Dit Dah Radio

Being a fan of Morse code (or CW), I have a special affinity for pirates that use "the sacred language" in their broadcasts.

Last night, around 00:30 UTC (only a few minutes after WKND began broadcasting) I heard Morse Code on 6.935 MHz USB.

If you, too, love Morse code, you'll love "Dit Dah Radio;" after their preamble in Morse code, they follow with The Capris' 1960's hit, Morse Code of Love.

You can download the full recording as an MP3 file by clicking here, or listen via the embedded player below:

WKND

The holidays are a great time to listen for pirates on the shortwave spectrum. Since many pirates are on holiday leave from their day jobs, they have a little more time to broadcast.

Last night, the first pirate I heard was WKND on 9,625 kHz AM.

His station was quite clear, but modulation, perhaps, a tad low. Other noises, including Spanish SSB, can be heard in the background.

Click here to download the full MP3 recording of WKND, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Saturday Night Country takes you 'down under' for the holidays

If you've been reading the SWLing Post for long, you'll know how much I love ABC's Saturday Night Country, which I tune to every Saturday morning starting on 9,580 kHz.

Yesterday, host Felicity Urquhart produced another great mix of interviews and music, including some uniquely Australian Country Christmas songs.

You can download the recordings of the show as MP3s by clicking here for the first hour of Saturday Night Country on 9,580 kHz and here for the rest of the show on 11,945 kHz, or by simply listening via the embedded player below:

Liquid Radio

Last weekend, I also managed to record the shortwave radio pirate known as Liquid Radio--perhaps best known for their activity on the FM spectrum and on the web. Liquid Radio's format couldn't be more different than our last pirate recording from Radio Casablanca; Liquid Radio plays a trance/techno/dance mix. Their last broadcast was nearly three hours long, and you'll hear how fickle the propagation was as the signal waxes and wanes. I started recording their AM signal on 6.94 MHz around 4:00 UTC on Dec 16th.

You can click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

Radio Casablanca

On Sunday, December 17th, around 22:00 UTC, I happened to pick up the last thirty minutes of Radio Casablanca; a pirate that plays a nostalgic mix of music from the 1930's and 1940's. They were broadcasting on 6939 kHz in AM. Close your eyes, and you can imagine what it must have sounded like back in the day Phyllis Jeanne Creore Westerman graced the shortwaves.

You'll hear me tweaking the receiver in the first three minutes while, in the background, I was entertaining my children. I though about cutting it out but, on second thought, simply uploaded it as-is. I switched from a very wide AM bandwidth to AM sync and then AM sync with only the lower sideband (to kill some noise in the upper side band) after adjusting the center slightly below 6940 kHz.

I love how the recording starts on a tone and then morphs into Close as Pages in a Book by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra.

You can download the MP3 by clicking here, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

Wolverine Radio

Wolverine Radio's upper side band signal came in loud and clear last Sunday (December 9, 2012) sometime around 2:25 UTC on 6940 kHz. Another great mix of music, complete with their interval signal. It seems that their broadcast ended abruptly--no eQSL to decode at the end. Still, signal strength was quite good, as I've come to expect from this HF pirate.

Click here to download an MP3 of the entire show, or simply listen in the embedded Archive.org player below:

True Classic Rock Radio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Voice of Greece music

For your listening pleasure: five full hours of music, and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece. Recorded on Saturday, October 6th, on 9.42 MHz. Click here to download the MP3 of the recording, or listen below:

The Mighty KBC test transmission

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

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

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

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

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

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: