Category Archives: Pirate Radio

Southgate ARC notes Ofcom’s approach to FM pirate enforcement

“The UK communications regulator Ofcom have published information about tackling pirate radio

Although Ofcom have occasionally raided pirate stations operating in the 88-108 MHz band, such enforcement actions have been few and far between.

After the 2008/9 financial year, Ofcom stopped publishing their Prosecution/Formal Warning Statistics and subsequently removed all prosecution statistics from their website, perhaps to hide the fact that they no longer published them. It may be speculated the reason the statistics no longer appeared was because Ofcom had stopped undertaking enforcement action.

Currently in London there are over 25 pirate stations operating in the 88-108 MHz band. Many operate 24/7 so are not exactly difficult for Ofcom to locate if they wished.

In the Pirate Radio page Ofcom point out that they have issued Community Radio licences to former pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM and Kane FM. The inference that may be taken is Ofcom would like pirate radio stations to apply for community radio licences.

Read Ofcom’s pirate radio page at
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2013/09/tackling-pirate-radio/

Large amounts of spectrum in 88-108 MHz will be vacated when national broadcasters shutdown their FM transmitters and move to DAB only from 2015 http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2013/
dcms_dab_radio_reports.htm

2008/9 Ofcom radio prosecution statistics
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2010/ofcom_prosecutions.htm

Thanks to Mike Terry and BDXC for spotting this item”

And many thanks to the excellent Southgate ARC for posting this news.

For a brilliant mini-documentary on London pirates, check out this video.

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Borderhunter

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"Woah! Timmy, is that Europe calling???"

“Whoa! Timmy, is that Europe calling?”

You’ll typically find North American radio pirates here on the SWLing Post, but on occasion, I do manage to pull in a station or two from Europe. Last night was one of those rare occasions, and I have Ragnar at Pirates Week to thank for the tip.

I tuned in Europirate Radio Borderhunter on 15,500 kHz AM, starting around 21:50 UTC. For an AM signal out of Europe, I was most impressed with Radio Borderhunter‘s strong signal.

I recorded about forty minutes of the pirate’s broadcast before propagation shifted. He then moved down to 6,210 kHz in the 48 meter band, a prime Europirate hangout, to continue his show.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

By the way, check out Ragnar’s latest podcast on Pirates Week!

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Gallifrey Intergalactic

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The Citadel of the Time Lords on Gallifrey (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Last night, I recorded pirate station, Radio Gallifrey Intergalactic.

RGI appeared on 6,935 kHz USB and started their broadcast with a set of audio sweeps (which looked rather distinctive on my SDR’s waterfall), followed by tones and then straight into the Dr. Who theme.

What followed was a free-form set of spacy electronic music; from ambient to trance. You’ll hear their station ID in Morse code.

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

Newsweek: Can radio turn the tide in Syria?

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Casablanca

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Confession time: one of my favorite pirate radio stations is Radio Casablanca.

Why?

For one thing the format is WWII-era music. When I hear Radio Casablanca, I close my eyes and imagine what it must have been like to hear the great bands of the era over the shortwaves…

Radio nostalgia at its best.

The signal strength is always sufficient to be heard in relatively good fidelity here in my radio room, but not so strong as to detract from the perceived distance. I believe the recording you’ll hear below could very well mimic broadcasts over shortwave, heard across borders during WWII as well as listened to on classic console radios in people’s living rooms and front parlors.

When my buddy Mark Coady posted that he was listening to Radio Casablanca Tuesday night on 6940 kHz AM, I immediately rushed outside to hook up my antenna, and started rolling. I didn’t want to miss even one more minute (I came across Mark’s post about twenty minutes into the broadcast). Though regional storms produced some static pops and crashes, overall fidelity is decent. You will hear the filter and side-band sync being adjusted at times as I attempted to eliminate adjacent noises–which, in the end, are all a part of the listening experience.

Click here to download an MP3 of the recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Either way, prepare to go (or at least, send your ears) back in time…

Pirate Radio Station BOCHF (Boards of Canada HF) back on air

Pirate Radio Recordings: BOCHF Radio (Boards of Canada HF)

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(Source: HF Underground)

Just last night, I came across a new shortwave pirate radio station: BOCHF.

BOCHF started broadcasting around 23:10 UTC on 6,925 kHz USB, and after about a twenty-five minute set, took a five minute break, then returned with a forty-two minute set, ending with an SSTV QSL. The signal, as you can hear below, is fairly strong, but interference was also strong at times; especially from SSB pescadores (fishermen) and the usual summer static crashes.

The entire mix consisted of Boards of Canada music from Tomorrow’s Harvest. There were no vocal ID’s, but there were messages in CW (Morse code) which clearly identifies this pirate as BOCHF.

The artists Boards of Canada have always had an affinity with shortwave radio, so I find a shortwave pirate station playing their music to be an appropriate tribute. Due to sound card problems, I was unable to decode the SSTV QSL, but thankfully a great copy was posted on HF Underground’s pirate radio forum (see above) by forum contributor, Chris Smolinski.

Click here to download MP3s of Part One and Part Two from the full broadcast last night or simply listen via the embedded audio players below:

BOCHF Part One:

BOCHF Part Two:

As I mentioned yesterday, Labor Day weekend is a great weekend to catch a few pirate stations on shortwave. Happy listening!