(Source: PCJ Media)
Due to co-channel interference on 11750khz we will change frequency for this Sunday. The new frequency is 11835khz. Your comments and reports about this new frequency are important. So tune in this Sunday and let us know.
June 2nd – 1300 to 1400UTC
June 9th – 1300 to 1400UTC
June 16th – 1300 to 1400UTC
June 23rd – 1300 to 1400UTC
June 30th – 1300 to 1400UTC
July 7th – 1300 to 1400UTC
Frequency: 11835khz (25 meter band)
Target Area: East and Southeast Asia
Power: 125kw
“Timmy, that’s Radio Strange Outpost 7! Get your decoder ring!”
While attending the Winter SWL Fest this year in Plymouth Meeting, PA, I left my WinRadio Excalibur running day and night back home, recording spectrum in the pirate radio watering hole. I always find that while shortwave pirate activity is slightly lower during the SWL Fest (because many pirates are in attendance), there are always some interesting stations I miss.
This year, I was chatting with famed Pirate Radio enthusiast/author, Andrew Yoder and mentioned how I love rare pirates like Radio Strange Outpost 7. He then told me that he’d just noticed a logging of RSO7 on a pirate radio forum. I quickly logged into my home computer (via smart phone) and could see that my receiver had been capturing the right frequencies at the right time. When I returned home, I dug through the spectrum and found the broadcasts of RSO7 and Shrunken Head Radio (possibly the same pirate?) via the WBNY relay service. Woo hoo!
RSO7 is semi-cryptic, quirky and always fun (check out my off-air recording from last year). Though this broadcast contains no real music content from RSO7, Shrunken Head radio does.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
For your listening pleasure: almost three hours of music–ranging from modern to folk–and a little Greek commentary, from the Voice of Greece.
Recorded today, May 13, 2013 on 9.42 MHz starting around 01:52 UTC.
Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
(Source: VOA Radiogram)
VOA Radiogram for the weekend of May 11 and 12 will feature long stretches of VOA News in plain text, using the MFSK 32 and 64 modes. No Flmsg or Flamp this time. This weekend’s program will also include our first test of slow scan television (SSTV).
Here is the lineup:
MFSK16 (2:28) Preview
MFSK32 (12:08) VOA News stories
The first of the three stories will be in Spanish. This is to determine how letters with accent marks appear on your display. The second VOA news story will be followed by an accompanying MFSK32 imageMFSK16 Intro to the next mode
MFSK64 (3:34) VOA News story
MFSK16 Intro to the next mode
SSTV Scottie DX (4:31)
There are several software programs that decode SSTV, including Digital Master 780 (DM780) andMMSSTV. A free receive-only SSTV decoder is RX-SSTV from users.belgacom.net/hamradio/rxsstv.htmMFSK16 (1:11) Closing announcements
Closing music, accompanied by the surprise mode of the week
Please send reception reports to [email protected]
Screenshots and audio samples are welcome, especially audio of less than perfect reception conditions.
VOA Radiogram transmission schedule
(all days and times UTC)
Sat 1600-1630 17860 kHz
Sun 0230-0300 5745 kHz
Sun 1300-1330 6095 kHz
Sun 1930-2000 15670 kHz
All via the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station in North Carolina.
“What better way could we celebrate this day than listening to Radio Cinco De Mayo?”
Radio Cinco De Mayo made its annual broadcast on (you guessed it!) May 5th, 2013, starting around 00:17 UTC on 6925 kHz USB.
Early Saturday morning, the band’s condition sounded like that of summer, with atmospheric noises (a few static crashes, produced by local thunderstorms), but propagation was steady and the overall quality very respectable.
You can download an MP3 of the full recording by clicking here, or by listening via the embedded player below:
Check out Ragnar’s off-air recording of Radio Cinco De Mayo (and more!) on his PiratesWeek podcast.
UPDATE (May 08): Just received my Radio Cinco De Mayo QSL:
The Art of Noise kicks off this Mighty KBC broadcast. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The Mighty KBC broadcast again early this morning (from 00:00-02:00 UTC) on their new summer frequency of 9,925 kHz. Their signal from Nauen, Germany was packing 125 kW–it was amazingly strong into North America. As we’ve come to expect, the KBC’s Giant Jukebox of music has a lot of rock-n-roll and Euro-pop variety, spanning the decades; DJ, “Uncle Eric” knows how to entertain and spin the tunes!
You can listen to the full recording below in the embedded player, or simply right click this link and save the MP3 file to your computer:
You’ll notice that Kim Elliott has another installation of digital text modes in this broadcast. Decode these digital modes using Fldigi from www.w1hkj.com. Be sure to check out Dr. Elliott’s VOA Radiogram website for full details about this broadcast.
“No shrimp? No problem!” Pirates on board! (Original source: Wikimedia Commons)
“We’re shrimpin,’ but they’re not bitin’!”
Last night, a very unique pirate radio station emerged from the static on 6,925 kHz USB: Shrimp Boat Radio. It seems a shrimp boat radio pirate found himself bored on board, due to a lack of shrimp–but his boredom became our gain with an offer to talk shrimpin,’ fishin,’ or just take music requests…live.
This is the stuff great pirate radio is made of. He started with a request for the Rolling Stones; next Black Cat Radio‘s Greaser Bob chimed in with a request for GNR. And there began an evening of pirate radio with live on-air requests.
You can tell that this was a completely impromptu production–and it was all the better for it. Not too long into the show, he took on the alternate name Freakin’ Awesome Radio (WFAR).
Hearing a live pirate radio request show was a first for me, and the sort of thing that gets this “content DXer” enthused. I’m glad I had the tape rolling! I hope he reappears on the band in the future.
Note that I start the recording at the very first announcement from WSBR. If you want to skip to the first music request, fast-forward to about 11 minutes into the recording (you’ll miss some great banter, though). There are a few long breaks of static in the recording where this pirate scrambled to find and play music requests, but this just adds to the authenticity.
Click here to download the full recording of Shrimp Boat Radio, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Enjoy!