I had a nice delivery from the postman a couple of days ago when a package of qsls arrived with a Christmas card from Radio Odynn, who was active on 1617 kHz into the early hours of this morning on a busy couple of days for Dutch AM pirate radio.
There were plenty of stations active as 2015 drew to a close, and more of them trying out in-band frequencies. Utopia and Dikke Betta were busy on 1593 kHz, and Barones was active on 1575, 1521 and 1512 before later moving up to 1620. And down the band, 675 kHz and 747 continues to be popular, especially with Blue Star, although I have still not managed to hear him despite his signal always being pretty good higher on MW.
During New Year's Eve morning, Twentse Adelaar made an appearance on 1638 kHz, and it seems he attracted the attention of the authorities because today I got an unconfirmed report the AT were spotted at his location taking photographs. This would suggest he can expect a letter in the coming weeks warning him to stay off the air. It seems the crackdown continues.
I imagine 1440 kHz will become a hotspot for pirate activity soon enough now RTL has left the frequency. The departure of the French broadcaster in the early hours of this morning was tinged with sadness, given the great 208 metres housed Radio Luxembourg for so long, paving the way for the offshore pirates of the 1960s and proving so alluring to teenagers through the decades. Several generations will have fond memories of listening to that big signal fading up and down as it brought the sounds of the day to a transistor radio hidden under the bedclothes.
From 0000 to 0200 on December 31, RTL aired a fascinating documentary about Radio Luxembourg that first aired when the station closed down in 1991. You can listen to it or download it here:
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