When do you listen?

[olddxer]

I am just wondering when folks listen for pirates. It seems there are a few that might monitor almost 24 hr a day. I am sure that many that have jobs and can not listen at 8-5 during the week. Others may have part time jobs or are retired.

0001z-0600z
0601z-1200z
1201z-1800z
1801z-0000z

So, how about specifying the time frame that you most often listen. Feel free to break the times into smaller increments if you like. If you use automation to montior during one time slot and live during another that would be helpful as well.

Thanks

[ChrisSmolinski]

I record from about 2000-1000 UTC weekdays, and all day on weekends. Then I check the recordings in the morning. 

My live listening is usually in the late afternoon and very early evening, say 2000-2300 or so. Longer on the weekends of course, I'll check in the morning and afternoon for activity.

One thing I have been thinking about recently is frequencies...  43 meter has been the de facto pirate band for quite some time now. Say 6800-7000 kHz overall, most of the activity in the 6925-6955 range of course, with some stations outside that.

Recently there's more activity down on 4 and 5 MHz, due to the low solar activity, which of course makes sense from a propagation point of view. Most pirates are trying to use NVIS because they are in the same general area as their listeners. And when foF2 is 4 or 5 MHz, 43 meters is not open for NVIS.

With lots of us using SDRs, there is more of a chance of finding these other transmissions, but as they are spread around a bit, not as easy as when everyone is on 43 meters. I have a few SDRs but it's not really practical to record and check 3 bands all the time. I'd sorta like to lock all the ops in a room, and they can't come out until they pick one band segment to use in addition to 43 meters   

[Ct Yankee]

I just retired so I'm listening more frequently throughout the day.  Same pattern throughout the week, I generally don't listen before 1500 utc.  After that, it could be anytime of the day depending on what errands, chores, or activities keep me away from the radio.  Rarely do I listen past 0300 utc.  Most frequent time 1900-0100 utc daily.  All my listening is live, more than half the time while engaged in another activity.