Greek Tuesday

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MW seems very quiet on this Tuesday evening with quite long skip conditions. There is a Greek or Balkan blasting through on 1629 as I write, with lots of English music and the odd jingle. I'm trying to work out who it is, although I don't fancy my chances! I know a lot of these guys run a lot of power, although a look around the internet suggests there are plenty of low-power operators too:

Here are some logs and observations from the listening post here in England. I'm currently using the Lowe HF225 together with my usual Wellbrook LN1530 outdoor loop. Times, as always, are UTC:

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

1638          2047         Bluebird 55444 music programme       

1620          2135         Monaco 33333 music programme
1625          2224         Pandora 55444 report for Monaco

Monday, August 22, 2016

1635          1928         Blauwe Koe 35333 music programme

1640          1930         Veronica 35343 music programme

1620          1940         Zwarte Golf 35443 testing

1628          1958         Digitaal 35333-45444 testing
1620          2020         Vrolijke Mijnwerker 45434-54444 testing modulation

Sunday, August 21, 2016

1647          1712         Witte Tornado weak signal, 35453 at 1738. 45444 at 1957

1637          1743         Osaka 25352, 35453 at 1852, 45444 at 2006 music programme

1512          1809         Baantje 24442-34443 music programme

1615          1824         Batavier 25442 music programme

1611          1858         Billy De Bluffer Team 34333-44444 music programme

1671          1915         Twentana 35443, 45444 at 2033 music programme

1628          1923         Vrolijke Mijnwerker 45333-45444 testing

1630          2116         Pandora 45444 music programme

1620          2244         Barones 45344-55444 music programme

Observations

• It was interesting watching stations get slowly stronger on Sunday evening. Witte Tornado signed on for their weekly music programme at the usual 1700 Dutch time (1500 UTC) but the signal was weak when it started to break through a couple of hours later. Then, as you can see in the logs above, it got steadily stronger throughout the evening, peaking at 45444. The thing to notice though, is that the signal was audible here in England at just after 1700 UTC - over two hours before sunset. A good indication that autumn conditions are on the way. Once the clocks have changed in October Ill start to hear the Dutch pirates as early as 1400-1500 UTC and for longer during the mornings
• Osaka from Twente was on the air for a long broadcast on Sunday night. Again, his signal got stronger as the evening continued and was peaking very, very well
• There was a nice surprise on 1512 kHz when I caught Baantje on the frequency for the first time. He had set up his antenna to transmit on there earlier in the day for a QSO with Quintus, who had also been using the frequency
• 1611 was home to the Billy De Bluffer Team on Sunday evening, although there was some interference at times from another station, perhaps from Greece. Seven days earlier the Zwarte Panter had been using the frequency, and it was indeed his transmitter in use again on this occasion. He also had Twente pirate Billy De Bluffer in the studio, along with Japie De Blitzkikker, no longer a pirate but a MW regular back in the 1990s. Indeed, I once visited these two in around 1993. Fond memories of an outside shack with a big 1kw Rohde and Schwarz transmitter going at full pelt while a big group sat around outside drinking beer on draught! I wonder if I have any photos anywhere?