Tag Archives: Shortwave Pirates

Pirate Radio Recordings: Dit Dah Radio

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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:

Pirate Radio Recordings: WKND

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“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:

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Casablanca

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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

Pirate Radio Recordings: True Classic Rock Radio

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Last weekend, I caught a shortwave pirate I’d never heard before: True Classic Rock Radio.

Well, at least I’m pretty confident that’s their name. When I first heard their ID I couldn’t confirm it, but when I passed the clip to my buddy Andrew, he nailed it.

Funny thing is, when I go back and listen to the station ID now (check it out around 17:30, and then again at the end of transmission) it sounds so obvious.

This short broadcast includes some great classic rock and ends with Hendrix. I didn’t note the exact time they began to broadcast, but I heard them on between 3:00-4:00 UTC, on 6,925 kHz AM, December 8, 2012. Click here to download the mp3 directly, or listen through our Archive.org player:

Pirate Radio Recordings: Grizzly Bear Radio

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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:

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Ronin Shortwave

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Radio Ronin starts off his set with Steppenwolf.

Saturday night was one of the most active nights for pirate radio I’ve heard in some time. No doubt, pirates were taking advantage of the quiet atmospheric conditions.

Radio Ronin was the first station I heard Saturday evening. His AM signal was very strong with only slight fading on 6,955 kHz. The mix includes mostly classic rock, starting things off with groups like Steppenwolf, the Steve Miller Band, and Pink Floyd, then moving into rock music of the 80s and beyond. I also included a few minutes of his interval signal (yep, even pirates have interval signals).

Enjoy below, or download the MP3 here:

Pirate Radio Recordings: X-FM

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Listening conditions Saturday night were  pretty good–we had clear skies and  though propagation wasn’t excellent, I did manage to record a full broadcast (over 3 hours) of X-FM.

X-FM typically features a wide variety of music spanning trance/electronica to varieties of rock/metal. This broadcast was no exception–hear for yourself:

PLEASE NOTE: While most of the music in this broadcast is perfectly safe, parents should note that some songs contain explicit lyrics. If you’re easily offended, you might want to slowly back away.  After all, this is pirate radio!

UPDATE: Check out the QSL card I received for this broadcast:

Click to enlarge