Topics

1126

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Zed 6930 USB 0245z 04/17/2016

« on: April 17, 2016, 0246 UTC »

0245 letter Z in CW, OM speaking
0246 silence...
*** They posted that they'll try again at 0255***
*** They posted that they have "major issues" and will post another announcement when they're ready to go *** (take your time, a good show is worth the wait)
0300 letter Z in CW, station ID (OM voice with English accent)
0302 Glenn Miller "In the Mood"
       SIO 333 with some nice peaks. Wasn't able to make out what the DJ was really saying unfortunately
0305 The Hit Band "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (Must have been Glenn Miller - darn you Shazam!)
0309 Glenn Miller "Elmer's Tune"
0312 Glenn Miller "The Woodpecker Song"
0315 old recording of news program about the Munich compromise that divided Czechoslovakia and brought us peace in our time...
0319 Glenn Miller "Over the Rainbow"
0322 "When You Wish Upon a Star" (omitting artist name as it's a foregone conclusion who it will be for the whole show)
0325 QSL to radiozed@hushmail.com
0325 A Nightingale Sand in Berkeley Square
0329 Give a Little Whistle
0333 The Story of a Starry Night
0335 Fools Rush In
      signal's dropped out quite a bit for a moment
0338 Pennsylvania 6-5000
0341 Moonlight Serenade
0344 Farewell and sign off

Thanks for the show!

1127

European Pirates and Private Stations / Marconi Radio International 7690 USB 1249 16 APR 2016

« on: April 16, 2016, 1253 UTC »

Per their post on the broadcast announcements page. I can just barely hear them. Little noise or interference, but low power.

1128

Utility / Trenton Military Volmet 6754 USB

« on: April 14, 2016, 0138 UTC »

Very strong signal, 555 tonight. 0138 UTC, 14 April 2016.
0140 Trenton Military station ID.
0150 Trenton Military station ID.
0200 OFF

1129

Shortwave Broadcast / WBCQ The Planet - The Full Gospel Hour 9330 kHz 0019-0050 UTC 14 APR 2016

« on: April 14, 2016, 0051 UTC »

Lots of incoherent screaming. This program is much more entertaining than Brother Stair.

Signal began strong, but QRM steadily built up over this time. Only the screaming rose above it all.

1130

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Zed 6935 USB 0204 UTC 10 APR 2016

« on: April 10, 2016, 0204 UTC »

SIO 333 with fades.

0204 Minnie The Moocher, Cab Calloway
0207 St. James Infirmary, Cab Calloway
0210 You Rascal You, Cab Calloway
0213 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Cab Calloway
0215 I've Got the World on a String, Cab Calloway
0218 Old Kent cigarettes ad
0219 Geechy Joe, Cab Calloway
0222 I Want to Rock, Cab Calloway and Larry Clinton
0225 Honey Dripper, Cab Calloway
0228 email address given (radiozed (at) hushmail (dot) com), then The Calloway Boogie
0231 Everybody Eats When They Come to My House
0234 Jumpin' Jive
0236 The Man From Harlem
0239 Jitterbug
0243 Sign off

Thanks for the Cab Calloway special!

1131

North American Shortwave Pirate / XLR8 6955 USB 0047 UTC 09APR2016

« on: April 09, 2016, 0048 UTC »

Music at 0047. Trying to zero in the BFO...

0056 "Get Out of the Bathroom" Oil Tasters.
   side note - I can actually detect this signal without any sort of external antenna on the Satellit 750.
0101 "Gastronomic Meal" Yellow Dogs
0104 XLR8 station ID

Gotta go pick up my daughter from dance class. Thanks for the show!

0210 I'm back and holy CRAP, they played Frantix? Darn these parental responsibilities!
0221 XLR8 ID
0222 "Death Valley 69" Sonic Youth
0226 XLR8 ID into "Alex Chilton" Replacements
     I'm loving this set list. My unqualified SINPO is 33423.
Since last post through 0309, numerous XLR8 ID's and songs, but copy is getting harder here, although there are some really nice peaks.
0328 signal improved, not so much noise as before. Sounds like the Big Boys but I'm not 100% sure.
0347 still on three hours later. Nice show!
0359 XLR8 station ID. Signal pretty weak now, but not much noise or interference.
0417 signal has been gradually losing strength is now just right there on the verge of disappearing for good.
0427 XLR8 ID
0445 seems to be off

Thanks again XLR8!

1132

HF Mystery Signals / UNID beeping, 13560 kHz AM, 4/7/16 0224 UTC

« on: April 07, 2016, 0234 UTC »

It was on a cycle of 55 beeps per minute with the minute marked by a double beep, but as of now the double beeps are spread about three minutes apart.

Will post link to video shortly, but it's still going on as of right now (0233z).

1133

QSLs Received / TCS 4/4/16 - Magic Carpet Ride

« on: April 05, 2016, 2002 UTC »

Thanks JP!

1134

QSLs Received / CPRRS

« on: April 05, 2016, 0301 UTC »

Just got this in the inbox.
Thanks Nostalgia Pirate!

1135

Shortwave Broadcast / All India Radio New Dehli (Vividh Bharati) 9380 kHz AM

« on: March 24, 2016, 0228 UTC »

24 March 2016 0010-0045 UTC. SIO 222 at best, but Bollywood music distinctly audible. Occasional male announcer, unable to hear anything intelligible unfortunately.

Per short-wave dot info, this is transmitting at an azimuth of 188º. Since the transmitter is at a bearing of 357º from my location, it must have gone around the South Pole to reach my radio.

1136

European Pirates and Private Stations / UNID 6290 AM 1625 UTC 22 Mar 2016

« on: March 22, 2016, 1627 UTC »

Found this at 6300 am at about 1622z while scrolling around on Twente's web SDR, and it suddenly jumped down to 6290 at 1625. Sounds like old European pop music. Can't tell what language it is.
1629-1645 various folk songs (my best guess at genre)
1646 "Vaya Con Dios." Don't know who the female singer is, but at least I recognize the song.

1137

Equipment / Regarding long wire antennas.

« on: March 16, 2016, 1611 UTC »

I'm about to embark on my first antenna project, a simple longwire. I have a 100' spool (suburban living means that's about the maximum I can make it) and thought I would connect it to my chimney on the far end and a tree outside my window for the near. That should give me around 50' of taught wire.

My question is this. In my research of longwire projects find that people often solder on the lead that connects to their receiver. However my unit (a Grundig Sattelit 750) has a place where you can connect a bare wire for the antenna in a jack like you find on a stereo speaker. Assuming that I get the length nice and taught, can I just trail the end of the wire down to the receiver directly? Or is there a compelling reason for soldering on a lead?

Thank you!

1138

QSLs Received / CHU QSL

« on: March 15, 2016, 0212 UTC »

My first hard copy QSL.

1139

Equipment / SSB - how to tell USB from LSB

« on: March 08, 2016, 2335 UTC »

Hello, total newbie here. I have a Tecsun PL-600 which has a button for receiving SSB mode transmissions. It doesn't distinguish between whether the signal is LSB or USB, which I guess I don't need, but I'm curious. Most of the pirate station postings here identify the broadcast as being in USB, but from what I've read SSB transmissions under 10 MHz (which these all seem to be, in the 43m band) typically are sent in LSB with those over 10 MHz being USB.

So I have two questions. If LSB is standard, why are the pirates transmitting in USB? And is there any way I can tell which mode is being used when listening to something in SSB on my Tecsun - perhaps where I crank the BFO knob (+ or -) tells me that?

Thanks!

1140

QSLs Received / Radio New Zealand International eQSL

« on: March 08, 2016, 1752 UTC »

I'm sure this is of little interest to the experienced DX'ers here, but this is my first QSL and so it's cool to me.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/qsl/card/3e13504d492dc786a6af050fb492292a