Topics

301

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6935u Wolverine Radio 0129z 3/3/2013

« on: March 03, 2013, 0130 UTC »

Just signed on at 0129z, S9 signal and great audio!

302

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6925 Digital SSTV Undercover Radio 0052 UTC 3/3/2013

« on: March 03, 2013, 0056 UTC »

Easypal captures:









Thanks for the DRM QSL!:

303

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6955am Radio Strange Outpost 7 1340z

« on: March 02, 2013, 1341 UTC »

S4-S5 old time music heard with phonetics between songs.  After phonetics, robo female voice with "MESSAGE COMPLETE" and back into old time music.

ID per chatroom and clear ID here finally at 1347z.

304

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6925u Undercover Radio: EasyPal Digital 0032 UTC 2/25/2013

« on: February 25, 2013, 0038 UTC »

Decoded this using EasyPal (usually used by Hams for slow scan digital) at 0035z:

Freedom:

You know I was at the shooting range the other day and started thinking about the rights we have in the United States. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing what our forefathers came up with in our US Bill of Rights and in our Constitution. The second amendment states that we have the right to keep and bear arms. We have the right to bear arms for personal security, and the right to bear arms to defend our country. We even have the right to bear arms to defend against a corrupt government. That's a rare thing in a world where many countries are ruled by dictatorships supported by an army that exists to protect the government from its citizens.
But you already know these freedoms are eroding as time goes by. For instance, many people today seem to think that there is no place for firearms in our society. So many people I talk to wonder why on earth anyone would own a weapon, especially in this day and age. Yes, this day and age where governments are collapsing all around us. Even our own government has become a self-serving law making machine all with the supposed premise of protecting us from ourselves. Our rights are slowly but surely disappearing. Our personal freedoms are vanishing before our eyes. Maybe you should exercise your right to own a gun while you can.

Freedom. What is freedom? Freedom is the right to live your daily life as you please, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and of course freedom of speech without repercussion from your government. Yes, we have plenty of incidents where these freedoms are suppressed and punished but in general we all enjoy these freedoms.
But here's the funny thing. With all these freedoms why do I speak to you behind a cloak? It's because our freedoms are slowly eroding. We haven’t had freedom of the airwaves since just after radio came into wide use after its discovery. The government quickly clamped down on all the free radio stations that started popping up in a hurry and created the Federal Communications Commission to regulate who could use the airwaves and what they could say. How free is that?
These days the government only exists to put more laws and regulations on the books. Did you know the US passes an average of 300 new laws a year? 300? We have thousands of laws on the books and thousands more to come.
And now we have our almighty Homeland Security department out to protect us from the world. It sends chills down my spine. Don't get me wrong. A fundamental responsibility of our government is to provide for our security. I suspect they have done more to protect our national security than we realize. But part of the price for this protection is the loss of some of our personal freedom and privacy. Trust me; it won't be long before the government knows where we are at just about any time. Police cars and toll booths are currently equipped with license plate scanners to provide instant background checks and what about our brave new digital world? The digital world has given us wonderful new smartphones with built in GPS's that allow tracking of our every move. And I mean every move. The chips in the phones are so accurate now that they can detect what floor of a house you are on. Your email is logged and stored in the wondrous cloud. Most likely many conversations on your phone are filed in some data warehouse somewhere. All this information is most likely being collected and analyzed for anything that might be a danger to our national security. But take it a few years out from now. All this data might be analyzed for anything "improper". And you thought you were safe from 1984.
Freedom is a funny thing. I suppose total freedom could be equated to anarchy. But to we really want anarchy? Some people living in the clouds claim that anarchy is the answer but then I have to ask how things are going in Somalia. It's human nature for someone to be a leader and others to be followers. Freedom is some kind of balancing act. You and I both know that we need to have some rules in place have a civil society. It's human nature. It's always been that way. Leaders and followers. It's just human nature. But for those who follow, please don't confuse this with apathy. Apathy is the MOST destructive obstacle to freedom. Please think about the balancing act required for freedom. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. We must NOT allow the scales to tip too far off balance. Oh, I know, you already think that things have tipped over the edge. We've used America up and sold it out. If you feel that way, don't just sit there sulking. Get off your ass and do something about it. I know you've heard it all before and will hear it again but we are a nation of apathy and that my friend is a dangerous thing. Our apathy is quickly paving a nice little path to tyranny.

We are all lemmings being led to the usual path of destruction just like all civilizations before ours. Is it really inevitable? Is the world full of idiots?
Recollections:

Memories of William Cooper yelling on the shortwave telling people to wake up!
Flashbacks of reading old issues of Comedy, Tragedy and Apathy
Memories of shortwave evangelist predicting the end of the world
Flashbacks of the horrific Indian Ocean Tsunami with waves over 100 feet high
Laughing at Harry Shearer’s Le Show
Listening to pirates crackle over the airwaves
Hearing Alan Weiner rant oh about real pirates
Does any of this really matter anyway? We are all doomed.
Doomed to be hit by an asteroid,
Doomed to die in a nuclear winter in the aftermath of a super volcano,
Doomed to be erased by the next ice age,
Doomed to become hordes of zombies as a horrible virus infects our brains.

May I help you? Sir? May I take your order?

Anyway, that's what was going through my mind while I was waiting in line for my Double Whopper with cheese with an extra-large order of fries and a 64 oz. Coke.

Sound familiar?  Message received Doc :-)

This one received at 0053z:

305

North American MW Pirate Radio / 1710 KHz "The Big Q" 0828-1127 UTC 2/17/2013

« on: February 17, 2013, 1356 UTC »

SDR recording catch, sign-on at 0828 with oldies and IDs between songs by "The Midnight Man".  Lots of new material, parody ads, etc.  Usual great sounding AM audio and strong signal mostly ranging from S7 to S9.  Off at 1127. 

306

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6925 X-FM Testing 0406 UTC 2/13/2012

« on: February 13, 2013, 0415 UTC »

Thanks to IRC tip, UNID music player transmitting in double sideband with suppressed carrier.  Blue October's "X Amount of Words" at 0406 with clear S6 signal and then complete fade-out at 0408z after song ended.  Maybe someone playing with Kahn ISB?  

307

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6950am Global Warming Radio WGWR 0148z 2/4/2013

« on: February 04, 2013, 0148 UTC »

S4-S7 over static:

0146z: Buster Poindexter "Hot Hot Hot"
0148z: ID & contact info
0150z: Song "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes"
0153z: Al Gore parody as live guest
0154z: I think the band just went long for me: good signal to almost nothing in a matter of seconds.  Carrier still there though.
0204z: Ok, back again now, and back up to S6-S7, continuing with the Al Gore skit.
0208z: ID and contact info.
0209z: Signed off

First time hearing this one - thanks!

308

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6930u Undercover Radio 0444z 2/3/2013

« on: February 03, 2013, 0446 UTC »

Undercover Radio with Doctor Benway describing his adventure tonight into the world of digital broadcasting. Poor copy in Michigan, better copy via Skeezix's remote in MN.  Yes, people are listening :-)

309

North American Shortwave Pirate / Undercover Radio 6945 DRM mode 0030z UTC 2/3/2013

« on: February 03, 2013, 0031 UTC »

Strong carrier noted on at 0000z with what looks and sounds like a DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) signal.  Unfortunately I'm not having any luck decoding it.

Finally, I'm able to decode this at 0054z!  It's Undercover Radio!  My first pirate DRM capture!!

310

Utility / Medium Wave Peskies!

« on: January 27, 2013, 0327 UTC »

UNID Spanish comms heard at 0900 UTC on 1725.5 kHz USB, just above the noise floor, lasting for several minutes.  Outside of a few maritime stations, I've never heard anything like this between 1710-1800 kHz.  Outbanders I suppose.

311

MW Loggings / 1134 Voice of Croatia as heard in Michigan

« on: January 19, 2013, 0040 UTC »

It may be gone from shortwave but it's still occasionally heard on MW under the right conditions.  This was one such moment captured here last week.  Starts out weak but quickly rises up to a nice level for several minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_W3YgEmShc

312

Utility / 1752 KHz Valentia Radio (Ireland) & 1743 KHz Stornoway Coastguard (UK)

« on: January 12, 2013, 1344 UTC »

Both received early this morning for the first time this season.  Modes are USB for these:

Valentia Radio was the stronger of the two, but only came on with one navigational warning and was off after about 40 seconds - typical and often hard to catch because of this unless you park it on their frequency and wait during their scheduled time slot (see below).  Thick Irish accented operator.  This was received during the 0633-0648z scheduled window.

Stornoway was weaker but lasted a good ten minutes or so.  Tough to make out most of the report given, but clearly English accented operator and it fits their schedule.  This one was received during the 0710-0725z scheduled window.

Per EIBI, here are the broadcast windows for Valentia Radio & Stornoway Coastguard:

kHz           Time(UTC) Days  ITU Station                Lang. Target   Remarks
================================================================================
1743          0710-0725       G   Stornoway Coastguard Wx  E   WEu         st
1743          1910-1925       G   Stornoway Coastguard Wx  E   WEu         st

1752          0233-0248       IRL Valentia Radio Wx        E   WEu
1752          0633-0648       IRL Valentia Radio Wx        E   WEu
1752          1033-1048       IRL Valentia Radio Wx        E   WEu
1752          1433-1448       IRL Valentia Radio Wx        E   WEu
1752          1833-1848       IRL Valentia Radio Wx        E   WEu
1752          2233-2248       IRL Valentia Radio Wx        E   WEu

EIBI lists several others, and here too, but these are the only two I've been able to ID here between 1710-1800 KHz.

313

Utility / Alaska on 518 kHz NAVTEX 0935 UTC 1/5/2013

« on: January 05, 2013, 1440 UTC »

I noticed a good opening on MW last night to the Pacific NW.  This carried over to 518 also with my first decent decode of Kodiak @ 2,949 miles:

Station "J":

2013-01-05 09:35:44> ZCZC JA86
2013-01-05 09:35:50> SECTOR ANCH BNM 340-12
2013-01-05 09:35:56> AK-PRINCE WILLIAM SOUNDGABVA~DEZ
2013-01-05 09:36:07> VALDEZ SECURITY ZONE LIGED BUOY B, LLNA 25824, IN THE PORT~~OF
2013-01-05 09:36:20> HPOAT OF VAID~A~&.$ .)0:8.10$.05#!?##8?&.?6!06 &60.60::0 902.~#+.8!~~~9~~2 ~#9$0
2013-01-05 09:37:10> .`(3~:?!~0?(/=4~)M~~~~~AW{}KCAC~~~~~~{}CC~~~~U~~{}~~AW~~CKC~JUJCK~~CC~C~~~{}QEKU
2013-01-05 09:38:10> MRIZ FURTH ~~ STT~V~.~~!!~(:9~IKO~~CPU~TN~MJJ~~~Z~~F{}HT~.( (-1
2013-01-05 09:38:13> ~=:,2#~~2 ~
2013-01-05 09:38:40> 8~!~$#~?~~++~~~~6/9~#~3~:,~?&1 ()7B{}HE NEAREST COAST RUARD UNIT~M
2013-01-05 09:38:41>
2013-01-05 09:38:43> NNNNH

2013-01-05 09:39:02> ZCZC JA35AY
2013-01-05 09:39:07> SECVGR [JUNEAU] BNM 01-13 J
2013-01-05 09:39:14> AJ ~A SHUTHUEAST - ~ONGAAS NARROWS
2013-01-05 09:39:23> GUARD ISLAND LT WKLLNR 22300) HAS BEEN REP EXTING. ~
2013-01-05 09:39:33> [MARINERS] ARE REQUESTED TO TNANSIT THE AREA WITH CAUTION.
2013-01-05 09:39:33>
2013-01-05 09:39:35> NNDN
2013-01-05 09:39:37> BRK

2013-01-05 09:41:32> ZCZC JA99
2013-01-05 09:41:37> SECTOR ANCH BNM 345-12
2013-01-05 09:41:46> AK-GULF OF AK-KODIAK ISLANDS-SITKALIDAK ISLAND
2013-01-05 09:41:56> THE COAST GUARD HAS RECEIVED A GEPONT OF THE MODU KULLUK AGROUND
2013-01-05 09:42:07> IN PSN 57-05.4N 153-06.1W ON THE NRN PART OF OCEAN BAY IN
2013-01-05 09:42:17> SITKALIDAK ISLAND, SE KODIAK ISLAND. ANY MARINERS PLANNING TO
2013-01-05 09:42:29> TRANSIT IVO OR WITHIN 5NM OF THE OODU KULLUKS PSN CONTACT USCGC ALEX
2013-01-05 09:42:34> HALEY ON CH21/157.05MHZ.
2013-01-05 09:42:37> NNNN

2013-01-05 09:42:38> BRK
2013-01-05 09:42:56> ~~K~~~~{}F~~~~~~~{}A68
2013-01-05 09:43:01> SECTOR JUNEAU BNM 002-13
2013-01-05 09:43:08> AK - SOUTHEAST - PORT ALEXANDER
2013-01-05 09:43:20> PORT ALEXANDER REAR RGE (LLNR 23480) IS WATCHING PROPERLY. CANCEL
2013-01-05 09:43:29> SECTOR JUNEAU BNM 243-12 DTG 202326Z DEC 12.
2013-01-05 09:43:29>
2013-01-05 09:43:30> NNNN

Station "X":

2013-01-05 11:57:32> ZCZC XA99~
2013-01-05 11:57:38> ISECTORVANCH CBNM 001-13~ QU
2013-01-05 11:57:43> AKVHDIAK-SHELIKOF STRAIGZT ~
2013-01-05 11:57:58> THE COAST GUARD IS EXPERIENCING VHF OUTA~ES EFXU~L~~DHMYWZMXZHPYKIS{}ASQC W SIDE
2013-01-05 11:58:05>  OF KODIAK, SHJLIKOFCSTRAIGHT,
2013-01-05 11:58:17> KUPREANOF DT~AIGHTZO~~N~~~ZUPJHM+#~:.! `2#&./($0~{}
2013-01-05 11:58:21> UYAK. ALL [MARINERS] ADU
2013-01-05 11:58:35> ~W~~IPJHPWMHZMIYPSAMWFJHYPJJJ{}JMFMHDIPJPMIII~~ONYPAMHZM{}EST [COAST] GUARD UNIT.
2013-01-05 11:58:35>
2013-01-05 11:58:36>
2013-01-05 11:58:37> NNNN

2013-01-05 11:58:39> BRK
2013-01-05 11:58:58> ~ACZC XA58
2013-01-05 11:59:03> SECTOR JUNEAU BNM 001-13
2013-01-05 11:59:09> AK - SOUTHEAST - TONGASS NARROWS
2013-01-05 11:59:19> GUARD ISLAND LT (LLNR 22300) HAS BEEN REP EXTING.
2013-01-05 11:59:28> MARINERS ARE REQUESTED TO TRANSIT THE AREA WITH CAUTION.
2013-01-05 11:59:29>
2013-01-05 11:59:31> NNNN

314

North American Shortwave Pirate / 6930am UNID 2207z 1/1/2013

« on: January 01, 2013, 2208 UTC »

Very weak with the low rumble of music in the noise:

2206z: Stone Temple Pilots "Birthday Deathbed"
2207z: Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
2242z: Deadeye Dick "New Age Girl"
2246z: Song "When you call my name" or similar lyrics
2247z: Dramatic music and maybe an announcement or ID but just too weak to tell
2253z: Announcement or ID, but too weak to understand, and into R.E.M. "Crush With Eyeliner"
2258z: Song break
2312z: U2 "New Year's Day"

315

North American MW Pirate Radio / 1710 KHz "The Big Q" 0557-1040 UTC 1/1/2013

« on: January 01, 2013, 0601 UTC »

Big AM carrier noted on 1710 at 0557z and then into "Happy New Year" song.  S6-S8 signal, best heard in USB mode to dodge 1700 splatter.  New Year's Eve themed show.

Off at 1040z

Thanks Big Q!