European Free Radio Report from Dunlo, PA, USA for 19 Nov.

[Dave Valko]

No Coronal Holes or other solar disturbances this weekend!! And since I haven't been out to the remote site on a Sunday morning to listen for a while, I decided it was worth the trip. Conditions were fair at best. Fading was somewhat of a problem. But the band was nice and quiet.

19 November 2006

RX: JRC NRD-535D
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0630-0930 UTC
Solar Indices: S.F. = 89 A Index = 1 K Index = 2 No storms.
WX: Cloudy with a flake or two of snow, cool 33 F. (0 C.)

6300 R. Havana Cuba spur 0630-0700 RHC puts out a nasty spur here of 6180 until it signs off at 0700. So not a good freq for pirates at this time period. (19 Nov.)

6220.06 Mystery R. 0633 Usual fare. Pretty strong but not as strong as the evening before. Still peaking at S-5. In the Clear. Quiet conditions. Weak signal still there at 0901. (19 Nov.)

6299.92 Orion R.?? Carrier here at 0723 and getting a Polka a minute later. At end of song at 0727:11, the signal just left the freq. Must've heard the station on 6300.83. Modulation a bit low. (19 Nov.)

6310v Orion R. OC at 0728. Nice Polka at 0730, so probably the same as hrd on 6299.92 less than 2 minutes earlier. Same strength. Nonstop Polkas to at least 0753. 0756 Rock mx. 0759 canned jingle over mx. 0800 usual instru. theme song, 0803 canned ID, then live anmnt by John w/"good morning", and mention of "listeners". 0804 "Easy Livin" by Uriah Heep. 0814 "Heart of Glass" by Blondie. 0816 canned ID, then John w/ID "Orion R. from the Netherlands" and possible GM anmnt. 0834 clearest anmnt so far apologizing and mentioning "...closing down 6300 kilocycles" and the next song. Still going at 0900. Started out on 6309.93 and drifted up to 6310 by 0805 and 6310.04 at 0832. (19 Nov.)

6300.83 UNID. Mx weakly here at 0728. M anncr in DT or GM at 0740 over mx by what sounded like Shania Twain. During anmnt at 0742 caught phone sounding like "If you were wondering, the hotline is 0031-6512728114...". Am positive of the Netherlands country code and last 3 digits. 0747-0750 easy C&W-like song. 0749 M anncr but too weak to copy. 0750 caught ID "This is Radio...", but again just not strong enough. It dropped down a little from 0740. Went into the next song at 0751. Came back at 0805 and heard end of anmnt and into song "Winner Takes It All" by Abba. 0821 M anncr again (maybe closing anmnt) but impossible as it was just too weak. Disappeared by 0822. Who was this????? (19 Nov.)

6210 R. Borderhunter?? Just an OC at 0807, and went off at 0810. (See below). (19 Nov.)

6523.98 R. Ramona Carrier here at 0811. Poss. mx at 0813. Still in at 0820 but just too weak to confirm audio. Seemed strong enough at 0827, and did hear poss. M anncr at 0828, but just too much SSB traffic near the freq. Definite mx at 0829 when break in SSB traffic. (19 Nov.) ID per uk DXer.

6294 Carrier at 0823 and well past. Not sure if this was a station or not. (19 Nov.) Solar R. perhaps?? uk DXer had it here later at 0945.

6401.07 WMR 0825 slow Rock song. 0839 M anmnt w/possible mention of Scotland. 0844 "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger. 0834 M followed by short jingle and into "Who's Crying Now" by Journey. 0850 nice clear ID and freq at 6400 during fade in UTE QRM. 0851 mx by an 80's-like hair band. 0854 M anncr again. 0855 another ID and more anmnts, but fading. Nice signal but UTE made it difficult. Had to use the notch. North Korea below getting stronger didn't help either. (19 Nov.)

6210 R. Borderhunter OC again here at 0857. Still no audio by 0916, but finally up just before 0918. 0920 "I Love Rock-n-Roll" by Joan Jett and Frans w/ID, morning greeting, "Here we are on 6210". Said he wasn't sure the freq was free. Phone as 31-610531057. 0923 ID and more mx. 0924 anmnt again but fading by this time. Another signal was noted on 6210.33 at 0925+. Still getting the Borderhunter carrier at home at 0950. (19 Nov.)

6210.33 Just a carrier mixing in w/R. Borderhunter at 0925. Another station here?? (19 Nov.)

Back at home....

6300 R. Scotland Int. or R. Caroline?? Just a carrier here at 0952. Almost strong enough to detect audio, but it was too late. (19 Nov.) RSI per Bycross R. in ALI Free Radio Board, however uk DXer had R. Caroline here at 0920.

I've noticed its rare that there are any transmissions before 0700 UTC on Sunday mornings anymore, and most stations seem to come on after 1100, well after sunrise at the transmitter (which makes it impossible for us here in NA). When I started serious listening from the remote sites in 2000, transmissions seemed common at 0600 and even as early as 0500 UTC. Also now, there seems to be more transmissions in the evening and at night on Saturdays 2100 UTC+. I suppose its just the evolution of shortwave pirate radio in Europe. Any thoughts??

[JoJo]

Hello Dave, thanks for the logs. Indeed started on 6300kc, but some other came on so I moved to 6310kc Thanks to jaroslav for sending this sms!

Indeed Borderhunter was on 6210kc, but a few minutes after the start an carier came on, not that stong as his signal but strong enough to disturb, he switched off and later He was on 6205kc.


About the early morning transmissions; I guess it's all in the Europe propagation. It's seems that the last times conditions are better at Local daylight and evening/night time, the last months when I am warming up the tx in Europe there is almost no signal from me, and Sw opens after 0800utc or even 0900utc. Think thats the biggest reason, beside that the pirates also like sleeping on sunday morning?

[RadioRamona]

Thanks Dave that's definatly us. Amazing with our low power.

[Dave Jones]

Hi Dave,
I know what you mean about the times, but I think most operators would agree that with the risk involved with this hobby transmitting at peak listening times is a must and those times will alter with the time of year and weather conditions. Not many stations transmit through the night and indeed why would they? when most of europe is in bed until the early hours of a Sunday morning. I know this makes it difficult for folks like yourself who do not live in Europe ,and therefore in a different time zone to listen to these operators when I am sure you would really like to. Perhaps one or two stations would think of swtiching on a little earlier or indeed set the transmitters on a timer with a recorded program for listeners in the USA or indeed any that would like to try night time propagation. Now I know that WR International does not transmit on the best of frequencies (12256 khz) but the transmitter is on a timer and switches on at midnight UK time on a Sunday morning with a music output and then is live from 08:00 hours. It is for people like yourself that would like to try and catch the station and do live in a time zone that can be 5 or 6 hours different to Europe that this is done. Perhaps if enough listeners ask others might give it a try and transmit through the early hours (CET).

Good luck with your DXing
Dave
WR International

[Robin Banneville]

6300.83 UNID. Mx weakly here at 0728. M anncr in DT or GM at 0740 over mx by what sounded like Shania Twain. During anmnt at 0742 caught phone sounding like "If you were wondering, the hotline is 0031-6512728114...". Am positive of the Netherlands country code and last 3 digits. 0747-0750 easy C&W-like song. 0749 M anncr but too weak to copy. 0750 caught ID "This is Radio...", but again just not strong enough. It dropped down a little from 0740. Went into the next song at 0751. Came back at 0805 and heard end of anmnt and into song "Winner Takes It All" by Abba. 0821 M anncr again (maybe closing anmnt) but impossible as it was just too weak. Disappeared by 0822. Who was this????? (19 Nov.)

Hi Dave,

Although I was still half asleep at 07.40 utc on sunday morning, and in dire need of a strong coffee, I noted "Lowland Radio" on 6300.8 kHz ... Maybe this is your UNID? Unfortunately I didn't actually jot down any px details in my notes, and my brain doesn't usually wake up till at least 1 hour after I get up, so I'm affraid I am unable to to match what I heard with what you heard. It may help if anybody can match Lowland with with the hotline number you mentioned ???

Hope this helps Dave

73's ... Robin