Season's greetings

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas, spent time with your families where possible - and also enjoyed some radio time as well.

Here in England, I've had holiday from work, enjoyed time at home with my wife and girls, watched the snow fall, opened presents, eaten and drunk too much - and, of course, I've been listening to the bands most days - MW and SW. Back in the late 1980s and 1990s the shortwave scene was so much different to how it is now. The Christmas highlight back then was always Weekend Music Radio from Scotland with legendary live broadcasts across several days.

It might not be the same nowadays, but I have enjoyed listening to old pirates Andy Walker and Chris Ise over the festive season with their shows on Shortwave Radio using 6160 kHz, which brought back memories of pirate stations WFRL, WNKR and Crazy Wave Radio - and it was good to hear British SW pirate XTC on 6291 kHz as well. 

Great to see that the pirates in the UK live on as we head into a brand new year. But, of course, the world leaders on the pirate scene remain in the Netherlands, with something for everybody. And here are the stations I've been listening to over the last few days:

Freq Time Station name SINPO

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

1663 1646 Digitaal 45444 (m)

1620 1646 Duranza 45434 (m)

1645 1646 Twentana 35443 (m)

1620 1712 Uniek 25222 (q)

1636 1716 Marconist 35333 (q)

1620 1724 Wegpiraat 35333 (q)

1631 1726 Ros Am 35443-45444 (m)

1620 1748 Schaduwjager 45444 (q)

1621 1753 Turftrekker 45444 (q)

1640 1820 Casablanca 45444 (q)

1645 1825 Dageraad 25332 (q)

1661 1949 Boomerang 45434 (q)

1665 1958 Meteoor 35443 (q)

1638 2351 Bluebird 55444 (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

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

1670 1700 Digitaal 45444-55555 (m)

1645 1733 Telefunken 35443 (m)

1620 1733 Weduwe 35443-45444 (m)

Monday, December 28, 2020

1612 2236 Alabama 35443 (q)

1633 2236 Mi Amigo 35433-45434 (m)

1625 2238 Turftrekker 35433-45444 (m)

1660 2332 Monte Carlo 35433 (r)

1665 2340 Vonkenboer 25222 (q)

1629 2348 Polkaman 23222 (m)

Observations

• Just a little late-night listening today, and great to hear Turftrekker coming in loud and clear. There is no surprise there as his signal is always strong here. However, he was using just 100 watts on this occasion but making it sound like much more with his great audio and modulation.
• Polkaman is a real night owl and can often be heard on air into the very small hours. As his name suggests, he has a passion for polkas - just look at all those 45s in the studio in this video he sent to me while on air this evening:

Sunday, December 27, 2020

1640 1620 Brugwachter 34443-45444 (m)

1636 1622 Twee Gebroeders 34443-44444 (m)

1630 1623 Noordzee 33333-34433 (m)

1625 1702 Telefunken 24222 (m)

1615 1910 Sapporo 25222 (m)

1665 1926 Nachtzwerver 35333 (t)

1655 1929 Oliebollenbakkers 45333-45444 (m)

1625 2056 Blauwe Koe 35333-45444 (m)

1670 2256 Nachtzwerver 35333 (m)

Saturday, December 26, 2020

1652 2328 Moby Dick 45434 (m)

1645 2332 Batavier 24222 (m)

1635 2332 Marskramer 43443 (m) 

1633 2333 Mi Amigo 43433 (m)

Friday, December 25, 2020

1630 1133 Mondeo (m) weak signal

1647 1617 Witte Tornado 35333 (m)

A little Christmas story from Radio Avia: 

Back in the 1970s a friend invited me for Christmas dinner and he was keen to make a radio show on MW before our meal. So, we went on air and at the same time his mother was cooking potatoes and meat, and vegetables in a big kettle with chicken soup.

At 1pm my friend's mother called us for dinner and told us everything was ready to eat, so we started to finish our show on MW. At that exact moment we heard a small truck outside and then the doorbell was ringing.

We looked out of the bedroom window and my friend shouted down to a man and asked what he wanted. He told us he was from the authorities and that he had information there was a radio transmitter in action. He said we should open the door.

My friend closed the window and thought about what we should do next. I told him that we had to hide the transmitter, and that he should go to the door. So I turned off the transmitter and took it downstairs. My friend's father saw us and he knew what was going on. So he took the transmitter from me and threw it in with the chicken soup on the kitchen table!

A moment later the man from the authorities was standing with us in the kitchen and asked my friend's father if he knew what his son was doing on Christmas Day. He replied and said that nothing was happening and that the children were simply playing.

The man had a warrant to search the property, and that's what he did. He looked around the whole house from top to bottom but found nothing. He left, said he would see us next time and smiled.

We were certainly smiling over our chicken soup that Christmas day!

 

Thursday, December 24, 2020

1636 0750 Torpedojager 35333 (m)

1665 0752 Belladonna 25222 (m)

1660 1909 Boomerang 55444 (t)

1628 2245 Omega 45434 (q)

1640 2247 Mi Amigo 35333-45444 (m)

1630 2249 Noordzee 35443 (q)

1655 2253 Yogi Bear 35333 (m)

1512 2257 Sanussie 34433 (m)

1640 2306 Casablanca 55444-55555 (q)

Observations

• As sure as turkey and Christmas pudding on the table at this time of year, you will hear Sanussie broadcasting on 1512 kHz. And he was there today, delivering a fair signal into the UK. Nice also to catch Omega for the first time in a good while.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

1611 1444 Speedygonzales 35443 (m)

1636 1447 Torpedojager 25222 (t)

1645 1449 Kleine Man 25332 (m)

1593 1539 Unidentified station 24442 (t)

1625 1608 Pandora 35333 (m)

1656 1616 Nachtzwerver 35333

1633 1702 Ros Am 35333-45444 (t)

1670 1735 Digitaal 45444 (m)

1625 1749 Uniek 25222 (q)

1629 1752 Monza 44444 (q)

1629 1757 Admiraal 33333 (q)

1647 1801 Nachtzwerver 34333 (q)

1615 1814 Uniek 25222 (q)

1638 1840 Casablanca (Twente) 25332-35333 (m)

1620 1843 Admiraal 44444 (q)

1620 1849 Avia 25332 (m)

1611 1853 Meteoor 35333-45444 (q)

1611 1856 Blauwe Piraat 25222-35333 (q)

1662 1909 Josje Power 32432 (m)

1665 1923 De Klok 25222 (m)

Observations

• It's not often I catch pirate activity on 1593 kHz, but there was a Dutch pirate testing on the frequency this afternoon. There's a suggestion it might have been Dikke Betta. The signal wasn't strong over here, but it was early and it was great to hear a station in the main band.