Tag Archives: Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio Recordings: Dit Dah Radio

Santa likes Dit Dah Radio!

Santa likes Dit Dah Radio!

Being a fan of Morse code (or CW), I have a special affinity for pirates that use “the sacred language” in their broadcasts.

Last night, around 00:30 UTC (only a few minutes after WKND began broadcasting) I heard Morse Code on 6.935 MHz USB.

If you, too, love Morse code, you’ll love “Dit Dah Radio;” after their preamble in Morse code, they follow with The Capris’ 1960’s hit, Morse Code of Love.

You can download the full recording as an MP3 file by clicking here, or listen via the embedded player below:

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Pirate Radio Recordings: WKND

1-RadioListening2

“Wow, that WKND sounds good!”

The holidays are a great time to listen for pirates on the shortwave spectrum. Since many pirates are on holiday leave from their day jobs, they have a little more time to broadcast.

Last night, the first pirate I heard was WKND on 9,625 kHz AM.

His station was quite clear, but modulation, perhaps, a tad low. Other noises, including Spanish SSB, can be heard in the background.

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

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Liquid Radio

LiquidRadioLast weekend, I also managed to record the shortwave radio pirate known as Liquid Radio–perhaps best known for their activity on the FM spectrum and on the web.

Liquid Radio’s format couldn’t be more different than our last pirate recording from Radio Casablanca; Liquid Radio plays a trance/techno/dance mix. Their last broadcast was nearly three hours long, and you’ll hear how fickle the propagation was as the signal waxes and wanes. I started recording their AM signal on 6.94 MHz around 4:00 UTC on Dec 16th.

You can click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Casablanca

CasablancaOn Sunday, December 17th, around 22:00 UTC, I happened to pick up the last thirty minutes of Radio Casablanca; a pirate that plays a nostalgic mix of music from the 1930’s and 1940’s. They were broadcasting on 6939 kHz in AM.

Close your eyes, and you can imagine what it must have sounded like back in the day Phyllis Jeanne Creore Westerman graced the shortwaves.

You’ll hear me tweaking the receiver in the first three minutes while, in the background, I was entertaining my children. I though about cutting it out but, on second thought, simply uploaded it as-is. I switched from a very wide AM bandwidth to AM sync and then AM sync with only the lower sideband (to kill some noise in the upper side band) after adjusting the center slightly below 6940 kHz.

I love how the recording starts on a tone and then morphs into Close as Pages in a Book by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra.

You can download the MP3 by clicking here, or simply listen in the embedded player below:

RadioCasablancaQSL122012

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Wolverine Radio, Dec 8 2012

Wolverine Radio’s upper side band signal came in loud and clear last Sunday (December 9, 2012) sometime around 2:25 UTC on 6940 kHz. Another great mix of music, complete with their interval signal.

It seems that their broadcast ended abruptly–no eQSL to decode at the end. Still, signal strength was quite good, as I’ve come to expect from this HF pirate.

Click here to download an MP3 of the entire show, or simply listen in the embedded Archive.org player below:

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Grizzly Bear Radio

A few weeks ago, I found a pirate I had never heard before: Grizzly Bear Radio. They quickly nullified my claim that Radio Appalachia was the only pirate I knew of that broadcasts bluegrass music. According to Grizzly Bear, they transmit from the northwest US, so the fact that I hear them at all speaks of good propagation and Grizzly Bear’s antennas.

At any rate, I did manage to capture almost their entire broadcast–nearly 5 hours!–on October 6th. Unlike many of my recordings, this one is faint at times and you’ll have to listen through the static.  Still, this is what I enjoy about pirate radio, hearing some unique audio through the static. As grandpa used to say, this “builds listening skills.”

You can download an mp3 of the full recording, or simply listen in the player embedded below.  Enjoy:

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Ronin Shortwave

(photo: Billboard.com)

Radio Ronin Shortwave’s AM signal came in loud and clear again last Friday night on 6925 kHz. Another great set of music–all pirate radio themed.  You’ll even hear KYAR  Pirate Radio from Pirates R Us.

This time, Ronin starts out with a Stones interval signal. You can download the MP3 or simply listen below:

Again, listener discretion is advised! This is pirate radio after all.

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