The longest day

So we've reached the longest day of the year. This morning the sun rose at 0445 and did not set until around 2135 this evening. It was also Father's Day here in England, so I've been busy being spoilt for most of the day!

I've just popped into the radio room for a few minutes though, and I'm happy to say there is a fairly good signal coming through on 1647. Of course, it's a Sunday night, so it has to be Witte Tornado and the Lady. It's especially good to hear them on air today as I'll be visiting them in a couple of weeks when I have a small holiday in the Netherlands. I'm going across the North Sea for the Summer Meeting and staying on for a few extra days to visit some more pirates. It will be great to catch up with some old friends and also make some new ones.

Now the days gradually begin to get shorter, propagation conditions for receiving the Dutch pirates on MW over here should begin to improve. I haven't been keeping a record of the stations I've heard recently as it hasn't really been worth it as reception has been so hit and miss. Last Sunday was interesting though because, despite conditions being poor, I was able to hear Soerabaya on 1622 kHz with a clear ID even though he was using less than 100 watts. That's pretty impressive given the propagation.

Nice to hear Marrianne during the week on 1635, and Wadloper was doing well one evening. I'm looking forward to catching up with him very soon, and watching him down bottle after bottle of beer as though it is water!

Looking back at my logs from last year, I reckon reception should improve a lot during the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll soon be telling you what I've been listening to rather than what I haven't been able to hear!