Messages

2836

North American Shortwave Pirate / Old Time Radio OTR 6770 kHz AM 2250 UTC + 19 December 2016

« on: December 19, 2016, 2255 UTC »

Barely hearing OTR on 6770 AM but I can tell there's a carrier there.  Bits and pieces of audio heard but I can't tell what's being transmitted as far as the content.  Noisy conditions this evening.

2837

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 AM/USB 2030 UTC 14 December 2016

« on: December 14, 2016, 2114 UTC »

I think its different stations, the signal that popped up after 2100 was considerably stronger than what I heard from 2040-2057ish

2115 UTC - Rap song with long intro - OM (with English accent) vocals
2122 UTC - SSTV ID
2124 UTC - OM talking about being a cat (??)
2139 UTC - SSTV
2141 UTC - O Canada!
2144 UTC - Off the air / QRT

Thanks Sekio Radio!

2838

North American Shortwave Pirate / Sekio Radio 6925 AM/USB 2030 UTC 14 December 2016

« on: December 14, 2016, 2044 UTC »

Sounded like a relay of the Relay Station 5150 on 5150 kHz AM, followed by dead carrier/air on 6925.0 kHz.  

At approx 2040 UTC, faint SSTV heard/seen on the USB on 6925, followed by another, stronger SSTV transmission.  

2043 UTC - CW
2044 UTC - More CW (stronger)
2045 UTC - Tones and beeps, sounds like a relay of CHU's time pips
2047 UTC - SSTV (I think its SSTV, its getting slammed by a very loud ute burst/rush)
2048 UTC - Faint CW, still getting slammed by ute QRM
2056 UTC - AM carrier on 6925 kHz gone
2057 UTC - More CW, followed by SSTV

2839

10/11 meters / Re: 27.455 USB

« on: December 09, 2016, 2124 UTC »

It's a local channel in an area near where I'm located as well.  Same with 27445 LSB. 

I know I've posted about this several times before but, there's another example of an "11 meter gentleman's agreement" regarding most US-based transmissions using LSB (with 27555 USB being the big exception) and Spanish language transmissions using USB.  The problem is when some truck driver or taxicab company using AM comes screaming in on top of the SSB traffic on a given frequency 

2840

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: OTR 6770AM 2212 UTC 7 December 2016

« on: December 07, 2016, 2318 UTC »

Carrier fading up, hints of audio here and there at 2316 tune-in.

Nice to hear OTR this time of the evening

2841

Other / UNID QSO Telephone Patch 6772.5 kHz USB 2230 UTC - 07 DEC 2016

« on: December 07, 2016, 2249 UTC »

On-going Spanish language QSO on this frequency, sounds like a telephone patch.  OM talking to a child, heard child address OM as "papa" several times.  People laughing in background at points.  

"Whurring" QRM on nearby frequency 6773 kHz nearly constant but doesn't interfere with monitoring of 6772.5 kHz USB.  

A quick scan of nearby frequencies has revealed similar "phone patch like" Spanish language communications on the following frequencies:

6671.5 kHz USB
6710 kHz USB (possibly Spanish language military traffic)  
6778.5 kHz USB

and, of course, the usual pescadore (fishing fleet and/or freebanders, outbanders, etc) booming in stronger than usual:

6732 kHz USB
6880 kHz LSB
6890 kHz LSB
6900 kHz LSB  - often hearing 6900 USB and 6900 LSB at the same time,
6900 kHz USB  - 6900 USB seems more like freebanding radio ops than fishing fleets
6905 kHz LSB
6910 kHz LSB
6919 kHz LSB
6925 kHz LSB
6930 kHz LSB  - VERY strong
6935 kHz LSB
6948 kHz USB - switching between English and Spanish (!!!)
6950 kHz USB
6960 kHz LSB

and several, possibly dozens of others.  First time I've seen/heard USB used so often.  

Considering how many other Latin American comms I've heard in the 6000-7000 kHz range this evening...this could be coming from anywhere.  

6772.5 kHz USB is just far enough away from Old Time Radio aka OTR on 6770 kHz AM (which is just a carrier with very slight modulation right now) so that there is very little interference at the moment.  If OTR on 6770 AM was stronger, I doubt I would be hearing 6772.5 USB.

2246 UTC - Tuned back in and now YL is talking to the OM.  S6 to S7 level signal strength, some fading but no problems copying.  Seems like a fairly informal conversation, possibly a husband and wife talking.  

2252 UTC - Conversation still on-going with slightly stronger signals (and slightly more QRM from OTR on 6770 kHz AM).  

2301 UTC - Still on-going, with ever increasing QRM from OTR on 6770 AM.  The signals on 6772.5 USB have increased in strength as well, however.

2312 UTC - Gone sometime between 2302 UTC and 2312 UTC. 

2842

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6926 AM 2103 UTC 7 Dec 2016

« on: December 07, 2016, 2236 UTC »

Heard this station when it was mixing with Radio Free Whatever on 6925.2 kHz AM (I think it was RFW) before they moved up to 6929 kHz after WPH75 went QRT.  Seemed like there was possibly a third station in there as well but that could have been SSB voice traffic from 6925 kHz LSB or 6930 kHz LSB mixing in with the various carriers. FDR's speech mixed with music actually sounded kind of cool.

I agree with refmo that the CW ID heard was "WPH75"

2843

Peskies / UNID QSO 6948 kHz USB 2210 - 2220? UTC 7 DEC 2016

« on: December 07, 2016, 2234 UTC »

Heard two stations talking on 6948.0 kHz USB, which is odd as most of the "pescadore" and "freebander" crowd seems to favor LSB for two-way communications in the 6800-7000 kHz range.  Heavy Caribbean accents (likely Jamaican) switching freely back and forth between English and Spanish.  Informal comms but was mostly in Spanish (one station was S9++ the other was barely above the noise floor).

Not sure what to make of this but since it was in USB mode and switched between two languages I figured I would post it here.  Lots of two-way activity on the band this evening on the usual 6900 kHz, 6919 kHz, 6925 kHz, 6930 kHz, 6935 kHz, etc, frequencies, but everything else was in LSB (and in Spanish only).

The communications heard on 6948 kHz USB reminded me a lot of traffic I've heard on the 27515 kHz LSB Caribbean 11 meter calling frequency.

2844

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6929.3 AM 2220 UTC 07 DEC 2016

« on: December 07, 2016, 2226 UTC »

Hearing some music and an AM carrier on 6929.3 kHz or so.  Very strong pescadore/freebander QSO going on on 6930 kHz LSB making it very difficult to copy 6929.3 AM but there is music there. 

2225 UTC - Music and carrier whine getting stronger. 

2845

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: YHWH 4875khz 0227z 12/7/16

« on: December 07, 2016, 0322 UTC »

I've got a carrier and music right above the noise floor on 4875 kHz  Heavy QRM at times with digital roars, rushes, whistles and beeps on top of the music.  Can't really tell what the music that's being played is but there is certainly something there.

At least YHWH is using part of a broadcast band (instead of in the middle of ham bands/military bands/etc like the original YHWH).

On a side note, do we have any confirmation that this station actually is the [in]famous YHWH?  Could it be somebody relaying their programming?  Anybody heard an ID of any sort?  

2846

10/11 meters / Re: 27.455 USB

« on: December 02, 2016, 0318 UTC »

27455 USB is one of the more common Latin American SSB freeband frequencies (I mostly hear Spanish and Portuguese on that frequency) so hearing Italian stations is a nice catch!  When the band is really open 27455 USB can be one of the busiest frequencies on the "high channels" (above 27405/CB channel 40), sometimes even more congested than 27555 USB.

Next time the band is open to Europe check out 27465 kHz AM (commonly referred to as "27.465 AM" or "canale 45" by the operators that use that frequency).  27465 AM is basically the 'Italian Superbowl' frequency (compare to 26585 AM for Mexico, 26705 AM and 26715 AM for Puerto Rico/Dominican Republic/Florida and 27025 AM for the USA).

2847

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: RELAY STATION 5150 AM 1428 UTC 29 Nov 2016

« on: November 29, 2016, 1815 UTC »

Nice wide and clear AM signal, especially on the peaks.  Cranked passband up to 9.0 kHz and the audio is sounding great.  Signal appears to be 10 kHz wide on the waterfall.  

Consistent S7-level signal with some peaks to S8-S9.  Loving these remixes/mashups you're playing, Relay Station 5150

Tuned in real quick and,

1812 UTC: Remix / Mash-up of "Dream On" by Aerosmith and "We Will Rock You" by Queen, then two Bon Jovi songs
1816 UTC: Remix of "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes (love this track!)  
1821 UTC: Livin' On a Prayer mashup/remix with some Faith No More [signal up a bit, some QSB but now its averaging at S8 instead of S7]
1822 UTC: Signal dropped down to S5 for a bit with some more noise, reducing passband down a bit fixed the noise issue.  
1826 UTC: Right back up to a solid S9 signal.  Nice clear audio now, very little noise and very little to no fading/QSB.


5150 kHz is the new 6770 kHz?  [Kidding]  I'm only making that comparison because both Old Time Radio on 6770 kHz AM and Relay Station 5150 on 5150 kHz AM seem to transmitting effectively nonstop.  I really respect and appreciate what these two operators are doing for shortwave pirate radio (even if one of them is doing it unintentionally).  

2848

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: RELAY STATION 5150 AM 1622 UTC 28 Nov 2016

« on: November 28, 2016, 2126 UTC »

2125  - It appears that Relay Station 5150 AM is relaying the UNID on 6925.5 kHz (live).  5150 kHz AM is a few seconds behind 6925 kHz AM. 

2849

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 AM 2055 UTC 28 Nov 2016

« on: November 28, 2016, 2106 UTC »

Via K2SDR.  Some frequency drift.  Seems to be moving around between 6925.5 kHz and 6925.6 kHz.  

S9 level signal, strong modulation (especially with the musical parts).  The music is most certainly Ennio Morricone.  

2105 UTC - Bank teller speaking to Col. Mortimer.  This is audio from For A Few Dollars More going by the music and the dialog.  
2106 UTC - More music, lots of whistling.  Loud audio!
2107 UTC - OM talking
2109 UTC - OM talking to YL and another OM about "the room right above"
2110 UTC - Music, guns being fired, laughing, and other sound FX
2149 UTC - Music clock scene...appears to be being relayed on 5150 kHz AM (Relay Station 5150). 

2850

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6958 AM 1850 UTC 27 November 2016

« on: November 27, 2016, 1858 UTC »

As Amphetamine Radio was closing down on 6955 kHz USB, a carrier popped up on 6958.0 kHz AM.  I'm getting faint bits of audio but I can't really pull anything discernible out.  

Basically just looking at the carrier signal on the K2SDR WebSDR.  Can't hear anything on my local RX setup on 6958 kHz. 

S7 level carrier 6958 kHz at 1900 UTC.