Messages

1831

Shortwave Broadcast / 6160 Canada logged in Texas

« on: December 22, 2009, 1141 UTC »

12/22/09, 6160 AM, 1130 UTC
Presumably CKZN relay of CBN 640 kHz - St. Johns, Newfoundland
Best in LSB due to QRM from stronger station on 6165 AM.
At bottom of hour, 5:30 am local here in Texas, heard announcer say "...coming up on 7:30..." and "...here in the provinces..."  Heard several references to Canada, regional and local weather, traffic, usual news issues.  No clear ID as CBN 640, tho'.  Very weak signal, rarely above S1, with lots of fading to inaudible, but fairly easy to copy due to unusually low local noise - not much RFI here before dawn.
1200z: Faded to mostly unintelligible, but heard URL with "cbc.com" at top of hour.

If this is the relay station that uses only 1 kW, this may be a pretty fair catch down here in Texas with an indoor antenna, especially with the recent puny propagation.

1832

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WEAK 6925U

« on: December 21, 2009, 0903 UTC »

Jusst barely audible here since catching ID around 0849z.  Might be hearing Police "Invisible Sun" around 0900z.  Right around S1 noise level at the moment, no clear peaks yet.
0921z: Some version of "Taxman" briefly audible, can't tell if Beatles or a cover.
0930z: David Bowie "Young Americans"

SINPO - 24312.  Signal picked up a bit after 0930z.  Peaks not quite as strong as last night's show, deeper fades to inaudible, and local RFI louder here, so a little more difficult to copy anything more than familiar stuff.

0936z: New Bohemians "What I Am"
0942z: Some sorta weird, slow, grindy version of "Sweet Home Alabama"
0952z: Sounds like WEAK decided against "Spirit in the Sky" and went with Byrds "Mr. Tambourine Man" instead.
0956z: Ohio Players "Fire" (Satch and Sugar were awesome!)
0959z: DJ Knobtwister ID, "As weak as a weak signal can be and still be a signal."
1015z: "Spirit in the Sky" reappears
1017z: Muh-muh-muh-My Sharona
1022z: Sounds like that punk version of "Louie Louie" for textim
1053z: Fleetwod Mac "Don't Stop" - yikes, sounds like technical problems midway through song, or maybe part of the Radio Clandestine segment, dunno.
1057z: Led Zep "Kashmir" from Radio Clandestine relay
1109z: "As weak as a weak signal can be and still be a signal.  WEAK Radio."
1120z: WEAK ID between more punk rock

SINPO - 34323, steadier since 0940z, fewer deep fades.

1833

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Free Euphoria 6925

« on: December 20, 2009, 2206 UTC »

12/20/09, 6925, Radio Free Euphoria ID and what sounded like parody Christmas music, just barely audible between 2150-2155 UTC.  Faded out by 2200z.
2220z: Tiny Tim "Nowhere Man" just audible now

1834

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 6950 (usb) Weak Radio

« on: December 20, 2009, 0935 UTC »

12/20/09, 6950 USB
0932z: "Incense, Peppermints"
0934z: Swiss Army Bed parody ad
0937z: "Needles and Pins-uh"
0940z: "Yakety Yak"
0942z: "War" Edwin Starr
0945z: WEAK Radio ID, followed by "Low Rider" War
0949z: 311 "Come Original"
0959z: "The Fanatic"
1005z: More '80s pop with punchy bass, sounds like XTC or English Beat kinda stuff
1007z: Zappa and Mothers jiving with that Cosmik Debris
1010z: WEAK ID
1011z: Pretenders "Tattooed Love Boys", heck yeh!
1014z: Another version of "Tattooed Love Boys", mebbe live version?
1021z: Parody beer ad
1022z: Ramones "Psycho Therapy"
1026z: Soul Coughing "Circles"
1030z: More Pretenders!  The Adultress, Middle of the Road, My City Was Gone, Something to Believe In
1055z: Still there but took a deep dive to barely audible about five minutes ago.
1100z: Floating back up, Siouxsie and Banshees "Peek a Boo"
1101z: Romeo Void "Never Say Never"
1110z: "Peaches"
1125z: Barely audible again, sounds like Zevon live version "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me"

SINPO - 34422, very low noise, good S5-S7 peaks occasionally but lots of rapid fades to S1 nearly inaudible.  As usual, the audio sounds great, punchy bass but balanced.

1835

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 6925u @0212z UNID

« on: December 20, 2009, 0248 UTC »

12/20/09, 6925 USB
Since 0211 UTC, hearing jumpin' jive band music.
0226z: Sounded like Wolverine Radio ID.
0252z: Boogie woogie piano and some sax
0255z: Wolverine Radio ID w/ echo/repeat fx

No SSTV?  Darn.

Only able to ID a couple of familiar songs such as "Hey, Bartender" through noise and fades.  Good audio, just not as strong as usual here from Wolverine.

1836

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Outhouse Radio 6925.1 USB

« on: December 19, 2009, 0536 UTC »

I feel like that I may be missing out on something really cool.  That is why I am trying to understand what this is.

Fair enough.  Pirates broadcast all kinds of stuff, ranging from original material to familiar music to relays of other stations to odd mashups that defy description.  Sometimes it's just air checks to test propagation conditions, wring the bugs out of equipment, tweak audio levels, etc.  So you'll hear a variety of stuff.

Part of the allure of shortwave pirate radio is the radio hobby itself.  DXing is like fishing, while listening to local FM radio is like buying fish at the corner grocery store.  Right now propagation is very erratic so you never know what you'll hear.  Signals that skip over us nearby might be heard halfway around the world.

Stick around for the fun.  Read the HFU wiki, attached to this site, plus the older columns on the FRN and other sites about the pirate scene written by veterans like John Cruzan, Pat Murphy, George Zeller, Andrew Yoder and others.  Plenty of background info.

Good camaraderie too, among fellow geeks and geekettes.

1837

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 6925u @0448-0518z Radio Freeporia

« on: December 19, 2009, 0524 UTC »

12/19/09, 6925 USB
0515z: Just caught the tail end of a Radio Free Euphoria relay, with the Tiny Tim "Nowhere Man" segment and closing ID.

1838

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine with Rockin' Canadian Music Nite 6925

« on: December 19, 2009, 0210 UTC »

12/19/09, 6925 USB
Wolverine jussst barely audible here since 0040z, only heard a smidge of Joni Mitchell, a muttering of Gordon Lightfoot, a whisper of Stampeders "Sweet City Woman", a hint of Anne Murray... oh, yes, and an angelic host of Sarah McLachlan, sounded like "Adia".  Only a few seconds audible here and there.
0213z: Closing ID, incoming SSTV, looks like a red maple leaf.

Not as strong as Wolverine's usual signal here, but some must suffer so others may prosper in the zero-sum game of no-sunspot propagation.  Sic Semper Long Range Radio.

1839

North American Shortwave Pirate / WEAK Radio 6925 USB late show

« on: December 18, 2009, 1011 UTC »

12/18/09, 6925 USB
1009z: Joe Jackson "Stepping Out"
1011z: WEAK Radio ID
1012z: The Cure "Love Cats"
1016z: Belinda Carlisle "Mad About You"... whoa, occasionally hitting S7 over S1 noise, but very rapid fades
1019z: Bangles "Manic Monday"
1022z: Steely Dan "Do It Again"
1027z: WEAK Radio ID
1028z: Cars "Bye Bye Love"
1032z: Duran Duran "Hungry Like The Wolf"
1036z: Bowie "Rebel Rebel", back down to just barely audible.
1045z: John Lee Hooker?  Way down in the mud now.

Hey, Squishy must be back on the job!
SINPO - 34322, occasional good peaks, lots of rapid fluttering fades to inaudible, but punchy bass helps and those distinctive ID's are easy to copy.

1840

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 6930 AM UNID

« on: December 18, 2009, 0944 UTC »

12/18/09, 6930 AM
0939z: "Torn Between Two Lovers"
0944z: "Mack the Knife"
0945z: "Mother In Law"
0948z: Sounds like radio ad, man and woman talking
0949z: Partial URL, only heard "www... dot net"
0952z: Some classic 1950s-'60s R&B, can't recall title
0958z: Faded out, barely audible, just a carrier now

SINPO - 34212, audio seems pretty good, rapid fluttering fades to local noise level.

If this is X-Ray Radio it'll be my first catch here in Texas on my own receiver.
Received eQSL confirming my e-mailed signal report that this was indeed X-Ray Radio.  Station op said this was their first signal report from Texas.

1841

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 AM 0200z

« on: December 18, 2009, 0217 UTC »

12/18/09, 6925 AM, 0200 UTC: Fairly good, steady carrier for several minutes, audio not quite cutting through.  Other listeners logged this as Channel Z.  No ID here, but if same station this is closest I've come to catching Channel Z in past several months.

1842

North American Shortwave Pirate / FM SSTV

« on: December 17, 2009, 1610 UTC »

Received this morning, 12/17/09, 1445z, on 6925 USB, Scottie 1 mode.  Apparently FM on shortwave means "F**king Magic".

1843

Other / UNID 6930 AM 12/16/09 2305z

« on: December 16, 2009, 2312 UTC »

12/16/09, 6930 AM, 2305 UTC: Carrier, very faint audio.  Faded by 2310z, unable to ID anything.  Via IRC, another listener reported hearing something sounding like a broadcast station.
2315z: Carrier audible again, vw, fading, nothing else audible.  M8 CW was on near here earlier this afternoon, closer to 6933z, probably no connection tho'.

1844

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Outhouse Radio 6925.1 USB

« on: December 16, 2009, 2115 UTC »

2103z: Steely Dan "FM"
2107z: SSTV, no copy here.

I think Dr. Benway tried FM on 6925 a couple of times.  The FCC gets all cornfoosed about this stuff.

1845

North American Shortwave Pirate / Outhouse Radio 6925.1 USB

« on: December 16, 2009, 1901 UTC »

12/16/09, 6925.1 USB
1900z approx: Outhouse Radio ID, Eric Clapton "Bad Love", STP "Dead and Bloated"
Outhouse Radio ID's 1905z and 1916z, Iron Butterfly "Inna-blah-blah-blah", Eagles, other music.
CW also occasionally audible, not sure if from Outhouse, other op or utility station.
1948z: Something in "Cylon Centurion" style robot voice, couldn't quite copy here.
1950z: Outhouse ID, C&W song, sounds like "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show"

SINPO - 24322, the usual recent propagation pattern, some decent signal peaks, lots of fades into noise.  Peak here was between 1910-1930z.