{"id":8851,"date":"2014-03-03T08:15:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T12:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=8851"},"modified":"2014-03-03T08:15:25","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T12:15:25","slug":"how-to-tune-in-pirate-radio-broadcasts-on-shortwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/how-to-tune-in-pirate-radio-broadcasts-on-shortwave\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Tune In Pirate Radio Broadcasts on Shortwave"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in the February 2014 issue of The Spectrum Monitor Magazine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"QSL<\/a>

QSL from Radio Gallifrey Intergalactic<\/p><\/div>\n

Even as many legacy international broadcasters are abandoning the shortwave bands, shortwave remains active and vibrant in another quadrant: namely, on shortwave pirate radio. Over the past few years, I\u2019ve found that one of my favorite listening activities has become searching for unique pirate radio stations, and readers of my blog appear to have followed suit. Among the most popular queries made by readers is, \u201cHow can I find and hear pirate radio stations?\u201d To help answer this question, I\u2019m writing this primer.<\/p>\n

Who are pirate radio stations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many are confused by the term \u201cpirate radio,\u201d otherwise known as \u201cfree radio.\u201d Either term is sufficient, and some stations prefer one designation or the other. For consistency\u2019s sake, I will use the term \u201cpirate radio\u201d in this article.<\/p>\n

So what is pirate radio? Andrew Yoder, author and publisher of the 2012 Pirate Radio Annual, defines pirate radio as:<\/p>\n

\u201c[A]ny unlicensed hobby broadcast operation that is using more power than the legal limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Yoder goes on to explain in his introduction of the 2012 Pirate Radio Annual, pirates are often confused with radio bootleggers (who conduct unlicensed two-way conversations), clandestine stations (usually political stations), and jammers (who intentionally try to block broadcasts).<\/p>\n

While debunking myths about pirates, I can say that in my years of pirate radio listening I\u2019ve never heard a pirate intentionally jam a legal broadcaster. \u00a0Pirates tend to occupy swatches of the shortwave spectrum that are relatively quiet, avoid intentionally broadcasting on top of one another, and typically operate at fairly low power. I believe this is why authorities like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) place shortwave pirates comparatively lower on their enforcement priority list.<\/p>\n

And while pirate radio stations can be found across the radio spectrum, especially on AM and FM in urban areas, in this primer I\u2019ll be focusing on those that inhabit the shortwaves.<\/p>\n

What do pirates broadcast?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pirates broadcast a wide variety of content, but are usually motivated by sharing their message–or favorite music–on the air. \u00a0Some pirates simply key down their mike and begin talking, sharing their political or social views; others offer near-professional music productions, complete with listener feedback, and often acknowledge listener reports with QSLs (radio postcards).<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>

I received this QSL from the amazing Radio Ronin Shortwave shortly before he received “the knock” from the FCC and stopped transmitting. (Listen to one of Ronin’s broadcasts below.)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"RadioRoninShortwave-QSL-Back\"<\/a> As a self-proclaimed \u201ccontent DXer,\u201d what interests me in pirate radio is that the listener never knows what to expect, but you can guarantee that the content will be different from that of the major broadcasters.<\/p>\n

To prove my point, here are some MP3 recordings of some of my favorite recent pirate radio stations\/broadcasts:<\/p>\n