A week of pirate listening

As we start a new week, here's a look at the past week from a British perspective on the Dutch pirate radio scene at the top of the mediumwave band.

It's been a cold few days here with night-time temperatures regularly around -4 degrees. The band has also often been noisy with plenty of static crashes. However, that hasn't prevented me from listening, with the Wellbrook loop antenna pointed towards the Netherlands, the MFJ noise cancelling unit employed to reduce any local interference, and the trusty Lowe HF-225 receiver doing the listening. Here's what I've heard:

Freq Time Station name SINPO (type of broadcast)

Sunday, January 12, 2024

1611 1815 Turftrekker 45444 (m)

1629 1815 Twentana 45444 (m)

1638 1815 Noordzee 35443 (m)

1658 1815 Klaverboer 35443 (t)

1646 1931 Eigen Risico 35333 (m)

1620 1932 King Kong 55444-55555 (m)

1638 2236 Frieloo 25432 (m)

1655 2237 Witte Raaf 25432-35433 (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

Friday, January 10, 2024

1615 1522 Al Capone 25322 (m)

1611 1523 Mike 45444 at 1703 (m)

1673 1600 Armada 25332 (m)

1648 1722 Turfsteker 35333 (m)

1630 1741 Las Vegas 35333 (m)

1665 1823 Skippy 24222 (m)

1627 1837 Polkaman 35232-35333 (m)

1620 1840 Twentestad 35333 (m)

1647 1844 Moonbreaker 45344 (m)

1620 1852 Houthakker 25222 (m)

Thursday, January 9, 2024

1658 1620 Romax 24442 (q)

1665 1622 Digitaal 35333-45444 (q)

1611 1631 Eigen Risico 35443 (m)

1620 1730 Luka 35333-45444 (m)

1611 1800 Twentana 35333-45444 (m)

1655 1813 Dikke Bertha 44444 (m)

1512 1844 Marskramer 44444 (m)

1638 1845 Delfzijl 35333 (t)

1611 1930 Monza 35333 (q)

1695 2011 Akenzo 25332 (t)

1620 2029 King Kong (q) 35333 

Observations 

• An interesting one this evening with shortwave regular Akenzo making a return to MW. He can regularly be heard with programmes on the international bands, often using 5800 kHz, but tonight Akenzo made what was his second ever transmission on 1.6 MHz, and his first since October 2017. The signal here wasn't strong, but he was using only 60 watts of power, so actually doing pretty well in the circumstances. Looking forward to hearing from this station on MW as I often enjoy his shortwave broadcasts.

Wednesday, January 8, 2024

1642 1628 Pontiac 45344 (m)

1620 1641 Alabama 45334-55555 (m)

1629 1716 Stem van Twente 25332-35333 (m)

1700 1716 Digitaal 45444 (m)

1638 1742 San Antonio weak signal-25332 (m)

1656 1754 Skywire weak signal (m)

1700 1808 Meteoor 35333 (q) report for Digitaal

1611 1913 Eigen Risico 25222-35333 (m)

1636 1929 Boogschutter 25332 (m)

1656 2006 ZZK 35333 (m)

Tuesday, January 7, 2024

1611 1500 Eigen Risico 25432-35443 (m)

1620 1609 King Kong 25332 (q)

1648 1630 Wilskracht 25322  

1620 1655 Pontiac 45333-55444 (m)

1620 1728 King Kong 45444 (q) report for Pontiac

1665 1730 Twentana 35333 (m)

1638 1731 Dikke Bertha 35333 (m)

1620 1742 Delfzijl 45434 (q)

1627 1755 Polkaman weak signal-25322 (m)

1647 1759 San Antonio weak signal (m)

1620 1812 Meteoor 35443 (q)

1611 1813 Twentana 35333 (m)

1634 1844 The Voice 25332 

1670 1853 Vonkentrekker 25322 (m)

1620 1957 Marianne 35343-45444 (m)

1646 2051 Ijsvogel 45334 (q)

1645 2053 Meteoor 45334 (q)

Observations 

• A busy one today during the late afternoon and into the evening. A good example of how propagation becomes more favourable for hearing these Dutch pirates as the sun goes down could be seen with King Kong. At just after 4pm here in the UK (four minutes before sunset), his signal was listenable but not strong, producing a sinpo of 25332 with me. Fast-forward to less than 90 minutes later and that signal had improved to give an impressive sinpo of 45444. And here's a look inside the set-up at King Kong, thanks to Maurits at https://mgpiraten.blogspot.com: