Late surge

We woke up to a covering of snow here in the UK on Tuesday morning and there have been plenty of strong winds as well. Unfortunately, the MW scene from the Netherlands was pretty quiet throughout the evening - perhaps something to do with the poor weather again, and some poor propagation conditions. It was not until just before midnight that some decent signals started to arrive, with Relmus, Casablanca and Calipso all coming in very well. I made a recording while all three were on air at the same time - it makes for interesting listening when you compare the signal strengths together with audio and modulation quality. Click here to take a listen

As I write these words I am listening to the 'pirate' station Radio North from Ireland on 846 kHz. The signal here for their non-stop country music is very strong. 

Here are the recent logs from this side . . .

Tuesday, February 5, 2013
1629       2115       JB 34433
1655       2144       Relmus 44444-55444 music programme
1646       2321       Vrolijke Mijnwerker 34333 qsoing
1650       2326       Monte Carlo 24322 qsoing
1636       2330       Romax 24322-34333 qsoing
1638       2350       Calipso 55544-55555 music programme
1648       0000       Casablanca 54444 music programme
1656       0030       Jeneverstoker qsoing

Monday, February 4, 2013
1655       1747       Relmus 34433-55555 testing the audio
1650       1748       Zwarte Boekanier 44434 music programme
1633       1757       Vrije Vogel music programme
1662       1814       Oldtimer 33433 music programme
1638       1905       Calipso 55544 music programme
1670       1909       Luxemburg 24322 testing
1645       2248       Batavier 23432-44444 music programme
1630       2306       Pandora 44444 qsoing
1629       0005       Bluebird 23422 qsoing
1652       0006       Jeneverstoker 24432-34533 report for Relmus
1647       0024       Casablanca qsoing
1620       0041       Pionier testing

Observations

• On Tuesday evening many of the sinpos were lower than usual because of the poor conditions. By around midnight, however, propagation seemed to have improved and stations were coming in nearer to their usual strength
• There were a couple of interesting catches on Monday. Bluebird was again doing well with low power, and it is was interesting to hear Luxemburg on 1670. It sounded like he was testing as he was playing lots of jingles and IDs. Maybe also low power? 

• As Tuesday morning arrived there was some dance music on 1620. I've heard this a few times recently, often late at night. The signal is coming from a new 30 watt transmitter of Radio Pionier. And for the power, it has been doing very well. The station previously used a vertical antenna as many of the Dutch pirates. Now, though, Pionier has a dipole.