A little late night listening

On Sunday morning my alarm sounded at around 0715. The plan was to get out of bed, come down to the radio room and listen to some of the Dutch pirates on MW. I was hoping to hear Zonnester on his usual broadcast, followed by a nice qso. However, it had been a late night and I went back to sleep! 

For a while in the afternoon I listening to free radio activity on shortwave, although conditions were not good at all. On 48 metres, the signals were weak, but there was a standout sound on 41 metres - the Free Radio Service Holland was very strong on 7685. You can hear the quality of reception by listening to a long recording I made. Click here to download it.

It was late in the evening before I got a chance to listen to the MW band. This is what I heard . . .

Late night Sunday, December 30, 2012 / Monday December 31, 2012
1637       0035       Alaska 34543 testing
1636       0039       Soerabaya 24532-35543 qsoing
1665       0050       Polkaman 24532 music programme
1640       0059       Pandora 55544 report for Alaska and Soerabaya
1652       0150       Jeneverstoker 33433 music programme

Observations

• Hearing low power pirates is always interesting for me. Radio Soerabaya runs around 100 watts and was busy qsoing around 1636. His signal was a little up and down but with some very nice peaks. Have a listen here
• This was the first time I have heard Radio Alaska. When I first heard him tonight he was reporting to another station. Then he returned with a test and a report for Soerabaya. Apparently he was using 100 watts, but he tried an experiment and turned down the power to ten watts. The results were impressive, especially as propagation conditions did not seem to be at their best. You can find my recording here. Broadcasting from the east of the Netherlannds, his antenna is 24 metres high
• As usual, Pandora was very strong indeed and with excellent modulation quality