True Classic Rock Radio

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Last weekend, I caught a shortwave pirate I'd never heard before: True Classic Rock Radio. Well, at least I'm pretty confident that's their name. When I first heard their ID I couldn't confirm it, but when I passed the clip to my buddy Andrew, he nailed it.

Funny thing is, when I go back and listen to the station ID now (check it out around 17:30, and then again at the end of transmission) it sounds so obvious.

This short broadcast includes some great classic rock and ends with Hendrix. I didn't note the exact time they began to broadcast, but I heard them on between 3:00-4:00 UTC, on 6,925 kHz AM, December 8, 2012. Click here to download the mp3 directly, or listen through our Archive.org player:

Radio Australia: Saturday Night Country

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Yesterday, like most Saturday mornings, I sipped my coffee while listening to ABC's Saturday Night Country from Radio Australia's Shepparton shortwave transmission site on 9.58 MHz. In this program, SNC's host, Felicity Urquhart, shuffled in some holiday tunes with her normal mix of country music, news and interviews. Fortunately, I captured the whole show in two recordings (starting on 9.58 MHz for the first hour, then moving to 11.945 MHz for the rest of the show).

Enjoy:

Voice of Greece music

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For your listening pleasure: over three hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece. Recorded on  November 26th, on 9.42 MHz. In the last half of the recording, after an adjacent station went off the air, the audio fidelity is simply amazing--especially for a station over 5000 miles from my receiver.

Click here to download the MP3 of the recording, or listen below:

Need more Voice of Greece music in your day? Click here for more.

Voice of Greece and hours of music

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This past Friday and Saturday evenings I had an opportunity to record several hours of music from the Voice of Greece. I am continually amazed with the audio fidelity from a station that is well over 5,000 miles away. You can listen to the recordings below or download the mp3 files on Archive.org (who graciously hosts and archives all of our radio recordings).

The Mighty KBC

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Once again, The Mighty KBC broadcast a two hour mix of music to the world on 9,500 kHz. Fortunately, I was able to record the entire broadcast--you can listen below. The KBC signal and audio out of their transmitter in Bulgaria were both excellent. There was very noticeable interference from the clandestine station, Radio Republica, who broadcasts at the same time (00:00-01:57 UTC) on 9,490 kHz.  According to my spectrum display, Republica's signal had a bandwidth of 20 kHz!  At times, I had to narrow my receiver filter to about 6.6 kHz and use a USB sync mode  to keep KBC's broadcast clear.  Still, you can certainly hear some of the noise from Radio Republica in the recording.

Since Radio Republica is broadcast from the US, I'm curious if listeners in other parts of the world (or other parts of North America) had the same problem. If so, please comment!  I'll pass this along to KBC.

You can download the entire broadcast as an mp3 by clicking here, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

Grizzly Bear Radio

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A few weeks ago, I found a pirate I had never heard before: Grizzly Bear Radio. They quickly nullified my claim that Radio Appalachia was the only pirate I knew of that broadcasts bluegrass music. According to Grizzly Bear, they transmit from the northwest US, so the fact that I hear them at all speaks of good propagation and Grizzly Bear's antennas. At any rate, I did manage to capture almost their entire broadcast--nearly 5 hours!--on October 6th. Unlike many of my recordings, this one is faint at times and you'll have to listen through the static.  Still, this is what I enjoy about pirate radio, hearing some unique audio through the static. As grandpa used to say, this "builds listening skills."

You can download an mp3 of the full recording, or simply listen in the player embedded below.  Enjoy:

Radio Ronin Shortwave

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Radio Ronin Shortwave's AM signal came in loud and clear again last Friday night on 6925 kHz. Another great set of music--all pirate radio themed.  You'll even hear KYAR  Pirate Radio from Pirates R Us.

This time, Ronin starts out with a Stones interval signal. You can download the MP3 or simply listen below:

Again, listener discretion is advised! This is pirate radio after all.

The Mighty KBC test transmission

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Last night, I listened to and recorded The Mighty KBC's test transmission on 9.4 MHz. The broadcast lasted 2 hours and was quite successful. They had a little distortion in the signal for the first half-hour or so, but once that issue was resolved, audio was excellent. This was, after all, a test transmission.

Mind you, I was using the WinRadio Excalibur receiver and a rather large horizontal sky loop antenna--not a portable radio. But based on their signal level as compared with the adjacent Voice of Greece transmission (9.42 MHz), I expect they could have been easily heard on a portable radio here in eastern North America.

If you missed the broadcast, click here to download a full recording or listen below.

Next week: another test broadcast scheduled

Update: Note that The Might KBC will broadcast another test transmission on Sunday 21 September from 00.00 - 02.00 UTC on 9,500 kHz.

Wolverine Radio

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Wolverine Radio was yet another pirate station I recorded last Saturday night (along with Radio Ronin and Radio Appalachia).

Wolverine Radio was broadcasting on 6.95 MHz in the upper side band. Their signal was very good and fidelity excellent for SSB. Lots of variety and a common "radio" theme throughout WR's music mix.

Wolverine Radio--at least each time I've heard them--sends an SSTV image at the end of the broadcast. I decoded the one in their Satuday night broadcast (see image on right) using RX-SSTV, a very intuitive and simple freeware PC application.  Make sure you use the "Scottie 1" mode.

Click here to download an MP3 of the broadcast, or stream from the embedded player below:

Radio Appalachia

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Radio Appalachia is the only pirate I've ever heard on the shortwaves which features bluegrass and gospel music. This recording was made Saturday night on 6.9349 MHz (AM). At 8:28 in the recording below, you'll hear Radio Appalachia's station ID :

"Radio Appalachia, you are listening to Radio Appalachia...the free voice of the Ohio Valley. Broadcasting from high above Moundsville, West Virginia, this is Radio Appalachia."

You then hear their signature Three Stooges audio sample and a repeat of the ID.

Click here to download the MP3, or listen to the entire broadcast below:

Radio Ronin Shortwave

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Saturday night was one of the most active nights for pirate radio I've heard in some time. No doubt, pirates were taking advantage of the quiet atmospheric conditions.

Radio Ronin was the first station I heard Saturday evening. His AM signal was very strong with only slight fading on 6,955 kHz. The mix includes mostly classic rock, starting things off with groups like Steppenwolf, the Steve Miller Band, and Pink Floyd, then moving into rock music of the 80s and beyond. I also included a few minutes of his interval signal (yep, even pirates have interval signals).

Enjoy below, or download the MP3 here:

X-FM

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Listening conditions Saturday night were  pretty good--we had clear skies and  though propagation wasn't excellent, I did manage to record a full broadcast (over 3 hours) of X-FM. X-FM typically features a wide variety of music spanning trance/electronica to varieties of rock/metal. This broadcast was no exception--hear for yourself:

PLEASE NOTE: While most of the music in this broadcast is perfectly safe, parents should note that some songs contain explicit lyrics. If you're easily offended, you might want to slowly back away.  After all, this is pirate radio!

UPDATE: Check out the QSL card I received for this broadcast:

North Woods Radio

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Though listening conditions were tough Saturday night, as we were wedged between two lines of thunderstorms (both of which were no more than 60 miles away) I did manage to capture North Woods Radio's full broadcast. This broadcast featured some noted drum solos. As you can hear for yourself, their AM signal was strong at times on 6,935 kHz, but occasionally the percussion was augmented by natural forces, in the form of static crashes:

Voice of Greece, Voice of Turkey and Radio Croatia

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For your listening enjoyment:  Voice of Greece (9,420 kHz), Radio Croatia (9,925 kHz) and Voice of Turkey (9,830 kHz). The Voice of Greece, in particular, broadcasts an extensive mix of music. These stations were recorded simultaneously, Saturday August 25th, 2012. In total, there are more than 8 hours of shortwave radio recordings in this set--enough to make it through your work day:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece, Radio Croatia and Radio Romania International

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For your listening enjoyment:  Voice of Greece (9,420 kHz), Radio Croatia (9,925 kHz) and Radio Romania International (9,700 kHz). The Voice of Greece and Radio Croatia  broadcast an extensive mix of music; while Radio Romania International offers their English and French hours.

I recorded these broadcasts simultaneously via my WinRadio Excalibur, yesterday at 00:00 UTC.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio Kuwait and music variety

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Any of you who've been following the SWLing Post for a while know how much I love recording music over the shortwaves. Lately, Radio Kuwait has been booming into my part of eastern North America with great vivacity.

Yesterday, I recorded several hours of their broadcast on my WinRadio Excalibur. I couldn't help but notice, the last time I posted a recording, that their music had a great deal of variety. Their mix yesterday afternoon encompassed hip hop, country, pop, rock, R&B, and even a little Billy Joel and Donovan.

Though the hip-hop and boy bands don't particularly hold my personal interest, hearing "Mellow Yellow" over 7,000 miles of ether certainly has appeal.

If you're looking for music variety (well, a lot of variety), with some items of cultural interest thrown in, check out Radio Kuwait:

Tribute to Radio Netherlands Worldwide on the NRC's DX Audio Service

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The National Radio Club requested that I read and record my tribute to Radio Netherlands Worldwide for their audio service intended to benefit their visually-impaired readers. The broadcast is divided into sides A and B (of a cassette tape). My narration begins about midway through side B.

Click to download: