Welcome to a new decade

Hello there and welcome to 2020. I wish you the very best of health for the year ahead and lots of enjoyment with this wonderful radio hobby of ours, whether you are a listener and DXer or pirate radio station operator.

You can probably guess that one of my New Year resolutions is to try to update this blog more regularly than I have been doing, and I will certainly be trying to do just that. Although I didn't do a great job with regular updates during 2019, I was still listening to the pirate stations, but just not quite so much as previously. However, with long days and short nights, this is my favourite time for listening so I have plenty of reason to tune in as much as I can in the weeks and months ahead.

Something I like to do at the start of each year is to look back on the previous months and recall which Dutch MW pirate stations I have heard, and do some comparisons with previous years. 

During 2018 I heard 154 pirates from the Netherlands on MW, following on from 172 in 2017,  167 in 2016 and 185 in 2015. Adding up the figures for 2019 gives me a total of 129 stations. This is a fair way down on last year, and a significant drop from the figure in 2015. However, I wasn't listening to the band as much as in previous years and I wasn't keeping definitive notes. 

The antenna here is the Wellbrook ALA 1530LNP and the receivers are the Lowe HF-150, Lowe HF-225 and Kenwood R5000.

Dutch MW pirate radio stations heard in the UK during 2019

Admiraal

Akai

Alabama

Alaska

Alpenjager

Anton

Astronaut

Armada (regular frequency of 1647 kHz)

Barones

Batavia (1620 kHz)

Batavier

Belladonna

Billy De Bluffer

Blauwe Koe

Blauwe Panda

Bluebird (1638)

Boer Piet

Bootsman (1620 kHz)

Casablanca (Drenthe) (1640 kHz)

Casablanca (Twente)

Concorde

Dageraad

De Kat

De Klap

De Klok

Derde Man

Desperado

Digitaal

Dikke Berta

Dinkelland

Doktor Bloe

Dolfijn (1629 kHz)

Edelkampioen

Eldorado

Electron

Ether Snuiver (Black Bandit)

Gedrocht van Twente

Golfbreker

Havanna (1635 kHz)

Horizon

Interpol

Ijsvogel

Jan De Roos (Black Bandit)

Jan Tabak (Black Bandit)

Jeneverstoker

Josje Power

Kaaiman

Kachelboer

Keizer en Keizerin (1636 kHz)

Klaas Snoek (Black Bandit)

Kristal

Lokaal

Marianne (1617 kHz)

Marskramer

Matrix (1670 kHz)

Melkbus

Meteoor

Mike

Moby Dick (1652 kHz)

Mondeo

Moonbreaker

Monte Carlo

Morgenster (1638 kHz)

Musky

Mustang

Nachtzwerver

Napoleon

Noordster

Noordzee

Odynn

Oldtimer

Omega

OSM

Pandora (1635 kHz)

Pandora (Friesland)

Paradiso

Pecon

Pereboom

Pioneer

Polkaman

Polidor

Pontiac

Professor Sickbok (1640 kHz)

Rebel

Relmus

Rietvink

Romax (1636 kHz)

Ros Am

Ruimzicht

Sapporo

Scotland

Skywire

Sluwe Vos

Snowman

Soerabaya

Soto and Daniel

Spakenburg

Spanningzoeker

Speedygonzales

Station Twente Team

Sylvania

Technical Man

Telefunken

Tornado

Torpedojager (Twente) (1636 kHz)

Toulouse

Turfsteker

Turftrekker

Twentana

Uniek

Utopia

Veluwse Ster

Vonkenboer

Vonkentrekker

Vrijevogel

Vrolijke Mijnwerker

Wadloper

Weduwe (1620 kHz)

Wegpiraat

Wilskracht

Witte Raaf

Witte Tornado (1647 kHz)

Yogi Bear en Einstein

Zeehond

Zee Piraat

Zender Johan

Zwarte Boer

Zwarte Panter (East NL)

807

I am a member of many Dutch pirate WhatsApp groups which allows me access to lots of handy information and to see what other people have been hearing. So, what that helps me to do is see which broadcasts I've missed out on hearing - whether that be through not being at my receivers at the right time, or because some pirates broadcast only during daylight hours when propagation doesn't allow me to hear them as I am nowhere near a coastal location.

So, using information gleaned from those WhatsApp groups, here are some of the MW pirates from the Netherlands who were on air during 2019 but not heard by me in England:

Arizona

Arrianne
Atlantic (regular frequency of 1611 kHz)

Baanbreker

Baantje

Barcelona (1633 kHz)

Black Arrow
Blackstone

Blauwe Fazant

Blauwe Piraat

Blauwe Reiger

Boomerang

Bonte Specht

Brugwachter

Caballero (1636 kHz)

Centurion
Colombia

Cowboy Gerard
Derby (1620 kHz)

Driland

Eigen Risico

Enschede

Eskimo

Ethervogel

Flevojager
Friese Piraat

Hemmeling
Hennie Veldwijk (1645 kHz)
Jack Sparrow

JB
Johnny Depp

Johnny Camaro

Kameleon
Korenbloem

Klaverboer

Kleine Cowboy (1539 kHz)
Kleine Man
Klompenboer
Korak
Korenklopper

Kraanvogel

Kruik

Kwiksilver

Lotus

Luxemburg (263 kHz longwave)

Marconist

Mario

Mi Amigo

Moscou

Nachtrijder

Nimmerzorg
Oliebollenbakkers

Osaka
Poema

Polka Express
Python

Quintus

Rebecca (1629 kHz)

Rodester (1650 kHz)
Roderover
Santana

Schaduwjager

Sylvia

Sterrekijker (1332 kHz)

Texas (1611 kHz)

Twee Gebroeders
Uitzendkracht

Vendor

Verona

Viking
Vliegende Hollander

Vloedgolf (1611 kHz)

Vriendschap (1636 kHz)

Waterman

Zeelandia

Zwarte Arabier

Zwarte Bizon

Zwarte Bouvier (1620 kHz)

Zwarte Boekanier (1645 kHz)
Zwarte Panter (Friesland)
Zwarte Piraat

On this list are a further 80 Dutch MW pirates. Most of these I have heard in previous years, so if we add these to the stations I personally heard during 2019 we have a total of 209, which is above the highest figure of 185 I recorded in 2015. There are some pirates who use several names, so if you take this into consideration it seems fair to say the number of MW pirates currently operational is similar, if not greater, than the figure from around five years ago.

Some former pirates, including the likes of Calypso, 0511 and Flandria might no longer be active as we know them, but have gone down the legal route with low-power licences, adding to the number of familiar voices on the AM airwaves. Plenty of former pirates are also involved in these legal operations. You can see a full list of all those stations active in the main MW band here.

All this activity bodes very well for a good year of pirate activity in 2020, so let's look forward to a busy 12 months.