Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Halloween falls on Tuesday, October 31st, however you should start listening for activity this weekend as the pirates emerge like The Great Pumpkin!
Here are three things you’ll want to do this weekend and on Halloween night:
1. Hobby Broadcasting Blog
Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog ,the Hobby Broadcasting blog.
Andrew is the author of the Pirate Radio Annual and a guru on shortwave pirate radio. Andrew has already logged some Halloween stations this weekend.
2. HF Underground
Follow real-time pirate radio spots and loggings on the HF Underground discussion forum. Chris Smolinski at HFU typically posts post-Halloween pirate stats on the SWLing Post as well–always a fascinating overview.
3. Listen!
Listen for pirate radio stations today and throughout the weekend! Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here. I will be listening until late in the evening.
Happy Halloween to all!
Speaking of pirates, don’t forget: the 2017 Global HF Pirate Radio Weekend is next weekend (Nov 3-5)!
6880 kHz has also been popular. Not sure if it is because there has been so many pirates in the 6925 – 6950 kHz range or if it was just a preference. Scan outside of the normal range just in case a station moves to a clearer frequency.
Also, for pirate station spotting, sign up and log into the HF Underground chat room. Very helpful when trying to spot a station. Many people have SDR radios and can see a large part of the spectrum without tuning and can spot a new station within seconds of it coming on the air. Plus it is a lot of fun to be part of a large group of other like minded folks. 🙂