Catch of the day

The last few days might not have seen a huge amount of MW pirate activity, but some of the Dutch stations heard here in England have raised plenty of talking points.

It is usually the case with morning reception that signals fade out when the sun comes up. So when I got to my receivers at around 0830 on Saturday morning I didn't expect to hear much. Had I have been a few minutes earlier I would have caught Barones on 1627 who had been on air with a rare morning programme for a couple of hours. Havanna was still going strong, however, peaking up to a SINPO of 45444 at just after 0900. Imagine my surprise when I could still him an hour later. Yes, the signal was weaker, but he was clearly audible at 1000. 

Those good conditions on Saturday morning also gave me the chance to hear IJsselstein for the first time. He is often on air at this time on various in-band frequencies but propagation doesn't usually allow me to hear him. Unfortunately, those favourable conditions weren't repeated on Sunday when signals were way down until much later into the evening than usual.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

1620       1602       Pioneer 25442
1647       1631       Witte Tornado 35333 music programme
1625       2118       Barones 45434-55444 music programme
1611       2128       Batavia 33322-34443 music programme

1615       2339       Johan 55444 qsoing

1645       2346       Monte Carlo 35333 qsoing
1630       2351       Jeneverstoker 25222 qsoing

               

Saturday, January 7, 2017

1635       0831       Havanna 45444 music programme

1615       0832       Johan 35343 music programme

1620       0848       Zonnester 35333, 45444 at 0858 report for Johan

1616       0850       Noordzee 25332 report for Johan

1512       0856       IJsselstein 23422 music programme

1622       0916       Marskramer (Friesland) weak signal music programme

Friday, January 6, 2017

1630       1833       Friese Piraat 35434-45444 music programme

1636       1850       Dolfijn 44444 music programme

1656       1906       Transparant 35222-35333 report for Friese Piraat

1494       1928       Laser Hot Hits 33522-45444 music programme

1645       2130       Sallandse Boer 35333 music programme

1615       2153       Torpedojager (NWO) 35333-45444 music programme

1636       2200       Odynn weak signal music programme

1655       2230       Relmus 25222-45434 music programme

Observations

• Good to catch Barones on Sunday night - the first time I've heard him this year. It seems I missed an epic broadcast on December 31 when this legendary pirate from the Achterhoek was on air with a marathon eight-hour programme. I can only imagine the amount of German beer and wine consumed during that length of time!
• When I heard Friese Piraat on Friday evening I assumed he had upgraded his transmitter from the usual 100 watts such was the signal strength. He tells me, however, it was his usual transmitter, which suggests conditions were at their optimum.

• Transparant is rarely heard in England, In fact, I have to go back to October 31, 2011 to find my one and only log of the station. He's not on air often and transmissions usually take place during the afternoon.
• Another station mainly on air in the daytime is Sallandse Boer, so it was a surprise to catch his lengthy music programme on Friday night. His SK050 transmitter was putting out a decent signal into the UK.

• Nice to have Odynn back on MW with a long broadcast on Friday night. There were just 15 watts of power going into his 15-metre-high coil antenna. The signal was weak here, but the occasional peak brought the station up out of the noise.
• Laser Hot Hits often pops up on 1494 these days, sometimes with live output. The signal on Friday night was up and down with fading at some points, but later in the evening was pretty steady and sounding very powerful.