Screen capture of the Web SDR waterfall tuned to 6,998 kHz.
On Friday, Andrea Borgnino, tweeted that he could once again hear “The Buzzer” on 6,998 kHz. Of course, during the day, I couldn’t hear the signal from my home in North America.
I could, however, easily hear the signal via the University Twente Web SDR in the Netherlands.
Here’s my recording:
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m pretty sure this is simply a pirate having a little fun relaying UVB-76 audio on 6,998 kHz.
Image: Andrea Borgnino
My buddy, Andrea Borgnino, recently heard UVB-76 (The Buzzer) on 6,998 kHz with his Elecraft K3 in Italy. Check out this short video:
New buzzer on 6998 khz received in Roma @sicral @dxcoffee @SWLingDotCom @LondonShortwave @priyom_org @Spy_Stations pic.twitter.com/nd5cBkDTEh
— Andrea Borgnino (@aborgnino) November 1, 2015
While the audio sounds identical to that of UVB-76’s on 4,625 kHz. I strongly suspect this is simply a pirate radio station relay–especially since it’s broadcasting just below the 40 meter ham radio band. Either way, it’s a great catch! Thanks for sharing, Andrea!
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
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: 17825khzNovember 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 programsEach of these special transmissions will have a special E-QSL.
Good Listening!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who notes that Radio Taiwan International will be testing a new broadcast schedule to Latin America October 27-29.
Frequencies and times are as follows:
Send your reception reports to: [email protected].
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:
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!
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.
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.