Interesting catches

The clock has just ticked over to Wednesday and the temperature outside feels not far above zero degrees. It's nice and warm here in the radio room, though, and I'm listening to Radio Bluebird on 1638 kHz as I write these words. Around an hour ago Radio Barcelona was booming in on 1633, and I made this short video. You can see his signal is peaking very near to 80% on the meter - a figure only a handful of Dutch pirates are able to achieve

Conditions for receiving our friends in the Netherlands on Tuesday evening were variable, sometimes dipping right down. However, that didn't stop some interesting catches, including a station heard here for the first time and a few putting in some rare appearances. Have a look at the logs . . . 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

1647       1800       Armada 45534 testing

1629       1806       Flevojager 33433-44544 music programme

1640       1829       Baanbreker 24322-34433 qsoing

1621       1900       Karbijn 35333-44444 asking for report

1625       1906       Zwarte Diamont 35333 qsoing

1635       1910       Relmus 43433-55544 testing audio 

1636       1950       Nooitgedacht 45434-55444 music programme

1665       2011       Polkaman 25322-35333 music programme

1629       2035       Turftrekker 42442-43443 music programme

1616       2041       Zorro en Karbijn 35333 testing 

1645       2058       JB 45444-55444 asking for report

1651       2104       Turfsteker 35333 report for JB

1633       2106       Brandaris 44444 asking for report

1640       2107       Nova 4 34333 qsoing

1633       2130       Ridiculous 22322 qsoing 

1629       2207       Denappel 35333 testing

1633       2241       Barcelona 55544-55555 music programme

1638       2355       Bluebird 55544-55555 music programme

Observations

• The new one was Karbijn, heard firstly on 1621 and later on 1616 with Zorro, although they were also testing on various other nearby frequencies. On the peaks, the signal came up quite well. I don't know much about this station at the moment, although I'm guessing they have an FM background
• There were a couple of rarities on 186 metres tonight. Firstly, it was a nice surprise to catch Nooitgedacht for the first time in a while. He used to be a regular on the band in the 1990s but is not so active these days, although he still always uses 1636 kHz, just like he did 20+ years ago. As ever, the signal was one of the strongest on the band. Another station not heard very often who appeared tonight was Denappel. He was using 1629 and seemed to be testing, so perhaps we can expect to hear more from him in the coming days

• Great to catch Brandaris on the band as well - the first time I've heard him since August 26. His audio always stands out and tonight was no exception. He was asking for a report and playing a few records before a qso with Ridiculous. That station is more usually on SW, and this might have been the first time I've heard him on MW
• Relmus was testing a different audio system on 1635 and sounding pretty good. Conditions deteriorated a little while he was on air, so I look forward to hearing him when propagation is a little more favourable