Back from the island

From August 5 I spent a week in Ibiza with my wife and two daughters. The weather was hot, the drinks were flowing and we had a great time. 

I read that the island attracts most of its holidaymakers from Spain, Britain and the Netherlands, and indeed we did hear many Dutch accents during our stay. That got me wondering if I saw any pirates in Ibiza, especially when one one afternoon we took a boat trip and a Dutch chap in front of us had a tattoo across the top of his back. It read AM DJ!

I took the KPO receiver with me and a little loop antenna for MW reception, but I didn't manage to hear any pirates, although I listened out only a few times. There was plenty of local noise from the hotel and the very hot weather meant there was lots of static on the bands as well.

Back here in England there's no chance of getting burnt by the sun. It's rained all day long and the forecast resembles something from early autumn rather than the height of the summer. Propagation seems to be pretty good on MW and SW though. 

One of the first stations I heard when we returned from holiday was Radio Universe from the Netherlands. I hadn't heard him for ages, so it was a nice surprise to catch him on the air, even if it was just the last few minutes of his broadcast.

I've got another loop antenna on the way from Wellbrook Communications, which will be interesting to try out. It's a new design which promises a little less gain on signals but a significantly lower noise floor. That should prove ideal for picking low power Dutch pirate signals out of the ether on MW during the next few months. I will of course report back with my findings.