Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Like father like son

A few months ago I started seeing regular logs for a station called the Friese Piraat, but I hadn't managed to catch any broadcasts for myself. However, last Friday the signal was coming through on 1629 kHz and I was able to find out a little more about this recent addition to the MW scene.



Although the signal was not so strong, it was doing pretty well considering the time was well before sunset and that the transmitter power is only 100 watts. As you can see on the video, the signal was coming in better at this time than the station on 1620.

It's not uncommon in the Netherlands for families to be involved together in the hobby, combining to run a station or operating more than one station. However, the Friese Piraat is a little different. Yes, it is a father and son who have put the station on air every week for the last six months, but the son spinning the records is only 13 years old - surely the youngest currently on the MW scene. 

I've often wondered what will become of the hobby in the next 20 or 30 years and thought that perhaps the MW pirate scene will simply fade out. But with the interest in AM being passed down through families despite our digital age, and the next generation of Dutch pirates starting to hit the air - Radio Joey on shortwave is another example - there could be more life in our pastime than plenty of us thought.

And now I can share with you just what the Friese Piraat set-up looks like, from studio through to transmitter and some of the record collection . . .


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3 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting the video, photos and the interesting comments.

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  2. Hi David, hope you are well.

    I've recently purchased the Tecsun - not bad for under £35, is it? Regards.

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  3. Hey Charlie. I think mine was about £30, so that sounds about right. Let me know how you get on with it and what pirates you can hear!

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