Manic Monday

Greetings from England, where it is 0200 local time as I write this from the radio room while listening to Laser Hot Hits booming in on 4026 kHz. It's nice and warm inside, but the frost is forming outside and it's a cold night. 

The days are getting shorter and shorter, which is a good thing for trying to catch signals on MW from the Netherlands and on Monday I was able to hear a station on 1625 at 1215 UTC - that's very early indeed. I wasn't able to catch an ID, but music could clearly be heard.

I've been trying out a new addition to the radio collection at this side. I've acquired a Philips B5X14A, which was made in the Netherlands in 1961 and can be seen in pirate studios throughout the country. It looks great and it performs very well. In fact, on Monday evening I was able to hear Monte Carlo on 1635 and Utopia on 1611 without an external antenna - fine conditions on the band and a very well-made receiver. Here are a couple of pictures . . . 

And so on to the stations heard recently . . . 

Monday, December 10, 2012

1642       1749       Blauwe Reiger 35433 qsoing

1615       1750       Alpenjager 34433 qsoing

1647       1802       Calipso 54544 music programme     

1636       1902       Zwarte Arabier 45433 qsoing

1625       1911       Roderover 35433 qsoing

1655       2156       Carona 44544 music programme              

1611       2156       Utopia 34533-44534 music programme

1658       2156       Sluwe Vos 23522 music programme 20 watts

1663       2157       Readymix

1635       2207       Monte Carlo 35443-45544 music programme      

1650       2213       Vrolijke Mijnwerker 55444 qsoing

1654       2231       Noordzee 54444 qsoing

1647       2236       Toulouse 45434 qsoing

1647       2251       Jeneverstoker 24432 qsoing

1665       2252       Potkachel 44444-55544 music programme

1633       2300       Barcelona 55444-55555 qsoing

1647       2306       Casablanca 45534 music programme

1665       0000       Monte Carlo 44544 report for Potkachel

1654       0003       Jeneverstoker 25432 report for Potkachel

Observations

• There was some early-evening qso action at the top of the MW band before Calipso switched on for a fine music programme for several hours. As usual the signal was booming across the North Sea
• Nice to hear the Zwarte Arabier for the first time in a while and also to catch the Roderover (you can hear him by clicking here)
• When condtions work in our favour here in the UK, it's possible to hear stations running very low power, and there was a fine example on Monday with Sluwe Vos. He was running only 20 watts yet was peaking really well. Even with Vrolijke Mijnwerker nearby to his frequency, and later with Potkachel close to 1658, it was still possible to hear Sluwe Vos talking and to identify many of the tracks being played
• The man with a million names became Potkachel on Monday. When he started his transmission the audio was very wide. In fact, it was possible to hear the station from 1645-1685. However, this was soon reduced and his famous voice was on air for a while with some interesting music before a qso with Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Jeneverstoker and Casablanca. Click here was a recording of how Potkachel was received at our location towards the end of his broadcast