Category Archives: What’s On Shortwave

Halloween 2015: Chris charts pirate radio activity

Many thanks to Chris Smolinski, from the HF Underground, who has crunched some numbers from North American pirate radio loggings on Halloween. The number of pirates (and his charts with times and frequencies) are most impressive and informative.

Chris posted the following on the HF Underground and has kindly allowed me to share them here as well. Chris notes:

Here are two charts showing who-was-on-when-and-where this Halloween.

The first one is for Friday night:

Click to enlarge.

And the second is Halloween (Saturday) night:

Click to enlarge

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PCJ special broadcasts to Europe and SE Asia

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UPDATE: Frequency has changed. Please read this update.

(Source: PCJ Media Press Release)

October 29, 2015

Beginning November 14th, 2015. PCJ Radio International will offer a series of special broadcasts before the end of the year for listeners in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Time: 0900 to 1000 UTC
Frequency: 17825khz

November 14th – Say It With Music
November 21st – Call it Ukraine
November 28th – Rockin’ with Raoul
December 5th – Classics with David Monson
December 12th – Special Jazz For The Asking
December 19th – European radio during WW2 (documentary)
December 26th – Special listeners programs

Each of these special transmissions will have a special E-QSL.

Good Listening!

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RTI test broadcasts to Central/South America

Excellent current conditions, evidenced by today’s 31 meter logs

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This morning, before heading out the door, I tuned around the 31 meter broadcast band. I’ve actually been recording 640 kHz of the 31 meter band for almost 24 hours, trying to capitalize on the fact that propagation conditions have been the best I’ve seen in several months. At some point in the future, I’ll load this recording, tune through it and remind myself what’s possible when propagation is favorable! Check out the waterfall screenshot above.

Asian stations had a strong showing on the band in eastern North America this morning.

Here are the stations I logged starting around 12:30 UTC today:

9395 WRMI English
9410 China National Radio 5 Chinese
9420 China National Radio 13 Uyghur
9430 FEBC Radio Chinese
9440 China Radio International Cambodian
9460 China Radio International English
9470 UNID (weak)
9490 Voice of America Korean
9500 China National Radio 1 Chinese
9515 China National Radio 2 Chinese
9540 China Radio International Chinese
9550 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
9570 China Radio International Cantonese
9575 All India Radio Tibetan
9580 Radio Australia English
9600 China Radio International English
9620 All India Radio Sindhi
9635 Voice of Vietnam 1 Vietnamese
9640 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
9645 China Radio International English
9650 Radio Sonder Grense Afrikaans (with QRM)
9660 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
9665 KCBS Pyongyang Korean (weak)
9680 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
9700 Radio New Zealand International English
9710 China National Radio 1 Chinese
9720 Reach Beyond Australia (HCJB) Indonesian
9730 China Radio International English
9735 Radio Taiwan International Indonesian
9740 BBC English
9750 NHK World Radio Japan (?) Japanese
9760 China Radio International English
9785 China Radio International Laotian (?)
9805 Radio Marti Spanish (w/accompanying Cuban jammer)
9820 Radio Habana Cuba Spanish
9830 China National Radio 1 Chinese (with RTTY QRM)
9835 RTM Sarawak FM Malaysian (very weak)
9840 Voice of Vietnam English
9845 China National Radio 1 Chinese (weak)
9855 China Radio International Chinese
9870 AIR New Delhi Hindi
9880 KSDA-AWR Guam Korean
9920 FEBC Radio Hre
9955 WRMI English
9980 WWCR English
10000 WWV Ft. Collins

That’s 46 signals in a space of 640 kHz–not bad!

I dare say: these excellent band conditions will not last forever.

Make time to play radio today!

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The bands are open! Make time to listen.

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Though I’ve spent the entire day sawing and splitting firewood, I’ve been actively recording spectrum on the 31, 25, 19 and 16 meter bands with the WinRadio Excalibur, Elad FDM-S2 and the SDRplay RSP. Why? Propagation–especially on the higher bands–has been the best it’s been in several weeks.

As I discovered at the recent SWLing Post DXpedition, my shack PC can handle making multiple spectrum recordings simultaneously as long as I limit each recording to the width of a broadcast band. (I’ve never tried pushing the limit very hard.) Someday in the future–perhaps when we’re having terrible propagation–I’ll play those spectrum recordings back and tune through them as if they were live.

Radio time travel at its best.

Sony-ICF-SW100-Outside-2

When I decided to throw in the towel with all of the firewood processing, I fired up the Sony ICF-SW100 (above) and tuned in a game on 17,855 kHz: Radio Exterior de España.

The REE signal was simply booming into eastern North America!

Hard to break away from the radio on days like this.

My advice? Take advantage of these conditions and make time to listen!

For me, SWLing a great excuse to relax and let me back heal after a long day of splitting wood. For some, perhaps it’s a good excuse to take the radio outdoors and away from urban interference. Whatever the excuse, don’t hesitate to fire up your radio!

There are some interesting stations on the bands this evening. Feel free to comment with some you’ve logged.

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ITU Monitoring Programme: 2.85 to 28 MHz

A PARI DXpedition update

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Mark Fahey, scanning the bands with his WinRadio Excalibur/Surface Pro 2 combo

The SWLing Post DXpedition at PARI is going very well. We started yesterday around noon with beautiful fall weather; late last night, it started raining but that hasn’t dampened our spirits today.

Despite the wet, chilly weather, Gary Donnelly (above) has been logging numerous shortwave stations during the day and mediumwave stations at night via his assortment of ultralight radios. Bill Boyd, another DXpeditioner, has been travelling the 200 acre PARI campus and listening via his Tecsun PL-880.

DXpeditioner, Mark Fahey, has traveled here from his home in Australia, thus he’s particularly enjoyed hearing South American stations which are somewhat rare in his corner of the world. Today alone, Mark snagged two other firsts: the time station CHU Canada, and a perfect two hour recording of the Voice of Nigeria in DRM. Mark says that his listening expectations are turned upside down, because day/night band openings are nearly opposite of what he’s used to. This is the great thing about SWLing during travels: exotic stations become much lower hanging fruit.

Screenshot of the Elad FDM-S2 on part of the 19 meter band

Mark and I have set up a table full of SDRs and have been actively recording spectrum while listening. We have a WinRadio Excalibur, Elad FDM-S2 and the SDRplay RSP.

We also have the CommRadio CR-1 hooked up: it has been a fantastic receiver for visitors to use and a brilliant auxiliary receiver while both SDRs have been recording spectrum simultaneously.