashes).
Friday, July 1, 2016
Weekend Logs, 7/1/16-7/3/16
Hey, I finally heard something on my own receiver . . . but keeping in with the theme of the week it's via Europe.
Coast FM (relay): 6205, 7/2, 0217+ Just tuned across 48 meters and this signal is much better than Focus. Decent audio levels & enough carrier strength to flatten some of the many t-storm crashes. The signal isn't airchair level, but I should be able to get some details and I think it's actually more copyable than when I was listening to it on via Twente at 1845.
Focus International: 6285, 7/2, 0100+ I could clearly hear the announcer and piano music. Lots of t-storm crashes. I'm hoping to go over the recording later and hopefully get enough details out of it to send a reception report. Pretty cool to have listened to this off'n'on all day on the computer, then to have a chance to hear it directly.
Europe via Twente
Mike Radio: 5895, 7/1, 1938+ Said testing and talking about the mixer & other equipment. Talk in a mixture of Dutch and English. New microphones! A number of live IDs. Nena "99 Luftballoons" (German version), Men at Work "Land Down Under," Greetings to Artem in Moscow
Coast FM: 6205, 7/1, 1845+ Fair signal with pop dance music, but hammered by utility QRM. A few min. later, hit with too much splatter from 6210 to copy anything. ID per the UKDxer blog.
6210, 7/1, 1836+ Golden Earring "Twilight Zone" Started really strong, but soon had deep fades (carrier disappearing). Very wide signal with nice audio. Started coming back well around 1900. Can't remember a couple of the song titles, but I got Phil Collins "Sussudio," Joe Cocker "With a Little Help from My Friends"
6240, 7/1, 1911+ Dance music--older techno. Heard a few of such songs, then Manhattan Transfer "Boy from New York City," The American Breed "Bend Me Shape Me," Lynn Anderson "Rose Garden," The Association "Cherish," Mary Mopkin "Those Were the Days" starting at 2000. No talk heard
Hit Mix Radio: 6257, 7/1, 1932+ Elvis "Blue Suede Shoes" clear ID in Dutch, Beach Boys, "Shake, Rattle, & Roll," Bobby Darin "Queen of the Hop"
Focus International: 6285, 7/1, 1523+ Song, poss by REM, Jesus & the Mary Chain, Guess Who "American Woman" Sharon Tandy "Hold On," Danny & the Juniors "At the Hop," Kim Carnes "Betty Davis Eyes" Male DJ with UK accent announcing phone number & e-mail address, drinking & driving PSA, "Focus International on the 48 meter band," one promo said "DJ Richard Gray" ? Very professional sound, with a selection of oldies mostly not heard on U.S. licensed oldies stations, with most songs from about 1958 to 1970, but some occasional '80s or '90s songs.
6305, 7/1, 1523-1524* Strong carrier but weak modulation.
6320, 7/1, 1913+ By 1928, faded to the point that no audio was audible, but I could still see the carrier
Radio Python: 6375, 7/1, 2030+ Modern rock. Several IDs "and I'm about to sneeze" "6-3-7-5 kilohertz." Perfect signal, Judas Priest "Breakin' the Law," "Fly on the Wings Above"
Blue Panter: 6390, 7/1, 1930+ Carrier with bits of audio. ID per Iann's Chat.
Coast FM (relay): 6205, 7/2, 0217+ Just tuned across 48 meters and this signal is much better than Focus. Decent audio levels & enough carrier strength to flatten some of the many t-storm crashes. The signal isn't airchair level, but I should be able to get some details and I think it's actually more copyable than when I was listening to it on via Twente at 1845.
Focus International: 6285, 7/2, 0100+ I could clearly hear the announcer and piano music. Lots of t-storm crashes. I'm hoping to go over the recording later and hopefully get enough details out of it to send a reception report. Pretty cool to have listened to this off'n'on all day on the computer, then to have a chance to hear it directly.
Europe via Twente
Mike Radio: 5895, 7/1, 1938+ Said testing and talking about the mixer & other equipment. Talk in a mixture of Dutch and English. New microphones! A number of live IDs. Nena "99 Luftballoons" (German version), Men at Work "Land Down Under," Greetings to Artem in Moscow
Coast FM: 6205, 7/1, 1845+ Fair signal with pop dance music, but hammered by utility QRM. A few min. later, hit with too much splatter from 6210 to copy anything. ID per the UKDxer blog.
6210, 7/1, 1836+ Golden Earring "Twilight Zone" Started really strong, but soon had deep fades (carrier disappearing). Very wide signal with nice audio. Started coming back well around 1900. Can't remember a couple of the song titles, but I got Phil Collins "Sussudio," Joe Cocker "With a Little Help from My Friends"
6240, 7/1, 1911+ Dance music--older techno. Heard a few of such songs, then Manhattan Transfer "Boy from New York City," The American Breed "Bend Me Shape Me," Lynn Anderson "Rose Garden," The Association "Cherish," Mary Mopkin "Those Were the Days" starting at 2000. No talk heard
Hit Mix Radio: 6257, 7/1, 1932+ Elvis "Blue Suede Shoes" clear ID in Dutch, Beach Boys, "Shake, Rattle, & Roll," Bobby Darin "Queen of the Hop"
Focus International: 6285, 7/1, 1523+ Song, poss by REM, Jesus & the Mary Chain, Guess Who "American Woman" Sharon Tandy "Hold On," Danny & the Juniors "At the Hop," Kim Carnes "Betty Davis Eyes" Male DJ with UK accent announcing phone number & e-mail address, drinking & driving PSA, "Focus International on the 48 meter band," one promo said "DJ Richard Gray" ? Very professional sound, with a selection of oldies mostly not heard on U.S. licensed oldies stations, with most songs from about 1958 to 1970, but some occasional '80s or '90s songs.
6305, 7/1, 1523-1524* Strong carrier but weak modulation.
6320, 7/1, 1913+ By 1928, faded to the point that no audio was audible, but I could still see the carrier
Radio Python: 6375, 7/1, 2030+ Modern rock. Several IDs "and I'm about to sneeze" "6-3-7-5 kilohertz." Perfect signal, Judas Priest "Breakin' the Law," "Fly on the Wings Above"
Blue Panter: 6390, 7/1, 1930+ Carrier with bits of audio. ID per Iann's Chat.
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