The Dutch visitor

Last week I received a message from one of the Dutch MW pirates saying he would be in England in a few days time through his work as a lorry driver. And it turned out he would be travelling pretty close to where we live. So, on Tuesday at just after midday we met up with Cyril, the operator of Radio Benjamin, who can be heard at the very top of the MW band every now and again.

We thought it best he didn't bring his lorry to our small street, so we met Cyril at the local railway station and took him to a pub out in the country for lunch, where a few pints of cider and a plate of sandwiches went down pretty well. After that we did a little sight-seeing and showed Cyril some of the high points in area. As the Netherlands is so flat, hills are always of interest!

Then it was back to our place, where we cracked open a few bottles of Grolsch and spent some time down in the radio room. 

A few of the empty beer bottles!

Conditions weren't particularly good on either SW or MW while Cyril was here, but he did get to hear a fine signal from Vrolijke Mijnwerker, who was coming in loud and clear. Interestingly it seems that when Mijnwerker uses his wire antenna the signal is better here than at Cyril's location. The greater skywave would explain that, but still surprising.

My two children were particularly interested in our Dutch visitor and even put on a little magic show for him! When the time came to take Cyril back to the railway station they had to come in the car and wave goodbye to their special guest. Perhaps we will be seeing him over in the Netherlands next time.