I've just popped down to the radio room and after rotating the loop antenna a little I have finally found some decent signals from the Netherlands at the top of the MW band. The noise floor remains higher than the usual during the winter, which means signals aren't sounding as strong as they might, and I think propagation is far from perfect, but hopefully tonight's reception is a taster of what might be to come during the coming weeks.
King of the band right now is Relmus on 1655 kHz. His international programmes always go down well with listeners and tonight is no exception. Joining him in the studio on the north coast of the Netherlands is Yogi Bear, Wadloper and Dr Einstein. There are some great peaks on the signal, and it's the strongest I've heard a Dutch pirate for some time. You can get an idea of the reception from this recording:
A little down the band on 1647 is Witte Tornado, while Titanic is on 1625, Zwarte Panter (Oldenzaal) is on 1614 and Turftrekker is doing very well on 1611. There are various other stations broadcasting as well, and the band is nice and busy. Long may it stay long this, with propagation conditions and reception continuing to improve.
Good evening from a wet and windy UK.
Apologies for lack of activity on the blog during the last couple of weeks. Things have been busy here, but also poor conditions on the MW band for receiving the Dutch pirates means I've not been doing much listening. Take right now, for example. The radio is tuned to Witte Tornado on 1647, but the signal that is usually so solid is nowhere near as strong and is fading around. While evening reception of shortwave pirates has improved, the opposite is the case on MW.
A few times recently I've actually thought there has been a problem with the antennas here due to poor reception, but luckily all is good with them. I'll just have to sit tight and wait for propagation to improve, I guess.
