Topics

76

General Radio Discussion / Pirating in the 11-meter broadcast band?

« on: August 06, 2019, 0244 UTC »

I realize that the MUF isn't exactly allowing for it at the moment, but I just wondered how many people have heard pirates within the 11m broadcast band (25600-26100 kHz). I'm starting to write my column for the next Spectrum Monitor. In the last issue, Rob Wagner wrote a column "Whatever Happened to the 11-Meter Band?," so I thought it might be fun to follow it up with an article on 11m pirates. I think the only pirates that I've heard on 26 MHz were Radio Altrex and KROW, but I need to dig through a bunch of newsletters and run searches to see what other stations might be escaping me.

77

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6955 AM 1930 UTC 25 May 2019

« on: May 25, 2019, 2033 UTC »

Weak carrier here for a little while, too weak for me to determine if it had any audio. Went off a few min later and around 1940 or so (after the station went off), someone (same station or another) was swishing the VFO across the frequency. This stuff isn't really worth mentioning, but I am in case someone is testing a new transmitter or antenna

78

General Radio Discussion / 2017-18 Pirate Radio Annual now available

« on: March 31, 2019, 2215 UTC »

2017-2018 Pirate Radio Annual is done and I've received the copies back from the printer already! This edition is 308 pages and contains an audio CD-R (playable on standard CD players) with clips from 87 different pirate stations from around the world, nearly all from 2016 and 2017. This edition contains 181 illustrations and entries for approximately 307 stations reported in North America in 2016 and 2017 (280 North American shortwave stations and 27 from Europe and South America).

It also contains some "articles" on the Common and Precious Beacon, Radio Pirana International from South America, and upcoming Global HF Pirate Weekends/propagation for reaching different parts of the world.

This edition will cost $20 ($16.50 + $3.50 shipping) in the U.S. I took the packed book to the post office for the international shipping cost and was shocked to discover that it will cost $24 to ship it anywhere in Europe (so, $38.00 = $16.50 + $21.50 to Europe) I'll eat a couple dollars of the cost because the shipping is so high. It's so expensive that it will soon pay for airfare to Europe just to deliver copies!

This price is good for the next month (up through 5/1/2019). I'm not sure if I'll keep the price the same or raise it at that time.

Please send check or money order to:

Hobby Broadcasting
PO Box 109
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214

or send the money via PayPal to info [at symbol] hobbybroadcasting.com. If you trust that I won't run off with the money to Sealand, please use the "Friends and Family" option so that PayPal won't charge a fee.

4/2 update: One final note about ordering via PayPal: Could you please include your shipping address with the PayPal order? The PayPal messages haven't included addresses and when I sign into PayPal and click on the "more information about this transaction," the address still isn't coming up. So, I've been e-mailing people for addresses, which could delay shipping.

79

Shortwave Broadcast / unid 6900 1629 UTC 24 March 2019

« on: March 24, 2019, 1631 UTC »

Carrier with a few bits of audio

Later: Checked 6900 on about 5 SDRs around the East & had nothing on any of them.

80

Latin American Pirate / Brazilian pirate 8000 AM 2000 UTC 16 March 2019

« on: March 16, 2019, 2007 UTC »

Tried one of the Brazilian web receivers (the SB Campo one). Tuned into AC/DC "Back in Black," some technical difficulties & a male announcer is now saying "Hello, hello" etc. Mic feedback with dog barking in the background. Went off, but not sure if it'll come back.

81

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6930 AM 1719 UTC 10 Feb 2019

« on: February 10, 2019, 1722 UTC »

Rush "Spirit of Radio" off mid song, after a loud grounding sound. Pretty good signal on Jumonville, PA SDR

82

North American MW Pirate Radio / Unid: 1710 2215 UTC 26 January 2019

« on: January 26, 2019, 2222 UTC »

(Still!) laying out the Pirate Radio Annual & didn't hear anything on 43m, so I tuned 6200-6300 (nothing) & decided on a whim to check 1710. Have a station with older (maybe '50s or '60s?) country ballads coming in decently. Male DJ came up for a bit, but not quite strong enough to copy. I'm recording it now, but I might check the car to see if it's stronger there. When I came over to post the logging here, I saw the notice posted last night about the station to expect either last night or tonight. I guess this is it? Haven't heard of many country music MW band pirates.

Really faded & I'm just getting occasional bits. Around 2233, I got a few bits of a '50s pop song that I think I know, but need to hear a bit more of it to ID

2238: Sounds like some PSAs, but I'm not sure if these are the pirate or the Hudson Co. NJ TIS

2245: The Shirelles "Chapel of Love"

83

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 USB 0607 UTC 19 Jan 2019

« on: January 19, 2019, 0611 UTC »

"The Patriot Network" with conspiracy theories about the government shutdown. Into Pink Floyd "Money" VG signal. Off for about 30 seconds & then Pink Floyd "Us & Them." Pink Floyd "Time" at 0622. SSTV image about a minute into the song. I don't have MMSTV running, so I guess I'll check it out tomorrow. Back to "Time." Nice to hear such a good signal so late

84

North American Shortwave Pirate / OTR unid 6770 AM 1350 UTC 12 Jan 2019

« on: January 12, 2019, 1358 UTC »

Best signal I've heard from the OTR unid in probably 2 years. Clear copy. Sounds like a western right now

BTW, it was an episode of Dangerous Assignment. At the end were NBC chimes & promos for other shows, like Fibber McGee & Molly. The next show was a thriller with organ music

85

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Noisy WinRadio power supply

« on: January 04, 2019, 2258 UTC »

My WinRadio is much noisier than my R8 or R-5000. Just wondered what you guys do to reduce the noise floor. I haven't heard many people talk about computer/electrical noise with these, but it's fairly significant (typically around S6 or S7 on 43m)

86

North American MW Pirate Radio / Unid: 1710 2310 UTC 31 December 2018

« on: December 31, 2018, 2327 UTC »

Driving around & heard a couple of brief fade-ups of pop ballads with female vocals. First I've heard anything like that in hours of listening to 1710 kHz over the past two years or so

87

North American Shortwave Pirate / Unid: 6924.9 1238 UTC 17 December 2018

« on: December 17, 2018, 1241 UTC »

Carrier with bits of audio coming up. Sounds like a couple of voices at once. Haven't caught enough to really follow anything, but it reminds me of when I've heard spurs around 6275 in the past--except that I've never heard a spur on 6925. So, I assume it's a pirate
----------------------

Off around 1245

88

European Pirates and Private Stations / Unid: 6270 0007 UTC 16 December 2018

« on: December 16, 2018, 0010 UTC »

Good carrier occasional weak music audible

89

General Radio Discussion / Global HF Weekend, November 2-4, 2018

« on: October 21, 2018, 1241 UTC »

Posted this on my blog a couple of days ago:
-----------
The Global HF Weekend is coming up November 2-4, 2018. The GHFW occurs the 1st weekend in April and the first weekend in November every year. The idea is that it's a set time for listeners and stations to try testing to different parts of the world. Over the past few years, the high frequencies have not been great for propagation between Europe and North America, but stations have still been able to reach other continents by operating at other times, etc.

An interesting twist this year is that some hardcore DXers will be listening over the weekend from Prince Edward Island. These guys primarily DX on medium wave and their logs are phenomenal. They literally logged at least 30 countries on medium wave. They also actually heard a number of pirates on the band, including Radio Calypso, Monte Carlo Radio, Bluebird Radio, Radio Doctor Einstein, Witte Tornado and the Lady, and Polkaman. I wonder how many pirates from Europe or North America will test anywhere from 1611 up to about 1720 or 1730 kHz for this DXpedition? Whoever does so has a great chance to be heard in PEI, Canada.

Of course, others will be listening on shortwave, and I'm looking forward to hearing who might turn up. I plan to be updating this blog with information about the weekend and also about Halloween coming up. If any stations send schedules to me, I'll post them here [on my blog] without station names for security reasons.

90

North American Shortwave Pirate / The Relay Station 6880 1600+ 11 October 2018

« on: October 11, 2018, 1611 UTC »

Excellent signal w/a variety of rock music. I'll start recording when I get back home