I wasn't expecting that!

The first of December, and if the following days in this new month continue in the same way I will be very happy. There were stations to be heard pretty much all day long here which is very rare and very unexpected:

Freq Time Station name SINPO

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

1636 0701 Vriendschap 35222-35333 (m)

1636 1232 Noordzee weak signal-25342 (q)

1629 1235 Dolfijn weak signal (t)

1633 1239 Noordzee 25342 (t)

1632 1301 Vendor 25342 (m)

1625 1303 Pandora 35343, 45454 at 1342 (m)

1636 1312 Mi Amigo 25342, 35443 at 1338 (m)

1625 1403 Bluebird 35443 (m)

1655 1450 Avia weak signal (m)

1629 1454 Skywire weak signal (t)

1611 1455 Eigen Risico 25432 (m)

1638 1510 Kaaiman 25432-35443 (m)

1630 1553 Mosfet (Schaduwjager) 25442, 35443 at 1608 (t)

1632 1603 Noordzee 25442, 35443 at 1616 (q)

1616 1605 Alpenjager (Groningen) 25442 (q)

1615 1736 Zwarte Boekanier 35333 (q)

1660 1734 Telefunken 25342 (m)

1635 1911 Baanbreker 35333 (q)

1670 1912 Wilskracht 35333 (m)

1648 1913 Belladonna 32442-34443 (m)

1645 1914 Bonte Specht 44444 (m)

1656 1932 Josje Power 35333 (m)

1617 1933 Marianne 55444 (m)

1625 2126 Bluebird 55444 (m)

1646 2202 Vrolijke Mijnwerker 45444 (q)

1635 2212 Electron 35333 (q)

1656 2213 Snowman 24322 (m)

(m) = station was broadcasting a music programme
(q) = station was qsoing
(r) = station asking for a reception report from another station
(t) = station was testing

Observations 

• What a day! I was awake early and switched on the radio to hear Vriendschap coming through on his regular frequency of 1636 kHz, but the rest of the band was quiet and I thought I would have to wait until late afternoon before I heard anything else from the Netherlands, but how wrong was I?
• At around 1230 I noticed a signal on 1636 kHz. And then another on 1629. And then another on 1632. And another on 1625 . . . and on it went. While I do get the occasional signal at this time of the day during the autumn and winter, to receive so many stations and with such good signals is unprecedented. My location in the centre of the UK is not near the sea which means I have to rely on skywaves to bring the Dutch pirate signals to me, which usually happens at around dusk.
• The most impressive of the lot was Pandora, who peaked right up to a sinpo of 45454 at one point, somewhere in the region of how I would usually receive his signal much later in the day. His signal here was actually substantially better than it was being received on the Twente SDR in Enschede. You can hear just how impressive he was being received on this recording:

• What was interesting was that at about 1420 local time, the propagation seemed to take a turn and signals dropped significantly and it wasn’t for about another three hours that they rose again, once the sun had set. There was then another spell of dinnertime activity - mainly qsos - before some music programmes later on in the day and big signals from Marianne (1617 kHz) and Bluebird (1625 kHz), while Wilskracht from Friesland was holding steady on 1670 kHz, somewhat higher than he can usually be heard.
• I’m hoping such daytime reception was not merely a one-off and that it will be possible again - I’ll certainly be checking.