Tag Archives: Pirate Radio

Halloween = Pirate Radio

1.

Check out Andrew Yoder’s pirate radio blog with its deceptively simple title, the Hobby Broadcasting blog.

Andrew is the author of the Pirate Radio Annual and a guru on shortwave pirate radio. His blog is still relatively new, but he has already posted several station loggings and QSLs. He’s even logged some Halloween stations, as Halloween began last night in Universal Time.

2.

Like Andrew, 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–of course, I’ll also be listening to the Global 24 sign on.

Happy Halloween to all!

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Brooklyn pirates “hijacking” the airwaves

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Thanks to many of you who sent me a link to this article in the New York Post. Here’s an excerpt:

Brooklyn radio fans are fighting a pirate invasion — demanding a crackdown on illicit Caribbean, Hebrew and shock-jock stations hijacking the airwaves.

Dozens of unlicensed shows operate in New York City on an average evening and the state is home to 25 percent of the nation’s pirate transmissions, according to the FCC.

But many radio amateurs aren’t forced to walk the plank. Instead, they find new hideaways for their equipment as FCC budget cuts decrease enforcement.

There were 46 FCC field actions in New York City in 2013, compared to just 20 through July 31 of this year, government data show.

Ike, a Sunset Park resident, launched Brooklyn Pirate Watch, a Twitter feed — @BkPirateWatch — to track rogue radio transmissions.

“I’m fascinated by the pirates,” he said. “Especially .?.?. their ability to get support from advertisers who .?.?. don’t care that they’re advertising on illegal stations.”

“Brooklyn Pirate Watch” has clocked one pirate at 94.3 FM, where a host shouted for female listeners to tune in while wearing lingerie. There’s also Radyo Independans, a

Haitian Creole station squatting on 90.9 FM, according to Jersey City indie station WFMU — which claims its legal broadcasts at 91.1 FM are often interrupted by its illicit rival.

[…] Pirates are going strong because the radio tools are cheap and their audiences are often “way less wired,” WFMU general manager Ken Freedman said.

Continue reading at the NY Post website…

I love that last quote by WFMU general manager, Ken Freedman. If listeners in Brooklyn, New York are “way less wired” imagine how shortwave listeners are in, say, South Sudan?

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Generation Wild 100

Pirate Radio Recordings: The Crystal Ship

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For your listening pleasure: one hour, forty two minutes of the pirate radio station, The Crystal Ship.

Last night, TCS broadcast on 6,876 kHz (via the TCS Shortwave Relay Network) starting around 2:05 UTC on July 4th, 2014.

TCS played a wide variety of patriotic songs honoring Independence Day.

TCS’ AM signal was strong enough that it could still be easily heard over the higher-than-normal noise level. Hurricane Arthur–which was approaching the coasts of North and South Carolina at time of recording–generated static crashes and noise in excess of S4 on my receiver’s meter. Fortunately, the WinRadio Excalibur’s sync detector helped mitigate some of that noise.

Click here to download the full recording of The Crystal Ship, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

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Radio World: Dr. Benway’s Good Deed

Pirate Radio Recordings: Tip & Elvis Show

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Led Zepplin is one of the many artists you’ll hear on this pirate broadcast.

For your listening pleasure: over two hours of the Tip and Elvis Show. This Euro pirate broadcast was recorded by Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Frank.

Tip and Elvis was broadcasting on 6,220 kHz in AM–you’ll hear some adjacent digital interference, but signal strength is pretty good for (most likely low power) pirate radio. This recording starts around 20:30 GMT on May 31, 2014.

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

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Wolverine Radio

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SWLing Post reader, Steve Yoth, decoded this Wolverine QSL two weeks ago using a Flex 3000.

A previous eQSL from Wolverine Radio. Try decoding the one at the end of this recording!

For your listening pleasure: 1 hour, 20 minutes of the pirate radio station, Wolverine Radio–recorded May 26, 2014 starting around 1:20 UTC.

Wolverine was broadcasting on 6,950 kHz in the upper side band. Typical of Wolverine, lots of music variety which spans the decades and no commentary other than station ID throughout.

At the end of this recording, you’ll hear an SSTV QSL card being transmitted.

Try decoding the QSL image from this recording–it’s quite easy! I usually decode Wolverine’s SSTV QSL with Chris Smolinski’s SSTV app for iPhone, but there are other programs to do this. The eQSL above came from a broadcast about two weeks ago and was submitted by SWLing Post reader, Steve Yoth.

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

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